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| PD Productions. Media, Broadcasting and Radio productions for stations worldwide |
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Back to where it all began ... Thank you for taking the time to visit us. My name is David Howard, PD Productions is based in the South West of the UK, but that isn't where our journey into the blues began .... It all started in a small town bar in Louisiana; it was like travelling back in time, dusty, rickety tables, chairs, and a bare wooden floor. Sat on a little platform was a lady and a guy with a guitar, and then the lady began to sing the blues. I could have closed my eyes, although I didn’t realise it at the time, I could have been listening to Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith. Quietly listening, and with encouragement from others we joined with the ‘Tell us your story’...
We knew and felt the songs were telling us of a deep sadness, borne of a deprivation beyond our comprehension. I was listening to the 'Blues' long before that, but never really understood, until then, what was meant by 'Feeling the Blues' ... Each time I produce ‘Backtracking’ I try to show my love and respect for the people and the lives these songs are about, this deprivation, sadness and misery. We are honouring them by keeping their presence and their simple music alive and well.
Each time, we are taking a journey back in time to the abomination of slavery, the depth of the spirituals and of course the expressive blues from all those years ago. Our research and journey since that day has been a discovery of the ‘Blues’ that never ends, of a culture and history that has faded in the mists of time, but remains for us to find. We're honoured and privileged to share with you this great music and its history, back a hundred years and beyond, a genre so rich, so vast so diverse and so real.
Now based in Somerset (UK) What started all those years ago with a handful of blues tracks, a few faded photographs and books has grown exponentially with the help of our good friends, Alan, Terry and Graham, the ‘Doc’ even my dear late cousin Len (Houston) the never ending patience of Pam and so many people from around the world, far too many to mention, Backtracking has become a library of music and resources so vast it’s often difficult to keep track of it all, as it continues to grow.
Thank you for listening to ‘Backtracking’ from here in the UK. At PD Productions, we extend our best wishes to you all.
David – PD Productions (UK) |
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Every Friday we have the Blues ... At PD Productions, our research and journey of discovery never ends, simply because the culture of the blues never ends. We're honoured and privileged to share the music within the genre of the Blues back in time a hundred years and beyond, a genre so vast and so diverse.
So many people from around the world have contributed to our research, and indeed, our library of music, far too many to mention by name. Released every Friday, we invite you to join Backtracking, the blue time machine as we go back to the Roots of the Blues, back, to where it all began. |
| Featured on Backtracking .. |
- The lady sings the blues.
- Blues on the Bayou.
- Gospel blues train.
- Featured artist of the week.
- Spirituals – The blues connection.
- Prison work songs.
- Myths and Legends of the blues.
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The Blues Club Showcase
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This section is for our friends in the UK, Europe and the US to showcase their stuff. Look out for some exciting clips coming down the line in 2025. Showcasing Interviews, video clips, audio productions and much more. In short, the very best of the blues.
Send your file to us at: ... Attach file link. |
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Review / Download page .....
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Zydeco is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana Creole culture, such as la la and juré. Many instruments are familiar in this genre, however, predominately on a number of tracks is a French accordion and a Creole washboard instrument called the frottoir. |
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Current production ....
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| Drawn together over the years, In our collection are several albums, documents and singular recordings that represent some of the oldest and traditional work songs found among African American communities of incarcerated people in the southern United States. Mostly recorded in Texas and Louisiana these songs were typically sung while groups of 10-30 people performed tasks such as chopping and hoeing. With origins reaching back to their West African ancestry as well as during the era of African American enslavement, work songs served the purpose of alleviating the mundane nature of repetitive tasks as well as providing a forum for the song leader to keep the group together through rhythms and lyrics. |
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Featured artist of the week .... Othar Turner
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Othar Turner was born on June 2, 1908, in Canton, Mississippi, east of Jackson. Except for a nine-month period laying and repairing railroad track as far north as Indiana, he has lived his entire life in and around Gravel Springs.
Othar made his first cane fife when he was 13. He had already learned a good deal about drumming from players in the area and wanted to move on to the fife. He picked his cane from the river bank, he bored six holes in it, five finger holes and one for the mouthpiece and experimented until he got the right intonation.
His band, the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, consists of the fife and three drums. All the musicians play standing up, often while walking, with the fife leading the way. The repertoire is a mix of blues, old popular tunes, spirituals, and instrumental pieces collectively known as Shimmy She Wobble, for the liberating effect the music has on dancers.
Some writers consider the fife and drum music of northern Mississippi the most deeply rooted African style of music still being played in the United States. It certainly is among the rarest. As late as the mid-twentieth century, it could be found in Harris County, Georgia, and in western Tennessee, as well as in Mississippi.
The most common performance settings are picnics, large community gatherings at which there is lots of food, and dancing to the music of the fife and drums. These picnics have been going on in the communities as long as anyone can remember. They are family affairs that attract both local people and those who drive down for the weekend from as far away as St. Louis, Memphis, and even Chicago. Othar organises picnics around the  Fourth of July and Labour Day, starting them off at first light on Saturday and playing no later than midnight, out of respect for the Sabbath.
Since the mid-1970s, however, Turner's music has been more in demand outside the region. He has made numerous recordings and appeared at the Mid-South Folklife Festival in Memphis and in concerts and festivals around the country. |
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