|
 |
| |
| PD Productions. Media, Broadcasting and Radio productions for stations worldwide |
| |
| |
|
| |
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) |
Click here to close
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Featured artist of the week .... Mississippi Sheiks
|
|
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential group of the 1930s. They recorded around 70 tracks, primarily in the first half of the 1930s.Their 1930 blues single Sitting on Top of the World was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Mississippi Sheiks consisted mainly of members of the Chatmon family from Bolton, Mississippi. Their most famous member (although not a permanent member) was Armenter Chatmon, better known as Bo Carter, who enjoyed a successful solo career as well as playing with the Sheiks, which may have contributed to their success.
When they first recorded, in 1930, the band consisted of Bo Carter, Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, and Walter Vinson. Papa Charlie McCoy (not Charlie McCoy, a later blues artist) later, when Carter and Sam Chatmon stopped playing full-time. Lonnie Chatmon and Vinson formed the core of the group.
Bo Carter's solo work is notable for his innuendo, suggestive songs, a style carried over to some extent to the group. They primarily earned their income as a itinerate band touring mostly throughout the South but they also travelled and performed in Chicago and New York.
Their last recording known session as the Mississippi Sheiks was in 1935.Bo Carter did a few more sessions on his own, up until 1938. When the band dissolved, the Chatmon brothers gave up music and returned to farming. Effectively bringing to an end the Mississippi Sheiks.
The Sheiks and related groups, such as the Mississippi Mud Steppers and the Blacksnakes, recorded about a  hundred sides in the first half of the 1930s, among them original compositions (probably by Vinson), such as The world is going wrong and I've Got blood in my eyes for you (1931) and the topical objectionable Sales Tax (1934).
Sam Chatmon made more recordings in the 1960s, and Walter Vinson contributed three selections (under the name of the Mississippi Sheiks) to Riverside's 1961 series Chicago: The Living Legends. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
