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Back to the Roots of the Blues ... Backtracking
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Latest release 1st Jan 2025 - Thank you for visiting with us, we cordially invite you to review and download the current production below. 'Backtracking' is a result of our research a journey of discovery that never ends, our love of the Blues and respect for the artists that left us this legacy of music.
All this simply because the music, the history and 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.
Backtracking is streamed online and is broadcast worldwide. It's free to join the 'Backtracking' time machine - Get the authentic blues on your radio station ..... |
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Featured artist of the week .... Cora Fluker
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Born in Livingston, Alabama circa 1920, Cora Fluker grew up sharecropping alongside her family. Working in cotton fields and singing in a family work gang, Cora’s early experience was of the brutalities of slavery. Her history she told us were conditions so harsh that she’d tried to run away at the age of nine, when her escape attempt failed, the landowner who caught her nearly beat her to death.
An epiphany under a pecan tree later brought Cora to the Christian faith. An ardent believer, she soon became a lifelong church leader and missionary for the faith in Mississippi.
From an early age she sang in the cotton fields leading a family work gang. A deeply traditional artist with a large repertoire of work songs, spirituals, blues and ballads, She made a one-string guitar as a youngster and credits her Uncle Amerson as inspiration and mentor. Moving to Marion, Mississippi, she built up a church congregation. Her years as a missionary and church leader make her as confidant a stage personality equally  adept at sacred and secular material. She performed at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1992 and the Sunflower Blues Festival in Mississippi in 1993.
Cora, has since passed, but before we lost her she reminded us how all music came from the air, if we lived right we would meet again in heaven. |
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 Thank heavens there is absolutely nothing that we can't play the blues on. I struggle with my guitar, a beautiful red strat, which I might add has a mind of it's own and is pure evil, I spent a lot on money on having it serviced and upgraded and still it will not cooperate and make a noise resembling a recognisable tune, the thing hates me.
I try to ignore the expression of despair on the face of my teacher, I quote this man of Infinite patience when he says, how about having a plink and plonk on the 'Diddly Bow'? - Never one to take a hint, we spend the next hour with this instrument before boredom sets in and Roger, shaking his head, goes and makes the tea as I butcher yet another classic.
The diddley bow is essentially a single-stringed instrument, typically constructed from readily available materials, such as a wooden board, a wire string, and two bridges. The sound is produced by plucking or sliding a metal object, such as a bottle neck or a piece of metal, along the string, creating a range of notes and tones.
The diddley bow is more than just a instrument; it’s a cultural artefact, Its simplicity makes it accessible, allowing individuals with limited resources to create music and express themselves. The resonant, raw sound of the diddley bow carries the weight of its history, reminding us of the origins of some of the most influential musical forms in the world.
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Get in touch, How to contact ... PD Productions
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Every day we have the blues ..... PD Productions Video archive...
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| Welcome to the PD Productions video archive. We are delighted to receive video clips from our very good friends around the world to include in our 'Backtracking' program. Below is a list of the clips scheduled for the next few weeks ... |
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The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There |
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47th Street Jive - June Richmond with Roy Milton's band |
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B. B. King - The Thrill Is Gone |
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Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy |
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Nina Simone - Ain't got no, I got life |
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Raymunda Dutch Blues - Pity the fool |
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Take Me to the River LIVE - Sharde Thomas and Rising Star |
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Send us a video clip of your gig (mp4 format) - Click here |
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| Current clip: .... John Lee Hooker - Boom boom |
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| Play the current video clip |
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| Legal / Copyright stuff |
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Myths and Legends of the blues ..... Henry Sloan
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I’m going where the Southern Cross the Dog ... Many early blues singers used variations on the phrase. The expression refers to the place in Moorhead, Mississippi, where the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley rail line intersected with the Southern rail line. Many southerners referred to the Yazoo and Mississippi line as the 'Yellow Dog' or simply the 'Dog'
W. C. Handy wrote in his autobiography of the experience of stopping at the railroad station at Tutwiler, Mississippi around 1903, and coming across, as he described it, a lean, loose-jointed Negro who was plucking at a guitar. His clothes were in rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages.
As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings ... Quote: The effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly... The singer repeated the line (Going' where the Southern cross' the Dog) three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the strangest music I had ever heard |
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