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| PD Productions. Media, Broadcasting and Radio productions for stations worldwide |
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 Back to where it all 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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Backtracking, to where it all began ... 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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Featured artist of the week .... Ma Rainey
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Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey - April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an American blues singer and influential early-blues recording artist. Often referred to as the Mother of the Blues, Gertrude bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. Gertrude was known for her powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a moaning style of singing. Her qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings ‘Bo-Weevil Blues’ and ‘Moonshine Blues.
Gertrude Pridgett began performing as a teenager, she became known as Ma Rainey after her marriage to Will ‘Pa’ Rainey in 1904. Together, they toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and later formed their own group, Assassinators of the Blues. Her first recording was made in 1923. In the following five years, she made over 100 recordings. Gertrude also collaborated with Thomas Dorsey, Tampa Red, and Louis Armstrong. She toured and recorded with the Georgia Jazz Band. Touring until 1935, she then largely retired from performing. Ma and Pa Rainey adopted a son named Danny who later joined his parents' musical act. Rainey developed a relationship with Bessie Smith. Rumours and legends of that relationship are many and most impossible to verify. For example, it was also rumoured that Bessie once bailed Gertrude out of jail.
 In 1935, having parted company with Pa Rainey, Gertrude returned to her home town, and became the proprieties of three theatres, the Liberty in Columbus, and the Lyric and the Airdrome in Rome, Georgia, until her death in 1939.
She has been posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Gertrude has been portrayed in several films including the 2020 film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. |
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