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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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Featured artist of the week .... Mance Lipscomb
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Mance Lipscomb was born Beau D. Glen Lipscomb in 1895. He was born in Navasota, a town that would become known as the ‘Blues Capital of Texas’ and where he would remain for the rest of his life.
Over the next forty years, Mance would be a regular artist all over Navasota and Grimes County. On Fridays and Sundays, he would play for events held by the white community, and on Saturdays he would play at the supper parties held by the black community. Locally, he was widely regarded as the best guitar player in the area.
Nothing exceptional would happen for Mance until the summer of 1960 when he encountered Chris Strachwitz and Mack McCormick. The two men had originally intended to try and record Houston blues singer, Lightnin’ Hopkins, but their plans fell through, on a whim, they headed to East Texas looking for authentic blues musicians to record. When they reached Navasota and asked for the best musician in town, everyone said Mance Lipscomb. They drove to Lipscomb’s house, introduced themselves, and pulled out a tape recorder. That night Lipscomb’s professional music career began.
One of the most significant points in Mance’s career in the early 1960s was backing Janis Joplin during her 1962 performance at the live venue, Threadgill’s in Austin. It was the beginning of a lasting friendship between the two musicians but more importantly, Mance broke the colour barrier by playing at the previously segregated Threadgill’s. Mance’s popularity saw him share the stage with numerous well-known names in music including Muddy Waters, and, opening for well-known acts of the time like the Grateful Dead.
By the 1970s Mance had been all over America and played to thousands of people. He had garnered celebrity fans that included President Johnson and had even had a film made about him. Yet through all of this, there had been little in the way of media promotion or even significant changes to his own life at home. For most of his life, Mance Lipscomb was a farmer and labourer who simply played music on the weekends. He didn’t become well-known on the national stage until he was in his sixties, yet the impact he made on American musicians and their music cannot be underestimated. Although he may not have had the commercial success of some of his contemporaries, his influence on their own music was incredible.
 In 1976 Lipscomb died of heart failure bought on by a stroke. He had already begun to experience health issues and was living in a nursing home in Navasota. Even though his professional music career did not start until he was already in his sixtieth decade, his contributions in the 1960s left an indelible mark on the American music scene. Mance Lipscomb never reached the same levels of fame as other blues musicians, yet he stood apart from others due to his unique ability to recall and perform hundreds of songs from a wide range of genres. |
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