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| Featured album ... Me and Mr Johnson |
In my collection / studio there are literally hundreds of albums and thousands of tracks, in my car, just one - 'Me and Mr Johnson'.
Respectfully, and at the risk of being labelled a blues philistine, Mr Clapton isn't really at the top of my tree when it comes to the many blues artists, preferring, as I do, the more, earlier ones. However, this album a cover of Robert Johnson's songs is something special. If this one isn't in your collection, it should be. |
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Back to the Roots of the Blues ... Backtracking
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Latest release 6th Nov 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 .... Washboard Sam
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Robert Clifford Brown known as Washboard Sam, Shufflin’ Sam and Ham Gravy – (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966) Robert was probably the most well-known exponent of the washboard in Blues music.
Robert or Sam accompanied his own singing by washboard, with a self-rigged cowbell attachment, combining powerful percussive skills with his deep, strong, rhythmic voice, to become one of the leading lights of the pre-war Chicago Blues scene.
He recorded prolifically and successfully throughout the 1930s and 40s, usually in an acoustic, small group format, backed by musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy (guitar); Black Bob, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Frank Owens, Ransom Knowling and Willie.
Robert’s date and place of birth are uncertain; most resources list him as he was born in 1910 in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, but others suggest he was born in 1903 or 1904, in Jackson, Tennessee. To add to the confusion, when applying for his musician’s union card, he gave his birth date as July 15, 1914. There are so many myths of the blues. Sometime in the 1920s He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, performing as a street musician with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon.
In 1935, he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and Vocalion becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s, selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. He recorded over 160 tracks in those decades. His strong voice and song writing talent overcame  his stylistic limitations.
By the 1950s, his audience had begun to shrink, largely because he had difficulty adapting to the new electric blues. His final recording session, for RCA Victor, was in 1949. He retired from music for several years and became a Chicago police officer. He recorded a final session in 1953 with Big Bill Broonzy. In1959 he made a modest and short-lived comeback as a live performer in the early 1960s.
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Is there any limit to the definition of the 'Blues' — from our ongoing, never ending research the answer is a resounding no.
The music of these groups may be described as a mix of gospel / blues / folk, flavoured with the influence of slavery. The southeastern ring shout may well be the oldest surviving African American performance tradition on the North American continent. It continues to be performed in a Black Gullah-Geechee community in McIntosh County on Georgia’s coast.
This compelling fusion of counterclockwise dance like movement, call-and-response singing, and percussion (in the form of hand clapping and a stick beating a drum like rhythm on a wooden floor) is clearly African in its origins. The ring shout affirms oneness with the Spirit and with ancestors as well as community cohesiveness. |
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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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| Current clip: ....Preview: ... Ma Rainey's Black Bottom |
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| Play the current video clip |
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| Watch the full film |
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| Legal / Copyright stuff |
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Myths and Legends of the blues ..... Whistler & His Jug Band
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Whistler & His Jug Band were a group that recorded for several labels from the mid-'20s through the early '30s, and influenced many of the jug bands that followed. The group was formed in 1915 in Louisville, KY by guitarist, vocalist and whistler Buford Threlkeld, and went through occasional line-up changes over the years. Fiddle player Jess Ferguson and banjo player Willie Black were steady members for over a decade.
This mainly jazz-influenced jug band first recorded in September, 1924 when they cut several sides for the Gennett label. These included Chicago Flip, Jail House Blues and I'm a Jazz Baby, The second recording trip saw them in St. Louis in 1927. On this trip, they recorded 10 songs , including the classic Pig Meat Blues. The jug player during this session was 13 year old Rudolph Thompson, who was still with the group by the time of their next recording session in June, 1931. This time, the band got to record in their hometown of Louisville. Hold That Tiger and probably their best know hit, Foldin' Bed. |
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