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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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Review / Download page .....
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This week featuring a very special lady .. Diunna Greenleaf, |
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We're delighted to be associated with and to promote Diunna Greenleaf, the leader of Blue Mercy, is a native Texan (Houston) who has a background steeped in gospel music. Influenced by the likes of Koko Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Rosetta Thorpe, Sam Cooke, Charles Brown and her own parents Ben & Mary Ella Greenleaf (Gospel). She has developed "Diunna's style of Blues" in the same tradition as so many other great Texas blues men and women. She combines intricate patches of jazz, gospel and heartfelt soul to create a kind blues that takes one on an emotional roller coaster ride. |
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Current production ....
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| Drawn together over the years, In our collection are several albums, documents and singular recordings that represent some of the oldest and traditional work songs found among African American communities of incarcerated people in the southern United States. Mostly recorded in Texas and Louisiana these songs were typically sung while groups of 10-30 people performed tasks such as chopping and hoeing. With origins reaching back to their West African ancestry as well as during the era of African American enslavement, work songs served the purpose of alleviating the mundane nature of repetitive tasks as well as providing a forum for the song leader to keep the group together through rhythms and lyrics. |
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Featured artist of the week .... Ruben Lacy
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Ruben Lacy was one of the most talented and influential artists in Mississippi blues during his short career as a secular performer. The grandson of a minister, he was born in Pelahatchie on January 2, 1901, or 1902*. He was a well-known blues performer in the Jackson area and the Delta until he became a preacher in the 1930s. He pastored churches in Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and California and was still preaching just before he died on November 14, 1969. He is buried in Bakersfield, California.
His birthdate was given on his death certificate as Jan. 2, 1902, although blues scholar David Evans believed it to be 1901.)
Ruben “Rube” Lacy recorded only a handful of blues songs, but he played an important role in the formative years of Mississippi blues. Ruben learned guitar and mandolin by emulating George 'Crow Jane' Hendrix, who led a local string band. As a young man Ruben travelled widely, and he recalled meeting country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers while both were railway workers, and working in Chicago with an uncle from Germany who taught him to speak German fluently. After returning to the Jackson area, where he became known as the 'blues king' Ruben played in an elite circle that included Son Spand, Ishmon Bracey, Tommy Johnson, Charlie McCoy, and Walter Vinson. He later moved to the Delta, where he formed his own group, performed with Charley Patton, and inspired Son House, Tommy McClennan, and Honeyboy Edwards.
Ruben made four recordings for Columbia Records at a session in Memphis in December 1927, sadly, none were released. The following March he traveled to Chicago, where he recorded two songs for the Paramount label, 'Mississippi Jail House Groan' and 'Ham Hound Crave' both of which he learned from Hendrix. Accompanying Ruben on the trip was music talent agent Ralph Lembo of Itta Bena, who contributed a spoken part to 'Ham  Hound Crave' The two Paramount tracks, the only blues recordings by Ruben that were ever released, are considered such prime examples of Mississippi blues that both songs have appeared on numerous reissue CDs and LPs around the world.
Following a train-related injury in the 1930s, Ruben decided to join the ministry, a path followed at times by several Mississippi bluesmen of his generation. |
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