Years ago, when I was touring with Big River through Cincinnati in 1987, I met a guy named Steve Tracy. He was an important part of that scene. He gave me a cassette which had some extremely powerful harp playing--Green Bullet through a cranked up Fender amp, I'd guess. Way over the top, and played with very high intensity.
Steve hoes the same rows I do: he's a professor and a harp player. He holds the unusual distinction of being a white guy with a job teaching African American studies in one of the nation's oldest Af-Am Studies programs, U Mass Amherst. He's written a handful of excellent books, including the definitive study on Langston Hughes's use of the blues in his blues poetry. It's called LANGSTON HUGHES AND THE BLUES. (Easy to remember.)
He's remained active and I just came across his band's website:
http://kingbees.com/music.htm
On the "Listen to us" page, there are a handful of mp3s and they're worth listening to. Steve has an old-school pedigree, which is to say, he's worked with a number of older black blues artists. In one of his books, GOING TO CINCINNATI, he interviewed a number of blues artists, including pianist Big Joe Duskin.
Anyway, you might check him out. He's a solid player with a somewhat more aggressive attack than most straight-ahead players. I won't say that I love his playing, but I respect it.
If memory serves, the few clips on YouTube don't do him justice.
The same trip where I made Tracy's acquaintance is where I saw H-Bomb Ferguson live, up on the hill in central Cincinnati. Damn. Now THERE was a master bluesman:
The comping is good but I love the solo. And his tone/setup is amazing. Very agressive but mmhhh. It's like that morning toast grilled a little too long, but with butter... hmm it tastes amazing. And all of that with a good cup of coffee, that is the blues. And, oh yeah, some nice marmelade on the toast as the blues singers voice. hehehe
Thanks for that constant influx of different cool artists.. ---------- Don't engage in negativity!
