When I was living in northern Ca my landlady was the former girfriend of wild jimmy spruill who backed Buster back in his Fire record days. She gave me a bunch of his records that he brought to her after the sessions. Buster played a sonny terry whopping and a mess of other harp sounds with a swinging R&b/early R&R sound. The same guys that were backing wilbert harrison on Kansas city were often on these sessions. Very modern for the day IMO. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Great songs that stand the test of time. Great vocals. Great playing. Quite of few of his tunes are still covered by others. He isn't better known because people don't dig deep into blues history for whatever reason. ---------- The Blues Photo Gallery
Thanks for educating us, Walter. I particularly like the solo on "I'm Going, But I'll Be Back."
I've heard of Buster Brown, but I'll confess to never having heard his stuff. I worked with Bobby Robinson, who started the Fire/Fury labels, and he spoke about BB. I did a session once with Wild Jimmy Spruill, too. Now THERE was a nice man and an unforgettable character.
Brown is really the place where urban blues, R&B, early Rock & Roll, and country blues (the Sonny Terry whoopin') intersect. I was tempted at first to group him with Junior Parker, but he's more country than Parker--and more Rock & Roll.
Last Edited by on Oct 09, 2011 6:59 PM
I remember Wilbert Harrison telling me after they recorded Kansas City, Bobby Robinson blasted it out to the streets via his outdoor speaker system at his record shop and Harlem rocked. Buster Brown played harp on some of Wilberts songs as well. Guys like Buster get right to heart of things. There is no need for anything more, or more fancy riffs. Todays players often play way too much for me. They overload my groove :-) Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
"Fannie Mae" is a classic. One of the first tunes I ever played live with a band. Never played the intro, though, and you can actually do some pretty interesting variations on the basic groove.
Last Edited by on Oct 10, 2011 7:56 AM
Good stuff Walter, if i could play half as good as him i would be in harp heaven, ps, as your computor is being repaired why not do what i always have done, plug in a cheap lapel mic and just go 4 it...ps.. I record with Audacity and use some delay to rev it up a little, cant afford all that fancy stuff...yet.
I am glad some folks found the music interesting. I dig the greats, but also the ones that never made it to the great level. Those guys have some cool stuff going as well and IMO Buster Brown has an immediately reconizable sound.
Stan: Thanks for the idea. I miss recording but can't go backwards with the quality of the recordings. It is like using a $1 harmonica when you are use to top of the line ones. I contacted sweetwater music yesterday and they are rushing it through for me. I have been putting most of 3-10 hours a day I spend recording to listening to much of my older stuff. I usually only listen to my songs once or twice. The older ones bring back the times of that time like a photo does. I am also reflecting on music, life, and being grateful for the life I have. I got back on this forum as well. Take care. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
He did a good version of "Blueberry hill". Very progressive for that times! I think that this direction and approach is very close to "When the saints" of Papa Lightfoot or "Don't get Around much anymore" by Big Walter! ---------- http://www.youtube.com/user/wheelharp
I've never heard him before, I love it! His singing is fantastic, and his harp style - whoopin' mixed with some R&b - is really fun. He sounds like he's having a great time, he's so into the music.
That's Granpa Elliott. You can find him sitting on the corner of Royal Street and Toulouse here in New Orleans, most of the time. He has quite a following, and people come in from all over to see him, mostly because of the Playing For Change thing.
