Comments to our songs

PRISON BOUND BLUES   ( Leroy Carr )

Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr where the ultimate guitar/piano duo in the 30`s. Though Scrapper also played the piano, they worked as a team from 1928 until Leroy`s death in 1935. Leroy Carr sometimes called himself Blues Johnson, and Scrapper was known as Frankie Black. Francis Hillman Blackwell died in 1962. We found an electric guitar in the studio, and couldn`t keep our hands off it!

HEY LAWDY MAMA-FRANCE BLUES (Papa Harvey Hull/Long Cleve Reed)

This song was originally recorded on Black Patti Records, Chicago, on April 8^th 1927 by Papa Harvey Hull and his partner Long Cleve Reed. Papa Harvey sometimes called himself Little Harvey. Not much is known about these two men. Even after thorough research by various blues authorities, we ended up with very little information about Hull and Reed. Big Arthur Crudup, who was born in Forest, Mississippi, once told that he learned to pick the guitar by a local bluesman called Papa Harvey. So who knows …

TOO LONG    ( The Mississippi Sheiks )

Rudolph Valentino became first lover on the silver screen with his movie ”The Sheik” back in the 30`s. So Armenter Chatmon said to Sam Chatmon: OK, lets become The Mississippi Sheiks. So they did. Armenter also called himself Bo Carter, and is famous for writing risky lyrics. With Alger ”Texas” Alexander on  vocals The Mississippi Sheiks worked country dances and picnic parties in the 30`s. We are doing ”Too Long” in their spirit; vocal, National steel guitar and a strange character from Trondheim, Snorre ”W.” Busch on the violin.

TRIBUTE TO BONGO JOE    ( The Schnubelputzen Twins )

George ”Bongo Joe” Coleman was more avant-garde than avant-garde, or to tell it the straight way; a very unusual  character. With the fez on his head and two big oil drums he played festivals all over USA. ”Tribute to Bongo Joe” has become an important piece in our live acts, and it`s truly a great piece of art. The Frog is the man behind the cymbal crashing.

NERVOUS    ( Kjell Inge Brovoll )

Sometimes TV news are more scary than any horror movie. Kids should not watch the news, and definately not from places where there`s a war going on. Everybody can become ”Nervous” of all the shit that`s been transformed into our cosy living rooms these days.

MINGELWOOD BLUES    ( Noah Lewis )

Noah Lewis was a hamonica player, and a member of Gus Cannons Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band. He was born back in 1895 outside Henning, Tennesse. He worked parties and streets for tips, and became later an associate with Sleepy John Estes. Noah Lewis died in 1961, and ”Mingelwood Blues” is his most famous song.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT    ( Kjell Inge Brovoll )

This is an out-of-the-12-bar-blues-system-song about a woman and a man finding each other. We brought accordion player JT Lauritsen into the studio because he and his band had a gig in the same city that night. Sit back in your chair, open the window, and let the coole breeze touch your hair …

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL    ( Leadbelly )

There are not enough words to tell the greatness of Huddie Ledbetter, or Leadbelly as he was called. As a 12-string guitar player (or accordion, bass, harmonica, piano and mandolin player), he truly was the most versatile of all singers in the Afro-American tradition, and he was deep-rooted in his folkways.

”Midnight Special” is done in a traditional way, with guitars, National steel, 5-string banjo, harmonica and tambourine. Our good friends The Holmes Brothers are doing the chorus, and God bless these guys!

EVERYBODY`S TALKING `BOUT SADIE GREEN    ( Memphis Jug Band )

The Memphis Jug Band was formed around Will Shade, and they created good time music for many years. Between 1927 and 1934 they cut about eighty records, and they even had some famous names in the band now and then; Bo Carter, Memphis Minnie, Charlie Pierce and Casey Bill Weldon. A friend of ours, Jan Erik Mikalsen, is playing the big tuba, and along with Snorre`s violin and the kazoo, we try to make remembrances from the 30`s.

YOU JUST AS WELL LET HER GO    ( Casey Bill Weldon )

Will Weldon, or Casey Bill, Kansas City Bill, or The Hawaiian Guitar Wizard, worked in various medicine shows through the South during the 20`s. He also recorded with the Memphis Jug Band and the Picaninny Jug Band in periods, and was married to Memphis Minnie. Casey Bill Weldon settled in Detroit to work outside music in the 60`s. No one knows what happened to the Hawaiian Guitar Wizard after that. Now, talking `bout wizards; we brought a good friend to the studio. Diz ”Honeybear” Watson has become a part of our family, and his piano work is outstanding. You can also hear Snorre ”W.” Busch on the violin.

SAIL AWAY   ( Randy Newman )

Thanks to the Holmes Brothers and Snorre ”W.” Busch on the violin, Newmans masterpiece can also be played by two characters like ourselves. Listen to the lyrics. It`s all about the slave trade that took place for hundreds of years between West Africa and America. Now, get down in your chair, shut up and listen!

COCAINE HABIT BLUES    ( The Memphis Jug Band )

In this modern world a lot of people have drug problems. The drug industry has become so big, that it is a major power in some countries` politics. This song is about what happened in Memphis during the 30`s, when cocaine became the new and modern drug.. We had a great time in the studio, but not because of cocaine. In this part of the country we just don`t need that shit, we`ve got other substitutes. Jan Erik Mikalsen plays the tuba.

BOOTLEGGERS BLUES     ( The Mississippi Sheiks )

Bootlegging liquor was big business in the USA during the Prohibition. The Mississippi Sheiks made this beautiful piece of music, and the front cover artist, Tommie Olofsson, painted it from the lyrics. The Holmes Brothers are doing some great work, and JT Lauritsen (The spice boy), is playing some nice accordion in the tex-mex tradition.

DOWN AT MY COUNTRY FARM    ( Kjell Inge Brovoll )

The country farm has been a part of the blues music`s identity since it’s origin. We are trying to do this one in the early Son House/MuddyWaters tradition, and with ”Down At My Country Farm” we pay our deepest tribute to the women and men who made blues music a world wide phenomenon, mostly without getting the recognition they deserved.

SOAP AND WATER BLUES    ( Robert Brown )

Robert Brown was the king the washboard. That`s why he called himself Washboard Sam. He was born in Walnut Ridge in 1910, and died in Chicago late 1966. He was an illegimate son of Frank Broonzy, a former slave, and left home to play the washboard with local blues groups in the Memphis area. He worked with Hammie Nixon and John Estes on the streets for tips. Washboard Sam was a good songwriter and ”Soap And Water Blues” is a good example. This is always a live success, and who knows, maybe the ugliest woman on the planet lives right next to you? Shut up and listen.

AGE IS GETTING ME    ( Jan Erik Moe )

Ever felt the pain in your back when you`re trying to get up in the morning? Ever felt the pain in your knees after carrying guitars and amps for 35 years? Ever felt the pain in your nervous system after participating at a blues festival in Norway? Yes sir!! If you do, alright, then you have turned 50!! Great God allmighty! That`s what`s happening to most of us; we turn 50. This is a song about thoughts that sometimes enter your damaged brain.

WIILIAM TUCKER`S BLUES    ( Jan Erik Moe )

This is The Dedication. To the people who struggle for their freedom, all over the world, and to the American black man who gave us a lifetime of blues music. No more comments.

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