Doug Carter

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Due to popular demand, here's a track from 1963 by Son Richard & the Chessmen.

 

It's featured on my own blog,  about early blues & rock bands in the Hammer in the early 60's and even earlier.

All I Want For Xmas...

... not much happening in the way of live blues & roots music in the south Niagara / Dunnville area these days so I've been stayin' home and  turning to my music collection to get into a groove now and then in lieu of 'live' music ... which got me to thinkin' about what I bought this year that I'd recommend you buy yourself for Xmas... Hank3's "Straight To Hell" (www.hank3.com) still rules the roost overall as my favourite release of 2006, and I like the new Blackie & the Rodeo Kings a lot but if you like your blues rockin' like I do then if you ain't got it, go and get the "Blind Pig Records 25th Anniversary Collection" ...2  CDs (35 tunes) & a 7-video clip CD ROM for your PC or lapto p... hardcore non-stop blues rock for the most part... personal favourites include Arthur Adams & B.B. King doin' "Get Next To Me", Popa Chubby's "Daddy Played The Guitar & Moma Was A Disco Queen", John Mooney's "Gone To Hell" & Chris Thomas King's "Cain"...the CD-ROM includes interviews with Muddy Waters and with Snooky Prior...solid gold! & ya' can dance to it! (www.blindpigrecords.com) Other must haves from 2006... again on Blind Pig Records "The Essential Jimmy Thackery" (www.jimmythackery.com) ... includes "gonna sell that ***** 's car & buy myself a cool guitar)... James Hunter's "People Gonna Talk" on Go/Rounder Records www.jameshuntermusic.com) (this one blew me away with its invocation of the early 60's R&B moving to Soul scene such as Bobby Bland and Lee Dorsey and very, very early Motown ... Watermelon Slim & the Workers (www.watermelonslim.com) on "Northern Blues" (take a ride in the Devil's Cadillac)...& last & not least was something  I picked up in 2006 but released in 2005 in England, "Gaz's Rockin' Blues" on Ace Records (UK) ... Brit blues singer, Johnny Mayall's son Gaz (gazrockin.com), has been running the hippest dance club in London, England, since 1980 ... as Gaz calls it in the liner notes "... 28 dynamite cuts of the beefiest,hard rockin' blues delights to tempt your feet with ... everyone a classic, every track a gem..."& I totally agree ... get on up & dance! dance! dance! to the real music from the 50's ... everything from Young Jessie's original song "Mary Lou", 1955, later a hit for Ronnie Hawkins, to the amazing rocker "Open The Door" by Little Booker aka Joe Tex, 1958 ... Little Johnny Jones & the Chicago Hound Dogs doin'"Sweet Little Woman", 1953 (Biscuit's "Hoy, Hoy, Hoy" is based on this & other Johnny Jones tunes) to Cookie & the Cupcakes' "I'm Twisted" from 1961 ... a long time personal fave on 45 rpm & we did the flip, hit side "Mathilda" in my first band, Son Richard (aka King Biscuit Boy later on) & the Chessmen...you've got me reelin' & a rockin', goin' all out of my head!  more about that later... Diggin' the Hank3 CD & wanting to find out more about his musical roots (I already know his daddy & his grand daddy & Waylon and such) led me to check out someone I hadn't checked out from the outlaw days, songwriter David Allan Coe (www.officaldavidallancoe.com), best known for writing "Take This Job & Shove It"... I found a decent compliation at this great little record store on King Street West in Dundas...I've been buying hard-to-get-in-this-area blues there for years but when I got interested in roots country I found a great section of it there as well (picked up a great Lefty Fritzell compliation, "Shine, Shave, Shower (It's Saturday Night)"with Lefty pickin' guitar & singin' these classic Jimmy Rogers Blue Yodels plus his early 50's classics, Lefty's one of that long line of Texans playing great music mixing country, blues, Mexican etc) ... I had picked up the afore mentioned Gaz CD there on a previous trip! ... check it out, they've got something or will order if for you if they don't, for every musical taste! refreshing! That's it for CDs but check out a new blog I'm workin' on "Blues Rockin' In The Hammer, Part 1, the early '60's (www.dougcarter.typepad.com) but I'm gonna' need some help from out there in the nether reaches of The Hammer: there's gotta' be photos and other docs of the early Hamilton rock & blues bands. Runnin' & gunnin' & lookin' for a damn good time ... until next time!
(from top: Watermelon Slim, Jimmy Thackery, Blind Pig, Gaz's Rockin' Blues, James Hunter, David Allan Coe)

Blues Rockin' in the Hammer, Part 1, the Early Years

Check out dougcarter.typepad.com, and see and hear some of my own experiences playing with Son Richard & the Chessmen from 1963 to 1965.
If you have photos, tapes, other documents or a personal reminiscence, join in this opportunity to help keep the history of the early electric blues & rock bands of the Hammer alive.
(The Chessmen on East 25th Street, clockwise from top right: Steve Caskenette; Richard Newell vocals & blues harp; Doug Carter bass; Ron Copple steel guitar; Richie Hodgson, drums)

Down In The Hammer!

Down In The Hammer!

back in the Hammer on December 8 to join in the art crawl on James Street North ... I have a piece in the Xmas exhibitions at Bryce Kanbara's You/Me Gallery & next door at Collen O'Reilly & Jim Chamber's James Street North Gallery ... later we went on to the Bean Bar in Westdale to see some blues, the Stingrays were playin' there that night (home.cogeco.ca/~stingrays) ... get out of the cab and comin' out the door a great version of Little Walter's "Who"... walk inside and the joint was jumpin' ... it took 15 minutes to get drinks but I'd come here to hear the band anyway ... this was the second set & I heard
a good selection of blues hits from different eras ... I had played with the drummer, Babe Myles, in my first band, Son Richard & the Chessmen (dougcarter.typepad.com) & several groups afterwards including King Biscuit Boy & the Good'uns ... it was great to hear him still whackin' out those great shuffles à la Willie "Big Eyes" Smith & S.P. Leary, one of the best unrecognized blues drummers in Canada ... you can hear him on the last four cuts of "Badly Bent, The Best of King Biscuit Boy" on Daffodil/Love Music/Unidisc Music recorded in 1970, but generally available in with-it recorded music shops all over the Hammer ... the vocalist, Willie Leigh is a great harp player originally out of London, Ontario, in the tradtion of Little Walter & King Biscuit Boy ... on guitar, John LaRocca, an understated guitar player at first quick listen, but when you really pay attention he's got it all happenin' ... all the rhythms and all the leads you ever need all the time ... & holdin' it all together on the blue blues bass, Shawn O'Halloran .. .& the Bean Bar, what a great venue for the blues ... the last set had quite a number of people up & dancin' in the aisles ... it didn't hurt that the Stingrays started off with the Louis Jordan classic "Caledonia" (...what makes your big head so ...) at which point they were joined by a great tenor player who had just strolled through the dooor axe in hand whose name I didn't catch but I've got an e-mail into John LaRocca & will post his name when I find out .. they blues rocked on to closin' time to two encores including the groovin' boogie tune, Charlie Musselwhite's "River Hip Mama"...as there's bin' no blues in south Niagara I've heard about since the Thorold Canal Bank Shuffle back in October it was great to be back in the Hammer and find some down home Chicago blues in Westdale of all places... till next time...still runnin' & a' gunnin' & lookin' for a damn good time...D
(The Stingrays at the Bean Bar: John LaRocca on guitar, Babe Myles on drums, Willie Leigh on harp, Shawn O'Halloran on bass)

CD Release parties and more...

We're back ! Technical difficulties [a crashed computer] kept us off line for a bit. After a summer and early fall full of non stop music in the Niagara Peninsula and surrounding area, it was a slow November.
We managed to catch the jam packed CD release party for Port Colborne native Jesse Reid, at the Studio West Cafe on historic West Street on the Welland Canal. Jesse's latest CD, Gravelly Bay, is fantastic! His song writing is very strong and his voice keeps sounding better with each CD. Have a listen at his website. You can even barter yourself a copy of the new CD! No more colanders please.

Stumbled on a great music site by Hamilton native Brodie Dawson. Brodie is the daughter of Hamilton rockin' blues musician / singer Brent Dawson ....remember The Breeze? Brent and Betty Dawson's musical  influences on daughter Brodie are strong [ country meets blues and rock n' roll ].

Brodie's moved to the Yellowknife area and has developed quite a fan base. She's even been on the CBC's Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean. And wait till you hear her sing.....shades of Bonnie Raitt / Sue Foley / Patsy Cline. Keep an eye on this girl! She's going places. More music when it happens. PS