John H, I wish I could get to see John Mayall more than I do, In the late sixties when the UK was THE place for the blues his band was resident each week at the Brommel Club near where I lived in London. I got to sit in and play with him once as a nervous teenager, for one song, 'Ramblin' on my mind' when Peter Green was "Indisposed" and anyone in the audience that knew one of their songs got up and had a go. So my usual boast is that I replaced Peter Green in the Bluesbreakers!!!
John K, My favourite early blues is that of the players from the Memphis area, such greats as Frank Stokes, Jim Jackson, and of course Furry Lewis. Also the jug bands like Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers. They were never as depressing as some of the other Delta players and fit into the Ragtime/blues transition style. Interestingly I was recently working out the playing of Frank Stokes' version of 'T'aint nobody's business' when I realised that the sequence he was playing was pure Travis picking this in a recording from 1928. So maybe we should be calling it 'Stokes picking' rather than 'Travis picking'
I thought this pic of Jim Jackson was interesting, either he was very big or that guitar is tiny!
Colin
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