A Study of Blues And

“YOUNG FASHIONED WAYS”: A STUDY OF BLUES AND AUTHENTICITY IN THREE TRANSATLANTIC STUDIO COLLABORATIONS _______________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of San Diego State University _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Music _______________ by Conor M. Jamison Fall 2013 iii Copyright © 2013 by Conor M. Jamison All Rights Reserved iv ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS “Young Fashioned Ways”: A Study of Blues and Authenticity in Three Transatlantic Studio Collaborations by Conor M. Jamison Master of Arts in Music San Diego State University, 2013 During the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was popular for blues artists—both British and American—to travel across the Atlantic to record with their fellow musicians. Three albums resulted from these collaborative exchanges which have been popular among fans, but also matters of controversy among blues purists: The London Muddy Waters Sessions, The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, and Fleetwood Mac: Blues Jam in Chicago. Some feel that the American masters did not play to their own potential, and the white, British sidemen sound weak in comparison with their black, American counterparts. These reflections call into question the ability of the British musicians to achieve authentic blues, as well as the ability of the American players to remain authentic in a collaborative environment. In 2002, musicologist, Allan Moore published his article “Authenticity as Authentication,” wherein, he outlined a tripartite typology that can be uses as a basis for evaluating musical performances in terms of the perception of authenticity by those experiencing it. Moore's typology classifies the factors of authenticity into “first-, second-, and third-person.” Or “authenticity of: 'expression,' 'experience,' and 'execution'”. In so doing, he explains how the music itself has less to do with authenticity, than does the personal experience of the performer and the perception of the listener. The intent of this project is to apply Moore's typology to the aforementioned albums in hopes of illuminating such blues collaborations by examining the factors that contribute to musician's experience, and a listener's perception of authenticity. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Review of Literature ................................................................................................6 Purpose ...................................................................................................................15 Limitations .............................................................................................................15 Methodology ..........................................................................................................16 Definition of Terms................................................................................................18 Organization of the Document ...............................................................................19 2 FLEETWOOD MAC BLUES JAM IN CHICAGO ....................................................21 3 THE LONDON HOWLIN' WOLF SESSIONS ..........................................................38 4 THE LONDON MUDDY WATERS SESSIONS .......................................................56 5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................70 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................85 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the late 1960s, blues was waning in America. Blues still congregated in pockets of the country like Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and Houston, where there was still a thriving population of blues players and listeners, but blues no longer constituted the foundation of the American music aesthetic. Now that the United States had superstar psychedelic rock groups of its own, blues players were no longer the world ambassadors of American music as they once had been. The music of Motown and Stax Records resonated with the youth of a nation trying desperately to repair the wounds of racial subjugation, but the connections between blues and its defiant voice—speaking out in clever double entendre and euphemism against the ruling white majority—probably seemed passé and ineffective.1 Luckily for the American record industry and American blues artists, fans in the U.K. continued to demonstrate a sincere interest in blues music. In fact, the incoming generation of blues players to make the genre their own was comprised of those coming from outside the complex socio-political context of the music industry in the United States. British players like Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, and John Mayall had taken up the mantle of the traditional blues in the early 1960s when it previously had been economically unfeasible to do so.2 Their advantage may have been simply that they had not yet been introduced to the idea that blues was “black music,” and that they were not supposed to connect with it, which was the clear message of segregated radio in America. To the British listeners, there was no sonically perceptible difference between the piano playing of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis—it was all just “American music.”3 Most importantly, the first British blues players did not have any illusions of making money from their music. Unlike the white cover groups in America, 1 Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues (New York, NY: Chilton Book Company, 1969), 158. 2 Roberta Freund Schwartz, How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom (Kansas City, MI: Kansas University Press, 2007), 123. 3 Ibid., 236. 2 which were fashioned primarily to re-package and “tame down” a black song for a white audience, the British groups came together in coffee shops and pubs with an occasional “blues night,” or in the corners of obscure jazz record stores in London, scouring the isles for the newest Big Bill Broonzy single.4 By the time the “British Blues Boom” was in full swing in the mid-1960s, Korner, Bond, and Mayall had already grandfathered in a new generation of high-profile players like Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and The Rolling Stones. The eventual popularity of these artists in the U.S. only served to validate their authenticity, even though they shared that popularity with “Bubblegum Pop” artists and audiences. The early audiences for The Rolling Stones were not aware that the band was covering the songs of American blues players like Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed, which also would not have mattered much.5 From the perspective of the musicians, people were listening to their music, attending their performances, and purchasing their recordings, so their music seemed authentic to them. After all, the British musicians loved American blues music and, like so many other young blues artists, were not interested in playing anything else.6 It had been essential for the new generation of British musicians to take the blues and make it their own, which was their only course, having not been black, conventionally religious, Southern, or American. The new life that the London scene breathed into the blues did not go unnoticed by the purveyors of blues records in America. A new fan base had developed, which meant there was new demand. Skin color had opened doors to white rock radio for players like Clapton and The Rolling Stones, but now that their popularity was worldwide, there were enough new and curious fans who wanted to know the origins of this music. There were enough fans to warrant a new round of album pressings, and reissues of recordings by the black originators. The recordings of the classic masters were dredged up and re-packaged, this time for a new demographic of white youth across the Atlantic.7 4 Eric Clapton: Sessions for Robert J., directed by Stephen Schibble (Warner Reprise Films, 2004), DVD (Warner Reprise Video, 2004). 5 Roberta Freund Schwartz, 233. 6 Ibid., 236. 7 John Michael Spencer, Blues and Evil (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1993), xiii. 3 Throughout the 1960s, as the popularity of American blues artists decreased at home, it grew stronger abroad. Eric Clapton, for example, who had previously expressed great excitement at the prospect of backing up an American blues player like Sonny Boy Williamson with The Yardbirds in 1963, had been propelled into super-stardom with Cream;8 The Rolling Stones' string of pop hits brought them international fame; and the popularity of the new “Super Session” idea had blues record aficionados eagerly anticipating big-name collaborations. A few entrepreneurial record executives had the same idea. Since the end of the Second World War, American blues and jazz players had been coming to Great Britain to play for an ever-growing fan base. Initially, American record companies coordinated with British promoters, who would hire British backing musicians to accompany the high-profile American performers. In this way, American record companies saved on the cost of sending a full band on tour, and simultaneously, British promoters avoided paying steep union fees for depriving local musicians of work.9 In late 1963 the famous American blues harpist and singer Sonny Boy Williamson came to the U.K. to be

Load more