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Hoochie Coochie Man Came Immediately to Mind

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Hoochie Coochie Man Came Immediately to Mind The genesis of the track Ben Verdery: Billy Dean Thomas and I so enjoyed our collaboration on Black Bach and Start Now that over the summer we decided to go back and record three more tracks. Combined with the other two, we concluded it would make a wonderfully eclectic 5 song EP. The question then arose, what to do next? I thought we should record something that was the polar opposite of Black Bach and Start Now. The legendary Blues classic Hoochie Coochie Man came immediately to mind. Truth be told, the blues was introduced to me early in my musical development because I had older brothers, and I lived on the campus of the Wooster School which at the time was a boarding school for high school boys. My brother Don in his teenage years was a great lover of the blues. He introduced me to all 3 Kings, (B.B., Albert, Freddy) Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield and Muddy Waters among others. I loved this music and still do. I love playing blues. Who doesn’t? I adored Muddy Waters from the moment I heard him. His recording Fathers and Sons was on constant rotation for months! In addition, I was lucky enough to see him perform at the Fillmore East. And yes ‐ he sang Hoochie Coochie Man. Muddy made Hoochie famous in 1955 but it was actually written by one of the greatest Blues songwriters in history, Willie Dixon. The idea also occurred to me because a few years back I had accompanied one of America’s foremost poets and educators, William Corbett. Bill read the lyrics of Hoochie Coochie Man and I played fragments of the iconic motive as an accompaniment. I loved that concert experience and it inspired me to think that Billy could similarly give Hoochie her own powerful reading. I originally thought Billy would say the lyrics in her wonderful manner with her fabulous voice. But when we began our first rehearsal, she started rhyming her own lyrics to the song. I stopped playing and exclaimed. “Billy, what the hell are you doing?” She replied that she was reading her own lyrics. She thought I wanted her to make up her own lyrics as she did in Black Bach. I was so fixated to the idea of Billy saying all of the original verses that it took me totally by surprise and was insistent that she do that. After a few tries at the original Willie Dixon verses. She said: “Can I just read what I wrote and see what you think?” She did and I flipped. It was her life story and much more. She was telling her blues. Hoochie, because of Billy’s lyrics, now took on a whole new meaning. If a Blues song can be considered an evolutionary art form in the way Flamenco music is, then Billy and I are simply moving that form in our own direction. Since we had performed the other two pieces as a duo we thought we would do the same with Hoochie. I set out to make the guitar sound extremely full and resonant. I derived quite an unusual alternate tuning to achieve this. I kept to the standard form of the song but added some dissonant as well as resonant harmonies in addition to a short phrase at the end of the chorus. The alternate tuning inspired me to take the solo and the accompaniment in a different direction than I would have had I remained in standard tuning. We had just recorded Chant for Peace with drummer extraordinaire Jared Shonig. Originally Billy and I were going to record Hoochie as a duo but Jared’s playing was so spectacular on Chant and Billy’s song Dollar And A Dream that we urged him to play on Hoochie. He said he could literally only do one take as he had to get to another engagement. One take we did! I did however re‐record my solo, which is unedited. After the producer Dave Veslocki mixed it and sent it along, it was clear to Billy and me that we had to make a video. The idea of the video was completely Billy’s and the director’s Frankie Turiano. Billy modeled herself after the 1920’s blues singer Gladys Bently and the video concept came into focus once she found that character. To say we had a magical time shooting the video is an understatement. Billy and I are so grateful to all those family and friends who gave up their Sunday to make it happen. A huge thanks goes to Frankie and his wonderful production team who worked like veteran filmmakers throughout out the day. I feel particularly grateful for the collaboration with Billy which in this case allowed me to pay a small homage to the many great blues players of my youth, most notably Hendrix, Beck and Clapton who have so inspired me all these years. I hope you enjoy our rendition of the Hoochie as well as the video. As Always, Peace , love, guitars and Hoochie Coochie Man! Billy Dean Thomas: vocals and lyrics (after the first Willie Dixon verse) Ben Verdery: guitar and arrangement Jared Shonig: drums (audio track) Robert D’Addario – drums (video) Billy and Ben want to thank Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters, Frankie Turiano and crew (!!) D’Addario strings, drummer Jared Shonig, Rob D’Addario for playing the drums in the shoot, Jack Vees for his guitar and amp, David Veslocki for producing and mixing the track and all of our family and friends for being part of it. links: Billy Dean Thomas: www.billydeanslist.com Ben Verdery: www.benjaminverdery.com .
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