Back when I was a boy, I didn't know what the blues were. I knew
I liked to rock, but that was about it. At the time I was
working after school and at weekends as an apprentice butcher
and early closing on a Saturday meant that if I got a shift on I
could rush across town to the finest record emporium around - Ezy Ryder. They had a rubbish bin full of cut out albums and
records without sleeves which I pored through every chance I
got.
This day I discovered a sleeveless compilation album for about
thruppence ha'penny which had a Vanilla Fudge track on it. That
was enough for the nascent rocker in me, so I bought it and
rushed off home to play it on my second hand Elizabethan mono
record deck.
The first two tracks from Delaney & Bonnie and the MC5 were
good, but then it hit me. Track 3! I had never heard anything
like this before. I yanked it off the deck to see who it was
(sleeveless, remember), and the three magic words appeared
before me. Allman Brothers Band.
I saved up my wages from then on, buying anything and everything
I could with those magic words on it. Then I started looking
more closely at the credits. Who was this "McTell" that wrote
'Statesboro' Blues'? It couldn't be Ralph? No, it was Blind
Willie. And so began an ongoing quest into the Blues that still
gets me excited a quarter of a century on. Granted, I still like
my Blues to rock and if there's a touch of a Southern roadhouse
about it, so much the better, but the Blues is definitely where
it all began.
Thursdays 20:00, Fridays 00:00 (repeat)
More blues: Tuesdays 20:00
