I have started a non-profit organization set up to help blues musicians get their music out there. I have been recording blues guys and gals for years for free including Reverend KM Williams, EJ Mathews, The Kimbrough Brothers, and Robert Kimbrough to name a few. Robert Kimbrough and I actually won AMD’s Album of the Year on one of Robert Kimbrough’s releases. I am now making this official by starting BluesFund.com. A 501c3 focuses on making our world a little bluer. The end result is giving blues musicians something to get on streaming platforms and/or have CDs made to sell. I intend on getting CDBaby involved.
As this ramps up, I made a pilgrimage to the mecca of my favorite type of blues in Holly Springs, MS just an hour south of Memphis with all my recording gear in tow.
Day one was with Jessie Mae Hemphill’s cousin Peggy Hemphill aka Lady Trucker. We knocked out 4 songs with me playing guitar and Tim Scruggs on drums. Peggy made me a big batch of Gumbo for us to all eat. It was delicious as were the tasty jams.
Day two was Ayer’s Day. I set up at the Ayers’ residence where Little Joe Ayers and Trenton Ayers live. I was in absolute utter awe! We set Mr. Ayers up in his bedroom with a vocal mic and a guitar cord into the room the drums were in to prevent bleeding into the vocal mic. Mr. Ayers started by saying he was only going to do 2 songs. Once he finished the second song he kept going and going. We recorded 9 songs slap full of cotton patch soul blues goodness. Trenton played bass on and then came back and overdubbed some leads. His leads were SPOT ON and full of flavor. Tim Scruggs handled the drums. Mr Ayers told me that Tim played some of these songs when Tim was a little kid playing with Joe at Rusk College years ago.
I am honored to turn dials and push faders for such amazing musicians. I kinda feel like a modern-day Alan Lomax. More To Come.
