Top of the world

The Mississippi Sheiks had three unique selling points. The first and most important: they wrote great songs. Secondly, their extremely competent fiddle player Lonnie Chatmon gave them a sound all of their own. And last but not least they managed to mix black country blues with white country music and pop, finding themselves a mixed audience - a rarity in the blues field at the time - in the process.

But although the Sheiks sounded relatively white at times, they still earned a lot of praise from such famous contemporaries as Son House, Howlin´ Wolf and Muddy Waters. The latter once said he "walked ten miles to see them play. They was hightime through there, makin´ them good records, man." The core of the group consisted of Bo Carter, Walter Vinson and the brothers Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, who were related to blues legend Charley Patton. They took their name from either the popsong The Sheik Of Araby or from Rudolph Valentino´s movie The Sheik, and played both covers and original compositions. Their big crossover hit was the impressive Sitting On Top Of The World, recorded for the Okeh label in 1930. The best place to start exploring the rich musical world of the Sheiks is probably the compilation Stop And Listen on the authoritative Yazoo label.

As with many obscure artists stemming from the early part of the last century, I first heard about the Mississippi Sheiks thanks to the Bob Dylan connection. One of his first jobs as a sideman found the Minnesota bard playing a wild and bluesy harp on the Sheiks cover Sittin´ On Top Of The World at a recording session by blues performers Victoria Spivey and Big Joe Williams in March ´62. On his still somewhat underrated acoustic cover albums Good As I Been To You (´92) and World Gone Wrong (´93) he performed no less than three songs by the Sheiks, all with great results. As he says in his rambling but funny liner notes to the latter: "All their songs are raw to the bone & are faultlessly made for these modern times (the New Dark Ages) - nothing effete about the Mississippi Sheiks." Amen to that Bob.

Mississippi Sheiks - The World Is Going Wrong MP3

Mississippi Sheiks - Sitting On Top Of The World MP3

Mississippi Sheiks - I´ve Got Blood In My Eyes For You MP3

Big Joe Williams & Victoria Spivey - Sittin´ On Top Of The World MP3

Bob Dylan - Sittin´ On Top Of The World MP3

Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong MP3

Bob Dylan - Blood In My Eyes (Live New York City 16-11-´93) MP3

Behind bars

Read an amazing news article yesterday. A recent study said that one in every 100 Americans are currently in jail. There are 230 million adults living in the Land of the Free, and 2.32 million of them are behind bars. For some groups this percentage is even higher: every one in 36 adults with a Hispanic background is doing time, and one in 15 black adults. Even worse: one in 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are locked up as we speak. Staggering figures, right? Makes you think. But don´t worry, as a European I´m not going to judge. I´ll just play you some songs about life in prison...

Picking a Johnny Cash song wasn´t easy, as the man in black did quite a few jail songs in his time (and performed some legendary gigs in the slammer as well). I finally chose Doin´My Time, a Sun recording from the Walking The Line-box (Union Square). "They call me by a number not a name". Gregory Isaacs, the Jamaican nightingale, knows what it is to do time. Jailer Jailer Bring Me Water is from Extra Classic (´78). I have to do a post dedicated to The Mississippi Sheiks soon, as they never cease to amaze me. Jail Bird Love Song is to be found on the excellent Stop And Listen compilation (Yazoo). Choosing between Merle Haggard´s Mama Tried and Sing Me Back Home simply proved too hard. So you´ll get both; find them on The Lonesome Fugitive Anthology (Razor & Tie). I Fought The Law was made famous by the Bobby Fuller Four, but The Clash made it their own in ´78 on their The Cost Of Living ep. It was also added to the U.S. version of their classic debut album. The Blue Sky Boys are one of those classic country brother teams you often find me raving about in these pages. "I will scrub all your floors, I will wash all your clothes, if that will get my baby out of jail..." Hunt down the out of print Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams Of The 1930´s (RCA) for this gem.

Johnny Cash - Doin´ My Time MP3

Gregory Isaacs - Jailer Jailer Bring Me Water MP3

Mississippi Sheiks - Jail Bird Love Song MP3

Merle Haggard - Sing Me Back Home MP3

Merle Haggard - Mama Tried MP3

The Clash - I Fought The Law MP3

Blue Sky Boys - I´m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail MP3