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RORY BLOCK — A
TRUE MESSENGER
FOR THE BLUES
RELEASES A
TRIBUTE TO
THE GREAT SON
HOUSE ON STONY
PLAIN RECORDS
“BLUES WALKIN’
LIKE A MAN”
RECREATES AND
REINTERPRETS
THE MUSIC OF THE
FATHER OF THE
DELTA BLUES
Rory Block was
15 years old
when she met Son
House. Two
improbable
people. A young
teenaged
Greenwich
Village guitar
prodigy and an
older black man,
62, who had
recorded nine of
the most
powerful blues
pieces ever for
the Paramount
label in 1930.
Years later, she
recalled the
moment:
“Backstage at
the Village Gate
in 1965 Son
House virtually
radiated a
golden light. As
I watched him
perform, rolling
his head back,
slamming the
strings and
almost choking
on the
intensity, I
learned a deep
lesson about the
power of the
music which
became an
inseparable part
of me.”
“Later I had a
chance to play
for him. I will
never forget his
amazement as I
played Willie
Brown's ‘Future
Blues.’ He was
asking people:
“Where did she
learn to play
like this?’”
“He was
beautiful
looking; smooth
skin, tall and
handsome, his
face filled with
a million
stories of the
music, a life
lived in
hardship and
cloaked in
mystery.”
Now, more than
40 years later,
the guitarist
has paid Son
House an
ultimate
tribute: A
collection of 13
songs associated
with the
legendary blues
singer titled
Blues Walkin’
Like a Man.
The album is
being released
September 30 on
Stony Plain, the
international
roots music
label based in
Edmonton,
Alberta.
Rory Block’s
life-long
involvement with
the blues has
reached a new
high point with
this release.
With
encouragement
and support from
Dick Waterman,
who helped
discover Son
House and
managed him
until the singer
died in 1988,
she cut 13
tracks, mostly
with her own
solo acoustic
guitar, and
three with the
support of one
of her oldest
friends, The
Lovin’
Spoonful’s John
Sebastian, on
harmonica.
Revered songs
like “Preachin’
Blues,” “Death
Letter,”
“Grinnin’ in
Your Face” and
“Jinx Blues” are
loaded with the
power — vocally
and
instrumentally —
that marked Son
House’s recorded
repertoire and
live
performances.
Rory Block’s
first recordings
(under the
pseudonym
Sunshine Kate)
were made for
Elektra Records;
she didn’t
record again
until 1975, when
she recorded for
RCA Victor and
Chrysalis before
signing to
Rounder Records,
for whom she cut
more than a
dozen albums.
She has also
recorded for a
number of other
labels, in
between endless
tour schedules
that have only
recently begun
to slow down.
Along the way,
she has won five
W.C. Handy
Awards (now
known simply as
Blues Awards)
from the Blues
Foundation, two
for “Best
Traditional
Blues Female
Artist,” and
three for
“Acoustic Blues
Album of the
Year,” the most
recent just last
year. She’s
earned a gold
record in
Holland, and
toured from one
end of the
United States to
the other end of
Canada, not to
mention Poland
and Norway and
Italy and a half
a dozen more
European
countries.
Everywhere she
plays, audiences
are touched by
the depth of her
commitment to
her music;
Critical
plaudits follow
the applause:
The New
York Times
put it plainly
enough: “Her
playing is
perfect, her
singing
otherworldly as
she wrestles
with ghosts,
shadows and
legends.” And
Guitar Extra,
a publication
that knows what
it speaks about,
added: “Rory
Block has become
one of the
world's most
important
preservers of
the roots of
American music.
She has become a
national
treasure in the
form of an
uncompromising
mature blues
artist.”
And her peers
echo the praise;
Bonnie Raitt put
it this way:
“Rory has been
an inspiration
to me since we
started out
years ago. Her
guitar playing,
singing and
songwriting are
some of the most
soulful in
traditional and
modern blues.”
And Dick
Waterman,
listening to the
test pressings
of the new
record, summed
it up: “She is a
true messenger
for the blues;
an artist who
can bring this
music to people
— perhaps in the
same way that
Mr. House
brought it to
Robert Johnson
and countless
others.”
Rory Block’s own
watchwords are
simple: “Life is
short, and
fragile, and I
know we all have
a mission. Don't
forget that it
is a great
privilege to be
in this
miraculous
place, and that
if you're here,
you're chosen.”
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