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"If you want to capture the blues unvarnished by studio fixes or airplay concerns, head to the jukes and honkytonks of the Deep South. That's what the producers of this disc did, and the collection of tracks by seven acts more than lives up to the billing." --Michael Cote, BLUES REVUE "This is the real thing, folks - real people playing and listening where it all began, in an intimate setting so well-captured that you can smell the beer." --Mike Westerfield, SISYPHUS TRACKS INTERNET RADIO "Stand on the Ocean Records has delivered a the perfect antidote to the slick, overproduced music we are constantly bombarded with." --Jeff Harris, BAD DOG BLUES WITR,Rochester, NY "Just to let you know that the two CD's you sent arrived here today and the immediate reaction was WOW!!!! As I am typing I am listening to the best version of Little Red Rooster that I have ever heard...these two CDs are magic.I am considering devoting a whole programme to your companies music." --Tony Nightingale, BLUES-UNLIMITED Lincolnshire, England They say the blues was born in the Mississippi Delta, traveled up Highway 61 to Memphis where it stopped to catch its breath, then continued north to Chicago, hit its stride and spread all over the world. True enough. But not everybody left town. While much of what was the blues was busy getting civilized and celebrating diversity, the blues that stayed home was steeping in the environment and traditions that first created it. And it is still there today. Maybe not as pretty and polite as its well-traveled cousin, today's Delta blues retains the raw energy and unsophisticated exuberance that have kept Delta jukes rockin' since Muddy Waters cut heads and sold moonshine in his cabin outside of Clarksdale. The artists featured here vary in race, sex and style. Among others they include an 'old master' recorded for the final time; a veteran bluesman making a comeback; and a young group-winners of the 2001 National Blues Kids Competition- recording their first tracks. They don't have national reputations, big PR machines, entourages, horns, strings, lifted samples, fog machines, or made up African sounding names. All they have is incredible talent, love of the rush of live performance and a lifetime of the living heritage of the Delta blues. What else matters? REVIEW FROM SISYPHUS TRACKS http://sisyphustracks.com/sisyphusrollsreview.htm featured albums this week NEW/RECENT: Various Artists, Lowdown, Dirty, Mississippi Delta Blues (Stand on the Ocean Records, 2001). "Stand on the Ocean is a new, small, independent-minded, Chicago-based label whose goal is to get blues and other roots music to the public, in their own words, "before the suits, focus groups and PC police get their hands on it." This title is among their initial releases, and includes performances from several acts recorded live in Mississippi Delta juke joints. The performers - Willie Foster, Mickey Rogers, Guitar Charlie, Blues Prodigy, and others - play the electrified version of Delta blues that has come to be associated at least as much with Chicago as Mississippi. Regardless, this is the real thing, folks - real people playing and listening where it all began, in an intimate setting so well-captured that you can smell the beer." --Mike Westerfield, SISYPHUS ROLLS REVIEW REVIEW:BAD DOG BLUES WITR 89.7 Rochester, NY. March 2002 "Stand on the Ocean Records is a new label committed to recording live roots music right at the source. This undiluted, warts and all approach is captured on the label's first two releases both recorded live in the Mississippi Delta...The seven artists featured on Lowdown, Dirty, Mississippi Delta Blues were captured live in juke joints like the Walnut St. Bait Shop and the Sandbar Lounge and the music has a tough, raw exciting feel that captures the atmosphere very well...Stand on the Ocean Records has delivered a the perfect antidote to the slick, overproduced music we are constantly bombarded with. Both these excellent collections deliver music that's the real deal straight from Mississippi proving that classic Delta blues and gospel are still alive and well." --Jeff Harris FOR THE FULL REVIEW GO TO: http://www.baddogblues.com/reviews.htm ARTIST INFORMATION WILLIE FOSTER Willie Foster was born "like a rabbit" between the rows of a cotton field outside of Leland Mississippi in 1921. Heavily influenced by John 'Sonny Boy Williamson I' Lee and Tampa Red. Over the next 8 decades Willie shared the stage with the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter and Muddy Waters. Although he performed all over the world from Europe to New Zealand, unlike most of his contemporaries Willie remained in the Delta keeping the music and tradition alive. Although beset by physical problems that would have destroyed most men half his age Willie continued to perform non-stop. He once took the stage 2 days after having his leg amputated; and was rocking the house at a performance only 2 hours before he passed away suddenly this spring. Anyone who knew Willie understood why he was the inspiration for the Muddy Water tune so prevalent in Viagra commercials. He truly was "ready as anybody could be." GUITAR CHARLIE "Guitar Charlie" Rickard, also known as Huckleberry Hendrix of Skullhead Blues, has been mesmerized by the blues ever since at the age of five he disobeyed his parents and snuck over to the black church a couple of blocks away. Kneeling down behind an old Chevrolet he was transfixed by the sight of the worshippers shouting, jumping and washing each other's feet; but even more by the three piece band pouring out Gospel Blues. A few minutes later a policeman saw him, picked him up and took him home where, as Charlie says, "I got my backside tore up. I started paying my dues right then and there." Based in Greenville, Mississippi, Charlie has played with Roosevelt 'Booba' Barnes, Little Milton and Willie Foster. Charlie's influences include Jimi Hendix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Eric Clapton as well as Howlin' Wolf and Albert King. "BIG T" & THE FAMILY BAND After 'wood shedding' for several years, veteran Clarksdale bluesman Terry "Big T" Williams is making a comeback. Now joined by sons James 'Blackjack' Archer on drums and Terell Archer on bass, Big T has been playing the blues since he learned his first notes as a teenager from Dave 'Pecan' Orchard. Tutored for many years by legendary blues teacher Johnny Billington, T's main influence was Big Jack Johnson. His twenty year career includes tenure with the Jelly Roll Kings and Little Jeno's All Stars, as well as co-founder of the Stone Gas Band with Howard Stovall and 'the Gas Man' Arthneice Jones. Terry's first release, HELLHOUND IN MY SHADOW, is scheduled for release by Stand On The Ocean Records this winter. BLUES PRODIGY Winners of the 2001 Blues Kids National Talent Contest, Blues Prodigy is both the newest and youngest group represented here. Formed in January 2001 after learning their chops from 'Doctor Mike' James at the Arts & Education Program of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Blues Prodigy is a dynamic 8 piece group that puts on a dazzling show with backup singing and dancing, and a tight stage presence. Their repertoire runs the gamut from blues and r&b to rock and country. Fronted by the spectacular lead vocals of Sarah Elizabeth Metcalf and Kristen Hines each member of the group contributes something special that marks Blues Prodigy as a group on the way up. The next generation of Delta blues. BRENDA MITCHELL & THE G0-KATS Brenda Mitchell was born in Merigold, Ms., a little town on Highway 61 between the "urban centers" of Clarksdale and Greenville. She began singing spiritual music, which can be difficult to remember upon hearing the way she belts out a blues tune. She formed Brenda & the Go-Kats with her husband harmonica/keyboardist Brad Jordan. Brenda and Brad also teamed up to open the Walnut St. Bait Shop in Greenville, taking over what had been an actual bait shop just off the levy which holds back the Mississippi River; and turning it into one of the coolest jukes in the Delta. MICKEY ROGERS Veteran guitar player and singer Mickey Rogers was born in Hollandale, Ms., but left at the age of two for Chicago. He played for many years with Tyrone Davis, and toured for 12 years with Bobby Rush. Tired of the road he returned to his mother's home town of Greenville and joined up with Willie Foster for gigs in the Delta as well as several trips to Europe. Beside being a dynamite guitarist and singer Mickey has one of the most distinctive "looks" of all Delta bluesmen. LADIES CHOICE BAND Leader of the Ladies Choice Band, musician, artist and teacher Bobby Whalen was bound to become a bluesman. His boyhood home in Indianola, Ms. was in the back yard of the infamous Club Ebony. He would fall asleep to the sound of the likes of Piney Brown, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, and hometown boys B.B. & Albert King rockin' the house-or more likely sneak out of bed to get a look at what was going on. Bobby created the painting of Lucille that adorns the handprints and signature B.B. put in wet cement at the corner of 2nd & Church Sts. (see "the 15 coolest places in the Delta" at our website at www.standontheocean.com) Recorded live by Stand On The Ocean Records at the Walnut St. Bait Shop & the Sandbar Lounge, Greenville; and Blues Station & Ground Zero, Clarksdale, Ms. Mixed & mastered at Electric Garyland Studio, Chicago, IL. (773) 528-5327. Special thanks to: Willie Foster, GaryYek, John Ruskey, Mary Beth Wissmann, Blind Dog Coates and the Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Ms. (662) 627-6820. Ever wonder what the music sounds like before the suits, focus groups and PC police get their hands on it? Suspicious that what the mega-corporation that once was a record label has been feeding you is just a pale imitation of what is going down in the jukes and honky-tonks? Crave a more intimate connection with the performance than you're getting from that seat in the last balcony of the basketball stadium? Stand On The Ocean Records aims to satisfy all those needs regardless of the genre you love most. We plan to deliver a superior level of authenticity and excitement by recording various styles of grassroots American music, in live performance, in the environments in which they were born and raised. Be it blues out of Delta jukes, bluegrass from brush arbors of the Blue Ridge Mountains, gospel recorded at sanctified service in the rural South, or zydeco captured in bayou honky tonks, wherever we go we'll get you as close to the bone and as far from the bullshit as possible. Get a taste of what happens when the musicians, audience and culture come together where the music is as natural as breathing. Check out the artist's website: http://www.standontheocean.com Track List: 1. Are You Ready For the Blues--Willie Foster & Blues Upseters 2. Black Night--Big T & the Family Band 3. I Don't Know Why You're So Mean to Me--Guitar Charlie 4. You Can't Lose With the Stuff I Use--Ladies Choice Band 5. Little Red Rooster--Mickey Rogers 6. Lowdown, Dirty, Mississippi Delta Blues--Brenda Mitchell & the G 7. A Sinner's Prayer--blues Prodigy 8. I Want to Go Home--Guitar Charlie 9. Catfish Blues--Big T & the Family Band 10. It's a Man's World--Blues Prodigy 11. Funky Broadway--Mickey Rogers 12. Have You Ever Wanted Someone--Ladies Choice Band 13. Know We Love You--Willie Foster & Blues Upseters Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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