Make Up My Dying Bed (Blind Willie Johnson)

Make Up My Dying Bed (Blind Willie Johnson) Gutbucket 2012

ink, acrylic, and sawdust on found wood

This cat was intense and aggressive with a sweet slide and the trademark gravelly growl of the street performer. The playing compliments the voice and the religious subject matter! Died by contracting malaria from sleeping on a swamp damp mattress in the burned down shell of his house/church in the hot Texas sun.

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues (Charlie Patton)

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues (GutBucket, 2011)

Acrylic and sawdust on found wood

Did the blues start here? Possibly.  Did the Blues lifestyle and image start here? Possibly, I really don't know, but in my pantheon of blues, it sure comes close...

See that My Grave is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson)

See that My Grave is Kept Clean

Acrylic, sawdust, and wire on found wood (GutBucket, 2011)

Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the original country bluesman. His influenced can be traced down through Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell, RL Burnside, to countless others.

Rock Me Mama (Butch Cage)

Rock Me Mama (Butch Cage) 2012

ink and acrylic on found violin case

Butch Cage could raise a ruckus with his partner Willie B. Thomas.  Together, this dynamic duo played in the old timey black southern string music fashion dating back to the early 1900's.  The tunes swing and rock, folk and blues and pinch of raw southern jazz.

Cross Cut Blues (Eugene Powell)

Cross-Cut Blues (Eugene Powell) 2012

ink and acrylic on found wood and saw blade

One of thee finest country blues men of his time and a link of present to the past.  Eugene Powell aka Sonny Boy Nelson recorded several songs in the 30's and 40's, usually backing up other musicians, such as his wife Mississippi Matilda.  He continued to record until his death, lucky for us his style changed very little.  As a child, Eugene was shot in the face with an arrow by one of his peers during a PE activity.  It was believed by many to a malicious attack on Eugene due to bi-raciality.