Delta blues legend Son House passes away in 1988

Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. passed away this day in 1988 in Detroit, MI.  Son's music had a profound impact on artists as early as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Jack White in the current day.  Jack still claims his favorite song is Son's "Grinnin' In Your Face".  Here's some vintage clips of Son House, a White Stripes cover and a clip of Jack White talking about Son's influence here...

interview segment

"John The Revelator"

Son House speaks about Robert Johnson

"Levee Camp Blues"

Son House- "Grinnin' In Your Face"

"Death Letter Blues"

White Stripes- "Death Letter"

Jack White speaks on Son House

Record Store Day releases from Vanguard Records

Record Store Day is April 20th this year but it's never too early to start planning (and saving) for releases to seek out at your favorite record store.  Every year, Vanguard Records lets the fans vote on releases they would like to see.  Here are the top 5 releasing this year on vinyl as voted on by the fans:

Various Artists Festival: The Newport Folk Festival 1965
Son House, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chambers Brothers, etc.

Various Artists Blues At Newport, 1963
Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry, etc.

Country Joe & The Fish- I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die

Buddy Guy- Hold That Plane

Big Mama Thornton- Jail

Son House was born this day in 1902

Son House was born Eddie James House, Jr. this day in 1902.  He first recorded for Paramount in 1930 but those recordings didn't sell well due to the depression.  He was rediscovered in the mid-60's and recorded and toured until the time of his death in 1988.  Enjoy some select videos as we remember this great blues man!

"Preachin' Blues"

"Downhearted Blues"

"My Black Mama" (with Buddy Guy)

"Death Letter"

Clips of Jack White from It Might Get Loud

"We're in the age of Pro-Tools," Jack says.  "Fixing things, Auto-tuning, removing mistakes or tiny little clicking sounds and any extraneous noise or tape hiss.  If you listen to the radio or a modern song, you don't hear any of that stuff.  I think all of that is soul to me, though.  That's the good stuff."

A couple of clips here from the It Might Get Loud documentary featuring Jack, Jimmy Page and The Edge.  In the first clip, Jack speaks about his favorite song from Son House.  The second clip has him playing a bit of "Fly Farm Blues".