Grateful Dead Music Forum

For those of you who don't know, Pinetop, according to BB King, "was one of the last great Mississippi Bluesmen," King said. "He had such a distinctive voice, and he sure could play the piano. He will be missed not only by me, but by lovers of music all over the world". He played with Earl Hooker back in the 50s and then joined Muddy Waters in 1969. He's playing in The Last Waltz with Muddy tough the camera that was on didn't get him in frame - you can hear him doing the "answer-call" thing in the the background. I saw him a couple of times with Bob Margolin. Pinetop was still playing this year on occasion at 97 years old. A magnificent run by any measure.

These 50s era blues guys are rapidly disappearing and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for either playing music we love or influencing the players we love. Almost none of 'em got rich and most of them had to suffer through some pretty awful shit being a black performer in the 50s and 60s.

Pinetop, I raise a glass to you and I hope your telling dirty jokes to someone in the hereafter

Yes a very sad time down this way... The herd is thinning with the old timers.

JonnyBoy wrote:Yes a very sad time down this way... The herd is thinning with the old timers.

True, those guys are all going to be part of history soon - though it's hard to feel too sad for someone who gigged until he was 97 - especially considering the hard lives they lived and hard partying that they did.

The sad thing is that they haven't really gotten their due for the impact they had on rock and roll. It's BS that Elvis is considered the King of Rock and Roll for being the pretty, white guy who sang these guys' songs. I love Elvis and all but these guys put the ball on the tee for Elvis to hit. These guys never had private jets, fancy hotels, and caviar for dinner. The took a bus or a car to gigs, stayed in Super 8s, and ate fast food if they were lucky. They also had to live through the Jim Crow era and deal with all kinds of crap that would make us wet our pants and still managed to make great music despite . . . or maybe because of what they had to deal with. Then got to see a bunch of guys make millions doing what they originated because they had less pigment in their skin. It's not Elvis' or the Stones' fault they just played music that they loved and the Stones reached out to these guys and gave them gigs when they could.

We did a show with Buddy Guy back in the early 90s and while I was honored to be on the same flier as this guy I was a little saddened that the guy who gave Clapton so many good riffs was traveling in a van to play in the rain and mud to 150 people while Clapton sells out stadiums. They have every reason to be bitter but most of the ones I've met aren't.

I saw him in Ann Arbor back around 1980. Came to a tiny bar - it was great! I though he was old then (but I was so young then)!

mk

now that pinetop's gone, honeyboy edwards is the last of the delta blues musicians...

RIP