Rory Block - Blues Walkin' Like a Man , A Tribute To Sun House 2008

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.


Tracklist :

1 My Black Mama
2 Downhearted Blues
3 Preachin' Blues
4 Jinx Blues
5 Dry Spell Blues
6 Shetland Pony Blues
7 Death Letter
8 County Farm Blues
9 Grinnin' in Your Face
10 Low Down Dirty Dog Blues
11 Depot Blues
12 Government Fleet Blues
13 I Want to Go Home on the Morning Train