Rolling Stones’ founder Brian Jones died aged 27 Updated May 30 2016 You might have read on these pages recently about the so-called 27 Club being a bit of a myth. This was mentioned at the tail end of my recent post, Musicians Living Fast and Dying Young. Here’s the link to that story, if you’re interested. https://paulmerryblues.com/2015/04/living-fast-and-dying-young.html The post was…
Updated 30 May 2016 Apart from being a member of the original Rolling Stones, Bill Wyman was a terrific blues bass player as proved on 1971’s ‘London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions’ album, alongside Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart (the Stones’ unsung pianist), Stevie Winwood and, of course, Howlin’ Wolf himself. The Howlin’ Wolf Sessions LP. A bit blurry…
Updated 20th September 2018 To us unbelievers, he was certainly NOT the devil. So, who really taught the blues guitar to Robert Johnson down at the crossroads? It wasn’t the devil, of course, but a certain Mr. Zimmerman. No, no, not Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan to us), but an African-American Mr. Zimmerman: Ike Zimmerman. I wonder if Bob knows…
Updated 31 May 2016 Robert Johnson, immaculately-dressed, like all bluesmen back then Robert Johnson was the unluckiest of blues performers. As with other giant talents, ranging from Vincent Van Gogh and Franz Kafka to Galileo and Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Johnson became revered only after his death. That he’s known at all is probably due to the appreciation of Johnson’s…
