Show 79: USA Blues, Pt. 4: Hawaii to Illinois
This is one of the broadest swings in the whole series, showing just how far the net can be cast without losing the thread. The show uses birthplace and regional memory to prove the blues tradition is national, uneven, and full of surprising corners.
I'm your host. For today's 79th episode of the CC Blues Show, we'll be resuming our USA Blues series where I take you state by state in alphabetical order through all the blues musicians that sprung up within them. Last week, we had a big one with Georgia, and tonight we'll be going all the way from Hawai'i to Iowa to Illinois. Up first is the most celebrated steel guitarist of the Hawaiian golden age, Sol Ho'opi'i, Ho-oh-pee-ee. Sol came to the U.S. mainland as a stowaway at the age of around sixteen. He appeared in many movies, toured the country advancing his rhythmic slide techniques, and left his stamp on an entire generation of lap steel and pedal steel guitarists in the emerging country-western style. He's appeared on countless Hawaiian slide compilations, where liner notes typically described him with just a single word: hot. But tonight, we're gonna hear him blue. Here's "St. Louis Blues" by Sol Ho'opi'i, Ho-oh-pee-ee, from 1927.
| # | Track | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaleponi (California) | Kalama's Quartet |
| 2 | Beyond the Reef - Hawaiian Hula Tempo | John K. Almeida;June Ululani Leite with Johnny Almeida's Hawaiians |
| 3 | Long Time Blues | Andy Williams |
| 4 | Goin' Down bridge | Tommy Bolin;Joe Reagoso |
| 5 | I've Got My Mojo Workin' bridge | Mike Bloomfield |
| 6 | You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had | Mud Morganfield |
| 7 | Rocket 88 bridge | Bernard Allison |
| 8 | As The Years Go Passing By bridge | Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues;Carl Weathersby |
| 9 | Born in Chicago | The Paul Butterfield Blues Band |
| 10 | How Long Blues bridge | Jimmy Yancey |
| 11 | Midnight Special bridge | Burl Ives |
| 12 | Gene's Blues | Gene Krupa;Buddy Rich |
| 13 | Computer Took My Job | Maurice John Vaughn |
| Blues in My Soul | Lurrie Bell | |
| Devil At My Door | Big Bill Morganfield | |
| Dippermouth Blues | Glenn Miller | |
| Dirty Dozens | Erwin Helfer | |
| Flashback Blues | John Prine | |
| Hoochie Koochie Man | Barry Goldberg | |
| Old Plantation | Genoa Keawe | |
| Pastures of Plenty - 2 | Orville Johnson | |
| Singin' The Blues | Bix Beiderbecke | |
| St. Louis Blues | Sol Ho'opi'i | |
| Times Have Changed | Ronnie Baker Brooks;Al Kapone | |
| Trane's Blues | Miles Davis Quintet | |
| Wade in the Water | Simon Estes | |
| Work Song | Mike Bloomfield;Butterfield Blues Band |