There is a very unique thing that happens here in Detroit the second Saturday of every month at a little place called Lo & Behold Records & Books. It's called Folk Blues Night, and it is an authentic presentation of roots and blues music, long pressed and packed away on old 78s.
Players such as Dooley Wilson (Toledo, OH), Todd Albright (Detroit via Ohio) and Danny Kroha (member of The Gories and the Demolition Doll Rods) get together to recreate a time and sound that memories are made of. Some of it's original, but most of the tunes are covers of roots and blues standards.
All if this is recorded live, as is, and transferred to cassette tape for your purchase and enjoyment "” each volume being a unique offering to the past and to the present. You'll find an excellent selection on each volume, but today I'm taking one from Volume 3 called "Detroit Woman Blues." We don't cover a lot of this kind of music on the Shuffle, but maybe it's because there're not a whole lot of people making it.
Watching these guys play has a very transformative effect on the mind; the warm tones, the soft lights, the faint smell of must and cigarettes mix with the scent of herbal tea and whiskey -- after a few tunes, you'd swear it was 1940, somewhere deeper and way more southern. It's really a magical thing to behold.
"Detroit Woman Blues" not only perfectly captures the essence of the night, but it's one of the more raw, gritty tracks I've heard from Folk Blues Night. Perfectly executed and insanely good, you can hear from this recording how much the music becomes the player. It's a timeless tune and such a rare gem in a sea of tired genres. Hope you enjoy!
All the Folk Blues Night recordings are available via Bandcamp and you can follow the event via Facebook for more updates.