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Diamond Jim Greene - Surrounded (2012)

Diamond Jim Greene - Surrounded (2012)

BAND/ARTIST: Diamond Jim Greene

Tracklist

01. Shake 'em On Down
02. Right Now
03. Please Don't Fly Away
04. Ophelia
05. Big Leg Woman
06. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
07. Screamin' and Cryin' Blues
08. Take Time
09. I Gotta Quit You
10. Prison Blues
11. Talk That Talk
12. Wide River to Cross
13. Crossroads
14. Golden Bird

When I was about 7 or 8 years I saw Blind Arvella Gray playing a National Steel resonator guitar on Ellis avenue near 63rd Street on the south side of Chicago. This was around 1958 or ’59. There was a large crowd of adults around him and when he finished the song he was playing, the adults begged him to play it again. Mr. Gray told the crowd ” I cain’t keep playin’ dis stuff fo’ nuthin’ now, dis is how I make my livin’!.” The adults around him could not get their hands inside their pockets fast enough. Arvella had a tin cup clipped to the lapel of his jacket pocket which the adults filled up with half dollars and quarters. Some of the coins spilled onto the sidewalk. Me being the closest person to the sidewalk, began picking up the overflow of coins and stuffed them inside Mr. Gray’s jacket pocket. Of course, I was taking my little cut for my labor, after which Mr. Gray launched into the tune again. I have not been the same since. After that day, I made it my mission in life to see and hear every guitar player who came into view on the streets and taverns in Chicago and there were plenty. My sound today is a combination of those guitar players, singers, harmonica and piano players. This recording calls to mind a modern day Robert Johnson, Tampa Red, Bo Carter or Blind Willie McTell playing with a trio of horns and a solid rhythm section.

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