Cheap Thrills

Dock Boggs - Sugar Baby
Frank Stokes - I Got Mine
Memphis Jug Band - On The Road Again
Parham–Pickett Apollo Syncopaters - Mojo Strut
Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Kater Street Rag

I was recently gifted a book of illustrations by the american cartoonist Robert Crumb. It packages together the Heros of Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country trading card sets that he created in the 1980s. If you are unfamiliar with R. Crumb's work I suggest you seek out Terry Zwigoff's incredibly fascinating documentary about him, his brothers and their world of comics, simpley called 'Crumb'. Besides from that film he is probably best known for the album cover artwork of Big Brother and the Holding Company's 'Cheap Thrills', the comic 'Fritz the Cat' and the phrase Keep on Truckin'. Crumb is also a purveyor of old time blues, jazz and country, a musician and a 78 rpm record collector. With the book comes a CD of music from 1927-31 selected and compiled by Crumb and it's from that disc that today's tunes come.

Moran Lee 'Dock' Boggs was a banjo player and singer/songwriter who hailed from Virginia and played in an old-timey Appalachian style. 'Sugar Baby' also features on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, which I will get round to blogging about one of these days.

Frank Stokes is the book's cover star. He was born in Tennessee and was a popular entertainer in Memphis back in the day. I must admit I don't know much of Stokes but I really enjoy 'I Got Mine', particularly the bit where he sings "I belong to the knock down society but... I got mine".

The Memphis Jug Band were a collective of musicians centered around singer/guitarist Will Shade. They made many recordings and must be commended for employing the, in my opinion, under-utilized sounds of the jug and the kazoo. 'On the Road Again' isn't the original version of the Canned Heat song of the same name but is equally spirited.

The instrumental 'Mojo Strut' could be my pick of the bunch. What a party starter; this track actually lives up to its name. It features 'Tiny' Parham on piano who, going by the illustration, was anything but.

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra give us their tribute to Philadelphia's Kater Street. Sounds like a fun place.

The official Crumb site


And, if you're near London town this coming Thursday June 12 you may be interested in this flyer that's "adapted" from some Crumb illustrations. It promotes a night a couple of mates and I are running at the 3 Blind Mice bar in Shoreditch. Do drop by.



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