Friends of the Sixties: John Sinclair and the Blues Scholars

"Friends of the Sixties" and host Michael Erlewine present poet and blues scholar John Sinclair backed up by the Blue Scholars doing the words from an interview of Howlin' Wolf by Michael Erlewine at the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969. The Blues Scholars include Michael Erlewine on harmonica, Seth Bernard on guitar, Luke Winslow-King on bass, with vocals by May and Anne Erlewine. Originally recorded in 2007 at the Heart Center Studios. (c) Copyright 2013 by Michael Erlewine.

Friends of the Sixties: The Prime Movers Blues Band (Solo from "Endless Blues")

"Friends of the Sixties" with Michael Erlewine, a half-hour show on the legendary Ann Arbor blues group the Prime Movers Blues Band, with Iggy Pop as their drummer, complete with dozens of photos, live tunes, and Iggy Pop singing "I'm a Man" with the Prime Movers Blues Band. Michael Erlewine is founder of the All-Music Guide and former lead singer and amplified-harmonica player for the Prime Movers Blues Band.

This video originally appeared here.

Michigan Music Project: Interview with Peter Madcat Ruth (Part 1)

Part One of an interview by All-Music Guide founder Michael Erlewine with harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth, an internationally known musician. These video-podcasts are part of a series of interviews for the Michigan Music Project, a documentary on Michigan musicians, artists, venues, and music supporters. The interviews in this series represent basic archival footage (roughly edited) from which excerpts will be taken for eventual documentary.

 

This video originally appeared here.

"Mississippi" John Hurt

The history of Mississippi John Hurt reads like a real Cinderella story. Born John Smith Hurt on July 3, 1893 in Teoc (Carroll Co), Mississippi, his family moved to Avalon, Mississippi (where he grew up) when he was 2 years of age. One of ten children (all who played music of one sort or another), Hurt was the most into it and taught himself how to play. Years later, when his white landlord asked how he came up with his melodies, he replied, “Well sir, I just make it sound like I think it should.”

The Prime Movers Blues Band (Feat. Iggy Pop): "Two Trains Running"

The Prime Movers Blues Band formed in the summer of 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This audio track is from fairly early on, a gig at the Schwaben Inn and Jim Osterberg (AKA Iggy Pop) is definitely the drummer on this track. This video is a tribute to Dan Erlewine, lead guitar player for the Prime Movers Blues Band. Subsequent to the Prime Movers Dan played lead guitar for the Sam Lay Blues Band and was considering playing guitar with the Butterfield band, when he decided he really wanted to build some guitars.

The main band members included:

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Here I will share with you something about the history of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which very much influenced me and our band, the Prime Movers Blues Band. First, I will talk about my personal relationship with the Butterfield band, get in out of the way, and then go on with a general history of that band.