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Today, there are more blues festivals than at any other time in the
history
of the world. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of excellent blues
players
available to perform at them. But how many bluesmen are left? You
know,
the real deal. The genuine article. Big-voiced blues veterans who
came up the
hard way in a time before rock music — when picking cotton was
the only
work and dinner meant black-eyed peas. Well, the days when blues was
pop music and bluesmen were heroes have sadly passed, but there are
still
a few of those real-deal men (and women) out there. Big George Brock
is
just such a man. Sharecropper, boxer, club owner and, through it all,
an
honest-to-Muddy bluesman. From the cotton fields to the bright lights,
big city, Brock has done it all. He's faced personal and professional
ups and downs but never given up. Even today, with all the aches and
pains of old age, the blues
still lift him up.
Born
in Grenada, Mississippi on May 16, 1932, Big George spent his teenage
years
near Clarksdale, Mississippi, before settling in St. Louis, Missouri,
in the 1950s.
While living in the Clarkdale area, he did back-breaking fieldwork,
boxed on weekends,
and played the blues. He remembers hanging out at house parties in
the Delta where
folks like Memphis Minnie would show up. Even today, he still has
relatives in the
Clarksdale area, including his blues-playing nephew James "Super
Chikan" Johnson
and brother-in-law Big Jack Johnson.
In St. Louis, Big George owned a series of blues clubs in the 1950s,
60s and 70s, including Club Caravan (formerly the Early Bird Lounge)
– where his wife at the time was killed by stray bullets from
a drunk's pistol – and New Club Caravan. Later, Big George &
the Houserockers was the house band at Climmie's Western Inn for 12
years. During his career, Big George has played shows with blues legends
like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and many others. Garrick
Feldman of the Arkansas Leader has said Big George is "about
as good a harmonica player as any of the blues greats, and he knew
and played with most of them." At various times, he's had fellow
Mississippians Willie Foster, Big Bad Smitty, Terry "Big T"
Williams, Jimbo Mathus and Bill Abel back him at shows, but most often,
you'll find him with one of the best "unknown guitar players"
in the biz: Mr. Riley Coatie.
Besides his 6-string skills, this native of the Arkansas Delta is
also known for his amazing family blues band. Coatie taught his children
Tekora, Latasha and Riley Jr. to play in the old classic style that
Big George Brock loves.
May
12, 2006 — exactly one year and five days after
he recorded his Club Caravan album — Big George Brock returned
to a Mississippi studio to lay down tracks for a much anticipated
follow-up CD. In those 370 days, a lot happened in Brock's world.
In August 2005, he took part in Mississippi Public Broadcasting's
Native Sons concert film project (since re-named Mississippi
Bluesmen). In October, Steven Seagal tapped Brock to blow harp on
the actor-musician's all-star blues album, Mojo Priest. In November,
the Blues Foundation announced Brock's "Comeback of the Year"
Blues Music Award nomination — a designation soon followed by
several "year end" top CD lists and even a Living Blues
Award nomination. By January 2006, Brock's own story in words and
music had been captured on film by director Damien Blaylock and, on
May 8, 2006, was released nationally on the DVD Hard Times.
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"Unlike many of the younger generation of harp players, 73 year-old
Big George Brock, after a half-century as a musician, has lived the
blues. In his youth he worked in the cotton fields around Clarksdale,
Mississippi, and boxed on the weekends to earn extra money. Moving
north to St. Louis in the 1950s, he played in bands and ran a series
of blues clubs in the 1960s and 1970s, including one in which his
wife at the time was killed by gunfire. He now returns frequently
to the Delta, where he still has family (including Clarksdale bluesmen
Big Jack Johnson and James “Super Chikan” Johnson) to
visit and play the festivals and local juke joints.
Earlier
in his career, Brock played on the same bill as legends like Muddy
Waters, Howling Wolf, and Jimmy Reed, but national fame eluded him
and his recorded output was limited. With a new full-length CD recorded
in 2005 by Cat Head, the Clarksdale-based music store/recording
label/art gallery/blues promotion center, he is finally, and deservedly
being heard by a much wider audience. The Houserockers, his backing
band on the CD, is the able Coatie family band, led by patriarch
Riley Coatie on guitar, with his children Riley Jr. on drums, Tekora
on bass, and Latasha on keyboard.
Unless
you’re lucky enough to catch George live at one of his frequent
shows down South, where his wife is usually hawking his CDs, you’ll
have to buy Club Caravan online, at Cat
Head or CD
Baby.
To
underscore George’s unassuming but effective harp style, he
is no gear junkie with customized harps and amps and tricked-out
mikes and effects pedals. He plays stock Hohner Golden Melody harps,
and in live shows, he plays through the PA using the same wireless
vocal mike that he sings through".
-- Bluesharp.org
Called a "73-year-old vocal and harmonica genius"
by Big City Blues magazine, Mississippi-born Big George Brock knows
his music. And when he sings his blues, he ain't lying. When he
sings "they call me a lover," know that he has 42 kids.
When he talks about "that lonesome cotton field," understand
that he grew up a Delta sharecropper. And when he boasts about beating
a rival and "[taking his] little girl home," remember
that in his younger days, Brock once wrestled a bear for money and
flattened pre-world champion Sonny Liston in a boxing match. Even
when Brock covers blues classics by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and
others, note that he learned these songs firsthand -- not just from
a record. Between his youth in the Mississippi Delta and his years
as a blues club owner in St. Louis, Brock has shared the stage with
everyone from Muddy and Wolf to Jimmy Reed and Albert King. Today,
over 60 years after he first picked up a harmonica, Brock is in
the midst of a much deserved comeback. His newest "Club Caravan"
CD (that Juke Blues magazine described as "Contender for album
of the year. Fat Possum meets Chess? Irresistible.") is up
for a Blues Music Award the same week Brock storms the stage at
the Ponderosa Stomp. From recent all-star recording sessions for
actor Steven Seagal to filmings for Mississippi Pubic Broadcasting,
from blues festival dates in Italy to national airplay on XM Satellite
Radio, Brock proves he's back and as real-deal as they come. According
to Blues & Rhythm magazine, Brock "transports us back fifty
years to a Mississippi juke joint." And Mojo magazine sums
it up this way, "Not exactly the way things were. But damn
close." May 2006 introduced a new "Hard Times" DVD
on the Cat Head Presents label and a new CD on the APO/Acoustic
Sounds label.
-- Ponderosa Stomp
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Coming soon!
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