When she paid tribute to Robert Johnson on her 2006 album The Lady and Mr. Johnson, Rory Block tried to replicate Johnson's style exactly. She was not so reverent on 2008's Blues Walkin' Like a Man, a tribute to Son House, and on the third album she considers part of her Mentor Series , she takes some creative license with Mississippi Fred McDowell on Shake 'Em on Down. One difference is that she actually met House and McDowell, which seems to have freed her to take a more creative approach. She acknowledges that McDowell ...
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When she paid tribute to Robert Johnson on her 2006 album The Lady and Mr. Johnson, Rory Block tried to replicate Johnson's style exactly. She was not so reverent on 2008's Blues Walkin' Like a Man, a tribute to Son House, and on the third album she considers part of her Mentor Series , she takes some creative license with Mississippi Fred McDowell on Shake 'Em on Down. One difference is that she actually met House and McDowell, which seems to have freed her to take a more creative approach. She acknowledges that McDowell's driving, repetitive playing also served as a challenge, noting that he played more for dancing, intent on keeping a constant rhythm, than with any sense of virtuosity. And while she has counted the number of times a given figure might have been repeated in a particular performance of one of his songs, in her own versions she has added solo guitar lines to the basic riffs and also included other features, such as overdubbed vocal choruses. She also has written songs concerning McDowell, such as the leadoff track, "Steady Freddy," an imagined autobiography, and its successor, "Mississippi Man," her account of meeting the bluesman when she was 15. And she has adapted some of his songs, switching gender on "Good Morning Little School Girl" (which she acknowledges uneasily as being about "child predation") and "The Girl That I'm Lovin'." All of this is to say that she has applied a fan and scholar's attention as well as an artist's vision to McDowell and his work, demonstrating that a tribute requires both. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
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Add this copy of Shake 'Em on Down: a Tribute to Mississippi Fred to cart. $4.76, fair condition, Sold by Service First Media rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Taylorsville, KY, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Stony Plain.
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Fair. Ex-Library rental. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and may contain only light scratches that do not effect functionality. Includes disc(s), case, and artwork. May be missing booklet. Disc(s), case, and artwork may contain library/security stickers and ink writing. ARTWORK IS UNORIGINAL AND PRINTED BY LIBRARY. Case and artwork may show some wear. Case may not be an original jewel case. All disc(s) are authentic.
Add this copy of Shake Em on Down: a Tribute to Mississippi Fred to cart. $16.39, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Stony Plain.
Add this copy of Shake 'Em on Down: a Tribute to Mississippi Fred to cart. $22.55, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Stony Plain.
