KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Blues from the Green Earth Café, 3 of 3

Analog Audio

Event Type

Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1977.04.16.C

Program Length

91 min

Part

3 of 3

Dates

1977-04-16 | broadcast
| 1977-04-16 | created

Description

Excerpts from a benefit concert for KPFA, held at the Green Earth Café in San Francisco on April 16, 1977, featuring a number of relatively obscure Bay Area blues musicians. The program begins with the down home blues music of harpist J. C. Burris, who accompanies his energetic harmonica playing with hand slaps and yells, and sounds more like a recording from the Mississippi delta rather than the City by the Bay. This is followed by a funky set of electric blues by the Mike Henderson Blues Band which performs a hard driving set of standards before the microphone is passed to Sonny Rhodes for an exquisite selection of slow songs performed on slide guitar. The program then concludes with two songs by the little known Matthew “Boogie Jake” Jacobson, which leaves the listener wondering why he did not become a mainstay of the blues circuit. The history of the blues seems to be one of many talented musicians tirelessly performing in dimly lit bars, more interested in the reaction of the crowd before them than in the fame and fortune that comes with commercial success. This program captures the electricity and excitement that can only be found in a small club, as well as serving as a primer on the San Francisco Bay Area blues scene in the late 1970s.

Genres

Popular music

Musical Selections

The Sky Is Crying (7:54) / Sonny Rhodes -- You Were Wrong (6:17) / Sonny Rhodes -- The Highway Is Like A Woman [excerpt] (5:06) / Sonny Rhodes -- [”I Ain’t Got Nobody”] (6:14) / Boogie Jake -- There Is Something On Your Mind [excerpt] (4:10) / Boogie Jake

Performers

Sonny Rhodes, guitar and vocals (songs 1-3)
Boogie Jake, guitar and vocals (songs 4-5)

Subjects

Popular music
Blues (Music)

Related places

San Francisco (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

Rhodes, Sonny
Boogie Jake
Jacobson, Matthew