I knew Joe and can guarantee that he was a true gentleman, a person who gave his whole life to music that he freely shared with everyone. He cared a lot for his fellow musicians too. He might show up in clothes he had worn for several days and nights after some hard travel and hard drinking, and sometimes he'd shyly pull his John the Conqueror root from his pocket so that you would know he wasn't completely without resources. I have also seen him cleaned up beautifully, proudly wearing his ASCAP button in his suit lapel. His self-invented nine-string guitar which he played with such skill and passion still rings in my head, and his voice and energy still hang in the air. I don't think he really guessed how much musical richness he gave us, and I wish there was a monument somewhere to his sweet spirit.
@taiping1947 жыл бұрын
Barbara Dane -- thank you so much for your personal recollections. I've appreciated his music for around 50-years. To me, he sounds more honest and true compared to many others. Please share other stories about him.
@MrCanigou5 жыл бұрын
A hard but well lived life magnificently distilled here.
@tommytramp4 жыл бұрын
ITS so aw some to be able to know such greatness!! I was lucky to have had some great New York moments meeting some greatness as well ......
@rudytormento97532 жыл бұрын
The Answer from The lady herself! Thanks for your comment and your commitment to music. Real music that is👍
@rudytormento97532 жыл бұрын
The Answer from The lady herself! Thanks for your comment and your commitment to music. Real music that is👍
@terminatorx25455 жыл бұрын
Wow I never knew there were so many great blues players. If you listen to those rock guys they always say Robert Johnson was the best. Truth is he was just one out of hundreds that were great.
@davisworth51144 жыл бұрын
who is best is a matter of personal taste in the end, Big Joe and so many others had much stronger voices and much more drive in their music than RJ. I drove Big Joe to the studio and watched this performance at Ch. 9 on the UW campus in Seattle in 1971.
@johnellis93522 жыл бұрын
He was the master of fast blues his licks are so ahead of there time.He is so unique and rare nobody plays like him unless they wanna mimick his licks I cant stop listening and trying to play his licks
@jimberlygridder183 Жыл бұрын
Hes great , but lightnin Hopkins is my favorite. And everybody stole licks from lightnin. But hey they alll prolly borrowed licks from eachother just as musicians have always done in self taught roots music communities.
@lazylion4204 жыл бұрын
the man wanted to play 9-string electric blues but they didn't build 9-string electric instruments and all existing blues music was performed for 6-string acoustic guitars... so Big Joe built his guitar and invented his own completely unique sound... this video is as important to human culture as the footage of man first landing on the Moon. thank god for this.
@iicjguitar04162 жыл бұрын
On Stefan Wirz' website, the story Big Joe Williams told was that during a break in performing, people kept messing with his guitar, so he decided to put extra strings on it to mess them up.
@benwood71323 жыл бұрын
Unreal! What an amazing musician was Big Joe. About 6:00 in he really hits his stride! Wow
@Magnum_Opus_Music Жыл бұрын
The Blues! The Legend 💥🎸
@josesanchezjr90525 жыл бұрын
Wow , love the sound of real blues music, very unique playing. To bad it's hard to find musicians play like this ,music from the heart and soul
@PeterSchuett Жыл бұрын
Ry Cooder has build himself a 9 string guitar and sings a song from Big Joe. He is actually coming close. Search on KZbin.
@johnellis93522 жыл бұрын
Its like god came down and picked up that guitar this is deep wowe
@IIVVBlues6 жыл бұрын
Gotta love his guitar! He was a man with a unique style.
@johnellis93522 жыл бұрын
Oh yeah this is greatness this is gold
@tonk824 жыл бұрын
This channel is a gem
@johnellis93522 жыл бұрын
He is the missing link found again we love him
@baliscotsurf12 жыл бұрын
wow hes a rocker!!!!
@gassertwang29843 жыл бұрын
Detta var ju otroligt bra.!
@thoughtspiller2 жыл бұрын
Listen to that guitar! Wow.
@SkipPlaysStrings Жыл бұрын
Not to disparage or take away from this great musician's uniqueness, but I do know that Regal at least had a 9-stringed guitar (top three courses doubled) around the time that he started playing his 9'er; at least according to photographs. I also had a home-made 9 string at one point, but I had octaves on the bass strings. This is arguably more interesting!
@craigmccauley39725 жыл бұрын
Love it!
@arjhendrix13 жыл бұрын
wow channel thank you and best wishes
@beatricefarmer67538 жыл бұрын
awesome
@BradOut-bd5wp Жыл бұрын
Sounds more like a Banjo I think
@k.m.slattery62632 жыл бұрын
How do you find out Big Joe’s life story? He was amazing ❤
@PeterSchuett Жыл бұрын
Paul Butterfield wrote a nice little booklet about Big Joe and his experience with him. That gives a lot more details.