The Man Can Blow....Mark Hummel! (Pt.1)

The past decade has seen the emergence of young harmonica-led Blues bands. In California, groups that draw their inspiration from the Chicago school but add elements of jump Blues and rock 'n' roll into the mix have come up with an exciting new style of West Coast Blues. In Oakland, the northern capital of California Blues, resides the incredibly powerful harmonica player and vocalist Mark Hummel, leader of The Blues Survivors, who has been a major force in shaping and defining this musical genre.

Mark Hummel is a road warrior - a true Blues Survivor. Along the way, he has crafted his own trademark harmonica sound - a subtle combination of tone, phrasing and attack combined with a strong sense of swing. While Mark is new to Electro Fi Records, his earlier albums, constant touring and appearances at the major Blues festivals have firmly established his solid reputation around the US and Europe.

On this broadcast, host John Rhys welcomes Mark Hummel to BluePower. Mr. Hummel has raised the bar of Bluesharp playing to new heights. The man is not only a gentleman but a scholar as well. He knows every harp player who ever lived that made a record or CD.

Mark also explains to BP's listeners, how the harmonica works, the amplifiers he uses and the various types of harp playing. For instance, I didn't know there were three distinct ways to play a harmonica. No wonder I could never "get it".

Part One of this show introduces Mark Hummel and The Blues Survivors and allows an inside look at how Mark has achieved worldwide prominence. His goals and his aspirations plus a few of his favorite recordings. Artists include James Cotton, John Brim, Little Walter, George "Harmonica" Smith and many more of Mr. Hummel's favorites.

If you like harp men as much as I do, you will certainly enjoy Part One of this two part series with a true virtuoso of the instrument....Mr. Mark Hummel.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Click To Listen....The Man Can Blow....Mark Hummel! (Pt. 1)

BluePower Wishes It's USA Listeners A Blue Thanksgiving!

The staff at BluePower, BluePower UK and Smokestack Lightnin' wish all it's American listeners a very healthy and prosperous Thanksgiving Day.

Hopefully, you will set a stack of Blues CDs in the player and start cooking. There's nothing like good Blues music to set your feet to rockin' and intestinal juices flowing.

Lest we forget....America is a great and powerful country and therefore must not forget the trials and tribulations of our boys and girls overseas in the US military. Hang in there folks. Hopefully Iraq will seem like a bad dream very soon. BluePower wishes you safety and a quick return home.

God Bless America!

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Link Wray, Creator Of The Power Chord, Dies At 76!

Guitar master Link Wray, the father of the power chord in rock 'n' roll who inspired legends such as Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Pete Townsend, has died.

Wray, 76, died at his home in Copenhagen November 5, a statement from his wife and son on his Web site said. No cause of death was given, but his family said his heart was "getting tired." He was buried quietly after a service at Copenhagen's Christian Church November 18.

"While playing his guitar he often told the audience, 'God is playing my guitar, I am with God when I play,"' his wife, Olive, and son, Oliver Christian, wrote. "We saw you go with God, you were smiling."

Wray developed a style considered the blueprint for heavy metal and punk music. Frequently seen playing in his trademark leather jacket, he is best known for his 1958 instrumental "Rumble," 1959 "Rawhide" and 1963's "Jack the Ripper." His music has been featured in movies including "Pulp Fiction," "Independence Day" and "Desperado."

Wray, who was three-quarters Shawnee Indian, is said to have inspired many other rock musicians, including Pete Townsend of the Who, but also David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen. All have been quoted as saying that Wray and "Rumble" inspired them to become musicians.

"He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar,"' Townsend wrote on one of Wray's albums. Neil Young once said: "If I could go back in time and see any band, it would be Link Wray and the Raymen."

The power chord -- a thundering sound created by playing fifths (two notes five notes apart, often with the lower note doubled an octave above) -- became a favorite among rock players. Wray claimed because he was too slow to be a whiz on the guitar, he had to invent sounds.

When recording "Rumble," he created the fuzz tone by punching holes in his amplifiers to produce a dark, grumbling sound. It took off instantly, but it was banned by some deejays in big cities for seeming to suggest teen violence.

"I was looking for something that Chet Atkins wasn't doing, that all the jazz kings wasn't doing, that all the country pickers wasn't doing. I was looking for my own sound," Wray told The Associated Press in 2002.

He was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina. His two brothers, Vernon and Doug, were also musicians. The three became a country hit as "Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands." Later, after "Rumble," they became "Link Wray and the Raymen," or Wraymen, as it was sometimes spelled. Later, the brothers' relationship soured after a dispute about the rights to "Rumble."

In 1978, he moved to Denmark and married Olive Julie Povlsen. They raised their son in a three-story house on an island where Hans Christian Andersen once lived.

Though he went out of style in the '60s, he was rediscovered by later generations. He toured the United States and Canada since the mid-1990s, playing 40 shows this year. In 2002, Guitar World magazine elected Wray one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

It's Time For Smokestack Lightnin'!

This week's edition of Smokestack Lightnin’ includes our Top Ten Blues CDs for the week of 10/1/05, tribute sets to the recently deceased R.L. Burnside, and Clarence Gatemouth Brown, plus lots of brand new Blues releases, and three special sets devoted to the Easy Blues, Country Boy Blues, and some outstanding but lesser known Ladies of the Blues.

Click to hear: Smokestack Lightnin'!