John Hood

Immersed In Blues John Hood

The phone rings - my phone rings. I've set the tone to play the first four bars of Little Walter's great blues harmonica instrumental Off the Wall, which was the first Walter tune I learned to play. Hearing this short excerpt always takes me to wonderful places. Sometimes, I jump into the remainder of the first theme or it might be into his great tune Juke, but often it's some obscure tune my memory dredges up. You could say the blues is always on my mind, even if only subconsciously. I've always carried a lot of music in my head and it's often blues. This book isn't really about me, it is however, about my blues journey and the places the music has revealed to me. It is my personal take on the blues - a disparate collection of chapters about the concept of blues, my early obsession with the form, and experiences I've had as a musician playing guitar and harmonica. I also include chapters on seminal blues artists and records, along with a host of other musical topics. Although I have been playing blues harp and guitar for over 50 years I realise this doesn't make me an expert on blues, far from it. But by understanding the music from a technical perspective, I hope to provide a useful resource for people interested in blues.