As it turns out, I’m a big Jimmy Rogers fan and I didn’t even know it until recently!
He wrote one of my favorite tunes to play, Walking By Myself… though admittedly my version is a little more Gary Moore.
But now that I’ve found some of these great clips of him playing this iconic blues classic, I might have to make some adjustments 🙂
Here’s Jimmy playing on his 70th birthday… I chose this one because a lot of times people ask if you can play “acoustic style” (as in, by yourself) with an electric guitar. And while Jimmy has a harmonica player and another guitar player with him, I think it’s clear he’d be just fine on his own
And then I found one of him playing Walking By Myself with James Cotton back in the 70’s… check out the groove on this one:
But the coolest video is this one from the Conan O’Brien show in the mid 90’s… make sure you stay and watch the interview with him talking about hearing Robert Johnson and some other original bluesmen… he must have had quite a ride!
Jimmy Rogers was without a doubt one of the founding fathers of electric Chicago style blues so if you haven’t heard him… well you have now!
62 replies to "One of my favorites and I didn’t even know it…"
Sorry Griff. I’ meant Rogers . I like Jimmy Reed too. Too much Christmas cheer.
Thanks Griff. This is fantastic stuff. I started doing some Jimmy Reed this year with a harp player and I just can’t get over his music.
Best wishes for the New Year.
Is that Paul Butterfield with Jimmy in the first video?
Did not know this one love his sound Happy new year
Don’t know who the harp player is in the 1st video but it is definitely Not Paul Butterfield.
Good harmonica player, never the less.
Great! Youtube is fantastic, isn’t it? I saw Jimmy Rogers and his blues all-stars in Columbus, Ohio, in 1992. Give or take a year. He played a couple of great tunes, took a rest while his son led the band in some tunes, and came back for the finish.
Willie O’Shawnie was on piano and was amazing. There is always something magical about live music.
Thanks, Griff, great stuff! I had my introduction to serious blues hearing Robert Jr. Lockwood in Cleveland and have been smitten ever since! It was awesome to hear Jimmy talk about Robert Jr. who was an icon in Cleveland for the last 30 years of his life (he still had a regular gig at age 91 when he died!) He was unique in that he played the 12 string, I had never seen the blues on a 12 string. Amazing!
I’m reasonably sure the other guitar player is Jimmy Rogers son.
You are correct, that is his son James who is named for his father, He heads up the current Jimmy Rogers Band. They regularly tour the various blues circuits. I had the good fortune to see the old man in Denver CO shortly before his passing, I think ’96 or ’97, They really put on a Show.
On a break, I asked his drummer, the incomparable Ted Harvey, (Blue suit this vid),’Ted, Why you so lazy?’ He responded,’Oh, Man, if I doan needs it, I doan play it.’ Still makes me happy to remember that one.
Griff,
check out the cd
blues blues blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93qEZd4GQvo
Thank you for drawing our attention to this great blues guitarist. One of the truly great early Chicago blues giants. His style of playing seems effortless; I am sure it wasn’t all that easy to master in the day. Have a good gig at Downtown Disney. My family and I know it very well having visited Florida these past twenty four years each summer.
Smooth as a mouse peeing on cotton.
Jimmy Rogers was an absolute favorite of Freddie King. Nothing much else needs to be said.
Man, that was great. There’s a DJ by the name Johnny Miester. He hosts a syndicated radio show on Saturday nights which plays nothin but the Blues. I get it on a station here, WXPN from the U of Penn. I’ve been listening to him (much as possible) for years. So I’ve heard of Jimmy Rodgers. But this video was a real treat. Because of the Blues Show, I get to hear the new players carrying the torch, and the old cats that paved the way, and everyone in between. I hope that more folks have access to the Blues because it’s an art that deserves an audience. Thanks n Happy n Healthy Blue Year everyone!!
I think the harp player in the Conan show version is Paul Butterfield. I think the drummer is Sam Lay, Howlin’ Wolf’s drummer. I could be wrong, but it looks like him. I don’t know who the second guitar player was, but he sure worked box 1 in the key of A.
NO, no,no. Butterfield passed almost 10 years earlier in North Hollywood. Drummer is the Blues Master Rhythm Keeper, Ted Harvey. Second guitar is Jimmy Rogers son, James Rogers.
Sam lay I thought was a bass player. It could be old Age here. I saw Joe Kelly Blues Band also featuring Sam. This was at a club called the Celler, Arlington Heights Ilinois.
what was mind blowing is the following week Muddy Waters.Howling Wolf, BB King shared the stage. This was in 67.Cost $ 6 bucks
My bad on PB; he died in May, 1987.
I’m pretty sure Sam Lay was a drummer. However, in 2010 I saw Sam at the Chicago Blues Festival with a small band in which he mostly played guitar. He did do one number on drums, which seemed to wear him out as a few folks had to help him up off the stool.
yes I could be wrong or did he bounce around playing different instruments.The Joe Kelly blues band played around Chicago a
lot.Joe did play drums. I was so young then. 1966/67 fighting finger blisters and hand cramps.I also was trying to trade my Kalamazoo Amp.
Chicago South side was alive with clubs and thry were all spitting out the sweet blues.
Cheers Griff
I enjoyed the videos and write up that’s what I like about you as a teacher you not only
Shows us how to play the blues you give us the history and influences
Great videos, great interview. Keep them coming, have a happy new year!
Anyone notice on the 3rd video the drummer is a lefty?
Ted Harvey, World’s Laziest drummer, and proud of it.
Toward the end of the vid, Jimmy pulls air for the stop time,,,, Ted is already there and as the credit manager likes it, on time as agreed….
Great videos. Keep them coming.
Good job as usual Griff. I think there are still many younger folks out there that can be turned on to the blues – they just don’t know it yet. Blues guys like you need to keep putting the word out. Clapton isn’t the only one that can have an influence on the public (he does everything he can), teachers like you are keeping the flame alive. TW
love the blues forever!
thanky
Hi..Thanks for this cool videoclips…Very old but how everlasting alive well known Blues with very true sounds close real roots indeed and giving unforgettable impression.
Blues, pure and true! Thanks for the clip!
So cool. Love the sound, love the blues. Great find.
Good stuff enjoy every minute of this sort of music playing by this great musso.
Keep it coming .
Wishing you and your family merry Xmas and Happy year for 2015 .
Thanks for this Griff, great tune. If anyone wants to learn this, I think the arrangement is very close to “Mississipi Blues”, which can be found on youtube by Rory Block (acoustic) and by Johnny Winter (electric). And if you can find “How to Play Blues Guitar” from 1964 (book and record, NOT the album of the same title, which includes the tunes, but no instruction) by Stefan Grossman and a then 15-year-old Aurora (Rory) Block, you’re home free. This is included as a bonus in an album called “Country Blues Guitar” from Stefan Grossman’s Workshop on GuitarVideos. Or maybe Griff could do a tutorial????
that was way cool blues at ita best. thanks Griff
I am soooooo digging the first video…that slow Delta /Chicago blues reaches deep indeed and that puts a big ol’ smile on my face =)
I didn’t know you knew who Jimmy Reed was, but thanks for the videos
Thanks, Griff!
When I started playing, a bass player advised me to listen to lots of music!
I was too lazy to really search it out. Thanks for these great videos!
Buena musica!!!…. Great videos!!!!.. Thanks Griff!!!
Doggone Griff, after all the great comments before me their isn’t much else to say….Had to listen to every minute of this blog it was great..
thanks Dale
John W
A few years back, for a brief time, I played electric bass with a local blues band, “the Smooch Paywell Blues Band” (most fun I ever had)… and
this band was focused on tunes by Little Walter, the harmonica player mentioned in the 2nd video clip, as a father of this type of music. Not sure if Little Walter was playing in the second video, I think he was not very tall, but he had a similar style of playing…
The harp player on the 2nd video is James Cotton. The harp player on the 1st n 3rd video is Madson Slim.
Now THIS is what I think of the blues! Thanks Griff for showing that going from acoustic to electric just makes you a better,, more self-sufficient player
Griff,
I believe your mystery harmonica player is the one and only
Mr. Paul Butterfield! Great old video, thanks for sharing!
John
spoke too soon, but he’s in 2 out of 3…
Good job Griff Nice to see some of the older founding fathers get some”ink”. I have a couple by Lockwood and he’s great . I would like for you to dig up something by “Pink” Anderson and Fred McDowell (who I believe was a a mentor of Bonnie Raitt’s as for as playing the “slide”). Luv U man
Early on in BGU Griff talks about Blues scale Box 1 and that some famous blues men made a whole career out of playing in Box 1. Well, the guy that played the break on the Conan O’Brien show stayed in Box 1 and made a whole bunch of blues riffs from that position! That short break is worthy of some serious study on how to use the Box, how to phrase, etc. I’m putting that on my To Do list! Study and analyze how that guy used Box 1 to play the blues!
Those were great clips – Thanks for posting that! I’m glad youtube exists so all this great music is just a click away. Thanks Griff for all your lessons too!
WOW wow wow wow Amazing stuff!! Love the way he gave credit to other blues players… what a humble man. He mentioned a few like Mississippi Minney an a couple others. Going to C what I can find about them. Thank you for sharing this. I had never herd of Jimmy Rogers B 4 either. loved the way it was kept simple.. the lead player never left box one and made it work beautifully.
THANK YOU Griff
Very cool Griff. Have to admit that I did not know Jimmy Rogers, thank you for broadening my blues knowledge and spectrum. Obviously a true blues musician from our American/Chicago past.
Pretty nice simple blues but hard to learn.good stuff thanks Griff .
thanks for the reminder of how blues has moved in different directions…Jimmy Reed -> Gary Moore…just like a lot of today’s songs that are remakes of originals…blues in one of the genres that actually encourages this…later.
cowboy
Thanks again Griff, Classical Stuff. Magic.
while watching this noticed that the guitar players hand are not moving around alot no shifting to like a diffrent scale or higher octive . seems to be playing the box one yes. keeping it simple is the way of the blues . my band and i went out last week and the drummer recorded us . i listened to it and i am amazed with the original tune that we do . it was great sounding nailed it with some simple lics i threw in . all i can say that tune is us . i just need to put the tune on paper then work on it . plan ahead is the last message i got from Griff. get a feel for what you want to do first . THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!
I like Gary Moore*s version of walking by myself
One of the absolute best!!! What an inspiration he was to me when I was so fortunate to see him perform….
I agree as a “clean” player….. less is more !!!! Watch Albert King !!!
Griff,thanks for finding these video’s. I think the first and last video’s harmonica player is Charlie Musselwhite. I just love this style of blues. Thanks again. Mike Z.
You are right about the Harp player…the first rock festival I went to featured Charlie Musselwhite, 1969, it was my intro into the true bluesy sound. I am old enough and fortunate enough to have seen some of the greats play in a small beer joint in Bellingham WA back in the day. Willie Dixon, Albert Collins, Taj Mahal and more ….long live the blues!!
Thanks Griff! Excellent post! It opened up some new avenues for me, being a “by myself” electric guitar player. I do like the thumb and finger picking tone he get with the guitar. I don’t know if I can get that tone on my strat, but I’m going to try it out.
It is these old bluesmen that inspire me and like Griff I hadn’t really heard of Jimmy Rogers. I was a BB King, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed (my first great blues introduction)Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and later Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf Sonny Boy Williams Blind Lemon and it goes on. Great videos thanks Griff. My biggest frustration is that although I can play my guitar by ear ….. I cannot carry a tune in a bucket so I get frustrated LOL I have had more success since I purchased your course with my playing Griff and I enjoy the backing tracks so I can noodle along and make some music.
Wib McMullen
North Bay
Canada
Hey there 601blues. Gotta agree with most of that. I’m a firm believer in the KISS Principle. If notes are words, then some folks sure seem to have too much going on.I can play some of that ok on my electric, but my favorite for sheer original tone is my trusty old Martin.Play it clean thru a variety of amps, and it just sounds so sweet that I just gotta keep playing.Sure you know what I’m saying.Anyway, I think it’s sometimes not so much what you say, but how you say it.
Boy, That is some foot stomping music, alright. Enjoyed the post, Griff.Thanks. Keep ’em coming!
Exactly Mel, I have been playing since 9 yo am 63 now, and have been full circle a couple times in music, The speedie flying thru notes makes no sense to me, It does not add to the story,I listen to many local players, and it has become a drag race their skill is judged on the speed they can achieve, during a solo they just take off hitting all the right notes but not saying a thing, kinda like todays cars all look alike, I’am like BB give em 1 good note let em beg for the others
Thats what makes Blues so damn hard to play!! its a very simple form of music, that gets overplayed consistently,I have played with old players Black and white, Rufus Brown was the most colorful, No standard tuning, Simply they would start out with the 6th string tune to match their voice and tune the remainder to sound good with the 6th, ending up in an open tuning most of the time! get a little groove going and that was it, Today we add Elect, all kinds of amps and settings stomp boxes PUs this and that, runs licks scales tails and wails!!! we destroy the elusive blues, actually we make it harder on ourselves, get rid of all that crap, get a frontal Lobotomy, and you make get simple enough, Thats the most difficult task with my Band they get to fancy!!!
Good stuff. Thanks. The band sounded good on Conan’s show. I suspect the other guitar player was somebody we may of heard of, but that’s just a guess.