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Louisiana Red obituary Louisiana Red obituary
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The blues singer and guitarist Louisiana Red, who has died aged 79, began his career as an eerily accurate copyist of other artists but grew into a musician of inimitable originality. In a profession well stocked with the footloose and itinerant, he stood out as the most adventurous of blues travellers, taking his music to almost every country in Europe and many beyond, playing with local musicians in several of them. Possibly his most exotic encounter was in Greece, where he blended strains of blues and rembetika (a type of folk music) in collaboration with the singer and bouzouki player Stelios Vamvakaris. His discography includes albums cut in Czechoslovakia and Iceland, and his output over 50 years makes an eloquent case for the blues as an international language.The blues singer and guitarist Louisiana Red, who has died aged 79, began his career as an eerily accurate copyist of other artists but grew into a musician of inimitable originality. In a profession well stocked with the footloose and itinerant, he stood out as the most adventurous of blues travellers, taking his music to almost every country in Europe and many beyond, playing with local musicians in several of them. Possibly his most exotic encounter was in Greece, where he blended strains of blues and rembetika (a type of folk music) in collaboration with the singer and bouzouki player Stelios Vamvakaris. His discography includes albums cut in Czechoslovakia and Iceland, and his output over 50 years makes an eloquent case for the blues as an international language.
He was born Iverson Minter, possibly in Bessemer, Alabama (though he would cite other birthplaces, too). His mother died shortly after his birth and his father was killed in a Ku Klux Klan lynching. He spent some years in an orphanage in New Orleans, before going to live with his grandmother in Pittsburgh.He was born Iverson Minter, possibly in Bessemer, Alabama (though he would cite other birthplaces, too). His mother died shortly after his birth and his father was killed in a Ku Klux Klan lynching. He spent some years in an orphanage in New Orleans, before going to live with his grandmother in Pittsburgh.
In his teens he hung around with John Lee Hooker and Eddie Burns in Detroit, where he made some highly Hookeresque recordings under the pseudonym Rocky Fuller for the local producer Joe Von Battle. His other early sides were similarly flagrant but immensely spirited imitations of Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters.In his teens he hung around with John Lee Hooker and Eddie Burns in Detroit, where he made some highly Hookeresque recordings under the pseudonym Rocky Fuller for the local producer Joe Von Battle. His other early sides were similarly flagrant but immensely spirited imitations of Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters.
By 1962 he had found his way to New York, where he recorded for the producer Bobby Robinson. In his Roulette recording Red's Dream, updating Big Bill Broonzy's 1939 composition Just a Dream, he imagined himself in the White House, giving advice to President John F Kennedy. The album The Lowdown Backporch Blues (1963) and the single I'm Too Poor to Die, which had minor chart success in 1964, drew further attention to this vivacious and articulate young bluesman. After the album's release in Britain, he regularly visited Europe, alternating in his club performances between ominous slow blues, often with slashing slide guitar, and driving up-tempo numbers in one-man-band mode, his guitar supplemented by a harmonica held on a neck-rack.By 1962 he had found his way to New York, where he recorded for the producer Bobby Robinson. In his Roulette recording Red's Dream, updating Big Bill Broonzy's 1939 composition Just a Dream, he imagined himself in the White House, giving advice to President John F Kennedy. The album The Lowdown Backporch Blues (1963) and the single I'm Too Poor to Die, which had minor chart success in 1964, drew further attention to this vivacious and articulate young bluesman. After the album's release in Britain, he regularly visited Europe, alternating in his club performances between ominous slow blues, often with slashing slide guitar, and driving up-tempo numbers in one-man-band mode, his guitar supplemented by a harmonica held on a neck-rack.
An evening at the 100 Club in London in the late 1970s with another blues émigré, the harmonica-player Sugar Blue, furnished the material for Red, Funk and Blue, the first album on the London-based JSP label. Red also recorded for L+R in Germany then, back in the US, he made two gripping solo albums, Sweet Blood Call and Dead Stray Dog, and accompanied older musicians such as Johnny Shines and Roosevelt Sykes.An evening at the 100 Club in London in the late 1970s with another blues émigré, the harmonica-player Sugar Blue, furnished the material for Red, Funk and Blue, the first album on the London-based JSP label. Red also recorded for L+R in Germany then, back in the US, he made two gripping solo albums, Sweet Blood Call and Dead Stray Dog, and accompanied older musicians such as Johnny Shines and Roosevelt Sykes.
In the early 80s, he relocated to Chicago, then Phoenix and then Germany, where he married Dora and settled down in Hanover. It would remain his home for the rest of his life. He was not forgotten in the US, where he received a WC Handy blues award in 1983 for best traditional blues male artist, but he continued to find most of his work in Europe, where his impassioned performances – sometimes eccentric, always wholly direct and personal – provided a blues experience like no other.In the early 80s, he relocated to Chicago, then Phoenix and then Germany, where he married Dora and settled down in Hanover. It would remain his home for the rest of his life. He was not forgotten in the US, where he received a WC Handy blues award in 1983 for best traditional blues male artist, but he continued to find most of his work in Europe, where his impassioned performances – sometimes eccentric, always wholly direct and personal – provided a blues experience like no other.
In the mid-90s, after some decade-old tapes from his Phoenix period were released as Sittin' Here Wonderin' on the Chicago label Earwig, he periodically returned to the US to tour for Earwig's Michael Frank and make further albums to balance his by now considerable European catalogue, lately swelled by Last Mohican of the Blues (1992), recorded in Poland with local blues players; the encounter with Vamvakaris, Blues Meets Rembetika (1994); and numerous sets, both solo and with bands, for German labels. His 2009 album Back to the Black Bayou and a duet set with the pianist David Maxwell, You Got to Move, led to several nominations at the 2010 blues music awards, where he won awards for best acoustic artist and best acoustic album. His final album was Memphis Mojo (2011). In the mid-90s, after some decade-old tapes from his Phoenix period were released as Sittin' Here Wonderin' on the Chicago label Earwig, he periodically returned to the US to tour for Earwig's Michael Frank and make further albums to balance his by now considerable European catalogue, lately swelled by Last Mohican of the Blues (1992), recorded in Poland with local blues players; the encounter with Vamvakaris, Blues Meets Rembetika (1994); and numerous sets, both solo and with bands, for German labels. His 2009 album Back to the Black Bayou and a duet set with the pianist David Maxwell, You Got to Move, led to several nominations at the Blues Foundation's 2010 blues music awards, where he won awards for best acoustic artist and best acoustic album. His final album was Memphis Mojo (2011).
Dora survives him.Dora survives him.
• Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter), blues musician, born 23 March 1932; died 25 February 2012• Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter), blues musician, born 23 March 1932; died 25 February 2012