Appointment with the exorcist – Notes From The Boneyard

Master Mark,

The car might be okay. But most likely not. But at least it’ll give us a shot of adrenaline in the road.

If it breaks down, we could always get a bicycle built for two.

Your idea of renting a Cadillac is ridiculous: We don’t want to be attracting the attention of carjackers in some of these areas. I shouldn’t have to tell you the story of the last two longhairs like us who broke down in one of these towns.

They had a shiny vehicle, much like the one you suggested we get. They got their arms torn off by carjackers. Is that what you want? Would you be happy with that? How will you be able to play the blues then?

These books you mentioned, however, sound excellent.

I think most of the texts of the books were edited, for release in the UK, by Paul Oliver.

I wouldn’t take any of these texts on the road; most of them are likely no longer in print.

I have Oliver’s ‘The Meaning of the Blues’, and was reading it recently. It feels a bit dated: He focuses on sociological issues that are better explored elsewhere, in my opinion.

But – his book, ‘The Story of the Blues’, which I also have, is excellent. If you can find, or already have, a copy, flip through it or speed read it, before you get here.

I’m currently re-reading Robert Palmer’s ‘Deep Blues’; another good introduction, and sampling bits from Oliver’s Conversations with the Blues.

This latter consists mainly of testimonies from musicians, who he found and interviewed, while traveling in the South. I have Oliver’s ‘Screening the Blues’, on my shelves, but haven’t read it.

I’d love to read David Evans’ book on Tommy Johnson, but was unable to find it anywhere.

Maybe I need to try harder.

I’d sample bits and pieces from all of these texts… if you have the time and energy.

I was reading about Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil’s Son-in-Law, today. He had a big influence on Robert Johnson. I’d love to get my hands on that book, as well.

Here’s some samples that mention some of the places we will be visiting, to make your blood tingle: “Helena, in the mid-’30s, was the blues capital of the Delta.

“Among the musicians who were in-and-out-of-town frequently were the harmonica virtuoso Rice Miller; guitarists Robert Lee McCoy (later known as Robert Nighthawk); Howlin’ Wolf; Elmore James; and Honeyboy Edwards; and pianists Memphis Slim and Roosevelt Sykes.

“But to Shines, Robert Johnson was the one, ‘the greatest guitar player I’d ever heard. The things he was doing was things that I’d never heard nobody else do’.

“Despite Robert’s standoffishness – ‘He was kind of long-armed’, Shine notes, the two began travelling together, hitching rides, hopping freight trains, perpetually on the move from somewhere to somewhere else.

“’Robert was a guy, you could wake him up any time and he was ready to go’, Shine says.

“’Say, for instance, you had come from Memphis to Helena, and we’d played there all night probably and lay down to sleep the next morning and hear a train.

“’You say, “Robert, I hear a train… Let’s catch it’.

“’He wouldn’t exchange no words with you. He’s just ready to go’.'”

Robert Palmer, ‘Deep Blues’, 1981, page 118:

“I travelled; I hunt; I farmed.

“We used to raise cotton, corn, potatoes, stuff like that, before we got to the place where my brothers wouldn’t hoe none for me, and that made me quit.

“I just couldn’t hoe that cotton. I could plow it, but I couldn’t hoe it.

“I was a plow hand.

“Well, we called us the Mississippi Sheiks, all of us Chatmans, cause my name’s Bo Chatman – only they call me Bo Carter.

“We toured with the band right through the country; through the Delta, through Louisiana down to New Orleans, serenadin’…”

Bo Carter, quoted in Paul Oliver, Conversations with the Blues, 1965, 2nd ed. 1997, page 47:

“Now, if that wasn’t enough to make you wanna get up and shake your hips, then I suggest you cancel your flight to New Orleans, stay at home with Nina and eat hot dogs all day.

‘Otherwise, see you in ten or so days.

“Don’t forget, we’ll be going to church first thing Sunday morning to get the car blessed, and I’ve arranged an appointment for you with the local exorcist.

“He’ll put you right.

“I’m not getting in a car with you unless you have a thumbs up from the Big Man.”

All the blessed,

Chad

Words by Mark McCaulsland

Illustrations by Chris Coll