the source album (Here's The Man!!! - Bobby Bland)

I don't own the rights to this...

I don't mean to dwell on the Grateful Dead, but those boys played A LOT of songs, and they were all up in the blues and R&B songbook, especially during the Pig Pen* era. Whether the Dead was the first band to cover songs from this album or not, I don't know. What I do know is that Here's The Man!!! seemed to be a foundational album for many of the bands that I love; most significantly, the Allman Brothers Band, Col. Bruce Hampton, and the Grateful Dead.

When I was really digging into the blues, Bobby Bland was one of my least favorite singers. The albums I heard were boring to my novice, guitar-centric ears. Also, he did this guttural thing when he sang - this hacking sound - that grossed me out. Over the years since, I've listened better and learned more. Yet, I didn't buy any of his music until Record Store Day last year when Waxtime Records released this high-quality reissue of Here's The Man!!!. I gave it a shot and holy mother of blues records, can you say motherload? Not only does it have some definitive versions of songs covered by everybody, but it is an outstanding record! The production is everything you want from that sophisticated blues that Bland and BB King took across the globe. Bobby Bland sounds like the king that he was, emotion dripping from every. single. syllable. (I get chills when I just talk about the album.) This is one of the best blind music purchases I've ever made. I have to point out the strong yet unspoken influence of Curtis Mayfield on this record. It was recorded in Chicago between 1960-1962, right before the Impressions hit. I don't know if he had any direct influence, but I hear Curtis's energy and style are all over this record.

The first notable song is "Turn on Your Lovelight." I first heard this from the Blues Brothers, but, here we go again... it was turned on its head the first time that I heard an 18 min "Lovelight" with a Pig Pen rap in the middle. See, the Dead would breakdown a few of these old blues songs in the middle and let Pig Pen do a verbal solo. He'd talk about his "old lady" or just some talk about turning on your lovelight. I didn't know that he was copying blues/soul singers, his influences. I just know that I was captivated by his raps. This early version of the Grateful Dead (1968) was firing on all cylinders. They were full of energy and acid, having the time of their lives, and playing some of the most inspired psychedelic blues on the planet. At the same time, I was hearing this early Grateful Dead, I was introduced to the most amazing musical guru and his band of music adventurers.

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Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit released a live album in 1992. The only thing I knew about this band was that they were on the recently reawakened Capricorn Records, the original home of who else, the Allman Brothers Band. It was also the home of another band that so many of these Deadheads loved, Widepread Panic. I was trying really hard to like them, but it was slow going, and I'll get back to them at some point. Col. Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit was a trip into another musical dimension. They didn't play music like other bands. They played a whole bunch of traditional songs - gospel, bluegrass, and blues - but they did them with this sense of the weird and super hot musicianship. "Turn on Your Lovelight" was one of these songs. The Col's version was almost identical to Bobby Bland's. The tempo was hot, the mood was joyous, and the Col even copied Bobby Bland's "hack," which became more of a Bruce-ism than a gross vocal effect. As I dug more into "jambands," I saw that this song was a mainstay, maybe even an anthem. 

This same album, Here's The Man!!!, yielded another song, "Yield Not To Temptation," which became a staple of Col. Bruce Hampton's repertoire. Where goes the Col. so goes a whole cadre of other bands including Widespread Panic, Phish, Gov't Mule, & Derek Trucks, who have all put their own spin on "Yield Not." As faithful as Col. Bruce and progeny are to Bobby Bland's version, none of them have EVER been able to match that churchy, brassy fervor of the original. Think "I Got A Woman" (Ray Charles) vibe. 

There are only a couple of classic bands who get me as excited as Hendrix. One of them learned practically everything they knew from this record. That band is the Allman Brothers Band. Now, I knew "Stormy Monday" was a T-Bone Walker song. I thought he was where they got the idea, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the Allman Brothers Band's Live at the Fillmore East. Duane Allman introduces the song by saying, "...we're gonna play this old Bobby Bland song. Actually, it's a T-Bone Walker song." They were definitely going for the Bobby Bland vibe. Wayne Bennett is doing his best T-Bone Walker on guitar but that piano! The piano on Bobby Bland's version is maintaining this low-end trill that creates a very different vibe from what T-Bone Walker. It is a serious vibe, a sexy vibe; it is the blues. You can feel Bobby Bland's pain. A pain that the 24-year-old Gregg Allman seemed to understand too well. 

The other big surprise on the record is "Jelly, Jelly." Brothers & Sisters was the first Allman Brothers Band album I bought. It was the first complete album without Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Classic radio played almost EVERY song on this album, "Rambling Man" and "Jessica," most notably. I love everything on the record, but this "Jelly Jelly" is a blues song, and I always come back to the blues. Gregg & Dickey put in strong performances. Although the arrangement is more straight blues, Gregg stays true to Bland's vocals. Bobby's version is sophisticated and sultry. It's got a real easy tempo, twinkling piano, and a laid-back horn section. 

Just when I thought I was finished with the Col. Bruce & Allman Brothers families' love of this album, I hit "Ain't That Loving You." This song had a very long shelf life with the Derek Trucks Band. It was always a chance for his singers to shine. It's got some dramatic breaks in the chorus, Bobby Bland moves from smooth to rough and back again, and there are multiple crescendos that a band can hit hard. I'll probably have a whole post on Derek Trucks later, but let me say that he is possibly the perfect incarnation of what I want in a musician. Derek is the nephew of Butch Trucks (a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band). He grew up under the tutelage of Col. Bruce Hampton and a few of his best students - Jimmy Herring, Oteil & Kofi Burbridge. Derek has fronted a band since he was a teenager. He was a part of Eric Clapton's band and the Allman Brothers Band. Now, he is co-leader of the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, Susan Tedeschi. Derek understands that music is about communication and that listening is quite often more important than talking. He honed that skill, among others, for a very long time. When you hear the Derek Trucks Band version of "Ain't That Loving You," you hear a lot of Derek's growth as a musician and bandleader.

One last song of note from Here's The Man!!! is "Twistin' Up the Road," as it's labeled, but the lyrics are "Further On Up the Road." This song has been covered by everybody and their mother. As with everything on this record, you BELIEVE Bobby Bland when he sings, "someone's gonna hurt you like you hurt me." He is so vulnerable. That's the thing about the blues. It shows this the narrator in a place of absolute vulnerability without making them look weak. A big guy like Bobby Bland can be completely heartbroken, but you don't feel sorry for him. He tells you - right there - that whoever broke his heart is gonna get what's coming to them. He will be vindicated. It's magical storytelling.

It's easy to see why this album made the rounds with the Allman Brothers... listen to "Whipping Post," written by Gregg Allman, you hear something very similar. Gregg feels like he has been tied to the whipping post: 

"She took all my money

Wrecked my new car

Now she's with one of my good time buddies

They're drinking in some crosstown bar."

The difference here is that there is no resolve, it's just pain. That could be an age thing (young love vs. experienced love), or maybe it's a black thing (As a black man, Bobby Bland knew that the world would go on turning and heartbreak is just a part of living). 

 

The song's last line: "Good Lord, I feel like I'm dying." Although there's no resolution, you can see that Gregg was working hard to express that same raw vulnerability. The flip side is that Here's the Man!!! is filled with love anthems. Those anthems are a big part of why this album became foundational for these hippies I've been talking about. Col. Bruce Hampton, the Grateful Dead, and the Allman Brothers were all alternatives to the mainstream; they were different even within their own hippie culture. They were leaders, too. Jerry (Garcia), Duane (Allman), and Bruce (Hampton) were different. They heard more in music than most everybody else in their communities; they had a broader vision for roots music than most. The Col. & the Allman Brothers Band became directly responsible for a web of younger generations of musicians who are still taking this respect and unique perspective forward. That is how I got into this whole mix. The Allman Brothers Band were iconic, but the guys in Aquarium Rescue Unit, Widespread Panic, Gov't Mule, and the Derek Trucks Band were young and exploratory. They took chances and made friends with other bands who were pushing the envelope with other musical traditions. All of this was opening a happy place for me. I had found a community of musicians who respected traditional music but was taking that music way outside of any boundaries. As much as I like musicians who push the envelope, every once in awhile I enjoy returning to center. This record is now a part of my center.

*Rod McKernan a.k.a. Pig Pen was a founding member of the Grateful Dead who sang, played the organ, & harmonica. He was in the band until his death in 1972.