Sam Myers: The Blues Is My Story

 

Sam Myers: The Blues Is My Story recounts the life of bluesman Sam Myers (1936-2006), as told in his own words to author Jeff Horton. Myers grew up visually handicapped in the Jim Crow South and left home to attend the state school for the blind at Piney Woods. Myers's intense desire to become a musician and a scholarship from the American Conservatory School of Music called him to Chicago. There in 1952 he joined Elmore James's band as a drummer and was featured on some of James's best-known recordings. Following the elder bluesman's death in 1963, Myers fronted bands of his own and recorded many well-received singles and albums. In 1986, Myers became the W. C. Handy Award-winning front man, vocalist, and harmonica player for Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets.

Throughout the book, Myers provides a historical context to a bygone era of the blues and reveals his own thoughts and feelings about the musicians with whom he played. And they are a list of who's who in the blues-Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, and Robert Lockwood Junior in addition to Elmore James. In one chapter, Myers describes a personalized deeper meaning to the blues. And in another he relates a series of anecdotes about the lighter side of life on the road.

Contributions from Myers's father and stories from a boyhood friend round out the narrative. Dallas musician Brian “Hash Brown” Calway dissects the more technical aspects of Myers's harmonica style. Long-time friend and bandmate, Anson Funderburgh, weighs in with a chapter about their songwriting methods and offers some of his own recollections on their twenty years together.

 

Sam Myers • Mississippi Delta Blues

 

Sam Myers • Coming From The Old School

Review by Chris Nickson

It's taken Sam Myers fully 50 years to make his first solo album. But he's no stranger to either stage or studio, having worked with Elmore James and Anson Funderburgh. For his debut he's assembled a top-notch band, led by guitarist Mel Brown, to work not so much behind him as with him. Brown is a standout as an accompanist, offering wonderful decoration to "I Got the Blues" and "Burning Fire." But understandably, it's Myers who's the star of the show, and his driving harmonica playing carries its own momentum, as on his version of Rice Miller's "Ninety Nine." But there's also a very pleasing grit to his singing, whether on the slow and deeply soulful"After Hours When the Joint Is Closed," or "Waitin' On Your Mama," which could have come directly from the Chicago school of blues. It might have taken him five decades to get to this, but from the music on the disc, not a single minute was wasted.

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Revisión por Chris Nickson

Sam Myers ha tardado 50 años en hacer su primer álbum en solitario. Pero no es ajeno al escenario ni al estudio, ya que trabajó con Elmore James y Anson Funderburgh. Para su debut, formó una banda de primera categoría, dirigida por el guitarrista Mel Brown, para trabajar no tanto detrás de él como con él. Brown es un destacado como acompañante, que ofrece una decoración maravillosa para "I Got the Blues" y "Burning Fire". Pero, comprensiblemente, es Myers quien es la estrella del espectáculo, y su forma de tocar la armónica tiene su propio impulso, como en su versión de "Ninety Nine" de Rice Miller. Pero también hay un tono muy agradable en su canto, ya sea en el lento y profundamente conmovedor "After Hours When the Joint Is Closed" o "Waitin 'On Your Mama", que podría haber venido directamente de la Chicago School of Blues. Podría haberle llevado cinco décadas llegar a esto, pero debido a la música del disco, no se perdió ni un solo minuto.