We’ve all heard of blues in bars, but what about blues behind bars? That’s what Paul Oscher had in mind in the late ’80s, when he brought a world-class blues band to play for inmates at the Manhattan House of Detention.
Oscher, who was 74 when he died of complications from Covid in 2021, began a five-year stint as Muddy Waters’ harp player in ’67, appearing on Muddy’s After The Rain and Live (at Mr. Kelly’s). Also playing guitar, he released eight solo albums while recording with Waters’ son, Big Bill Morganfield, along with Johnny Young, Murali Coryell, Keb’ Mo’, Johnny Dyer, the Mannish Boys, and Hubert Sumlin.
With a big, full tone, he kicks off Live At The Tombs House Of Detention, NYC with two Little Walter harmonica instrumentals, eliciting shouts and whistles from the appreciative inmates. Bob Gaddy and Dave Maxwell share piano duties, while Gaddy alternates vocals with Rose Melody, who delivers a turbulent “Stormy Monday,” accented by Oscher’s biting guitar. He closes with “Hide Away,” renamed “Slideaway,” which is appropriate since Freddie King’s hit instrumental borrowed from slide man Hound Dog Taylor.
Shortly before his death, Oscher asked Louis X. Erlanger to oversee his catalog. The former guitarist with Mink DeVille also produced R.L. Burnside and performs as Sunny Lowdown. With jailhouse acoustics that were doubtless challenging, he does a great job bringing out the sound of the band as well as the boisterous atmosphere of the occasion.
Before his passing in ’21, James Harman was one of the main cornerstones of blues in Los Angeles. The stellar harp player, singer, and songwriter released about 20 albums dating back to 1981. His biggest contribution may have been as bandleader of outfits that invariably sported top-flight musicians, from guitarists Hollywood Fats, Kid Ramos, Bobby Eason, Kirk Fletcher, and Junior Watson to bassist Willie J. Campbell, pianists Gene Taylor and Fred Kaplan, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Turmes, and drummers Stephen Hodges and Jimi Bott.
That track record continued with Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime, featuring guitarist Nathan James, who joined Harman at 19. He plays an electric washboard guitar of his own design (which explains his band’s name, the Rhythm Scratchers), as Harman’s originals impress with their freshness and authenticity.
The guitarist, who pulled double duty as engineer, told me, “The album was put together of mostly songs that James wanted to use for his next album, which we were working on just before he passed away. There are eight songs taken from livestream performances we made during the height of the pandemic and four studio recordings from various sessions of the past 11 or so years of his life.”
Nathan digs in on resophonic bottleneck on “You Can’t Arrest Me For What’s On My Mind,” spikes “A Rut And A Groove” with distortion, and recalls Watson’s reverby jump-swing on “Taking It On The Lam.” The program ends poignantly with the title blues ballad. Cut in ’09, it finds Harman in a reflective mood over James’ tremolo and Taylor’s triplets.
Doug MacLeod has played bass, led an electric blues band, and backed Pee Wee Crayton, George “Harmonica” Smith, and other legends. But he really found his niche when he returned to performing solo acoustic, as evidenced by his numerous awards in that capacity. Raw Blues 1 topped the Blues Music Awards for Acoustic Album of 2024. Its follow-up, Raw Blues 2, bolts out of the gate with “Fine Lookin’ Sugar,” mixing humor and intensity.
In addition to his storytelling and onstage charm, one aspect that sets him apart is the fact that he only does original material. The spooky tale of “Horse With No Rider” features careening bottleneck; the steadily pounding “Goin’ Down Country” displays John Lee Hooker’s influence. On steel-bodied National or Waterloo flat-top, MacLeod’s whomping and stomping conjure John Hammond’s rhythmic drive, as on “Keep On Moving.” A melodic side reveals itself on “All I Had Was The Blues,” while “One Good Woman” is reminiscent of Brownie McGhee in its upbeat feel and sly, risqué lyrics.
In 2022, MacLeod’s Soul To Claim mixed acoustic and electric, solo and band. It was named one of the best albums of the year by Downbeat, which called it a masterpiece – proving that he needn’t sacrifice either side of his playing. In the late ’60s Blues Revival, many older artists enjoyed second careers playing festivals, colleges, and nightclubs to rock and folk audiences. At Los Angeles’ Ash Grove, younger players like Ry Cooder and David Lindley got to rub shoulders with the likes of Bukka White and Mance Lipscomb.
Thankfully, some concerts were professionally recorded, resulting in never-released shows by Lightnin’ Hopkins and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee now seeing the light of day. Dating from 1970 and ’73, respectively, the fidelity on Liberation Hall’s Live From The Ash Grove CDs is as outstanding as the music.
Products of the same revival, Oscher, MacLeod, Harman, and other white musicians helped revive a rich African-American art form that had gone dormant. Today, they, too, are rightfully respected as veterans.
© 2024 Dan Forte; all rights reserved by the author.
This article originally appeared in VG’s October 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
