My style of music

My style of music evolved

 

basically derived from the, the old masters of the Delta and Piedmont Blues. And I like to mix elements of Cajun or Country with it. This results in what I call the voodoo blues. It is played almost exclusively on original instruments from around 1930-1960. Today I no longer use electric guitars, but only play acoustic and resonator guitars from exactly that time. Some of the guitars are electrified. In the following I would like to bring you a little closer to my style of music and its influences.

 

 

Delta Blues

 

 

The term delta refers to a region of Mississippi between the Mississippi and Yahoo Rivers, not the Mississippi Estuary. The region’s earliest bluesman is considered to be Henry Sloan, who played the blues no later than 1897, but in 1901 and 1904 Sloan moved to Dockery Plantation, where he met the young Charley Patton, whose mentor he became.

 

 

 

Delta blues Musicians

 

 

In just a few years, Patton shaped his style and defined Delta Blues music. From 1907 at the latest he was active as a professional musician. His reputation attracted numerous other musicians and the Dockery Plantation became the „birthplace of the Delta Blues“. As early as the early 1910s, Patton was directly influencing the first generation of Delta Blues there, including Willie Brown (who accompanied him) and Tommy Johnson. In the 1920s they were followed by other important representatives such as Robert Johnson and Son House and Bukka White. The guys have influenced my music style the most.

 

 

The Piedmont/Ragtimestyle

 

 

Piedmont Blues is one of three regional styles of country blues. It originated on the east coast of the USA in the late 1920s and was then documented in photographs. Historically it has remained of lesser influence than Delta Blues and Texas Blues. But he is characterized by virtuoso fingerpicking. The hilly coastal area of Piedmont on the east coast of the USA, roughly from Richmond to Atlanta, is the center of the style. Individual Piedmont Blues musicians also come from Maryland and Southwest Virginia or Pennsylvania and Florida.

 

 

Representative Piedmont Blues

 

 

The Piedmont Blues always remained strongly connected to older folk music roots, especially ragtime. Its most important representatives were Blind Blake and Etta Baker. Along with Blind Lemon Jefferson from Texas, Blind Blake is considered the most successful country blues musician of the 1920s. Many well-known performers came from Atlanta, where a tradition of playing 12-string guitars had developed. Representatives were Barbecue Bob, and Charley Lincoln, as well as Curley Weaver, Peg Leg Howell and Blind Willie McTell.

 

 

Cajun and Zydecomusic

 

 

Cajun and Zydecomusic were both born in Southwest Louisiana and share certain similarities. Origins of Cajun music can be traced back to the Acadian (French Canadian) settlers who arrived in Louisiana in the late 18th century. Accordingly, these songs are almost always sung in French. Zydeco, on the other hand, was developed by African American sharecroppers, slaves, and farmers starting in the mid-19th century.

 

Instrumentation of Styles

 

 

 

The two genres were heavily influenced by each other and sometimes use the same instruments, most notably the accordion. While Cajun music is more closely related to French and other European folk music, zydeco is more closely related to blues, Afro-Caribbean music. It’s basically the same music, only the whites call it Cajun and the blacks call it Zydeco.

From all these styles that have influenced me, my very own style, which I call voodoo blues, was formed.