Willie Dixon

A stranger offers people an opportunity to change their immediate future, an offer that could save them from danger.

In the early 1960s, when Greenwich Village was bursting with a folk music revival, the Friends of Old Time Music made it their mission to introduce urban audience to some of the legends of pre-war American traditional music. After a 1961 series of concerts featuring Roscoe Holcomb, Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson, Alan Lomax invited the artists and a who’s who of the folk revival back to his West 3rd Avenue apartment for an impromptu song swap. Filming was arranged on the fly and a raw, many-layered evocation of the art and attitude of the period emerges from the footage, with some of the biggest names of the era, old timers and revivalists alike: Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Jean Ritchie, Ernie Marrs, Peter LeFarge, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Guy Carawan,the Greenbriar Boys, and the New Lost City Ramblers.

With Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Memphis Slim leading the way, this group of veteran bluesman show us why their music had such a major impact on the rock n' roll bands of the 60's and 70's, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Style: Blues

Taken from the European tours organised for American blues musicians between 1962 and 1969, this release features performances by several popular blues artists, including: T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Victory Spivey, T-Bone Walker ...

Taken from the European tours organised for American blues musicians between 1962 and 1969, this release features performances by several popular blues artists, including: T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, etc.

Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann, as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.

Director Marc Levin travels to Chicago with hip-hop legend Chuck D (from Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (son of Leonard Chess and heir to the legacy of Chess Records) to explore the heyday of the Chicago blues and how they come together to produce an album that seeks to bring veteran blues players along with contemporary hip hop musicians. Along with never before seen footage from Howlin 'Wolf, Muddy Waters and Paul Butterfield Blues Band, they are original performances by Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Ike Turner and Sam Lay.

Willie Dixon: I Am the Blues captures the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame member in the twilight of his career, during a 1984 concert with the Chicago Blues All-Stars in support. Among the highlights of the gig are a spunky rendition of Built For Comfort and the stirring, little-known composition Peace; its simplistic lyrics and heartfelt sentiments make it a bluesy first cousin to John Lennon's Give Peace A Chance. Interspersed with the great music are warm recollections from Dixon as he covers topics ranging from composing to his mid 1960s re-emergence in England via cover versions of his best material courtesy of The Rolling Stones and Cream (which featured long time admirer Eric Clapton).

In 1966, CBC Television invited some of North America's greatest blues performers to gather in a studio in Toronto, recording together and individually in sessions that lasted three days. The result was originally televised as part of the CBC "Festival" series, and now the session video tapes have been found, restored and re-edited. The great Muddy Waters and his band perform "You Can't Lose What You Never Had" and "Got My Mojo Workin'," the latter with James Cotton on harmonica. Willie Dixon goes solo on "Bassology" and (helped by a little '90s technology) performs "Crazy for My Baby" with host Colin James. Plus rare appearances by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Mable Hillery singing "How Long This Train Been Gone," and delta blues piano player Sunnyland Slim, introducing a whole new generation to this inspiring, soulful music.