Love That Album Podcast Episode 169 - Interview with Pauline Bailey, author of Blues Portrait – A Profile of the Australian Blues Scene
Love That AlbumShow Notes
Buddy Guy put out an album in 1991 called Damn Right I Got The Blues. The song sounds like so much of a form of catharsis. However, blues can also represent a form of celebration. There's pre-war country blues, jump blues, swamp blues.... There's blues styles from Chicago, Texas, Louisiana and other American regions. The blues is not one thing. It's old...it's contemporary. It's relaxed...it's heart pumping. It has old and young practitioners. It has iconic practitioners and some bloke playing it at your local pub.
Welcome to episode 169 of Love That Album.
Obviously, the most famous blues musicians are those from the US and from the UK. Here in Australia, however, there's been a long tradition of musicians who've devoted themselves to the blues, be it through the pre-war stylings of The Paramount Trio, the Chicago style of Collard Greens and Gravy or....the hard-boogie style of Carson. Blues lovers here believe that there is something uniquely Australian about how blues is performed here....tyranny of distance making it gritty or something like that.
In 2019, artist and blues lover Pauline Bailey took it upon herself to record an oral history of Australian blues by speaking to a plethora (as Max Crawdaddy would have it) of musicians about their connection to local blues music. In 2023, Pauline has just released Volume 4 of these incredible books with no intention of stopping. Many are well known (Diesel, Jeff Lang, Ross Wilson, Mal Eastick, Mike Rudd), some not so much......all have fascinating stories to tell about how music came into their lives, how they've pursued it, and where it took them. These books are an invaluable resource into a side of Australian music history not previously tackled. The books even feature chapters devoted to some past LTA guests (Shane Pacey, Charles Jenkins, Anthony Shortte, Sarah Carroll, and Chris Wilson).
My huge thanks to Pauline for joining me to discuss her work and her devotion to the music and stylists she's immortalised in print. If you wish to grab a copy of any of her books, you can track them down at https://store15455084.ecwid.com/Books-c40041069
Download this episode of LTA from your podcast app of choice. The wider back catalogue of episodes can also be found at http://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com
Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
You can send me feedback at [email protected] (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum. We're also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lovethatalbumpodcast/
Proudly Pantheon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Love That Album
The early years of rock and roll are remembered (among many other artists) for the hip thrusts of Elvis, the guitar styles and lyricism of Chuck Berry, the song craft of Buddy Holly, the vocal blend of The Platters and the extroversion of Little Richard. Doo wop, rockabilly, rhythm and blues were getting kids excited (and their parents despondent) about popular music. One pair of brothers had joined the rock and roll fray, but saw themselves more as country artists....and despite their youth were already music industry veterans.
3 years ago, I was rapt to welcome one of the greatest working songwriters in Australia to the podcast, Don Walker. Mostly known for his songwriting and piano playing for Cold Chisel, he's also done two albums under the Catfish moniker, been a member of supergroup Tex, Don & Charlie, and made great albums in his own name supported by his live band The Suave Fucks. What could be better?
I try to plan my podcasts in such a way that it looks like I know what I'm doing. This is one such episode that may give you pause for thought....
LTA episodes are not usually filled with stories of soldiers suffering PTSD while on R&R, working women who have to leave their children late at night, mobsters who were guilty of violent crimes, strip clubs, police corruption or the gentrification of Kings Cross…..but here we go….
There are very few artists who can claim popularity in one decade, then claim it all over again with a new band or approach to music. In Australia in the 1970s, Joe Camilleri was a huge draw with his band Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons. They created a blend of R&B and reggae that worked well, and were a big draw in Australian pubs and concert venues. After the demise of the Falcons, Camilleri started a new band called The Black Sorrows that started life as a Zydeco outfit, then evolved into a blend of Americana, soul and a touch of Van Morrison inspired songs.