RESURRECTION 

 

 

THE SONGS, THEIR HISTORIES and OURS by Carl Hauser

 

All of the songs that we have resurrected (and that have resurrected us…) are “blues chestnuts” that the Druids have played and loved over the last 50 years - since we were teenagers. An important disclaimer is that the Druids are not and never were a traditional blues band. We grew up as friends in NYC in the late 60’s and were heavily influenced by the blues, rhythm and blues and soul music that

(Left to right) Carl Hauser, Tommy Workman, David Budge, Billy "BT" Tracy, Steve Tindall


permeated that period. So we were a rock’n roll band. But when I was auditioning singers for the Druids in September of 1965 I had two real prospects. One was a handsome blond lad named Kevin Gallagher with chiseled good looks and a smooth Irish tenor voice. When I asked him what he wanted to sing he said “Let’s try Hang on Sloopy.” Good call, rising up the charts at that moment. But then this gangly redheaded guy named David Budge came up to the apartment. And when I asked what he wanted to sing he said: “Do you know John Lee Hooker’s Boom, Boom?” and started in a baritone growl… All I could say was “Well, alright!” As we grew up in music together we became more and more steeped in the blues. We loved the culture of storytelling, the raw passion and violence, and we needed to learn where that music came from. And so we did, moving back in time through Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf to still earlier roots artists. Musically though, we stayed a rock ‘n roll band based on rhythms we learned from Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. So we became a rock ‘n roll band that played blues songs. And the songs here are all arranged to make them fit that straight-ahead rhythmic style while accommodating David’s unique approach to lyrics. So if we have “taken liberties” with the songs in that effort we hope that fans of more traditional Blues won’t be offended. We want to think of the Blues as a living musical form that is constantly evolving.  After all, many of the songs here were already in the public domain when we first heard them growing up and had already been played in multiple different forms. And even if not, they usually had deep roots in older traditional materials with ‘the deck shuffled’ to sound like new songs. We believe nonetheless that it’s important to credit original authors (to the extent they are known) as well as to credit the important interpreters of the older material who influenced us even where songs have entered “the public domain”. In researching this material over many years I have found that the “original authorship” of old blues songs can be difficult to determine at best. We will do our best here, but many if not all of the songs have had their ownership litigated, some many times. We like to think of ourselves as temporary custodians of a great tradition; a tradition that embraces changing and interpreting songs as they are played. And we hope that this tradition will pass through us to others, perhaps with a little bit of our take becoming part of the greater tradition. Because as much as we have played these songs, they have played us. And as we have loved them, they loved us back and kept our musical spirit alive. Their origins, as far as we can tell, are described in the discography here. So there you go… In RESURRECTION we’ve tried to re-create a set of these great blues songs the way we would have played them at a college frat party in 1965 or in a Manhattan disco in 1966-7. So come on in, find yourself somebody sit down and have a great time… Carl Hauser - Boston, June 2017. 

 

SINGING THE DRUIDS’ RESURRECTION

by David Budge

 

Fifty years ago this fall, at the end of my summer vacation, I became a Druid. It was my freshman year at Syracuse University. I still remember the phone ringing in the hallway of my dorm: “Is there a Budge living on this floor? Phone call...”  Smarting from three cracked ribs incurred in a football scrimmage, I made my way to the phone and took a call that changed my life. I don’t know how Carl Hauser tracked me down, but he was direct. “We’re putting a band together and I wanted to see if you’re interested in auditioning. You should know we’re considering one other guy.” That September, 1965 call led me catch a ride to New York City in Jay Riley’s GTO and to an audition that I won, not because I was an accomplished vocalist or because I had movie-star looks. It was because the band liked my energy and where I was coming from musically. So after a few rehearsals we played our first gig on Oct. 8, 1965 in a large ballroom in the NY Hilton—a dance for debutantes celebrating their introduction into “high society”. The music was kicking and the matrons and chaperones could hardly keep the band and the girls apart… 

 

That began the meteoric 2-year rise (and fall) of the Druids from a frat-rock band to the darlings of NY Club Society, to the first (and only) grunge blues-rock band of the late ‘60’s NYC Club scene.  This led to our being aggressively recruited by literally every major US record label. In the process, we had found a “manager” who eventually signed us to Universal City (UNI) Records, and who re-named us the “Druids of Stonehenge” for some mysterious commercial purpose. But our manager now also became our “producer” and diverted the resources meant to record and promote us into his own pocket while using as little money as possible to record us as a psychedelic bubble-gum band. The end game was us starving in Haight-Ashbury in the Summer of Love and finally driving back to NY bedraggled – and seemingly never to play again with the same joy and abandon. 

 

Although the Druids were denied that moment in the spotlight, over the ensuing 50 years we have all led full and joyous lives. But time never erased our love of rock ’n roll rhythms, blues riffs or of each other. So we all stayed in touch over the years, closer friends and more like family sometimes then our blood kin. Some stayed in music, some went on to more “conventional” lives. But with our group of close musical friends we stayed “brothers from others”, playing together whenever time, money, wives, ex-wives, geography and later health let us.  But we always looked back on the time when we “could’ve been a contender instead of being a chump” which was what the available recorded material seem to say we were. And we have always wanted to set that record straight. 

 

So when Carl asked me if I’d like to lay down a couple of songs at the LA studio of our long-time friend and confederate “Magic” Kramer, I was all in. The first song we recorded that day was Big Bill Morganfield and Taj Mahal’s “Strong Man Holler.” I had done publicity for Taj for many years, and it’s a pleasure that my old friend’s song has turned out to be the first cut in our album. But July 2016 thus marked the beginning (or continuation) of a dream I first had after singing Screaming Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You” at the 2nd or 3rd Druid gig in ‘65. And no matter what jobs I’ve held in this life—journalist, record label exec, indy PR flak, I’ve always been, and always will be a Druid. So the “Resurrection” name Billy Cross pinned on the project is a bit of a misnomer since the Druids were never really anything else. 

 

It’s fair to argue that the Druids were the most popular NYC club band of the late ‘60s even though we never even sniffed a hit. But we discovered early on that all our rock heroes (British and American) seemed to base their material and inspiration on American blues. So our mojo grew out of that tradition as well. But we have also had to change. Once comfortable adopting the frenetic stage presence of my idols, James Brown and Mick Jagger, I’ve had to concentrate on a new approach to my vocals this time around for “Resurrection.” In part this had to do with a series of heart procedures that limited my physicality. But perhaps more important, my physical limitations have forced me to concentrate more on “inhabiting” the characters whose stories I was telling and acting them out more than reaching back to try to belt the songs out. I was uncomfortable with that at first. My instinct was to “get up and go for it”.  But I couldn’t. Since I never had McCartney, Paul Rodgers or Robert Plant’s chops to begin with, I gradually eased into approaching my vocals from a completely different POV. With Carl and Magic urging me on, suggesting a shout here or a whisper there, I settled into a groove that I grew into. I began thinking about the meaning of the songs and tried to tell their stories with dramatic intensity. I certainly hope that you’ll get the kick out of listening that I did out of telling these stories.  

 

So maybe we weren’t meant to be 60’s rock stars.  And nor are we headed for the top of charts that mean precious little in our digital age.  But this time we’ve succeeded in accomplishing the goal that eluded us for half a century: we got to make the Druids record we always wanted to make. And if God calls me tomorrow, I know I’ve left something behind I’m proud of and will be ‘til that day.

 

David Budge. Los Angeles, June 2017

RECORDING RESURRECTION: THE GUITARS 

by Billy Cross

 

Billy Tracy’s son Thaddeus initiated the idea for a Druids of Stonehenge reunion in 2015. Billy was the rhythm guitarist in the original band and Thaddeus wanted his twin boys to get a chance to see their grandfather play rock and roll. That never happened for a variety of reasons, mostly related to health and other logistic concerns. But Carl Hauser, the original guitarist and “prime mover” of the band decided that instead of just playing a reunion concert, we really needed to make a record. He wanted to hear David Budge, the lead singer, the way he was meant to be heard, and to make the record that The Druids should have made back in 1966. CJ wanted to create a gritty, earthy rendition of what made the band popular in the 60’s and what it could do in 2017. Good idea but could we do it when we were all around 70 years old? 

….So I named the project “Resurrection” and it stuck!

 

My relationship to the Druids was originally one of friendly rivalry and deeply committed friendship. Back in 1965 when I played in a band called The Walkers, we divided the Upper West Side of NYC (and later divided the downtown) into two camps. The Walkers were more Beatles-like and The Druids were more like the Stones. We were the “Mods” and “Rockers” in the British parlance of those times. But we borrowed each other’s equipment, jammed, and we sat in for each other when necessary (as when I took over for Carl when he broke his elbow in a car accident.) And we grew up together in so many ways:  played music, traveled the world, experimented with every psychedelic we could find, fell in and out of love with the same women, cemented our friendships and developed our musical identities and matured on stage or hanging at The West End bar, or the Scene, or wherever. Then as time went by I was assimilated into the band. We kept the flame alive by scheduling reunions every few years but life seemed to take us all in different directions. 

 

So when Carl called me up to tell me that the production of the record had actually started and he had recorded David’s vocals in LA, I needed to prepare myself for being in the right cultural spot. I had played with Bob Dylan in the 70’s, doing three tours and recording two albums. Bob had sparked my love for the treasure of music the blues has given us, but as a thriving guitarist, record producer, singer, and songwriter in Denmark for the past 40 years I had become somewhat distanced from the pure blues of my past. I needed to go back, back to Fred McDowell, to Muddy Waters, to Howlin’ Wolf, to B.B., Albert and Freddy. I also needed to get back to Harry Smith’s anthology of American Folk Music and my old Son House, Robert Johnson and Skip James records. I dusted off my turntable and went to work. 

 

Carl wanted me to put an emphasis on my slide playing for the record. He always preferred it so I tuned up a variety of ancient instruments in different tunings and started to create the structure of my guitar parts. This was not made any easier by the boys recording some of them in one key and then changing the keys in the middle of my trying to put down my parts.  It was also tricky playing my guitars in Denmark on tracks that had been assembled in LA and Boston.  

 

When I had finished the parts I suggested to Carl that we mix with my engineer Michael Engman here in Denmark. So CJ flew over and we went to work. And somehow we got it all to sound like a raucous 1967 blues band in the 2017 equivalent of a juke joint. I don’t know how we did it but the music sounds right and David has simply stolen the show. He carries this recording on his funky slim shoulders in a way that amazes me every time I hear the mixes. 

 

For guitar nerds out there, I played my parts on the following instruments.

1959 ES-355TDC mono

1965 ES-345 TDN

1960 Gretch 6120

1926 National Tricone

1958 Fender Stratocaster

 

I used a 1960 Fender Vibrolux amp, a Jester booster, a Keeley compressor and Strymon pedals for reverb, tremolo and delay. 

 

The tunings are all specially designed for the various tracks some major, some minor and if anyone ever asks me to play open slide in Eb or F# again, I’m going to report them to the blues police.

 

We really hope you like our record.

 

 

Billy Cross. Copenhagen, June, 2017.

 


 

discography & 

lyrics

 

 

Strong Man Holler 

by Henry Fredricks [Taj Mahal].  Arr. by the Druids.

 

Strong Man Holler came to David’s attention while he working for Blind Pig Records and promoting Big Bill’s 2001 “Ramblin’ Mind” album. There, this song almost sounds like a back porch jam between Big Bill, Taj Mahal and harpist Billy Branch. Now Big Bill is Muddy Waters’ son, so I expected the cut to be suitably bluesy and funky - and it was. But using much of the same basic track, it was redone even better by Taj on his 2008 ‘Maestro’ album. DB (who also did promo for Taj) showed it to me and I loved it. So one day for fun in about 2012 we jammed it over at Magic Kramer’s studio in LA. It was just so much fun to play and came together so well that it became an inspiration for us to start back down the road back to playing together as a band again ‘for real’. 

 

 

 

Shotgun Blues

by Sam "Lightning" Hopkins. Arr. by the Druids.

 

Lightnin’ Hopkins did many songs with violent themes and in fact, the entire history of the blues is permeated with death and violence. People went down to die in the Saint James Infirmary and gamblers in Stack-O-Lee died out in the street.  But mostly in blues songs, people died at the hands of jealous lovers. And jealous fury struck with equal opportunity; it didn’t matter if you were a man or a woman. You could be Honey-Boy Edwards singing Bloodstains On the Wall or Victoria Spivey doing Murder in the First Degree. Taking out revenge on cheating lovers just seemed to hold a special place in the blues, but in fact it was a broad theme throughout all of American folk music and not simply a part of the African-American or folk-blues tradition.

Hopkins originally recorded Shotgun Blues for the Aladdin Records label in 1948. He later re-recorded a version for the 1992 Mojo Hand Blues Collection. That was re-titled Bring Me My Shotgun, perhaps to avoid confusion with the earlier “Shotgun Blues” by Sonny Boy Williamson. But it also had some new and much improved lyrics. In fact, we think Hopkins’ take on jealous revenge in “Shotgun” is very special. Superficially it seems violent and by today's standards, very "non-PC". But unlike (for instance) Robert Johnson’s “32/20 Blues”, Hopkins appears to have a sense of humor about his wife as she mocks him. And of course, in the end he can’t shoot her because “my old shotgun just won’t fire!”  I think we can suppose this is Lightnin’s wry reference to advancing age and declining sexual function! And that humor made it a natural for the Druids and especially David’s vocal sense of humor. Also, although originally done by Lightnin' in a slow Delta blues style, I thought this gritty song lent itself to an up-tempo rock’n roll arrangement “real good”. We hope you agree. 

 

 

 

Just to be with you 

by Morris Holt.  Arr. by the Druids.

 

Some people will have heard this song done by Muddy Waters and associate it with him. But it was written by Morris “Magic Slim” Holt (1937-2013). As far as we can tell, Slim first recorded it on his 1982 Grand Slam album. I was lucky enough to get to see Slim while I was working in Mississippi, but few folks from outside that state have ever heard of him. Yet Slim won the W.C. Handy award 6 times. He was a true original and a great bluesman who is much too little remembered.

 

 

 

Nobody's Fault but Mine

Traditional; Arr by the Druids 

 

Often associated with Blind Willie Johnson, Nobody's fault was already a traditional gospel song at the turn of the 20th Century. Blind Willie made the first known recorded version in 1927, about 90 years ago. That version was a pure spiritual song which warned listeners that if they didn’t read their Bibles religiously, their souls would surely be lost. Between 1927 and 1965 it was covered by John Renbourn, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone and likely countless others. In 1976 Jimmy Page and Robert Plant famously adapted it for Led Zeppelin’s Presence album. We decided to change the words almost entirely and create a completely secular song. Here, the singer needs to write and call his girlfriend or she’ll forget and leave him. Musically, we started out playing it with a “Chuck Berry meets Leon Russell” approach with Maria “MJ” Hauser supplying the Memphis-style background vocals. Eventually, some New Orleans overtones of Dr. John, Professor Longhair and Huey Piano Smith snuck in courtesy of Billy Cross and his keyboardist friend Esben during the final phases of the recording. But everybody likes a good gumbo, right?

 

 

She got my nose open 

Traditional,  Arr. by the Druids

 

All great song titles probably come from real life and most get recycled every generation or so. So it is in this case with the Detroit juke-blues song You Got My Nose Wide Open. That was recorded by “Tye Tongue” Hanley (Hanley Johnson) in 1957 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S85p6gP54h4   The great blues harpist James Cotton died this year (2017). His version of "You Got my Nose Open" was recorded in the 1990’s and it caught my ear when I was working in Jackson, MS and listening to small local blues stations. Cotton’s version was structurally identical to the earlier piece but I found myself attracted to Cotton's slower, more ‘low down’ approach to the song. Also, it was unabashedly about women's ability to control men let's say... "viscerally". The song seemed more tragic and less comic at that speed and so again, it seemed perfect for David’s vocal humor. But though the idea and the hook line were extraordinary, I thought the rest of the lyrics were pretty spotty. So I dug down into my Brill Building experiences and thought “…what Jerry Lieber have done?” The answer was to contribute a few more choice lyric ideas that were suggested by songs from another couple of Druids favorite artists. “Screaming Jay” Hawkins (whose I put a spell on you was the Druids’ signature song in the 1960s) suggested “that woman put a spell on me” and other work from James Brown (whose I’ll go crazy was often the opening song of our opening set) suggested “I can’t stand myself”.  Both of those songs of course, are also about women controlling men through their sexuality and also contain healthy doses of humor. It’s such a privilege to serve as a steward for material like this.

 

 

Superstitious Blues 

Willie Dixon, Arr. The Druids 

 

Most people attribute this song to the great Willie Dixon, who has been called “The Cole Porter of the Blues.”  But the real origin of this song lies much deeper in American folk culture and the superstitions expressed through the blues. Dixon is indebted here first and foremost to Lonnie Johnson’s 1926 Suspicious Blues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XG2VhI0dH0.  But he also owes source material to Bessie Jackson and Hattie Burleson. In 1938 Washboard Sam did a Suspicious Blues as well. That was in turn stolen by Jazz Gillum in 1947 as The Blues What Am. Dixon finally brought all these strings together and morphed them into “I Ain’t Superstitious” as it was recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1961. The Druids were huge Wolf fans but never considered doing this song in the 60’s, in great part because Wolf's version was more like a foxtrot than the frug or shing-a-ling! So it failed the "Can you dance to it" test. Of course, once Jeff Beck (our favorite Yardbird…) did it on his solo album, "Ain't Superstitious" became sort of a Rock ‘n Roll ‘guitar-god’ standard. And so it was done and redone, but always using Beck’s rhythmically exaggerated version of the Dixon arrangement. In fact, even Carlos Santana did it that way! Personally, though I love Jeff Beck’s guitar playing (especially from when he was in the Yardbirds) I always hated the rhythmic stops that took away from Wolf and Dixon’s swinging feel. But we still wanted to play the song somehow. So sitting in Magic’s studio doing “guide tracks” we tried about a half dozen ways, none of which really got us off.  Then Magic suggested doing it as a Blues Rumba. We listened to what he had in mind for a second and we never looked back. 

 

 

What a Woman (Commit a Crime) 

Chester Burnett [Howling Wolf]  Arr. the Druids

 

Chester “Howling Wolf” Burnett was one of the Druids’ heroes and a primary influence on us. There was always something about Wolf’s music that attracted us. It was an air of darkness, of barely controlled violence, and, well, of …evil.  Wolf said as much in titling his 1969 album Evil. We played a number of songs in our repertoire that were performed by him and attributed either to him or to Willie Dixon. This was probably because we heard them on my treasured and well-worn copy of Chess Records’ The Real Folk Blues or on the Chess Masters series, where every song was credited to a Chess-published writer. What we didn’t know at the time was how much this work was really based on the earlier work of others. But many of Wolf’s songs done on Chess were variants of older pieces played done by earlier ‘roots’ artists.  Perhaps best known is “Little Red Rooster”, which is almost universally attributed to Willie Dixon. And I think we can assume that the in the enormous royalties from the Rolling Stones' version of "Red Rooster" went mostly to Leonard and Phil Chess. But that song it is actually a near exact copy of Memphis Minnie’s 1936 If You See My Rooster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lNG71vqeus with a couple of lyrics tossed in from Charlie Patton’s 1929 "Banty Rooster Blues".  Another Wolf favorite the Druids did was I asked her for water (She gave me gasoline). Again, the songwriting was credited to Willie Dixon. But Dixon had simply taken it from Tommy Johnson’s 1928 “Cool Drink of Water Blues.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o808EmOukDQSpoonful was another Howlin’ Wolf song the Druids did but it was a variant of a song sung by Wolf’s mentor, Charlie Patton, called Spoonful Blues. But of all these, the authorship of Commit a Crime is perhaps most controversial.  Reviewer Bill Janovitz (http://www.allmusic.com/song/commit-a-crime-mt0010610063) said: The history of the song is a bit confusing; I first got to know the song as "What a Woman!" -- the way it is listed on the 1971 London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, a clunker of an album that saw Wolf and his sidemen teamed up with superstar British rockers like Eric Clapton and Charlie Watts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyppxI0sWFA That song is credited to “St. Louis Jimmy Oden,” an old bluesman who had a few songs covered by Wolf. Yet, there seems to be no record of Oden having written a song called "What a Woman!" In an online discography for Wolf, http://www.novia.net/cedmunds/hwdisc.htm, the track was listed as "Commit a Crime," an alternative take of "What a Woman!" by Oden. This is even more confusing, most likely the cause of a mislabeled reel of tape. But “What a Woman” (words James B. Oden and music Alex Atkins) was indeed copyrighted by James B. Oden in 1966 

https://books.google.com/booksid=szghAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA2103&lpg=PA2103&dq=What+a+Woman”,+words+written+by+James+B.+Oden,+and+music+by+Alex+Atkins+was+copyrighted+©+James+B.+Oden+on+21Jul66.&source=bl&ots=MMSXnF7Lc1&sig=E0UNk8gPos7svMhYNIitSOc3Wsk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC8Kqp_qTUAhUh4YMKHVejBNkQ6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=What%20a%20Woman”%2C%20words%20written%20by%20James%20B.%20Oden%2C%20and%20music%20by%20Alex%20Atkins%20was%20copyrighted%20©%20James%20B.%20Oden%20on%2021Jul66.&f=false

...although I can’t find a musical version on the internet.

 

 

Jumper on the Line 

R.L. Burnside.  Arr. by the Druids

 

R.L. Burnside’s “Jumper on the Line” was recorded on film by Alan Lomax at Burnside’s home in Independence, MS in 1978. Burnside was a hill-country juke-blues player. The story goes that he actually probably learned his musical craft from his neighbor, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and a web search of McDowell’s work led me to this song. In so far as we can tell, “Jumper” really did originate with RL. But the lyrics of this infectious song were few and far between, that it leaves the real meaning of the song obscure and has led  to speculation as to what RL had meant. But in February 1993, Rafael Alvarez interviewed Burnside for an article in the Baltimore Sun, and asked him directly. RL’s reply was that “In blues lore, if a married woman hangs her housecoat or ‘jumper’ out on the clothesline, it's a sign to her lover that the coast is clear.” What an image! So I thought that for this song to be translated into rock ’n roll it could be done using a country blues approach where a two-step tempo matched with a minor key. Those could be used together to suggest a deceptively light-hearted walk down a country road – a road where there might be a lover’s arms at the other end or a shotgun barrel… Also because the lyrics were so scanty, I tried to fill out Burnside’s story and intent a bit using the information he gave to the Boston Sun interview to complete RL's original idea. I hope this puts the story across better for the casual listener who is not an established student of the blues – yet…

 

 

Born to Die 

Traditional. Arr. by the Druids

 

Born to Die was first recorded by Blind Willie McTell in 1933. McTell is likely best known for Statesboro Blues, which was brought into the mainstream of Rock ‘n Roll by the Allman Brothers. In later years, the Druids had had often played Fred McDowell’s You Got to Move at our reunions. We had heard the Stones do it on Sticky Fingers, and loved their New Orleans revival feel. So we were looking for a song to do in that tradition.  Born to die was a similar type of revival blues song that I thought we could start out similarly, and then develop. The gospel themed Born to Die theme itself clearly predates McTell’s career, but the gospel overtones completely belie that the song is a totally secular piece that threatens a cheating woman with death even though the woman is actually cheating by being with the man she really “belongs” to (ie her husband) who would be known as her “monkey man”. That theme is also seen in the lyrics of Blind Boy Fuller's 1938 Pistol Slapper Blues but goes back further, at least as far as Charley Lincoln’s 1927 Hard Luck Blues

 

 

Hellhound 

Robert Johnson; Arr. the Druids

 

Robert Johnson is widely considered to have been the greatest proponent of the Delta blues. He is also the origin of the legend of the bluesman who meets the Devil at the crossroads and sells his soul to become great, but at the end of his time, the Devil was to take his soul. I have always seen “Hellhound on my Trail” as Johnson’s story of the hellhounds coming to get him in payment for his brief time of musical (and sexual…) stardom. But Hellhound still owes a lot to Skip James’ Devil Got my Woman and other pieces by Scrapper Blackwell, Hambone Willie Newburn and “Son” House. That history well described in Tom Feldmann’s Roots of Robert Johnson. http://www.guitarvideos.com/Products/guitar-workshop-instructional-dvds/roots-of-robert-johnson#.WWUUYLHMyu4  

But considering the importance of the Hellhound story to Johnson’s legend and the incredibly haunting quality of the original song, I have always been confused as to why, of all the seminal 1936 recordings captured by Don Law and Ernie Oertle, “Hellhound” is the one major piece that has not been successfully adapted to modern Rock ‘n Roll (like Crossroads was by the Cream or Love in Vain was by the Rolling Stones.) So now, 80 years after Johnson’s death, I found myself asking what (the hell) it was about Hellhound that had kept it out of the modern musical limelight. My best guess was Johnson’s incredible use of ‘blues wailing’: this allowed him to use his voice almost as a solo instrument to draw out his lyric lines in a way that no one else could. So again, the lyrics were sparse and almost surreal in their simplicity, leaving little “story” for a singer to work with. So I thought that trying to imitate Johnson’s structure was doomed to failure, certainly for us! But with that in mind, I streamlined the lyrics so that they'd fit an up-tempo rock song better and used percussion to give the song a more “swamp” feel to go along with the other-worldly nature of the Hellhound story. In that process we have tried to use elements of the traditional Robert Johnson story about his 'deal with the Devil' to flesh the song story out so DB could tell it better. For instance, in the original Johnson seeks the solace of his woman (his ‘rider’) while trying to evade the hellhounds. But evidence showed that Johnson was actually poisoned (with strychnine) courtesy of a jealous lover’s husband. So we simply suggest here that the always-cunning Satan could have disguised Johnson’s hellhound as his rider. What a nice surprise!  And man, did David rise to the occasion!

 

CJ Hauser. Boston, August 2017

 


 

1. Strong Man Holler

(Taj Mahal)

 

I remember you baby, from back in 1999

You were 17 years old and you sure looked fine

My mama told me “son, not to mess with you”

She told me ‘bout the hoodoo and the voodoo that do you

You make a strong man holler

You make a weak man lose his home

 

You’re so fine baby - you make me want to slap myself

You’re so fine - I wouldn’t put your love on a shelf

You’re so fine - I don’t want nobody else

You make a strong man holler

You make a weak man leave his home

 

Well, like whole lots of other people we just kind of drifted away

We got farther apart, baby, day-by-day

I ain’t seen you in so long I wouldn’t know what to say

But you make a strong man holler

You make a weak man leave his home

 

Well, if the river was whiskey and I was a diving bell

I would dive on the bottom baby, where no one else could tell

And while I’m down there baby I’d say well, well, well, well, well!

Come on, down here baby, so we can raise up some hell

You make a strong man holler

You make a weak man leave his home

  

 

3. Just to be With You

(Magic Slim)

 

On a ship that’s made of paper, you know I sailed the seven seas

Finally shot down by a toothpick crawl home to you on my knees

Well there ain’t nothin’ ‘I wouldn’t do little girl to bring you home with me

 

I would wrassle with the Devil you know I’d breathe smoke and fire

Cross the river down on a tight rope - walk the canyon on a wire

Just to kiss your sweet lips woman - you know that you’re my heart’s desire

 

If they shot off both my legs, oh, baby, if the sea would turn to sand

Well then, I’d turn my poor self over and crawl home to you on my hands

Well, there ain’t nothing I wouldn’t do, little girl , oh, yeah, just to be your man

 

I would give you all my money, oh baby, I’d sleep down on the floor

I’ll call my mother-in-law honey, I’d work for you until I get sore

Well, you know I’d do anything for you, baby, just to bring you home once more!

  

 

5. She's Got my Nose Open

Traditional

 

I got something to tell you and it ain't no fun

Somebody's nose is open and it looks like mine’s the one

You got my nose open, you got my nose open

You got my nose open and I don't care

 

I give my woman all my money and I told her to 'go head and spend it'

She’s got my nose so wide open you could back a Mack truck in it

 

I can't wait to see my woman and nobody else

That woman put a spell on me and I can't stand myself

 

 

7. What a Woman (Commit a Crime)

(Chester Burnett)

I'm gonna leave you woman before I commit a crime

I'm gonna leave you woman before I commit a crime

You tried so hard to kill me but it just was not my time

 

You put poison in my coffee instead of milk or cream

You put poison in my coffee instead of milk or cream

You ‘bout the evilest woman that I ever seen

 

You mixed my drinks with a can of Red Devil lye

You mixed my drinks with a can of Red Devil lye

Then you sit down and watch me hoping that I might die

 

I'm gonna leave you woman before I commit a crime

I'm gonna leave you woman before I commit a crime

You tried so hard to kill me but it just wasn’t Papa’s time

  

 

9. Born to die

Traditional

 

Don’t want no woman that run around

Out there in the street acting like clown

You made me love you and you made me cry

You should remember, that you were born to die

 

Got up this morning’ and I laid back down

I started in to crying ‘cause you been running around

You made me love you and you made me cry

You should remember, that you were born to die

 

The whole world’s turning upside down

I got a black-haired woman she’s the prettiest gal in town

You made me love you and you made me cry

You should remember, that you were born to die

 

 

 2. Shotgun Blues

( Sam 'Lightning’ Hopkins)

 

Bring me my shotgun, I’m gonna start to shoot again

Bring me my shotgun, I’m gonna start to shoot again

I'm gonna shoot my woman

She's foolin' round with other men

 

Bring me my shotgun, yeah, and a pocket full of shells

Bring me my shotgun, yeah, and a pocket full of shells

I'm gonna kill that evil woman 

And then I’ll throw her in a well

 

She said “Lightnin' you can't shoot me, but you is dared to try”

She said “Lightnin' you can't shoot me.”“Now, you is dared to try”

I said the only reason I don't shoot you woman 

Is my old shotgun just won't fire

 

 

 

 

4. Nobody's Fault but Mine

Traditional

 

Nobody's fault but mine - nobody's fault but mine

If I don't love her she gonna run for cover

Nobody's fault but mine

 

I got a honey at home, a sweet, sweet honey at home.

If I don't hold her, that honey get colder

Nobody's fault but my own

 

I got a baby at home. A sweet, sweet lady at home.

If I don't kiss her and then I miss her 

It’s nobody's fault but my own

 

Mama she taught me to read, daddy he taught me to spell

If I don't write her, she’ll never come back

That long-legged mademoiselle

 

 

 

 

6. Superstitious Blues

(Willie Dixon)

 

Well, I ain't superstitious but a black cat crossed my trail (x2)

Don'tcha dust me with no broom, I might get put in jail

 

Well if my right hand itch, I gets money for sho’  (x2)

But when my left eye jump, somebody's got to go

 

You got the dogs to howl all round my hood  (x2)

That’s a sign of death - and that ain't good

 

 

 

 

8. Jumper on the Line

(RL Burnside)

 

See my jumper, baby, hanging out on the line

My gal's jumper, baby,  it's a-hanging out on the line

Tell me, baby -  baby, what’s on your mind

 

Wouldn’t be here - if it wasn’t just for you

Wouldn’t come here - if it wasn’t just for you

Way down here the way you want me to

 

She said hurry up baby, 'cause there ain't no one else around

She said come on baby, 'cause there ain't no one else around

I'm going to throw my arms around you; Daddy, till the sun goes down

 

Fix my supper, baby – baby, let me go to bed

Fix my supper, baby – baby, let me go to bed

Guess white lightning's gone straight to my head

 

 

See that jumper, baby – hangin' out on the line

That's my gal’s jumper, baby – it’s hangin' out on the line

Tell me, baby -  baby, what’s on your mind

 

 

 

 

10. Hellhound

(Robert Johnson)

 

I got to keep on movin', blues fall down like hail

I got to keep on movin', blues fall down like hail

And the blues remind me, there’s a hellhound on my trail

 

I hear them bark on Christmas and howl on New Year’s Day

I hear them bark on Christmas and howl on New Year’s Day

All I need’s my rider to pass the time away

 

I got the hot-foot powder in the grass all ‘round my door

I took some Gris-Gris magic and I spread it all over my floor

But the hounds are with me every place I go

 

The wind is whinin’ and the leaves are shakin’ up in the tree

The moon is risin’ and the hounds won’t leave me be

Is my rider with them, or is my rider with me?

 

I got to keep on movin', blues fall down like hail

I got to keep on movin', blues fall down like hail

I hear ‘em bark all night, there’s a hell-hound on my trail

 


SONG LINEUPS

All songs arranged by CJ Hauser and the Druids except Superstitious Blues, arranged by Magic Kramer and the Druids. 

 

Produced by CJ Hauser, co-produced by Magic Kramer (recording sessions) and by Billy Cross (guitar overdub and mixing sessions.)  Recording engineer - Magic Kramer. Mix engineer - Michael Engman Rønnow. Mastering - Michael Engman Rønnow.

 

1.. Strong Man Holler

(Taj Mahal)

 

Vocals - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitars, Bass - CJ Hauser

Piano, organ - Magic Kramer

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

2. Shotgun Blues

(Sam "Lightning" Hopkins)

 

Vocals - David Budge

Lead Guitar (Slide) - Billy Cross 

Lead Guitar - Milt Reder 

Rhythm Guitars, Bass - CJ Hauser

Keyboards - Magic Kramer

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

 

 

 3. Just to Be With You 

(Magic Slim)

 

Vocals - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitar, Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

4. Nobody’s Fault But Mine 

Traditional

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Keyboards - Esben Just

Rhythm Guitars - CJ Hauser

Bass - Michael Engman Rønnow 

Drums - Roger Kahn

Background vocals - Maria 'MJ' Hauser, Billy Cross

__________________________

 

 

5. She's Got My Nose Open

(Traditional)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Background vocals - Magic Kramer, Billy Cross, Carl Hauser

Lead Guitars - Billy Cross, Magic Kramer

Rhythm Guitar, Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

6. Superstitious Blues

(Willie Dixon)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitar - Magic Kramer

Piano - Magic Kramer

Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

Percussion - Debra Dobkin

__________________________

 

7. Commit a Crime (Chester Burnett)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitar, Bass - CJ Hauser

Keyboards - Magic Kramer

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

8. Jumper on the Line

(RL Burnside)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitar, Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

Percussion - Debra Dobkin

__________________________

9. Born to Die (Traditional)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitar, Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

__________________________

 

 

10. Hellhound

(Robert Johnson)

 

Lead vocal - David Budge

Lead Guitar - Billy Cross

Rhythm Guitars, Bass - CJ Hauser

Drums - Roger Kahn

Percussion - Debra Dobkin

 

__________________________