Willie Dixon

"Back Door Man" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1961. It was released by Chess Records as the B-side to Wolf's "Wang Dang Doodle" (catalog no. 1777). The song is considered a classic of Chicago blues.

 In southern culture, the phrase "back-door man" refers to a man having an affair with a married woman, using the back door as an exit before the husband comes home.^[1] "When everybody trying to sleep, I'm somewhere making my midnight creep / Every morning the rooster crow, something tell me I got to go / I am a back door man," Wolf sings. The promiscuous "back-door man" is a standard theme found in many blues, including those by Charley Patton, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Willie McTell and Sara Martin: "every sensible woman got a back-door man," Martin wrote in "Strange Loving Blues" (1925).^[2] Robert Plant references the Dixon song in Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (1969): "Shake for me girl, I want to be your back-door man."^{[3][dead link]} The phrase "back-door man" dates from the 1920s, but the term became a double entendre in the 1960s, also meaning "man who practices anal intercourse."^[4]

The song was recorded in Chicago in June 1960 by Howlin' Wolf (vocals), Otis Spann (piano), Hubert Sumlin and Freddy Robinson (guitars), Willie Dixon (double bass), and Fred Below (drums).^[5] The chord progression in the refrain of the song, similar to that found in Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" (1955), John Lee Hooker's "I'm Mad (Again)" (1957), and Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954), dates back to work songs sung during the construction of train tracks.^[6] "Back Door Man" was included on the 1962 Wolf compilation album Howlin' Wolf. He re-recorded the song in November 1968 and it appeared on The Howlin' Wolf Album.

 The Doors recorded a rock version of the "Back Door Man" for their eponymous debut album. The "door" of the song, like the name of the band, suggests a Blakean symbol of perception, with an awareness of the 1960s Queer-culture double entendre, giving the expression an additional layer of meaning.^[8] The Doors' drummer John Densmore described the song as "deeply sexual and got everyone moving."^[9] The song also appears on The Doors' live album Absolutely Live (1970).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Performance at the White House

"Sweet Home Chicago"
performed by The White House Allstars at "In Performance at the White House: Red, White & Blues".
Buddy Guy gets President Obama to sing a verse of  "Sweet Home Chicago".

Hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, the evening will pay homage to the great figures of the Blues and the songs they made famous by tracing the influence of the Blues on modern American music from soul to rock'n'roll. Taped on February 21, this concert honors the musical form that sprang from the Mississippi Delta and flourished in the Westside of Chicago. Airs on PBS Monday, February 27th at 9p.m. ET.



"Sweet Home Chicago" is a popular blues standard in the twelve bar form. It was first recorded and is credited to have been written by Robert Johnson.^[1] Over the years the song has become one of the most popular anthems for the city of Chicago despite ambiguity in Johnson's original lyrics.
The melody was previously used in a number of recorded blues songs, including "Honey Dripper Blues", "Red Cross Blues" and the immediate model for the song: "Kokomo Blues".^[2] Some have lyrics of the typical AAB structure e.g.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Five Long Years"
performed by Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., and Mick Jagger at "In Performance at the White House: Red, White & Blues".

"Five Long Years" is a song written and recorded by blues vocalist/pianist Eddie Boyd in 1952. Called one of the "few postwar blues standards [that has] retained universal appeal",^[1] Boyd's "Five Long Years" reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart.^[2] Numerous blues and other artists have recorded interpretations of the song.^[3]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Catfish Blues"
performed by Gary Clark Jr. at "In Performance at the White House: Red, White & Blues".

"Catfish Blues" is one of Robert Petway most influential songs, which he recorded in 1941. Muddy Waters used the lyrics and style of "Catfish Blues" for his first single "Rollin' Stone", the song from which the rock group The Rolling Stones chose their band name. There is debate on whether Petway deserves any credit for the Muddy Waters song, mostly stemming from the fact that blues musicians often borrow lines and verses from each other and often use common symbols and phrases that can not be traced back to one source. There is even some speculation that Tommy McClennan wrote the version that Petway recorded. Max Haymes has written a well-researched article, "Catfish Blues (Origins of a Blues)" on the topic, available at earlyblues.com. When David "Honeyboy" Edwards, a follower of Petway, was asked if Petway wrote the song, he replied, "He just made that song up and used to play it at them old country dances. He just made it up and kept it in his head."^[1]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

B.B.King

"Rock Me Baby"
The song has become one of the most recorded blues songs of all time. When B.B. King released "Rock Me Baby" in 1964, it became a Top 40 hit reaching #34 in the Billboard Hot 100.^[3] The song is based on earlier blues songs and has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of artists.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Knopfler

 "Shangri-La"
The fourth solo album by Mark Knopfler, released on 28 September 2004.^[3] The album features Knopfler's signature storytelling style of songwriting. The album's first single, "Boom, Like That", was inspired by Ray Kroc's autobiography Grinding It Out and the starting of McDonald's, using many of Mr. Kroc's exact words. "Song for Sonny Liston" is a song about the famous boxer of the same name. "Donegan's Gone" is about the Scottish musician and singer Lonnie Donegan. "5.15 AM" tells the story of the 1967 "one-armed bandit murder". "Back To Tupelo" is about the life of Elvis Presley and his acting career. The album was released on HDCD and in 5.1 Surround Sound on Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio.

Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. In the ancient Tibetan scriptures, existence of seven such places is mentioned as Nghe-Beyul Khimpalung.^[1] Khembalung is one of several beyuls ("hidden lands" similar to Shangri-La) believed to have been created by Padmasambhava in the 8th century as idylic, sacred places of refuge for Buddhists during times of strife (Reinhard 1978).
The use of the term Shangri-La is frequently cited^{[by whom?]} as a modern reference to Shambhala, a mythical kingdom in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which was sought by Eastern and Western explorers; Hilton was also inspired by then-current National Geographic articles on Tibet, which referenced the legend.[citation neede



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ηλίας Ζάικος

"Everywhere I Go"
Recorded in 1996, released on the album "Between Spirit and Time" (2000)
Musicians: Sotiris Zissis-bass/Alex Apostolakis-drums/Chris Zakrsewski-sax/Akis Katsoupakis-keyboards/Elias Zaikos-guitar and vocals.

Little Richard

"Long Tall Sally"
...is a rock and roll 12-bar blues song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson and Richard Penniman (known as "Little Richard"), recorded by Little Richard and released March 1956 on the Specialty Records label.
The flip side was "Slippin' and Slidin'". Both songs were subsequently released in the LP Here's Little Richard (Specialty, March 1957). The single reached number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, staying at the top for six of 19 weeks,^[1] while peaking at number six on the pop chart. It received the Cash Box Triple Crown Award in 1956.^[2] The song as sung by Little Richard is #56 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[3]
It became one of the singer's best-known hits and has become a rock and roll standard covered by hundreds of artists.^[4]
The song was originally called "The Thing", recorded in New Orleans by Little Richard.^[5]



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Music For Montserrat

"Same old blues"

Lyrics - music by Eric Clapton.

Live at Royal Albert Hall.

Jools Holland_piano, Ray Cooper_ percussion, Phil Collins_ drums, Mark Knopfler_guitar, Eric Clapton_guitar, ???_base  

A song from Eric Clapton's album "Behind the Sun"

Music For Montserrat was a concert, held on September 15, 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall. Musicians came together for Montserrat. Phil Collins, Ray Cooper, Carl Perkins, Jimmy Buffett, Mark Knopfler, Sting, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and more.

The concert, and proceeds from the DVD and CD, benefited a cultural center in Montserrat, built by George Martin. The money were held for recovery of Montserrat after Hurricane Hugo in 1989, devastated the Caribbean island.^[1]

Blues Wire

"Life on the road" 

23 years without interruption and deviations in their first DVD.
The shootings took place Spring 2005 at the "Vilka" venue in Thessaloniki. Friends of the group, as well all those interesting in the history of blues in Greece, they will find assembled material from band's original work, as well as beloved compositions by artists and groups that engraved the history of the blues worldwide. 

Οι  Blues  Wire  αποτελούν  μια  μοναδική  περίπτωση  για  την  ελληνική πραγματικότητα. 

Έχουν  χαρακτηριστεί  ως  το  κορυφαίο  συγκρότημα  του  είδους  όχι  μόνο  στην  χώρα  τους  αλλά  και  σε  όλη  την  Ευρώπη.

Ένα  σχήμα  που  διατηρείται  για  πάνω  από  20  χρόνια  είναι  κάτι  σπάνιο  για  τα  παγκόσμια  δεδομένα,  πόσο  μάλλον  για  τα  Ελληνικά,  με  την  επισήμανση  πως  η  μουσική  είναι  η  δουλειά  τους,  και  όχι  κάποιου  είδους    χόμπι  ή  παράλληλη  ενασχόληση.

Στο  ενεργητικό  τους  έχουν  πάνω  από   10  δίσκους,  αμέτρητες  συναυλίες,  δεκάδες  εμφανίσεις  σε τηλεοπτικούς  σταθμούς,  και  το σπουδαιότερο  μια  πλειάδα συνεργασιών  με  κορυφαία  ονόματα  του  είδους,  αλλά  και  την  εκτίμηση  και  αποδοχή  των  συναδέλφων  τους

Δημιουργήθηκαν  το  1983  από  τους  Ηλία  Ζάικο  και   Σωτήρη  Ζήση  και  οι  αρχικές  εμφανίσεις  τους  πραγματοποιήθηκαν  ως  BluesGang.

Με  αυτό  το  όνομα  ηχογράφησαν  τους  3  πρώτους  δίσκους  τους,  μεταξύ  αυτών  και  ο  πρώτος  μπλουζ  δίσκος  της  ελληνικής  δισκογραφίας, και  συνέχισαν  ως  το  1986  όταν  και  μετονομάστηκαν  σε  Blues  Wire.

Έκτοτε  με  θαυμαστή  συνέπεια  και  αφοσίωση  συνεχίζουν  μία  πορεία,  μέσα και  ανάμεσα  στα  μπλουζ,  προσθέτοντας  πινελιές  προσωπικού  ύφους  με  αποτέλεσμα  μία  κατάθεση με  άποψη,  άμεσα αναγνωρίσιμη  και  σεβαστή.

Από  τους  καλύτερους  πρεσβευτές  της  Ελλάδας  στο  εξωτερικό,  έχουν  εμφανιστεί  σε  φεστιβάλ  και  κλαμπ   πολλών  Ευρωπαϊκών  χωρών  αποσπώντας  την εκτίμηση  και  τον  θαυμασμό  των  ακροατών  αλλά  και  τα  κολακευτικά  σχόλια  των  δημοσιογράφων  του  ξένου  τύπου.

Ξεκινώντας  από  το  θρυλικό  Παραρλάμα  (το  πρώτο  αμιγώς  μπλουζ  κλαμπ  στην  Ελλάδα)  υπήρξαν  οι  οικοδεσπότες  αλλά  και  αιχμή  του  δόρατος  της  Ελληνικής  μπλουζ  σκηνής,  αποτελώντας  παράλληλα  πηγή  έμπνευσης  για  νεότερους  μουσικούς.

Στη  διαδρομή  αυτή  είχαν  την  ευκαιρία  να  γνωρίσουν  και  να  ανοίξουν  συναυλίες  τους,  μυθικά  ονόματα  της  παγκόσμιας  σκηνής,  και  να επισκεφτούν  πολλά  Ευρωπαϊκά  φεστιβάλ  (Γαλλία,  Ιταλία,  Ουγγαρία, Σλοβενία,  Αυστρία).

Με μέσο  όρο  200  συναυλίες  το  χρόνο,  μέσα  και  έξω από  την  Ελλάδα  οι  Blues  Wire  έχουν  αναπτύξει  μία  έντονη  και  πηγαία  σκηνική  παρουσία  που  σε  συνδυασμό  με  το  πλούσιο  ρεπερτόριο  και  το  δεμένο  ήχο  κάνει  κάθε  τους  συναυλία  τους  μία  ξεχωριστή  εμπειρία  που  αποτελεί  διασκέδαση  πρώτης  ποιότητας.

Πέρα  από  την  προσωπική  τους  δουλειά  έχουν  συνεργαστεί  κατά  καιρούς  με  κορυφαία  ονόματα  της  παγκόσμιας  σκηνής  των  μπλουζ,  (Katie  Webster,  John  Hammond,  Larry  Garner,  Big  Time  Sarha,  Carey  Bell,  Louisiana  Red  και  πολλούς  άλλους.)  γεγονός  που  φανερώνει  την  ποιότητα  της  δουλειάς  και  το  κύρος  της  μπάντας.  Ακόμα  έχουν  ανοίξει  συναυλίες  για  ογκόλιθους  του  είδους  όπως  οι  Buddy  Guy,  Albert  King,  Otis  Rush, Fabulous  Thanderbirds,  John  Mayall,  και  άλλους.

Σήμερα  οι  Blues  Wire  συνεχίζουν  με  τους  ανθρώπους  που  είναι  υπεύθυνοι  για  την  δημιουργία  τους  με  αποτέλεσμα  ένα  γκρουπ  με πίστη  ωριμότητα και  ήθος, που  κοσμεί  την  Ελληνική  μουσική  σκηνή.