CD release concert benefits Headstone Project

 Effort continues to identify unmarked graves of Detroit blues musicians 

Carl Henry at the gravesite of Mr. Bo.

When musician Carl Henry went last fall to check out the newly placed headstones on the graves of Detroit blues musicians Uncle Jessie White and Louis "Mr. Bo" Collins at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Detroit, he was moved by the experience.

"I just looked at the gravestones and I had to cry," Henry said. "They were such good friends for so long. Uncle Jessie and Mr. Bo were the two guys who helped me get my start playing.

"Uncle Jessie's quote, 'It isn't black and white, it's just the blues,' gave me the title of my latest CD. He told me, 'Don't be afraid. When you go down there (in the city), you'll find as many good people as anywhere else.' I learned a lot about life and living from him, and Mr. Bo was the same way."

Uncle Jessie White

Uncle Jessie and Mr. Bo are two of the Detroit musicians who have had headstones placed on their previously unmarked graves, thanks to the Detroit Blues Society's Headstone Project.

"Pretty much everything I do in music I owe to those guys," Henry said. "To be able to come back and do something for them is a no-brainer. I wish I could have done a lot more for them when they were alive."

Mr. Bo

Henry and his band perform on the "Headstone Project Fundraiser" CD on No Cover records that was recorded live at Callahan's Music Hall in Auburn Hills last year. Other musicians on the CD include The Alligators, Detroit harmonica great Little Sonny Willis, and Roni Collins, who is Mr. Bo's nephew. The CD will be available for purchase at the DBS Headstone Fundraiser concert from 3 to 8 p.m. June 12 at the Hastings Street Ballroom, 715 E. Milwaukee, in Detroit. Performing at the event, which is also a Hastings Street Reunion, will be the Carl Henry Band, The Alligators, Alberta Adams and RJ's Rhythm Rockers, and Emmanuel Young with Howard Glazer and the EL 34s. Admission is free. There will be a 50-50 drawing and raffle items.

"We're hoping that you'll buy a CD," said Mike Boulan of No Cover records. "(No Cover) is not going to receive any money from it. All proceeds are going to the project."

Curtis and Clarence Butler

The effort to put headstones on the unmarked graves started with markers for Eddie "Son" House and Willie D. Warren. The Headstone Project officially began with the placement on the graves of Clarence and Curtis Butler, who performed as The Butler Twins. Lee Herberger, known in Detroit's blues community as Wolfgang Spider, has been instrumental in the project's success.

Boogie Woogie Red (Photo by Leni Sinclair)

"I just became distressed that The Butler Twins didn't have stones," Spider said. "Myself and Motor City Josh and Cathy Davis got together and said, 'We've got to do something about this.' We got the Blues Society involved in it and we raised money for those stones. It was obvious that many more didn't have stones and the Blues Society has been kind enough to keep it going. We owe it to these people."

The next recipient of a headstone will be piano player Vernon "Boogie Woogie Red" Harrison. Boogie Woogie Red, who died in 1992, played with John Lee Hooker for 14 years in the 1940s and '50s and also had a successful solo career, recording two albums for Blind Pig records.

Henry has been involved in the Headstone Project throughout the years, starting with the placing of a stone on the grave of Son House.

"Who would have thought that Son House, the Father of the Blues, would be buried here?" Henry asked. "There are so many great musicians that lie in unmarked graves that it just blows my mind. We realize how big a part of our lives these guys were. Most of them were fantastic people who never had an agenda, except making music to make people smile.

"Musicians are not known for making a fortune doing what we do, so it is totally understandable. They may be doing mine some day."

Detroit Blues Society

Headstone Project

Calvin Frazier

EDDIE JAMES "SON" HOUSE JR.

(March 21, 1902-Oct. 19, 1988)

Buried: Mount Hazel Cemetery, Detroit.

WILLIE D. WARREN

(Sept. 11, 1924-Dec. 30, 2000)

Buried: Gethsemane Cemetery, Detroit

CLARENCE BUTLER

One of The Butler Twins

(Jan. 21, 1942-Dec. 22, 2003)

Buried: Sunset Hills Cemetery, Ypsilanti Township

Headstone placed 2006

CURTIS BUTLER

One of The Butler Twins

(Jan. 21, 1942-April 9, 2004)

Buried: Sunset Hills Cemetery, Ypsilanti Township

Headstone placed 2006

CALVIN FRAZIER

(Feb. 16, 1915-Sept. 23, 1972)

Buried: United Memorial Gardens, Plymouth

Headstone placed in 2009

LOUIS "MR. BO" COLLINS

(April 27, 1932-Sept. 19, 1995)

Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Detroit

Headstone placed in 2010

UNCLE JESSIE WHITE

(Sept. 24, 1920-Jan. 29, 2008)

Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Detroit

Headstone placed in 2010

VERNON HARRISON

"BOOGIE WOOGIE RED"

(Oct, 18, 1925-July 2, 1992)

Buried: Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, Clinton Township

Headstone expected to be placed in 2011

Note: The Detroit Blues Society assisted in placing headstones on the graves of Son House and Willie D. Warren prior to the Headstone Project.

To see a video of Mike Boulan talking about the Headstone Project Benefit Concert, click here. 

To see a video of Wolfgang Spider talking about the Headstone Project, click here.

To contact JB Blues, please email Joe.Ballor@dailytribune.com

Great stretch upcoming at Callahan's

TINSLEY ELLIS

Callahan’s Music Hall boasts an incredible array of national talent in one straight four-day stretch next week. The always popular Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers are at Callahan’s on Wednesday, June 8. Following on successive nights are performances by Michael Burks (June 9), Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers (June 10) and Tinsley Ellis on June 11. Advanced tickets range from $22-$35, except for the Michael Burks’ show, which is priced at only $15-$17.50. Callahan’s has another fine stretch later this month with Duke Robillard (June 24), Detroit's own Jim McCarty and Friends (June 25) and Popa Chubby (June 26). If you haven’t been to Callahan’s yet, be sure to check it out soon. It seats only around 200 and is a true music hall, where the music is the focus. Callahan’s is at 2105 South Blvd., just east of Opdyke. For more info, click atcallahans.com.

To contact JB Blues, please email joe.ballor@dailytribune.com.

Jeff Maylin a link to Detroit’s classic blues

Singer-guitarist performs Thursday at Jackson Blues Festival

 

Forty years ago, Jeff Maylin was a young white student at a suburban university and seemed an unlikely candidate to become a link to Detroit’s classic blues musicians.

But, as he approaches his 60^th birthday, Maylin is one of a dwindling number of musicians who knew and performed with Detroit’s classic blues men.

JEFF MAYLIN

His first real contact with the blues came in the early 1970s when he was a student at Oakland University.

“I was about 19 and I was in my dorm room, practicing guitar by listening to John Lee Hooker and trying to learn his music,” Maylin said. “I was playing a lot of acoustic then. My buddy Rick was playing in the Abstention (coffeehouse on campus) and I went there with him. Here comes this black guy, Bobo Jenkins. I sat in with him at the Abstention and he wanted my phone number.

“I thought he wanted to me to play bass, so I went somewhere in Detroit and rented a bass, because I’m a pretty good bass player. But, I found out he wanted me to play lead guitar.”

Maylin, a guitarist and singer, performed with Jenkins and soon met many of Detroit’s top players.

“I started with Bobo at the Bamboo Lounge on 12th Street and Pingree,” Maylin said. “It was a real cool blues bar.

“The really cool thing was that he had his own recording studio, Big Star, on Joy Road near Linwood. I would hang out there and met a lot of the guys like Johnny “Yard Dog” Jones and the Butler Twins. Through Bobo, I met Uncle Jessie White and he took me over to 29th Street and I started hitting the jam sessions there (at Uncle Jessie’s house).

“I always revered the blues and wanted to learn from the source. I played in ghetto bars for 20 years and I was always treated good.”

Many of Detroit’s blues greats – Hooker, Jenkins, Uncle Jessie, the Butler Twins, Baby Boy Warren, Mr. Bo, Little Mac Collins, Willie D. Warren and, recently, Little Jr. Cannaday -- have passed on. A few veterans, such as Alberta Adams, Johnnie Bassett, Little Sonny and Billy Davis, are still performing at, or close to, their peak. Others, such as Eddie Burns, are ailing.

And although there are many fine younger players currently on the Detroit scene, there’s always a reverence for the older players who set the standard of excellence.

“That whole era was awesome,” Maylin said. “It would be cool if, somehow, the blues came along in popularity again.”

Maylin, a very talented guitarist with a penchant for wandering into the crowd during his solos, has had a couple of opportunities to make it to the big time. But, bad timing and a problem with hallucinogenic drugs negated those opportunities. Psychological problems after taking LSD sidelined Maylin from his late teens until he was almost 30.

“It was like post-traumatic shock,” Maylin said. “I lost 10 years of my life, in and out of psych wards. It traumatized me, emotionally, like the Vietnam vets. It was like I left the planet and came back. It stifled me in a lot of ways, like blind paranoia.”

He hasn’t taken drugs or drank alcohol in years, relying on coffee and cigarettes to keep him going.

“It seems like five minutes since it was 20 years ago. I look at it now that I’m blessed to be alive and I try to dwell in the spirit of the Lord as much as I can and be more and more humble all the time. Sometimes the more we lose, the more we gain in the spirit realm.

“We’ve got to take responsibility for our lives. I can’t define success on how much money I’ve made or have not made. I’m just blessed to be hanging out.”

Maylin and his band will perform at 7:20 p.m. Thursday, June 2, at the 10^th annual Jackson Blues Festival at Jackson County Airport, 3601 Wildwood Ave., Jackson. Other performers on Thursday include Ben Moore & the Blues Express (6 p.m.), Sonny Moorman (8:40), and The Witchdoctors (10 p.m.).

The festival continues Friday, June 3, starting at 5:30 p.m. with the Harmonica Hounds lesson for children. The first 100 kids who register Friday will receive a free T-shirt, sunglasses and harmonica, and a chance to jam with Mojo Phoenix. The festival continues Friday with The Derrick Boile Band (6 p.m.), the Mojo Phoenix Blues Band (7:15 p.m.), E.C. Scott (8:45 p.m.) and headliner Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang from 10 p.m.-midnight.

On Saturday, a full afternoon and evening of blues artists starts at 3 p.m. with The Bluescasters. Also on the bill Saturday are the Automatic Blues Band (4:45 p.m.), James Armstrong (5:45 p.m.), Greg Nagy (7:30 p.m.), Chris Beard (9 p.m.) and the Lee Lewis Band (10:35 p.m.).

For festival information, click http://jazzthug.tripod.com/SDP/JBFest.html.

To check out Jeff Maylin's compilation CD, "Satori in Blue" (No Cover Records), click http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffmaylin1.

To contact JB Blues, please email joe.ballor@dailytribune.com.