Monday, November 16, 2009

Townsend's Hard Luck Stories

Henry Townsend- Hard Luck Stories



Biography:
"Influenced by Roosevelt Sykes and Lonnie Johnson, Henry Townsend was a commanding musician, adept on both piano and guitar. During the '20s and '30s, Townsend was one of the musicians that helped make St. Louis one of the blues centers of America.

Townsend arrived in St. Louis when he was around ten years old, just before the '20s began. By the end of the '20s, he had landed a record contract with Columbia, cutting several sides of open-tuning slide guitar for the label. Two years later, he made some similar recordings for Paramount. During this time, Townsend began playing the piano, learning the instrument by playing along with Roosevelt Sykes records. Within a few years, he was able to perform concerts with pianists like Walter Davis and Henry Brown.

During the '30s, Townsend was a popular session musician, performing with many of the era's most popular artists. By the late '30s, he had cut several tracks for Bluebird. Those were among the last recordings he ever made as a leader. During the '40s and '50s, Townsend continued to perform and record as a session musician, but he never made any solo records.

In 1960, he led a few sessions, but they didn't receive much attention. Toward the end of the '60s, Townsend became a staple on the blues and folk festivals in America, which led to a comeback. He cut a number of albums for Adelphi and he played shows throughout America. By the end of the '70s, he had switched from Adelphi to Nighthawk Records.

Townsend had become an elder statesmen of St. Louis blues by the early '80s, recording albums for Wolf and Swingmaster and playing a handful of shows every year. That's the Way I Do It, a documentary about Townsend, appeared on public television in 1984. During the late '80s, Townsend was nearly retired, but he continued to play the occasional concert until his death in 2006."
-Allmusic.com

Download Link: http://www.zshare.net/download/685730749a7dd331/

6 comments:

Record Fiend said...

HLC,

Nice. Real nice. I've been looking for this one for awhile.

I was fortunate enough to have seen Townsend play at a blues festival in St. Louis many years ago (in 1992 or 1993, if memory serves me correctly). I still remember his version of "Cairo Blues" complete with some fantastic guitar string popping. He was truly an underrated blues legend.

RF

Hard Luck Child said...

You're very welcome, Record Fiend. I got into Henry's music rather recently. I find that the material from the last two decades is lacking. When I think about this it makes perfect sense; the man lived to be almost 100!

His work from the '60s and '70s is great!

I guess that, sometimes, liking a particular Bluesman's music all depends on which album you listen to first.

ramson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ramson said...

Townsend's Hard Luck Stories

Excellent!

Cheers.

Hard Luck Child said...

You're very welcome, Ramson!

bluesbaby said...

HLC
I met Mr Townsend and had a long conversation with him, back when was in Cairo, Il.

I would love to download this very much. However the download stalls at 5% and quits.

I asked Record Fiend to try and download it for me and it does the same thing to him.

Could you PLEASE repost this for me???

Thanks for all you do.
Bluesbaby