Sunday, May 21—
Bluesrnan ‘cottons’ to live shows
By Darla Jackson
Emerald Supplement Editor
Live performances Keep
James Cotton in the business
of playing the blues
"I love performing live,"
said Cotton, who recently
concluded a week-long stint
on "Late Night with David Let
terman" when the television
show aired from Chicago
"It's my life I'm not getting
rich doing it, so if it wasn't for
enjoyment, I could quit. But
when I see people having fun,
being themselves, enjoying
themselves, even if it isn t but
for five minutes, it's the big
gest payday I ever had in my
life."
Cotton, a legendary harmon
ica player, blues singer and
songwriter, will appear with
his seven-piece band Sunday
at 8 p m on the mam stage of
the Folk Festival
As a child, Cotton discov
ered that he could make $46
in one hour by playing the
blues harp on his front porch
m Tunica, Miss By the age of
nine, he had run away from
home in search of his idol.
Sonny Boy Williamson, whose
unrestrained approach to harp
blowing has been considered
one of the starting places of
rock and roll
Williamson took cotton in,
and for the next six years Cot
ton traveled all over the coun
try with Williamson's band
and learned his style At the
age of 15. Cotton decided to
travel on his own.
Cotton's first stop was
West Memphis, Ark., where he
played harp for four years
with another blues great,
Howlin' Wolf.
While with Wolf, he hung
out with the fledgling Sun Re
cord Company crowd, jam
ming with the likes of Bobby
"Blues” Bland. B B. King and
the only white face in the
crowd — Elvis Presley.
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Fahey features self-taught style
John Fahey has been called
the spiritual lather — hard
bound edition — of the open
Courlvsy photo
Schooled at the knee ol such blues greats as Howlin' Wolf
and Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton now fronts on his
own. Cotton will be the feature performer as the Folk Festi
val concludes Sunday.
At 19, Cotton began work
ing with Muddy Waters and
spent the next 12 years as
Waters' bandleader and har
monica player.
When he left Waters' band
in 1966 to strike out on his
own, Cotton's reputation was
expanding beyond the blues
label Boz Scaggs. Mike
Bloomfield, Steve Miller and
Bonnie Raitt all named Cotton
as a major influence on their
music. Jams Joplin, always
hard to please, would have no
group or musician tour with
her twice, except Cotton
Today, Cotton and his band
play at festivals around the
world, to audiences ranging in
size from the 100,000-person
crowd at the annual Chicago
Blues Festival to the more in
timate 600-seat clubs like The
Great American Music Hall in
San Francisco.
tuning/steel string guitar
school known as American
Primitive
"What I did,” Fahey said,
"was single-handedly make
the steel-string American gui
tar a respectable concert in
strument.
"I was just trying to get my
music respectable, of course,
but also the instrument," he
said. "I used the term Ameri
can Primitive Guitar' because
I was self-taught. ... It just
means untutored."
Fahey’s music combines
elements from blues, country
and Indian styles He was
born in Maryland and spent
his youth listening to his fa
ther play popular songs on
the piano and classical harp.
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His mother also played piano,
but leaned toward semi-clas
sic?! tunes. Inspired by blues
and ragtime artists such as
Bobby Leecan and Robert
Cooksey, Fahey bought his
first guitar, for $17, at the age
of 13.
"I was a very, very slow
learner,” Fahey said, "and I
taught myself to play. I never
had a lesson."
Since those early days,
Fahey has recorded numerous
albums and has continued an
active touring schedule.
His four Christmas albums
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and heaviest airplay albums,
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