Robert Lockwood Jr. in Post War Blues Forum

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Robert Lockwood Jr.

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MaskedMarvel

Robert Lockwood Jr.

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

Jul 7 04 3:41 PM

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If there was such a contest "who sounds like Robert Johnson", thats my man. His playing immediatly reminds me of RJ.

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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barbequebob

#1

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 826

Jul 7 04 4:49 PM

His importance in blues, especially the Chicago blues sound of the 50's, can not ever be undersestimated. When it comes to a guitar player backing a harp player, this man wrote the textbook on how to play behind a harp!

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/
My Soundclick page
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte

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Deadeye

#2

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2088

Jul 7 04 7:05 PM

I go to see him any time he's around.

By the way, MM, it's Robert Jr. Lockwood. He got the Robert Jr. nickname from being taught by Robert Johnson.

Deadeye

Greenwood, Mississippi

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sethr

#3

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6071

Jul 7 04 9:40 PM

QUOTE

By the way, MM, it's Robert Jr. Lockwood. He got the Robert Jr. nickname from being taught by Robert Johnson

.

Actually, now it's Robert Lockwood Jr. It used to be Robert Jr. Lockwood. I have no idea why.

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Deadeye

#4

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2088

Jul 7 04 9:44 PM

That's strange.

Greenwood, Mississippi

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Les Forgue

#5

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6205

Jul 7 04 9:58 PM

QUOTE (sethr @ Jul 7 2004, 05:40 PM)

QUOTE

By the way, MM, it's Robert Jr. Lockwood. He got the Robert Jr. nickname from being taught by Robert Johnson

.

Actually, now it's Robert Lockwood Jr. It used to be Robert Jr. Lockwood. I have no idea why.

Most of the dudes who called him Robert Junior are dead.
Except for Homesick James, he is alive.
They just called him Robert Junior. Not Robert Junior Lockwood.
Maybe he doesn't like to be called Robert Junior any more.
Nowadays he is cited in print as Robert Lockwood Jr., but not knowing his father's name, I don't know whether that is accurate.

Les from Chicago

"Nobody sits on a rolling stone".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMRWhmqJwHc

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Deadeye

#6

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2088

Jul 7 04 10:28 PM

I'll ask him, the next time I see him.

Deadeye

Greenwood, Mississippi

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Johnny Roy

#7

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Posts: 3138

Jul 8 04 6:49 AM

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jul 7 2004, 05:41 PM)

If there was such a contest "who sounds like Robert Johnson", thats my man. His playing immediatly reminds me of RJ.

I would have to disagree MM. To me Robert Lockwood has a very unique style of his own, especially when singing and playind solo on the 12-string guitar!! it's really quite different from RJohnson. Lockwood is forever linked with RJ by being his stepson and he often sings and plays Robert Johnson songs, but to me Lockwood is his own man, and plays some of the deepest blues I've ever heard in my life !!

Johnny Roy

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MaskedMarvel

#8

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

Jul 8 04 4:31 PM

QUOTE (Johnny Roy @ Jul 8 2004, 08:49 AM)

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jul 7 2004, 05:41 PM)

If there was such a contest "who sounds like Robert Johnson", thats my man. His playing immediatly reminds me of RJ.

I would have to disagree MM. To me Robert Lockwood has a very unique style of his own, especially when singing and playind solo on the 12-string guitar!! it's really quite different from RJohnson. Lockwood is forever linked with RJ by being his stepson and he often sings and plays Robert Johnson songs, but to me Lockwood is his own man, and plays some of the deepest blues I've ever heard in my life !!

Johnny Roy

I can't think of anyone who could get better RJ-sound than Lockwood. When Lockwood want, he can play the RJ sound and other stuff of his own.

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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jaycee

#9

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 5165

Jul 8 04 6:39 PM

roberts new live cd got, good reviews in. the uk's blues mags. havent heard it myself
though. do i need to buy?

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checker758

#10

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Posts: 962

Jul 9 04 2:43 AM

QUOTE (barbequebob @ Jul 7 2004, 06:49 PM)

His importance in blues, especially the Chicago blues sound of the 50's, can not ever be undersestimated. When it comes to a guitar player backing a harp player, this man wrote the textbook on how to play behind a harp!

That might be overstating the case a bit. Lockwood may have added some very interesting chapters to that text book, but Dave and Louis Myers along with Jimmy Rogers were, IMO, the guys who laid down the blueprint for how a guitar should back a harp in Chicago blues. They were playing and recording with Little Walter and Junior Wells (and others) before Lockwood ever got on record with a harp player. Lockwood basically picked it up from where they left off, and admittedly, may have improved on what they were doing, but he was doing it in the same basic style they'd pioneered.

IMHO.

Scott

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Slim Lively

#11

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 10499

Jul 9 04 4:51 AM

When it comes to Robert Jr Lockwood or Robert Lockwood Jr, I take it from the immediate source. I have in the CBA office a signed contract from him last year for a performance he did for us, a poster he signed for me from the Handy Awards a few years back, a poster from the show in Bremerton last spring he signed, a photo of myself introducing him on stage in Bremerton he signed and numerous signed CDs. All are signed Robert Lockwood Jr. I've said this before on other forums, but if that's how he's signing his own name, then it sounds right to me. Who are we to argue with Robert himself?

Slim

Slim Lively

8-time Nominee Cascade Blues Association Muddy Awards
2000, 2008 & 2011 Back What You Believe Recipient
2008 Lifetime Achievement Recipient
2006 Friend of The Blues Foundation Outstanding Achievement Recipient
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2012 Portland Music Award nominee as producer of Best Compilation Recording, Puddletown Blues, Vol. 1

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rshurman

#12

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 3244

Jul 9 04 12:32 PM

QUOTE (checker758 @ Jul 9 2004, 04:43 AM)

QUOTE (barbequebob @ Jul 7 2004, 06:49 PM)

His importance in blues, especially the Chicago blues sound of the 50's, can not ever be undersestimated. When it comes to a guitar player backing a harp player, this man wrote the textbook on how to play behind a harp!

That might be overstating the case a bit. Lockwood may have added some very interesting chapters to that text book, but Dave and Louis Myers along with Jimmy Rogers were, IMO, the guys who laid down the blueprint for how a guitar should back a harp in Chicago blues. They were playing and recording with Little Walter and Junior Wells (and others) before Lockwood ever got on record with a harp player. Lockwood basically picked it up from where they left off, and admittedly, may have improved on what they were doing, but he was doing it in the same basic style they'd pioneered.

IMHO.

Scott

Of course Dave and Louis gave Lockwood a lot of respect from the get-go, and Robert was backing Sonny Boy steadily long before the Aces were even professionals. I've wondered why Robert wasn't on any of Sonny Boy's Trumpet sides; I thought maybe he was in Chicago at the time, but he told me he was down south pretty often.

Chicagoland

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Les Forgue

#13

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6205

Jul 9 04 1:20 PM

QUOTE (Slim Lively @ Jul 9 2004, 12:51 AM)

When it comes to Robert Jr Lockwood or Robert Lockwood Jr, I take it from the immediate source. I have in the CBA office a signed contract from him last year for a performance he did for us, a poster he signed for me from the Handy Awards a few years back, a poster from the show in Bremerton last spring he signed, a photo of myself introducing him on stage in Bremerton he signed and numerous signed CDs. All are signed Robert Lockwood Jr. I've said this before on other forums, but if that's how he's signing his own name, then it sounds right to me. Who are we to argue with Robert himself?

Slim

That makes it official. He may once have been referred to as Robert Junior, but now he should be referred to as Robert Lockwood Jr, and I for one will start to do so.

I personally cannot compare his harp backing guitar with the Aces or Jimmy Rogers because I'm not familiar enough, and I suppose it would take you harp players to judge that well.

Les from Chicago

"Nobody sits on a rolling stone".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMRWhmqJwHc

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barbequebob

#14

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 826

Jul 9 04 1:25 PM

When I first saw and met Robert Jr. back in the late 70's, he often would say he hated playing behind harp players, with the exception being Sonny Boy II, because so many of them had really lousy time (and as a harp player myself, too often that is the truth, along with a lack of basic music theory), and as great as his playing was behind Little Walter, behind Sonny Boy II, it was even better.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/
My Soundclick page
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte

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ForumerDeletedUser

#15

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Pale Blue

Posts: 0

Jul 9 04 7:36 PM

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jul 7 2004, 05:41 PM)

If there was such a contest "who sounds like Robert Johnson", thats my man. His playing immediatly reminds me of RJ.

When I first saw Johnny Shines play in St. Louis back in the 1960s, I thought he WAS Robert Johnson, having taken a different name because the law was after him or something. He sounded like Robert Johnson would have sounded 28 or 30 years after the 1938 recordings more than like the 1938 Robert Johnson. He had the intensity of Robert Johnson, and the essence of RJ in every nuance. He seemed to resent always being asked about Robert Johnson. I can certainly appreciate that. Johnny Shines was an excellent talent in his own right, and who's to say which one of them sounded like that first, anyway? Shines might have taught Johnson some of what he did, for all we know.

I haven't seen Lockwood live, only heard his recordings, so a comparison would not be fair, but I can't imagine anyone sounding more like Robert Johnson than Johnny Shines in the performances I witnessed.

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Les Forgue

#16

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6205

Jul 9 04 7:44 PM

QUOTE (Virgil @ Jul 9 2004, 03:36 PM)

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jul 7 2004, 05:41 PM)

If there was such a contest "who sounds like Robert Johnson", thats my man. His playing immediatly reminds me of RJ.

When I first saw Johnny Shines play in St. Louis back in the 1960s, I thought he WAS Robert Johnson, having taken a different name because the law was after him or something. He sounded like Robert Johnson would have sounded 28 or 30 years after the 1938 recordings more than like the 1938 Robert Johnson. He had the intensity of Robert Johnson, and the essence of RJ in every nuance. He seemed to resent always being asked about Robert Johnson. I can certainly appreciate that. Johnny Shines was an excellent talent in his own right, and who's to say which one of them sounded like that first, anyway? Shines might have taught Johnson some of what he did, for all we know.

I haven't seen Lockwood live, only heard his recordings, so a comparison would not be fair, but I can't imagine anyone sounding more like Robert Johnson than Johnny Shines in the performances I witnessed.

Ever heard Johnny Shines do Kid Man? That one would favor the case you make.
On Johnny's stuff where he is truly singing rather than hollering, he DOES sound like RJ now that you mention it. I like to hear them both, but I wish they had lower pitched voices, that would sound better.

Les from Chicago

"Nobody sits on a rolling stone".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMRWhmqJwHc

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nighthawk

#17

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 9273

Jul 9 04 8:30 PM

I'm fortunate enough to live 2 and 1/2 hours drive from Robert's hombase of Cleveland and have been able to see him a few times. I've always felt that he has his own feel for Johnson's material that incorporates what he heard and his own sensibilities.
I'm particularly a fan of Lockwood's Trix recordings from the mid to late 70's and enjoy the jazzier elements in his electric work.
I had the chance to see Lockwood and Honeyboy Edwards perform at the same Festival a few years back and felt that Edwards seemed to share more of Johnson's attack approach than Lockwood, but that Robert Jr. had digested more of the nuances.
In spite of Lockwood's distaste of working with harp players, he did help Wallace Coleman develope into a first rate Chicago style harp man when Coleman backed Lockwood for a decade begining in the late 80's.

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ForumerDeletedUser

#18

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Pale Blue

Posts: 0

Jul 13 04 8:20 PM

I have a very good CD back at home that is half Johnny Shines and half Robert Junior. I don't remember the name of it, but it is an outstanding sample of RJL and the unmistakable sound of Johnny Shines. You should look for it if you're a fan!

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tanta07

#19

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 9133

Jul 13 04 8:47 PM

QUOTE (Tim C. @ Jul 13 2004, 10:20 PM)

I have a very good CD back at home that is half Johnny Shines and half Robert Junior. I don't remember the name of it, but it is an outstanding sample of RJL and the unmistakable sound of Johnny Shines. You should look for it if you're a fan!

I have that one, too, and it's fantastic! I thin it's just called "Johnny Shines and Robert Lockwood, Jr." As you said, it definitely gives you a nice sampling of both artists.

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