The Harmonica, also known as the Lickin' Stick, has a great tradition in the blues. This episodes features some of my favourite Harmonica players who play the blues.
Of course, the show starts with a bassist, Mudcat Ward, who was featured in a previous episode. This segment has nothing to do with the harmonica but...I thought it was an interesting analogy. In this segment, Mudcat talks about the connection between the rhythm section and baseball. Needless to say, Mudcat is a huge Bosox fan and a baseball fan.
Mark Hummel is profiled in the next segment. Mark is a west coast harmonica player who tours extensively to play the blues. The last time I saw Mark, it was in Notodden, Norway where he and his Harmonica Blow Out Tour was blowing away his Norwegian fans.
Paul Reddick is the leader of the Sidemen. The Sidemen were nominated for a W.C. Handy award in 2002 as one of the new artists of the year. The fact that they've been together for some ten years is one thing but that they are Canadian and that they were recognized is even more impressive - however, they certainly did deserve the nomination. In this segment, Paul share his thoughts on playing the blues and his passion for this music.
The final segment of this episodes features the great Sugar Ray Norcia and the Bluetones. Here, Sugar Ray talks about his love of the blues and country music and he performs a countried blues tune entitled "I'm gonna Steal Your Baby" which is one of my favourite Sugar Ray tune.
"Blues and Baseball"
Profile
Mark Hummel
"Thoughts"
Paul Reddick
Performance
Sugar Ray Norcia