Wer war/ist Arthur Kelley ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD und mehr
Arthur Kelley
This is the first single disc by Arthur 'Guitar' Kelley who was approaching fifty years of age at the time he recorded these songs as part of the 'Swamp Blues' LP sessions.
He was born in Clinton, north of Baton Rouge, in 1921 and he took up the guitar there in the 1930s but it was not until 1970 that his music was recorded. He learned guitar from local man Arthur Gerald and played in church in his teens, though, he said, "Mama and them wouldn't let me play no blues." He became a farmer like most of his acquaintances and saw music as simply a pastime until, he said, he "just picked up and left" for Baker, closer to Baton Rouge. There he played at house parties with a neighbour, Nance Williams, but said, "When I'd go in a beer joint and hear a record I'd go back home, take out my gui- tar and play it.... Everybody was either gambling or drinkin' or something else and I didn't want to do none of that so I just played guitar."
He developed a liking for the early record- ings of Texan Lightnin' Hopkins and took up the electric guitar when Hopkins did. Then he fell in with another Hopkins devotee, Otis Hicks, who he said was "the first man I saw that used a drummer and guitar player. I used to go around with [him], played while he rested." Sometime in the early to mid-1950s, Kel- ley started working with Silas Hogan but he appears not to have sought to make any records, even when Hogan started traveling to Crowley to do so. It was in 1970 that Kelley was persuaded to join the sessions for 'Louisiana Blues' and 'Swamp Blues.' The lat- ter was issued originally in England as a double-LP and later on EXCELLO, and the sessions were patchy, but these two sides by Kelley were pulled out for single release on EXCELLO in 1970 and they have certainly stood the test of time.
Number Ten is a fascinating solo performance, just Kelley's gloomy thoughts about his woman and his busily expressive gui- tar playing. How Can I Stay is a brooding number that uses some well-known blues lyrics which are secondary to the fine guitar and harp playing. Kelley continued playing locally for many years, becoming a revered elder statesman of the blues until he died in 2001.
© Bear Family Records
Extract from: Various Artists - Blues Kings Of Baton Rouge (2-CD) - BCD17512
https://www.bear-family.de/various-bear-family-records-blues-kings-of-baton-rouge-2-cd.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records® Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Nachdruck, auch auszugsweise, oder jede andere Art der Wiedergabe, einschließlich Aufnahme in elektronische Datenbanken und Vervielfältigung auf Datenträgern, in deutscher oder jeder anderen Sprache nur mit schriftlicher Genehmigung der Bear Family Records® GmbH.