The Memoir of Blues Piano Player and Singer, Stubby Knuckles, chronicles the highlights of his blues musicianship that spans over half-a-century. There is a blues CD that comes with the book, featuring the Knuckleman during his time with Lovey Lee's Blues Revue. Almost Slim, Jr. helps Stubby to nail down the defining textures of his bluesology by focusing on the organized confusion and the totality of his blues lifeway. It is a memoir steeped in the biographical sensibility of being and becoming, of action, experience, and (often) learning lessons the hard way. It's a testament to a life lived on one man's own terms, despite suffering a self-imposed exile from those who misconstrue him and his seeming shamble-of-a-life. Accordingly, we are drawn to witness the lies and falsities of the conventional narratives of this diabolical era.
Stub offers up his scruffy life on a platter for any who wish to meander, to poke around in its more meaningful moments, punctuated as they are by some incredibly talented hall-of-famer, bluesmen influencers of our common age.
Go look up the great masters of the blues: Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Magic Sam, and so many other "blues doctors." Get to know their bodies of work, their particular expressions of the blues. These guys gave us the soundtrack to the modern world, a soundtrack that continues to haunt us today.
Behold the works of Ray Charles, Johnny Adams, Brownie McGee — there are many more out there who stand tall and firm upon their own foundational creations. Go search them out and enlighten yourselves to the timeless blues masters of days gone by. You'll be glad you did! And then give a listen and compare the tunes you find on the Stubster's CD, Voodoo Defense, which is, again, included with the purchase of this book.
Stubby's Blues Memoir offers a tour of the abyss — that more commonly understood "Gettin' Drunk and Losing Your Baby" aspect of the blues. That's one chapter, and it's the main chapter. But there is also a chapter on the spiritual Rhythm and BioGeometry that figures into the blues. And then there is a dimension of the occult or the voodoo defense associated with blues, that is addressed here, as perhaps characterized by the Dejection and Disillusionment we all encounter here on this prison planet. Yes, the blues can lead to some Dangerous Places.
So heed Stubbington's Final Word; review his Blues Resume, and ponder what sort of man is pontificating on the mysterious ways of the Good Lord's own barbecue here on Earth. He's got a message for anyone bold enough to walk in his world for just a while. But don't forget, the best way to wade into Stubby's realm is to listen to his own blues and groove to the CD that is appended to the book here (soon to be available — but only directly from me).
