Music Spotlight – This Ain’t No Tribute

While enjoying a meal in our dining room you may hear some familiar songs presented in new ways. In our quest to make our playlist fresh but also accessible we decided to include a series of Blues Tribute albums to well known artists.

Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Eric Clapton were all heavily influenced by the blues artists that came before them. In the 90s Blues players old and new got together to cover these Rock N Roll greats. The results are incredible and interesting.

Casual blues fans will recognize names like Bo Diddley and Buddy Guy who do wonders covering their friend Eric Clapton, but the true gems the unexpected ones. Magic Slim takes Led Zeppelin’s When The Levee Breaks back to its Delta roots; Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown takes the Ventilator Blues to heights the Sones never dreamed.

Younger players like Chris Thomas King, Eric Gales and Derek Trucks show up to put new spins on the classics we love.

What makes this set more interesting than your average tribute is that the performers involved have the skill and confidence to rework familiar songs in new ways. Just listen to what Gatemouth Brown does to “Rock n’ Roll.”

The albums are all available individually or as a box set and would make a great Christmas gift for the music fan on your list.

Janis Joplin: This Ain’t No Tribute Series
Eric Clapton: This Ain’t No Tribute Series
Songs of the Rolling Stones: All Blues’d Up (This Ain’t No Tribute Series)
Bob Dylan: This Ain’t No Tribute Series
Led Zeppelin: This Ain’t No Tribute Series

Here is a business profile that Channel 19 in the Bellmawr area put together for us. It runs until the end of January.

Thanks to the folks at MHC Productions and Let’s Dance Philadelphia for putting this together for us.

Here’s an old promotional video we made a while ago. We took it off the website when we opened Bellmawr, but I think it’s worth revisiting. Enjoy!

The music that is played inside Smoke’n Dudes BBQ Co. earns us almost as many comments and compliments as the food does. We pride ourselves in this as it is a well thought out mix of blues, country, southern and classic rock that is intended to be interesting and accessible while completing the barbecue experience.

Since we frequently get asked about various songs and artists on our playlist (yes, the same music plays at both locations) we decided to try out a music spotlight feature.

Today we feature the great Skip James.

Nehemiah “Skip” James is among the earliest and most influential Delta bluesmen to record.

In 1931 he won a recording deal with Paramount Records. The 18 songs he recorded that year were released to poor reception initially, as the Depression was in full swing. James gave up on music at this point and disappeared for nearly 30 years completely unaware that his music was influencing generations of bluesmen from Robert Johnson, who reworked Skip’s “22-20 Blues” into his own 32-20 Blues” to Eric Clapton who recorded “I’m So Glad” on the first Cream album.

In 1964 the organizers of the Newport Folk Festival found Skip James in poor health in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi and coaxed him back into the spotlight where he enjoyed a taste of the success that alluded him three decades earlier.

There are 4 Skip James songs on rotation at Smoke’n Dudes – “Careless Love” “Devil Got My Woman” “Hardtime Killing Floor Blues” and”Good Road Camp Blues” all taken from his later sessions in the 1960s. In addition we also play Chris Thomas King’s version of “Hard Time Killing Floor” which will be recognized by film buffs who’ve seen O Brother Where Art Thou