Spain: Maria Dolores Pradera - De Carne Y Hueso

...but i can't also escape from Maria Dolores Pradera's tradition. So, another amazing song from her. For her fans, only!

Juke Boy Bonner - Struggle In Houston

For me it's very hard to escape from "Juke Boy" Bonner's Blues! So, here it's another magnificent song from him. Please, don't ever forget that he is one man band. You may see it in the photo... Real Blues for Blues fans, only!

Matthew "Hogman" Maxey - Rock Me Baby

Matthew "Hogman" Maxey

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Τhe blues form is characterized by the use of specific chord progressions — the twelve bar blues chord progressions being the most frequently encountered — and certain blue notes that for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent in relation to the pitch of the major scale.

Everyone in the blues field knows the song "Rock Me Baby". In this audio, you can hear it from a very good bluesman who isn't famous. His name is Matthew "Hogman" Maxey. He had been in prison, in the same one that the great bluesman Robert Pete Williams had been...

This song also belongs to my personal archive of rare blues recordings.

Juke Boy Bonner - Ridin' The Greyhound Bus Again

Weldon H. Philip Bonner, better known as Juke Boy Bonner (22 March 1932 — 29 June 1978) was an American blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist. He was influenced by Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Slim Harpo. He described the bleak prospects of black urban existence in songs like "Life is a Nightmare", "Struggle Here in Houston" and "Going Back to the Country", accompanying himself on guitar, harmonica and drums in the self sufficient one-man band mode of Joe Hill Louis and Dr. Ross.

Born in Bellville, Texas, Bonner was one of nine children. His parents died while he was very young, and he was raised by a neighbour's family, and later, he moved in with his older sister in 1945. At the age of twelve he taught himself the guitar. He gained the nickname "Juke Boy" as a youth, as he frequently sang in local bars accompanied by the juke box. Starting a musical career as teenager, he won the first prize at local disc jockey Trummie Cain's weekly talent show at the Lincoln Theater in Houston, Texas in 1948. Through this he secured a 15 minute radio slot on a show operated by record retailer Henry Atlas. After having three children with his wife, she left him to look after the children by himself.

Between 1954 and 1957 he recorded several singles for the Oakland, California based Irma record label, but not all were released at the time. In 1960 he recorded again, this time for the Goldband Records, Storyville Records, and Jan & Dill Records labels. In 1963 he was diagnosed with a large stomach ulcer, and had to have almost half of his stomach removed in surgery. The shock of this operation, plus the social climate of the times (which included civil rights riots and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy) led Bonner to begin writing poetry, some of which was published in the Forward Times weekly newspaper. Recovering from surgery, Bonner worked as an RCA record distributor in Houston. Once his strength returned he began playing gigs again in the local area.

In 1967 Bonner recorded his first album for the Flyright label. Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie label released two albums, "I'm Going Back to The Country" (1968) and "The Struggle" (1969). Arhoolie would later issue some of Bonner's unreleased 1967-1974 recordings on 2003's Ghetto Poet. Bonner recorded mostly original song material through his recording career. He was a guest at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, the American Folk Blues Festival, and the Montreux Blues and Rock Festival. In 1972 he released an LP for Sonet Records, and in 1975 another one for the Houston based Home Cooking Records label. However, Bonner was not able to support himself from his music due to little demand for his work.

Bonner died in his apartment in 1978, aged forty-six, of cirrhosis of the liver.


The sound quality isn't very good, anyway, the song belongs to my personal archive of rare blues recordings. Enjoy it!

Spain: Maria Dolores Pradera - El Rosario De Mi Madre

Maria Dolores (Fernandez) Pradera (born 1924 in Madrid) is a Spanish melodic singer and actress, and one of the most prestigious voices in Spain and Latin America. She started her career as an actress, working in the theatre and in some of the most famous Spanish movies from the 1940s. During the 1950s, she started singing professionally, eventually abandoning her career as an actress in the 1960s. Since then, she has recorded more than 35 discs.

As a singer, she has specialized in traditional Spanish and Latin American music (Peruvian, Argentinian, Mexican, and Venezuelan). Her voice tone is clear and slightly low, and she has an extremely proper Spanish pronunciation. She typically sings accompanied by guitars, requintos, and drums... The video that follows is excellent! Enjoy it!

Psychedelic Music: Gandalf - Hang On To A Dream

Gandalf were an influential late 60s psychedelic rock group. They were an American band originally called The Rahgoos and formed by Peter Sando, Frank Hubach, Bob Muller and Davy Bauer. They signed a record deal with Capitol Records in 1967 who made them rename the band Gandalf. They recorded ther first and only LP the same year. But Capitol spurned them and only released the LP in 1969 with the wrong record inside the sleeve. The copies were recalled and damaged the band's career. Capitol didn't promote the record which make the sales worse. Over the years the album's reputation grew and it was re-released by Sundazed Records in 2002.
The audio has the title Hang On To A Dream and it was a success for the group.