Yank Rachell With Sleepy John Estes & Hammie Nixon - Starvation In My Kitchen (1963)

Yank Rachell III ... (third post in a row)

Like many bluesmen, Yank moved north to St. Louis, where he worked with Peetie Wheatstraw, but often traveled back to Tennessee to perform. He got married, settled down and started raising a family. Even during the peak of his musical career, Rachell kept his day job and did not lead "the life". After Williamson's murder in 1948, Yank drifted away from the music scene, relying solely on straight jobs to make his living. He moved permanently to Indianapolis in 1958, but after his wife died in 1961 he decided to resume performing.

He re-united with Estes and Nixon in 1962 and began playing colleges and coffeehouses. In 1964 they recorded for Delmark Records as Yank Rachell's Tennessee Jug Busters on an album entitled Mandolin Blues, which also included guitarist Mike Bloomfield. During the folk-blues revival of the late 60's and early 70's, they played major festivals in the U.S. and Europe such as the Newport Folk Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Ann Arbor Blues Festival, and the Festival of
American Folklife.

In 1973 Rachell recorded an eponymously titled album for Blue Goose Records. In 1986 he recorded Blues Mandolin Man for Blind Pig Records, where Yank is joined for the first time by a rhythm section (including his granddaughter Sheena Rachell), which was his accustomed way of playing for many years. Also in 1986, Yank appeared in Louie Bluie, Terry Zwigoff's documentary about fellow musician Howard Armstrong.

In his later years he also made albums for JSP, Wolf, and Slippery Noodle. By the mid 1990s, Henry Townsend and his one-time collaborator Rachell were the only active blues artists whose performing lives stretched back to the 1920s. In 1996 he recorded three songs with John Sebastian, formerly of The Lovin' Spoonful, for an album entitled "I Want My Roots". In his last years he suffered from arthritis which shortened his playing sessions, though he managed to recorded an album just before his death, "Too Hot For the Devil"...

In the last post in this short tribute to the Great Bluesman Yank Rachell, we enjoy him in an perfect audio. It has the title "Starvation In My Kitchen". It was recorded in 1963 and along with Rachel (vocals and mandolin), you may also listen Sleepy John Estes (guitar) and Hammie Nixon (harmonica)...


Blues... Great Music... The only kind which is close to perfection!...