Rory Block

Heavy On The Blues

MC Records

When Aurora ‘Rory’ Block was fourteen she was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene along with Maria Muldaur. She was introduced to the music of the Mississippi Delta by Stefan Grossman. Rory made it her business to learn directly from Mississippi John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bukka White and Skip James. Rory recorded for Electra, RCA, Blue Goose, Chrysalis, Rounder, Rykodisc and Telarc. Block signed with Stony Plain Records in 2008 and started her ‘Mentor Series’ paying tribute to those six Delta Blues masters that  influenced her. During her career Rory recorded 38 albums and received twenty-five Blues Music Award nominations. In 2018 Rory started a new series for Stony Plain honoring the “Power Women of the Blues” by releasing “A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith”, resulting in her winning  her sixth Blues Music Award as 2019’s “Acoustic Artist of the Year”. On her next album “Prove It On Me” Rory “decided to celebrate some of the great female artists who were not as well-known as Bessie Smith with the obvious exception of Ma Rainey and Memphis Minnie”, and introduces us to “women who got lost in the rewriting of a musical history that figuratively buried some of the best female singers of the 1920’s and 30’s”.

This new album, on a new label, was co-produced by Rory and her husband Rob Davis. Special guests include guitarists Ronnie Earl, Jimi Vivino, and Joanna Connor; each playing on one track. The album includes nine selected covers and one Rory original. Except for her special guests Rory plays all guitars, bass, and percussion, and sings all lead and harmony parts.

Rory leads off with “High Heel Sneakers” written and first recorded by Tommy Tucker in 1981, “put on my red dress baby, ’cause we goin’ out tonight”. “Walkin’ The Back Streets (And Crying) was  written by Sandy Jones and recorded by Little Milton in 1981, “it makes me so sad to hear my baby say goodbye…that was too much for me, that’s why I walk the backstreets and cry”; Ronnie Earl sits  in on lead guitar. “What Kind of Woman Is This?” written and first recorded by Buddy Guy in 2006,  Jimi Vivino is featured on lead guitar “you should see him by my side, such a fine looking man”.  Next is the traditional gospel song “Hold To His Hand” performed by the First Church Congregation  and further popularized by The Nevels’ Sisters in 1984. “The Wind Cries Mary” was written and first  recorded by Jimi Hendrix in 1967, Joanna Connor guests on lead guitar, as Rory cries out “you can  hear the wind whispers…and the wind howls…and the wind screams…and the wind cries Mary”.

“Down The Dirt Road Blues” was written and recorded by Charley Patton on Friday June 14th,1929 in Richmond, Indiana “I was wandering down the dirt road by myself”. On “Mississippi Blues” written  by Willie Brown in 1930, Rory sings “Goin’ down the delta where I can have my fun, where I can drink  my white lightnin’ and gamble, I can bring my baby home, don’t the delta look lovely when that evening  sun goes down, well you’re looking for your baby, don’t know where she could be found”. “Me And My Chauffer” was written and first recorded by Memphis MInnie in 1941, “won’t you be my chauffer, I want  you to drive me downtown”. “Can’t Quit That Stuff” is an original written by Rory “blues got soul…you got to feel it when you play…just what I feel, you can’t quit that stuff, the blues come from way back”.  While the closer, “Stay Around A Little Longer” was co-written by Tom Hambridge and first appeared  on Buddy Guy’s “Living Proof”; that album won Blues Music Awards for both “Album of the Year” and “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year”; it featured B.B. King on guitar alongside Buddy Guy, now  Rory croons “I got more to do, so I’m gonna’ stay around a little longer…I thank the lord that I’m able to stay around a little longer”.

Rory Block is a celebrated award winning artist recognized the world over as one of the great interpreters of American Delta Blues. Rory cut her first album at the age of twelve backing her father on The Elektra String Band Project. She has become both a keeper and innovator of this unique musical art form. Rory is living life as a music producer, author, ordained minister ‘Preaching the Blues’, mother, wife and friend to thousands at her Church LIVE venue in rural Chatham, New York. Rory  thanks Maria Muldaur for her encouragement during difficult times. It’s time to catch-up with Rory Block.

Richard Ludmerer

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