Tomorrow I go to the tape duplicator to get a bunch more cassettes of “Who Paid You to Give Me the Blues?”. I gave a copy (plus a video) to exactly one promoter and I’ve got three festival dates out of it. I knew I was in the big time when we played the Dollar last February and it cost me money. I had to dip in to the tape sales just to pay the musicians. And even at that, it was less than what I promised them.
Here I am listening to Muddy Waters sing “I’m ready” and writing out the words. I think in the blues circles of Toronto any 50-year old bluesman would be expected to know the words to every single Willie Dixon song. But I guess that’s why I haven’t had a chance to play around on the blues circuit. I just don’t have that repertoire of blues standards that everybody knows.
I’m going to publish these updates on my website (since I don’t have a lot else to put up there). This is my first letter in a long time so I’ll use it to chronicle my recent adventures in Toronto. Colorblind’s Toronto Blues Diary. There’s been so much going on that I forget to write, but here’s a good place to start.