Philipe Lejeune at Cliff Bell's Friday April 6th- John Penney [ 3/30/2012 - 14:14 ] # Philippe Lejeune performed at the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie in 2005, and is featured in our program and DVD, "International Boogie Woogie." He is coming back to the Motor City for a performance at Cliff Bell's on Friday, April 6th, starting at 9:30pm.
Mr. B once told us, "I've always admired guys who, when they sit down at the piano, you don't know exactly what you'll hear. That's what keeps me interested as a listener." Philippe LeJeune is one of those guys. Philippe grew up in the south of France studying classical piano. His world changed in 1968 when his mother took him to hear Memphis Slim perform in Reims. "I did not even imagine such music could exist," said Philippe. He threw himself into the blues and boogie woogie, scouring shops for recordings by the masters - Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Cow Cow Davenport, and many more. How much did he learn and how well could he play? Memphis Slim had become a Parisian citizen in 1962. He had heard Philippe and in 1980 asked him to record an album of piano duets. Just their four hands on two pianos. Enough said. Today Philippe is recognized primarily as a jazz pianist, but his repertoire is broad, his approach his own. "For me music has to be different," he told us in 2005. "I like to play jazz standards with a blues feeling, or boogie woogie with jazz chords." Friday night at Cliff Bell's you can hear for yourself. Don't miss Philippe LeJeune. 
AMRF News Artists Blues Boogie Woogie Jazz
|  | | Corey Harris- John Penney [ 3/13/2012 - 23:59 ] #
The short
version is that the AMRF is presenting Corey Harris & the Rasta Blues
Experience with special guests Phil Wiggins and Thornetta Davis at Callahan’s
Music Hall on St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17th, for two sets
beginning at 5:30pm, and will capture both the performance and an interview
with Corey on video for posterity and public television.
The long
version is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum: How to convince you, without jumping
into hyperbolic space, that this is an event you daren’t miss?
On the one
hand we could write a few hundreds or thousands of words about Corey’s unparalleled
musicianship. About how he has done more to connect the musical and cultural
dots between Africa, the Caribbean basin and America than perhaps anyone else
on the planet. About how he made those connections, not by proxy, but by literally
going there and doing that, from the streets of New Orleans to Cameroon, Mali,
Guinea, and on stages around the world.
We could
write about how Martin Scorsese chose Corey to narrate and perform in his film,
“Feel Like Going Home,” and about how the Macarthur Foundation called Corey out
of the blue one day to tell him he was a Genius.
On the other
hand we could simply say, “Trust us. You want to be there.” Purchase tickets here.  
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News Blues
|  | | James "Red" Holloway, 1927 - 2012- John Penney [ 3/2/2012 - 11:37 ] #
James “Red” Holloway
May 31, 1927 – February 25, 2012
Life
is after all a terminal disease, and even if we were still teenagers, our
mission at the AMRF pretty much guarantees there will be more funerals than
weddings. It’s just that some passages are harder to take than others. Red Holloway’s death
at the age of 84 on Saturday, February 25th, is one of the hardest.
Just hearing his name I see his ever-present
smile. I hear his laugh, and the way he said, “greazzy,” with more than a
couple of z’s. I hear him snoring contentedly in my car as I drove him from rehearsal
at the Firefly in Ann Arbor back to his hotel in Farmington. Mostly I hear his
tenor saxophone, so sweet and so gritty all at once.
It’s
not that I really knew Red; he wouldn’t recognize me on the street, and it’s beyond
doubtful he’d even remember my name. He spent but four whirlwind days with us
in Detroit during the 8th Annual Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival
in 2006. But what I took from him during the few hours in which we were
together and he wasn’t snoring was more meaningful than days and weeks I’ve
spent with some others.
The
AMRF had decided in January to present a big band boogie-woogie show. Paul
Keller had agreed to serve as Music Director, with his 14-piece PKO providing
the foundation. Pianists Mr. B, Bob Seeley, Charles Boles and Axel
Zwingenberger were all in the mix, and we were casting about for additional
players and vocalists, and also big band boogie woogie charts; Paul has a
massive book but there were some holes we were looking to fill, and the more
material to choose from the better.
It
was sometime in the spring when I walked into AMRF President Ron Harwood’s
office and he said that Axel had suggested we consider a guy he had worked with, Red
Holloway, who played saxophones, sang, and probably had some charts. Ron asked
me what I thought. After peeling myself off the ceiling I told him in language
more colorful than can be repeated here that I thought it absolutely brilliant.
Red
was 79 years old, a seasoned veteran and product of Chicago’s south side who
straddled the worlds of jazz and blues with ease. He had played with everyone
from Roosevelt Sykes, Willie Dixon, and B.B. King to Clark Terry, Sonny Stitt,
and Dexter Gordon. He was a member of organist Jack McDuff's famed quartet in the early 60’s, with Joe Dukes on drums and a teenager named George Benson on guitar. He was a favorite sideman for vocalists
Etta James, Joe Williams, and Carmen McRae. He was the perfect choice to round out our
ensemble. 
I
Googled Red and found his website. There was phone number I figured was for his
agent. It was Red’s home number and he answered himself, the first of many
pleasant surprises from this wonderful man. I explained the project, said that
Axel had recommended him, and just like that, he was in. Just like that.
The
concert itself was so magical we made two television shows from it. Red’s soul
infused the entire evening. He reached deep into the mud for an exquisite duet
with Mr. B on “Going Down Slow,” swung mercilessly with Charles Boles on "Rt.
66," and blew the house down while Axel pounded out the boogie woogie. He pulled
out a pennywhistle to play an achingly beautiful ballad, and pulled in the
audience to clap along and sing with him on “Locksmith Blues.” It made the crew a bit crazy
that he was playing through the vocal mic, holding it in the bell of his horn
between choruses, but they got over it.
Red’s
contributions to the concert were extraordinary, but it’s the interview that really
sticks with me. The express purpose of our Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie
Festivals is to bring artists to us so that both their music and stories can be
captured on video for posterity. Red’s anecdotes alone were beyond entertaining: Sitting
next to Johnny Griffin at fabled DuSable High in Chicago. Being stranded,
starving and freezing on tour in North Dakota. Practicing a lick over and over
in the closet with a towel jammed in the bell of his horn, so that he wouldn’t be
blown off the stage at next week’s jam session in a south side club.
Most
compelling is the extent to which his story informs our understanding of what music
is, and what it means to be a musician. I hear every nuance of cadence
and inflection as he said, “If you cannot play the blues, you cannot play good
jazz.” I am still awed by the breezy eloquence of his simple statement, “I
liked jazz, but I liked to eat too.” His equally eloquent summation gives voice
to a universal truth: “If you’re going to be a real musician, you’re going to
play anything that’s going to make you some money, so you can eat regular, and
be just like the people who work six or seven days a week.”
We
have been privileged at the AMRF to capture the performances and stories of
over 50 artists, and we have learned from every one of them. We are
particularly proud that one of those artists is Red Holloway. Not only did he
provide some of the most compelling footage in our archive, but in the process he
touched us all with his wisdom and beautiful soul.
He made us feel, not just good, but greazzy good. RIP John Penney, AMRF
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News Artists Blues History
|  | | discussion
- i had the pleasure of working with red holloway in the 2006 concert and I must s...more
- [Charles Boles]
- Thanks for the wonderful article about my Dad! He was truly one of a kind and w...more
- [Lianne Holloway] read more (2 total) |
| The AMRF Presents Corey Harris and Rasta Blues Experience- John Penney [ 2/6/2012 - 09:50 ] #
THE AMERICAN MUSIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION PRESENTS:
COREY HARRIS AND THE RASTA BLUES EXPERIENCE
AT CALLAHAN’S MUSIC HALL MARCH 17
 The American Music Research Foundation is proud to present
MacArthur Fellow Corey Harris and the Rasta Blues Experience with special guests
Phil Wiggins and Thornetta Davis at Callahan’s Music Hall in Auburn Hills on St. Patrick’s Day,
Saturday March 17th. There will be two sets, start time is 5:30pm. Tickets are available at Callahan's or at 248-858-9508.
Both sets will be recorded for broadcast on public television.
Harris was born in Denver and began his career as a street
singer in New Orleans. In his 20’s he lived for a year in Cameroon, which had a
profound impact on his approach to the blues. A powerful singer and an
accomplished guitarist, Harris leads a contemporary revival of country blues with
a fresh, modern hand. He performs both traditional country blues and his own
compositions, infusing both with Caribbean and African influences, particularly
reggae. His musical artistry is complemented by serious explorations of the
historical and cultural conditions that gave rise to the blues.
Harris has performed and recorded with the likes of B.B.
King, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Henry Butler and Ali Farke Toure, and released nine
CDs under his own name. In 2003 he was a featured artist and narrator of Martin
Scorcese’s film, “Feel Like Going Home,” which traces the early evolution of
the blues from West Africa to the southern U. S. He was named a MacArthur
Fellow in 2007, receiving what is popularly known as the “genius grant.”
Phil Wiggins is arguably America’s foremost blues harmonica
virtuoso. While rooted in the melodic “Tidewater” style of blues native to his
home in the Chesapeake Bay region, his playing transcends stylistic boundaries.
Thornetta Davis is the Detroit Music Awards' 2011 Outstanding Blues/R&B Vocalist of the Year, on of the city's most revered talents.
Callahan’s Music Hall, 2105 South Blvd. in Auburn Hills, is
Southeast Michigan’s premier venue for the blues.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News
|  | | Deanna Bogart at Callahan's Friday January 27th- John Penney [ 1/24/2012 - 07:59 ] # Deanna Bogart is not our BFF at The American Music Research Foundation just
because she raised the rafters at our 9th Annual Motor City Blues
& Boogie Woogie Festival in 2007. Nor because she was the Blues Music
Awards Horn Instrumentalist of the Year three years running and has
received 22 Wammies (Washington Area Music Association Awards) along the way.
It’s not because she’s a pianist
who can boogie your woogie ‘till the cows come home, a vocalist who can make
your hair stand on end, and a live performer who can singe that hair right off
your head and make it grow back in the color of your choice in a single set.
It’s not because she was born in
Detroit either, though that helps.
Deanna Bogart is our BFF because no
matter what the room she’s the hippest person in it, whether blowing a horn,
tickling keys, singing, or just hanging out.
She’ll be doing all of the above
at Callahan’s Music Hall this Friday night January 27th. Trust us when
we tell you that, if you go, you’ll have a new BFF too. Doors at 6:30, show at
8:00.
AMRF News Blues Events of Interest
|  | | Allen Toussaint The Soul of New Orleans on DPTV Saturday Jan. 21 9pm- John Penney [ 9/28/2011 - 12:47 ] #
Join DPTV's Fred Nahhat and the AMRF's John Penney for a special fundraising edition of “Allen Toussaint:
The Soul of New Orleans” 9:00 - 10:30pm Saturday, January 21, on Detroit
Public Television, WTVS Channel 56. Watch the first 5 minutes. The program is the eighth in the Motor City Blues &
Boogie Woogie Festival series produced by the
American Music Research Foundation and the first to focus on an individual
artist.
Toussaint is one of the most important musical figure to
emerge from New Orleans in our time and yet a relative unknown because his
accolades have come for work behind the scenes. He was cited as “the chief
architect of the New Orleans sound” when inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame as a non-performer in 1998. In 2009 he received the Grammy Trustee
Award, given to "individuals who,
during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than
performance, to the field of recording.” This year he was inducted
into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Because Toussaint performed so rarely, no one was quite
sure what to expect when he played solo on a Steinway at Detroit’s Music Hall
in 2008. But when he opened the show with “Java,” “Certain Girl,”
“Mother-in-Law,” “Fortune Teller,” “Working in a Coal Mine,” and, “Get Out of
My Life Woman,” the gasps from the audience were audible: “He wrote that too?”
Toussaint wasn’t sure what to expect from the audience either, and he was
obviously delighted by the reception. The result was a relaxed, joyful, and
exquisitely intimate performance.
During the on-camera interview earlier that day at Cliff
Bell’s Toussaint had been eloquent and expressive about growing up
in New Orleans and the city’s musical heritage. The documentary built
from this interview and the performance is extraordinary, and we hope you
enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.
DVDs are available at the AMRF’s
online
store. Listen to John Penney's "Jazzfest Detroit" Saturday's 7-9pm on 90.9 WRCJ FM Detroit, a joint service of Detroit Public Schools and Detroit Public Television
AMRF News AMRF ON TV
|  | | Mike Montgomery- John Penney [ 6/29/2011 - 14:55 ] #
All of us at the AMRF are still reeling after the sudden and unexpected loss of one of our oldest and dearest friends. Mike Montgomery passed in his sleep sometime after midnight last Tuesday, June 22, 2011. He was 77 years young.
Mike was a world renowned authority on ragtime, early blues and jazz, and particular on piano rolls; he discovered a barn full of them as a teenager growing up in Chicago and was immediately smitten. Mike produced some 26 LPs and CDs, wrote liner notes for many more, and contributed hundreds of scholarly lectures and articles. You’d be hard pressed to find a CD or book or anything in any media published in the last 50 years having to do with ragtime that does not acknowledge Mike’s contributions.
To call him a “Scholar” however doesn’t do him justice. Mike was a Sage. More than just knowledgeable, he was wise and enlightened, and since music was his avocation rather than vocation he led with his head and heart rather than his wallet. Mike was more interested in sharing than he was with taking credit, content that his extraordinary contributions simply be disseminated whether acknowledged in a “Special Thanks” section or a footnote or not at all. He went out of his way to share his discoveries; a friend in Ann Arbor reminisced about how Mike showed up out of the blue one day bearing an envelope filled with information about the history of the building he lived in, hooting with delight as he revealed its contents. All of us who knew and worked with Mike have similar stories.
Mike and AMRF Founder and President Ron Harwood were close friends and colleagues for many decades. Mike rarely missed a Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, and his research provides fundamental underpinnings for the book on Sippie Wallace and the Thomas family that Ron is writing with the AMRF’s John Penney. Mike continued to make significant contributions until his tragic death. He was a regular visitor at Ron’s offices, where he was well known and well loved. “Make sure to bring Mike by to say ‘Hi’” was a common request.
At Mike’s Memorial one man tearfully recounted how his father had died when he was a youngster, and how Mike had become, in a very real sense, a father to him. He went on to say that, after he had given a tearful and mournful eulogy for his father, Mike pulled him aside. “You are speaking in a minor key,” Mike told him. “You need to speak in a major key.” How brilliant, how Mike…
Though for many of us Mike Montgomery’s passing is almost more than we can bear, we can take some solace in the joy and wisdom he shared and that enriched our lives. That we could count him a friend is more than a precious thing, and when we speak of him, and sing of him, it will always be in a major key.
AMRF News History Piano Rolls
|  | | Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans- John Penney [ 4/19/2011 - 15:48 ] # 
NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD with 30 additional minutes of interview footage and a train-wreck boogie woogie featuring Toussaint with Pinetop Perkins Band, Michael Kaeshammer, David Maxwell, and Bob Seeley.
ALLEN TOUSSAINT: THE SOUL OF NEW ORLEANS
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Songwriters Hall of Fame Grammy Trustee Award
Performing his songs: Java, Certain Girl, Working in a Coal Mine, Mother-in-Law, Fortune Teller, Get Out of my Life Woman, Southern Nights and more. Click here for more information.
$27.50 includes shipping and handling. Visit our online store or call 866-270-5141.
Click here for public television broadcasts in your area. Updated daily.
AMRF News Merchandise
|  | | New from the AMRF: Allen Toussaint the Soul of New Orleans- John Penney [ 4/5/2011 - 12:42 ] # 
TO OUR FRIENDS:
“Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans” is the eighth in the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival series of public television programs produced by the American Music Research Foundation. Watch the first five minutes here.
Toussaint is one of the most important musical figures to emerge from New Orleans in our time and yet a relative unknown because his accolades have come for work behind the scenes. He was cited as “the chief architect of the New Orleans sound” when inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in 1998. He received the Grammy Trustee award in 2009, given to "individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.” This year he will be inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Because Toussaint performs so rarely, no one was quite sure what to expect when he played solo on a Steinway for us at Detroit’s Music Hall in 2008. But when he opened the show with “Java,” “Certain Girl,” “Mother-in-Law,” “Fortune Teller,” “Working in a Coal Mine,” and, “Get Out of My Life Woman,” the gasps from the audience were audible. “He wrote that too?” Toussaint wasn’t sure what to expect from the audience either, and he was obviously delighted by the reception. The result was a relaxed, joyful, and exquisitely intimate performance.
During the on-camera interview earlier that day Toussaint had been wonderfully eloquent and expressive about growing up in New Orleans and the city’s musical heritage. The documentary we have built from this interview and performance is quite extraordinary, and we hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.
If you like what you see in the first five minutes, please share the video with friends, and let your public television station know that you want them to broadcast “Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans.
DVDs are available at our online store or by calling 866-270-5141.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News AMRF ON TV
|  | | New from the AMRF "Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans"- John Penney [ 3/30/2011 - 18:39 ] # “Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans” is the eighth in the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie series of public television programs produced by the American Music Research Foundation and distributed by NETA (ATNO 00H1, 60min, HD, feed on 4/25 @12noon ET).
Toussaint is one of the most important musical figures to emerge from New Orleans but still a relative unknown because his accolades have come for work behind the scenes. He was cited as “the chief architect of the New Orleans sound” when inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in 1998. He received the Grammy Trustee award in 2009, given to "individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.” This year he will be inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Because Toussaint performs so rarely, no one was quite sure what to expect when he played solo on a Steinway for us at Detroit’s Music Hall in 2008. But as he opened the show with “Java,” “Certain Girl,” “Mother-in-Law,” “Fortune Teller,” “Working in a Coal Mine,” and, “Get Out of My Life Woman,” the gasps from the audience were audible. “He wrote that too?” Toussaint wasn’t sure what to expect from the audience either, and he was obviously delighted by the reception. The result was a relaxed, joyful, and exquisitely intimate performance. The capture was brilliantly orchestrated by award winning Director Mark Haney .
During the on-camera interview earlier that day Toussaint had been wonderfully eloquent and expressive about growing up in New Orleans and the city’s musical heritage. The documentary we have built from this interview and performance is quite extraordinary, and we are confident that it will resonate with you and your viewers.
Watch the first five minutes of the program here
If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do for you, please write or call anytime.
Thanks,
John Penney Director American Music Research Foundation 30733 West Ten Mile Road Farmington Hills, MI 48336 (O) 248-478-2525 (C) 248-798-5132 tunesailor@comcast.net www.amrf.net
AMRF News AMRF ON TV
|  | | Requiem for Pinetop- John Penney [ 3/22/2011 - 16:16 ] #
It had always been our dream to have Pinetop Perkins play the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival; he was the last of the great Mississippi bluesmen, and the story of boogie woogie is more than incomplete without his.
Pinetop was born in Belzoni, Mississippi, in 1913. He started in juke joints, spent three years with Sonny Boy Williamson on the original King Biscuit Time radio show in Helena, Arkansas, and then toured extensively with Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker. It was as an afterthought at a session with Hooker at Sun Studios in Memphis that he recorded his remake of Pinetop Smith’s classic “Boogie Woogie” in 1953 and earned his nickname. In 1969 Pinetop took the piano chair from Otis Span in Muddy Waters’ band, and in 1980 when that band broke up he and several other members formed the Legendary Blues Band. Pinetop went solo in the early 90’s and continued to perform through early last year.
Pinetop was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2003, and received a Grammy for Lifetime achievement in 2005. In 2007 "The Last of the Great Delta Bluesmen" was the Grammy's Best Traditional Blues Album of the year. His last recording, “Joined at the Hip” with long-time partner Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, received the same honor in 2010. The Blues Music Awards (formerly the W.C. Handy awards) are the blues equivalent of the Grammy’s, and Pinetop won the best pianist award so many times (11 years in a row) that he was finally retired from competition and the award renamed for him.
Our dream came true at the 10th annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival in 2008. It was bittersweet. Pinetop was 95 years old and physically frail, arriving at Cliff Bell’s for his interview in a wheelchair. He had lost most of the hearing in one ear decades before when Earl Hooker’s guitar amp pretty much blew up in his face at a gig on Chicago’s south side, and it had deteriorated further to the extent that our questions had to be relayed directly into his good ear by long-time friend and band mate Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. He had great difficulty answering any but directed questions, and his attention quickly waned.

But his spirit was indomitable, his smile lit up the room, and when we got him seated at the piano for the interview he simply began to play. There was power in his hands, and the music in his soul took a sledgehammer to the physical constraints the years had imposed on his body.
The afternoon also yielded one of our most cherished moments at the AMRF. Allen Toussaint was on the bill with Pinetop, and the tight production schedule allocated 90 minutes for his interview at Cliff Bell’s, after which he was to be hustled back to Music Hall for sound check while Pinetop was brought in for his interview. Toussaint cites Pinetop as a major influence on his music but had never met him, and when he discovered that Pinetop was coming he declined to leave until he had a chance to do so. It wreaked havoc on the schedule, but for those who witnessed the historic meeting of these two musical giants, and watched as they played four handed piano, it was not only magical but an overwhelming affirmation of the AMRF’s work that none of us will ever forget.
Pinetop’s band played a stellar set that evening, and Toussaint’s performance on solo piano was beyond astonishing (watch for “Allen Toussaint: The Soul of New Orleans” on public television this summer). At the end of the night all the players gathered on stage for the traditional “train wreck” finale, and during the bows Toussaint singled out Pinetop.
It was bittersweet, but at the end of the 10th annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, Pinetop Perkins had not only touched our piano; he had touched our hearts.
Pinetop Perkins died peacefully at his home in Austin, Texas, on March 21, 2011.


AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News Artists Blues Boogie Woogie
|  | | See Eddie Kirkland at Callahan's for Free- John Penney [ 11/19/2010 - 08:10 ] # 
Eddie Kirkland performs at Callahan's Music Hall in Auburn Hills tomorrow, Saturday November 20th, at 8:00pm.
TODAY ONLY (FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19): BE ONE OF THE FIRST TEN PEOPLE TO CALL BRANDI AT 866-270-5141 AND WIN A FREE PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE EDDIE KIRKLAND AT CALLAHAN'S!! 
AMRF News Blues
|  | | discussion
- It was such a pleasure to have worked the 10th annual boogie woogie show. I am s...more
- [redford] read more (1 total) |
| Detroit Blues Legend Eddie Kirkland at Callahan's- John Penney [ 11/11/2010 - 11:01 ] # 
“Few if any organizations are as focused and committed to promoting and preserving our shared cultural heritage as the AMRF. This is manifest through their efforts to create first rate opportunities for performers in premier circumstances, and to create a very finely produced archive of these performances in video format. This kind of archive is invaluable and I would hope that every effort is made to help the AMRF achieve their goals.” Mark Braun, aka “Mr. B”
Eddie Kirkland is Detroit Blues Royalty, and he returns to perform at Callahan’s on Saturday November 20th. Advance tickets are available on Callahan's website.
Make a tax deductible donation to the AMRF and we'll thank you with one of these gifts, available only at 866-270-5141:
Eddie Kirkland was born in Jamaica in 1923. His family immigrated to the USA in 1924 and settled in Dothan Alabama. Eddie left home at age 12 in the back of the tent truck with the Sugar Girls Medicine Show. After serving his adapted country during WWII Eddie came to Detroit to live with his Mom. He worked at Rouge River for Ford during the day and played the blues at night.

From 1949 through 1962 Eddie played and toured with John Lee Hooker and ultimately served as his road manager. When Hooker left for Europe Eddie moved to Georgia as Otis Redding’s band leader, and subsequently toured with Ruth Brown, Little Richard, Little Johnnie Taylor, and too many others to count.
By the time he appeared at the Ann Arbor Jazz & Blues Festival in 1973 Eddie was known as “Energy Man,” a reputation solidified when he played guitar while standing on his head during a TV appearance on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
Today Eddie Kirkland is 87 years young, and while the odds favor that he won't stand on his head, they also favor that you will see and hear a unique and exceptional performance informed both by Eddie's Detroit roots and a Metro Detroit audience that (always) gets it.
At the AMRF our premise is that appreciation begins with being in the same room with artists as they create music. Click here to watch and listen to Eddie Kirkland, and join us at Callahan's Music Hall for what promises to be a most memorable evening.
American Music Research Foundation
30733 West Ten Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 4836
866-270-5141
boogie@amrf.net
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News Artists Blues
|  | | A New Look for the AMRF Website- John Penney [ 11/4/2010 - 10:51 ] # 
'"The folks at the AMRF obviously care passionately about both the music and the musicians, and their work combines technical excellence on all levels with a huge measure of heart and soul…As a working musician, I can think of few efforts more worthy of financial support in the service of presenting and documenting our musical and cultural heritage." Paul Keller, 2006
Imagery is central to our work at the AMRF; listening to music with eyes closed can be a transcendent experience, but watching musicians create it – Axel Zwingenberger’s hands bouncing effortlessly across the keys so fast that all that the camera captures is a blur, or Koko Taylor prancing and growling through Wang Dang Doodle – takes music appreciation to an entirely different level. You can watch sampler's from all of our award winning television programs and DVD's on our redesigned website, www.amrf.net.
Even still images can illustrate the rhythm, harmony, camaraderie and joy artists share when making music, particularly when framed by a master like our friend and colleague John Collier. In this one, Michael Kaeshammer enjoys a patented Bob Seeley bear-hug. John's photographs are featured prominently on our new home page. Please drop by, and let us know what you think at boogie@amrf.net
American Music Research Foundation
30733 West Ten Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48336-2605
866-270-5141
About the American Music Research Foundation AMRF News
|  | | We Need Your Help- John Penney [ 10/17/2010 - 14:10 ] # Over 10 years the AMRF captured the music and stories of 59 artists on state-of-the-art audio and video at our Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival. Last year we decided to breathe, and threw an intimate party with old friends at Callahan’s Music Hall. Sadly, there will be no 12th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Festival.
The primary reason is money. We set ticket prices as low as possible and occasionally cover artist costs, but covering the astronomical costs of recording the shows depends on grants and the generosity of sponsors, members and friends. In this challenging economic environment we simply could not afford to produce the fest without cutting corners, and we decided that if we couldn’t do it right we wouldn’t do it at all.
We have plenty of work to do however, and plenty of costs to cover. Over the past five years we have used the footage in our archive to produce seven nationally distributed programs for public television. We provide them to stations for free in pursuit of our mission to keep the music alive. To date they have aired over 1,500 times and been available to over 200 million viewers across the country.
We are in the process of editing three new programs, and there are still dozens of artists in our archive whose music and stories have yet to be shared. The archive itself is aging and requires attention; the oldest tapes, which contain performances and interviews with such seminal artists as Jay McShann and Johnnie Johnson, are both analog and fragile. Digitizing them for the sake of preservation and sharing them with television audiences are high on our priority list.
The AMRF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and we need your financial support to continue our important work. When you pay taxes you have little control over how your money is spent. When you make a tax-deductible contribution to the AMRF as allowed by law, you know that your money will be used wisely and frugally to enrich life by documenting, preserving, and sharing slices of our country’s cultural and musical heritage so that future generations will not forget.
To make a donation by check please Use this form. For donations by credit card, or for more information about the AMRF call 1-866-270-5141.
The American Music Research Foundation
30733 West Ten Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48336-2605
Thank you for your support!
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