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Another clip I hadn’t seen before, its from the 22nd October 1963 in Manchester as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. It was filmed in Studio 6 for the ’I Hear the Blues’ Granada TV 40 minute special. There’s other clips from this such as Lonnie Johnson’s section that have been released on DVD but much of this old TV special seems to be sourced from one VHS tape. If anyone has the old black and white copy in better quality let me know and I’ll have a crack colourising this again. I don’t make anything colourising and putting these videos together so please support the channel with the link here if you can its greatly appreciated! Willie Dixon: Vocals, Upright Bass Matt ’Guitar’ Murphy: Lead Guitar Memphis Slim: Piano Bill Stepney: Drums Willie first recorded ’Nervous’ back in December 1959, it was released the following March on Prestige Records. Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. A man of considerable stature, standing 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing, at which he was successful, winning the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937. Around in 1939, he became a professional boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis’s sparring partner, but after four fights he left boxing in a dispute with his manager over money. Dixon signed with Chess Records as a recording artist, but he began performing less, being more involved with administrative tasks for the label. By 1951, he was a full-time employee at Chess, where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. He was also a producer for the Chess subsidiary Checker Records. His relationship with Chess was sometimes strained, but he stayed with the label from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time Dixon’s output and influence were prodigious. From late 1956 to early 1959, he worked in a similar capacity for Cobra Records, for which he produced early singles for Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy. Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and others. In his later years, Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation, which works to preserve the legacy of the blues and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, “The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues.“ If any videos get blocked I tend to post them on my other social media platforms, so have a look if you don’t want to miss anything! All links are here: #colourised #bluesincolour #blueslegend #blues #bluesmusic #bluesmusician #blueslesson #bluesguitar #bluesguitarist #bluespianist #bluespiano #bluessongsofalltime #bluessinger #uprightbass #chicagoblues #chicago #mattguitarmurphy #memphisslim #billstepney
