Floyd Lee - Blues On 30th Street (2016)

Floyd Lee, aka Ted Williams was born in 1933 near Clarksdale, Mississippi but raised by his aunt with Guitar Floyd in Memphis. As a child he picked cotton and was able to attend school only a few months of the year. He began playing guitar at 11 on a homemade box and was shown his first licks by Guitar Slim whom he followed along with Sonny Boy Williamson as they performed on the street, at rent parties, and in jukes. He later obtained his first guitar when it was left behind in the cellar at a rent party. After Guitar Slim taught him his first song, he was playing it on his porch and a little girl came over to him and gave him a kiss. He then decided to learn two songs. Floyd Lee moved to Cleveland during the 1940's where he attended high school and won a contest which gave him the opportunity to serve as a batboy for the Cleveland Indians. During the fifties he sometimes played second guitar for Jimmy Reed. He moved to NYC in 1973 and played with Wilson Pickett and other blues and R'nB musicians but mostly worked as a cook and doorman. After retiring he devoted himself to his music and could be found mostly performing in the Times Square and Penn subway stations where I first heard him. Wendy Oxenhorn asked me to record him and so this session came to be. As a guitarist, Floyd could play classic country blues but he loved his Strat plugged into a filter and delay to provide a heavily vocalized counterpoint to his voice on electric tracks. We set up quickly one wintry day and cut some tracks, all first takes - raw and unpolished, sitting in a circle in the live room when Studio zOaR shared a recording suite in midtown.

TRACKLIST

01. She Got The Nerve (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
02. Going Up (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
03. Bright Lights Big City (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
04. Crack Alley Blues (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
05. Bullfrog Blues (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
06. Blues In New York City (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
07. Insurance Blues (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
08. Come Back Baby (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
09. I'll Be There (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
10. Nobody Nobody (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)
11. Better Luck (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)