Artistic influences, seeing how a certain artist will take the work of others and transform it into their own, is a fascinating thing. Sometimes it’s very obvious especially when the influence is of equal renown or when one artist directly copies the work of another. But sometimes there are great influences that you may not even recognize.
Mose Allison (born in 1927) is such a person, a name you probably don’t know. But for many musicians in the who found their voice in the 60’s, he was a huge influence. Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, Tom Waits, Van Morrison and many, many others have all cited him as a strong influence on their work. But Mose Allison, while achieving considerable fame, never became the household name like so many of his admirers.
He was pretty hard to pigeonhole as a musician- at times very bluesy, himself strongly influenced by the delta blues of his home in Mississippi, other times very jazzy or even pop tinged. But always a unique and individual sound that allowed him to take a song, his own or those written by others, and give it a new perspective. I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Mose Allison until just recently but have been thrilled to find his work and can easily see it in the work of so many others. I encourage you to seek out his work and give it a listen.
To that end, here’s a small sample for this Sunday morning. It’s his version of the Willie Dixon blues classic The Seventh Son, a song that became a pop hit for Johnny Rivers. But here, it definitely feels all Mose Allison. Enjoy and have a great Sunday.
Redtree Times 