Louisiana Red


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Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,476
Guitar Tricks Admin
Full Access
Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,476
10/26/2011 8:41 pm


Louisiana Red


Louisiana Red is a blues guitarist of the purist stripe; a flamboyant and powerful guitarist who grinds out old school blues that are accentuated by his deep and booming voice. You can hear his influences easily (too easily for some of his critics); Muddy, Elmore and John Lee. It’s there. There’s no mistaking whom Red modeled himself after and yet he has his own voice and his own distinctive style.
And equally as important, Red is one of the last remaining blues artists with direct ties to some of the legends of the genre.
Born Iverson Minter on March 23rd, 1932 in Bessema, AL , it seemed as if the blues were waiting for him. His mother passed away from pneumonia a week after his birth. At the age of 5, Minter lost his father who was lynched by the KKK. Minter was shuffled around between family members for a brief time, living with his grandmother briefly in New Orleans, other family in Waco, Texas and then in an orphanage for a time where he taught himself harmonica. He finally came to roost in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he was raised by members of his extended family.
While living in the Steel City, Minter began to learn the guitar. By 1947 he was playing along the streets for spare change. As he continued to mature as a performer, Minter would appear on local radio stations on various blues music shows. In the late 40’s, he sat in with the great Muddy Waters and his band at the Skyline Club in Pittsburgh. In 1949, Minter lit out for the blues promised land and moved to Chicago.
Once he hit the streets in Chicago, it didn’t take long for his young career to take root and he quickly recorded a disc for the Chess / Checker label. But trouble was not far behind. After serving a year in a reformatory, he worked his way up to Detroit, MI where he worked a few local clubs, including the nefarious Club Karen, with John Lee Hooker.
From 1951 until 1958, Minter served with the United States Army Air Corp in England and Korea. Upon returning to civilian life, he again set out on the road to re-capture his music career that had stopped almost immediately after it had begun. He recorded as ‘Rocky Fuller’ for Chess Records in Philadelphia and then hit the road back to the Detroit where he hooked up again with John Lee Hooker.
Through the remaining years of the 50’s and into the early 60’s, Minter spent a good deal of time on the road, working his way back and forth through the South, often appearing on the same bill with famous road warriors James Wayne’s Nighthawks. He recorded his first album Lowdown Back Porch Blues for Roulette/Vogue label. The album caused a bit of a stir when it was first released. The albums sound was heavily influenced by Muddy Waters and yet the lyrics were more contemporary and a bit edgy for the time. In the song ‘Reds’ Dream’ (a thinly disguised update to the Big Bill Broonzy title ‘Just A Dream’), contains vague ‘threats’ to the Russian Premiere N. Khrushchev as well as a message to Fidel Castro).
He began to get involved in radical politics in mid-60’s becoming an active member of the Black Muslims and with The Rev Ike Movement in New York City (a flamboyant preacher who dabbled in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s but more often than not preached material wealth to his followers, “Close your eyes and see green …” was a favorite mantra of the movement.). During this time, Minter, who by this time was known more by his stage name ‘Louisiana Red’, was still performing and recording occasionally, showing up on stage with the likes of Jimmy Reed (another of Red’s influences).
In 1971, Red recorded an album, Louisiana Red Sings The Blues, for an Atlantic Records subsidiary, ATCO. The album failed to sell well and he was quickly dropped from the label.
He migrated south in the early 70’s and while trying to re-establish himself musically, he worked outside of music doing labor in the Okefenokee Swamp. In the mid-70’s, he formed the Bluesettes and began to secure a decent local following in the Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia area. But the blues club and festival circuit was a rather uncertain way to make a living in the mid-70’s in America.
Like so many of the blues men of the era, Red caught several tours throughout Europe where he was accepted warmly by European audiences and by 1982, Red had relocated to Hanover, Germany where he has lived since.
In 1983, Red won a W.C. Handy award for Best Traditional Blues Artist’ and has secured a certain amount renown for his 1994 album To Blues Sinantas To Rembetiko, a disc he recorded with internationally known Greek bouzouki player Markos Vamvakaris. The hybrid project, although seemingly odd to a blues purist, is an exciting experiment in cross-culture musical expression.
Despite his advancing years, he continues to tour Europe appearing regularly at various festivals and clubs and returns often to the United States to perform. With 50 albums to his credit, Louisiana Red is a prolific and passionate performer and a living example of the belief that if you love what you do, there is no retirement age.
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