Still passing the Biscuits…..

Me with Sonny in the KFFA studios, 2010

I’m going to be away in Lanzarote on November 21st. But I wanted to do a post about that date. Because it’s an Anniversary. It will have been SEVENTY-ONE YEARS exactly since King Biscuit Time started broadcasting on that very day in 1941, out of Helena, Arkansas, on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. presented by Sonny Boy Williamson it also at one time featured the late great Pinetop Perkins in the studio band – a legend I was privileged to meet just a year before his death, in Austin, Texas.

Sonny – still broadcasting loud and clear in September this year

Now clocking in at 16,500+ broadcasts and still going strong, it has been presented by the legendary Sunshine Sonny Payne, 86 years young, since 1951.
When I was on my ‘Blue Odyssey’ to Nashville, Memphis, the Mississippi and beyond in 2010, I dropped into the KFFA studio, located within the Blues museum in ‘beautiful downtown Helena’ and was interviewed by the man himself. The man, the programme, the place, is a legend, and I was privileged to be on his show. Not only that, but he graciously agreed to do a voiceover on my homage to this amazing show – a song I wrote which takes it’s title from Sonny’s catchphrase “Pass the Biscuits!”

With ‘The Two Sonnys’ – by the Mississippi levee at Helena 2010

So here it is, All Instruments and vocals by myself, except drums by my dear friend Stef Cybichowski, and of course, featuring the inimitable Sunshine Sonny Payne – here’s to you Sonny, congratulations on King Biscuit time reaching 71 – here’s to many more!

Kev Moore

More and Moore Music!

Don’t forget music-lovers, I have a host of product out there: including 2 full albums as digital downloads, “The Long Walk Home” and “The Songwriter Diaries” COMPLETELY FREE! Plus, available to buy from Shop:Kev,  My DCFC tribute CD “Fan Fayre for the Commons People”, and my latest CD, the 18 track “Blue Odyssey”.

Click on the picture links to explore, listen, download and buy!

Kev Moore

Blue Odyssey Featured on Friday in the DET

You can read the whole article by following THIS LINK to the Derby Telegraph Website

Kev Moore

The Blue Odyssey rolls on….

 

Have car, will travel......

My new album was featured last week on Sunshine Sonny Payne’s King Biscuit Time down in Helena, Arkansas, and next week, I hope to have a couple of tracks aired on BBC Radio Derby when they run my interview with Colin Bloomfield that I did recently on my last UK visit. If you want to buy a copy, it’s easy – just visit our online shop – MIKISMART and place your order, and before you know it, this 18-song, 75 minute disc will be winging it’s way to you via the miracle of snail-mail!  It comes in a beautifully packaged 6 panel digipak, designed by MIKI.

I thought I’d publish an unseen photo from the trip that inspired the album. This was taken just down the street from Sun Studios in Memphis, and seems very fitting for anything to do with Blue Odyssey – me with a blue Buick!

Kev Moore

Blue Odyssey: Release date set for October 31st!

My new album, Blue Odyssey, goes on sale at the end of this month – but you can pre-order it NOW by visiting MIKISMART,  and get yourself a FREE download of my song “The Turre Stomp” into the bargain!

Weighing in at 18 tracks spanning over 75 minutes and presented in a quality full colour 6 panel digipak, I’m really proud of it. To order from our online shop it costs just 10 euros + 3 euros p&p.

The songs take you on the same journey I made through the music heartland of America earlier this year, geographically and chronologically, the lyrics describing my experiences and the people I met along the way, with guest contributions from musicians from Arkansas, Ohio, Georgia, and London – not to mention legendary King Biscuit time presenter “Sunshine” Sonny Payne.

Order yourselves a copy now!

Kev Moore

Blue Odyssey – New Update!

The guest list for the Blue Odyssey project is expanding. I have now heard back from King Biscuit Time, where legendary broadcaster Sunshine Sonny Payne has agreed to do a voice-over for one of the tracks.  You can read about my meeting with Sonny and my interview on KBT HERE.

Kev and Sonny at King Biscuit Time studios, Downtown Helena, Arkansas

I’m really excited to have Sonny contribute to the project. He’s been instrumental in keeping the blues alive and inspiring generations of artists through his radio show, now on the air for an amazing 60 years and counting!

I’ve also been in touch with my old friend Ron ‘Sax’ Johnson, who now resides in Columbus, Ohio. He’s agreed to provide some of his signature saxaphone playing to the CD too.  Ron recently wrote a piece about me in the Columbus Examiner. You can read it online HERE.

Kev and Ron onstage at Jazzlife in Mojacar, Spain some years back...

With around 8 tracks underway the CD is really taking shape. I spent a lot of time today working on the lyrics. Keep checking in here for further news about Blue Odyssey!

Kev Moore

Taking the Biscuit – On the air with a living legend

Monday morning, Memphis in our mirror, we headed south on the legendary Highway 61.  I suggested to Miki that we take a detour across the mighty Mississippi and into Arkansas to visit Helena.  A stop on the outskirts at the visitor centre and a very welcome free coffee, provided me with an opportunity to confirm this town as the location of “King Biscuit Time”, the legendary radio show started in 1941 by Sonny Boy Williamson and a massive influence on the likes of BB King and Ike Turner.  The lady in the visitor centre pointed out the studio’s location. She told us the blues exhibition where the station broadcast from was closed to the public on Mondays, but she called ahead and told them we were coming. And so it was that I met the legendary  DJ “Sunshine” Sonny  Payne  who has been broadcasting the show for 60 years.  A sprightly 85, this man really is a living legend and has brushed shoulders with the giants.  On first name terms with the likes of Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, etc, he is an affable, cordial host, and I was honoured to be invited to take part in the latest broadcast of the show. It is always broadcast at 12.15, the time originally chosen to match that of the lunch break of the African-American workers in the Delta. Miki even got a mention, introduced as the French artist who doesn’t speak!!

Chewin' the fat with Sunshine Sonny Payne

I talked a little about Christie, and how the B-Side of our multi-million seller was called “Down the Mississippi Line”, and how I was thrilled to be going down the Mississippi for real, and I was invited to sign a guitar for the display and also the large flight case display, where I put my name next to Robert Plant’s.

Sonny very kindly signed one of his posters for me, which will be on permanent display at “Kev and Miki towers” when we get home!

King Biscuit time occupies a unique place in Blues history and culture. If it wasn’t for Sonny Boy Williamson’s success in getting the local grocery distributor to  finance the show in exchange for endorsements and naming rights, a whole generation of musicians may not have had access to what was to become their inspiration. Situated in Helena, it also was perfectly placed as a stopping off point for blues musicians on their way from the Delta region to the Chicago blues nightclubs and was also convenient to Memphis, Tennessee and its lively blues culture. Several blues musicians came to Helena and made it their home, such as Little Walter Jacobs and Jimmy Rogers.  The King Biscuit Flour Hour, the one hour syndicated rock and roll radio program, was derived from King Biscuit Time. Levon Helm drummer for The Band, has credited King Biscuit Time,  for inspiring his musical career.

To have been a small part of this wonderful, historic show was a huge honour for me. As Sonny says, every day at 12.15 without fail for the last 60 years,  “Pass the biscuits, ‘cos it’s King Biscuit Time!”

Kev Moore