"Preachin' Blues"

Son House

I spent a long time recording the pieces of "Dreams", in the middle of which I took a break with Son House's "Preachin' Blues". As is often the case, I first heard "Preachin' Blues" via one of my favorite bands, The Derek Trucks Band. Their dirty, knuckles-bare cover kicked off dTb's 2nd album, 1998's Out of the Madness. It is a foot stomper, especially with Matt Tutor's gritty singing (it would be several years before Derek found Mike Mattison to be the definitive voice of his band). Years later Derek would incorporate the song into The Allman Brothers' sets on rare occasion, usually as the first half of an encore. Featuring just Warren and Derek, it was a uniquely stripped down performance for the typically 7-piece wall of sound. It was also one of the rare occasions The Allman Brothers would not feature a founding member on stage.

In the end, it is Son House's back-porch yelling on the original that defines the song. I wanted to keep it simple, and wasn't sure if I could pull the song off (some times less is more difficult than more), but also wanted to incorporate some bass and stomp box. It's definitely very different from the mostly instrumental pieces I've recorded thus far.