A Visit from Bernie Pearl

Today, we had a visit from old school blues expert Bernie Pearl! He met our cast and shared his knowledge of the delta blues. He and Phil Kruse, one of our cast members, had an awesome jam session. It was exciting to watch the cast close their eyes and get lost in the rhythm and blues. I'll update later with a clip from today's rehearsal and some of Bernie's recommendations.

Until then you can check out Bernie's website: www.berniepearl.com
I have his CD and it sounds awesome. Here's a brief portion of our jam session...





Several other period artists to check out are Muddy Waters, Lightin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb - and check out this website to hear a variety of blues tracks:
http://www.yearoftheblues.org/radio/index.asp

As we discussed the style of dancing and mood music, Bernie suggested we listen to...
Ray Charles's "What I'd Say"