The Mississippi Beat

The North Hills Beat

This page covers the groove that powers all the best blues tunes.

Mississippi Disco

It seems as simple as 1, 2, 3, a straight 8 beat pattern that's either fast or slow. Seasick Steve calls it 'Tractor Disco', Wallace Lester says 'the North Hills Beat', Some say 'Country Blues', it's all the same, an infectious bounce that makes your backbone move.

The grandfather of this scene is Missippi Fred Mcdowell . He played two types of tunes, the gospel lilts like I wish I was in Heaven Sitting Down, and the sex and drugs and (not, he insisted all his life) rock and roll of Shake 'em On Down. His entire set seems to be repeated by Burnside, in exactly the same order. Only a few recordings were made of McDowell's later performances, because they didn't fit the formula that was selling blues records. But there are a few which feature a drummer, and the pattern is clear as day. Then you can apply it to his earlier solo recordings, and then listen for it in other artists - Bukka White, Robert Johnson, sometimes captured on early Beefheart records (Sure Nuff Yes I Do), T-Model Ford, Junior Kimbrough and above all on Burnside. It's not there on Chess, fine records though they are - the 50s recordings had added a hint of jazz and shuffle that comes more from Memphis than hillbilly. Listen to early John Lee Hooker records like Boogie Chillen, and feel it!

Mr Paul plays a basic 8 beat or quaver pattern on bass and snare, with a couple of fills to give it life. There's a real less-is-more philosophy here - no toms and cymbals are used. The beat swings, or drags behind, every alternate beat. Rather than the straight 'cement mixer' effect you get from modern drummers, this has a lilting, bouncing, sinuous feel.

We explore a few other things as well, using 16 beat rock on Goin Down South for example, and a much straighter beat on Friday Girls. Tom riffs and percs drive some of the songs. But these are exceptions - the heart of the matter is the Mississippi tractor beat that makes you want to get up and dance!

RL Burnside Burnside's version of the blues shows what happens when you go on the road for 20 years, economy class. A basic drum kit is all you can fit in the car, so no fill, toms or even much in the way of cymbals. To guitarists play out of the same amp, and no room for cumbersome bass equipment. Fit this little lot in a standard american sedan, and off you go, criss crossing the state for 3 hours at a time, sharing the driving three ways.	The Guitar The guitar is a latecomer to juke bands, and it's interesting that early guitar players like Mississippi Joe Calicott played with the guitar on their laps, and they used a knife or similar to make the guitar screech - one way to be heard above the drinkers. In his old age, Calicott taught a young Kenny Brown to play the guitar. Brown says he didn't play 'conventionally' 'till he was sixteen - he didn't even know you could play it upright.
Gospel A lot of the early records are bible influenced - of course this is the one time in the week when you can put down the hoe and make music for fun. Churches have a ready made chorus of singers, and hymns to sing. How a renaissance clef came to underpin the chord changes of all these bible words beats me - another musical story I guess. But it's still true that gospel has the lift of the north hills beat, showing that in the north hills, blues and gospel are the two sides of one community. The church is still at pains to try and eliminate the bad influence from people's lives, and blues was and is frowned upon by preachers and matrons.	Shake 'em On Down The first song in the songbook is Shake 'em On Down, Fred McDowell's set opener for forty years. It's a diary of sex acts, showing just what a big guy the singer is. The association of Blues and sex was right there at the start, and no wonder the church wasn't amused. He was so closely associated with this song that his nickname was "Shake 'em". Or maybe he was associated with the sex addiction described in the song? Fred introduces it with 'Some people can shake 'em, and some people can't". Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside, T-model Ford, all performed this song at the beginning of their set.
KimbroughJunior Kimbrough was poacher turned gamekeeper. He bought his own juke on Highway51, and played there regularly 'till he died. (Later it burned down). Kimbrough's version of blues is hugely important, keeping the juke tradition alive across the years after the delta musicians upped and left for Chicago and Memphis in the 50s. His recordings are the basic template for Saturday night music - long tracks with one evolving groove and no stops or rhythm tricks, occasionally a few shouts and words on the top, and no chord changes.	Tractor Disco John Lee Hooker said that it was the sound his daddy taught him, the sound of the tractor. However, it seems likely that it really comes from fife and drum bands that toured the county and warmed up the joints in the 1920s and 30s. These simple instruments were loud enough to keep a beat for a party, where the acoustic guitar is just too quiet. If you listen to Othar Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum band, you can hear the North Hills beat there too, bouncing along on big bass drum and marching snare.

The Fortyfours

The Forty Fours

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Friends we need

The North Hills Beat

Mississippi Disco