PYTHON LEE JACKSON

'Hi there, I don’t see any problem in you using that photo. Best to say thanks to David Bentley for the photo. Best wishes, Nick Warburton'

courtesy Dave Bentley

 FORMING OF PYTHON LEE JACKSON, 
Interesting article by Nick Warburton with Python Lee's "Your Mother Should Have Warned You" and "Big City Lights" mp3s

… Don McCormack and John Helman had formed a blues outfit with mouth harpist Shane Duckham and a raspy-voiced guitarist named Peter Anson. .... The Syndicate predominantly jazz influenced, the new group was lent street cred by Anson, who had been a member of well-known Sydney blues/grunge band, The Missing Links. …. The group recruited disabled singer Jeffrey Leo Newton to fill Duckham’s shoes. With Newton on board, folk impresario Jim Carter entered the picture as the band’s manager. … When Carter opened Rhubarb’s disco in Neutral Bay on Sydney’s fashionable north shore in late 1965, The Id became house band ....

*Andre de Moller had a hit "Walk on Boy”, recently brought to my attention by Neil Smith .... According to Dave Bently, Andre dreamed up the name (Python Lee Jackson) while gazing at the chalkboard at Suzie Wong’s in Sydney. After McGhee arrived in Sydney in mid-May, the new line up had only a few days to rehearse a set list before Rhubarb’s … On 22 May, Sydney newspaper The Sun-Herald informed its readers in the “Glitter” column that Rhubarb’s had opened that week in “a cellar at the bottom end of Liverpool Street” and that the band there was Python Lee Jackson. … joined three weeks ago.

…. Rhubarb’s would provide a handy base and enable the musicians to develop a unique sound.'

WALK ON BOY

Lyrics as performed by Doc Watson, vocal/guitar, John Pilla, 2nd guitar, on(1966);transcribed by Manfred Helfert.  "Southbound" 

I was born one mornin',
The rain a-pourin' down,
Heard my mammy say to my pappy,
"Let's call him John Henry Brown."

CHORUS:
Walk on, boy; walk on down the road
Ain't nobody in this whole wide world
A-gonna help you carry your load.

I left my mammy and pappy
Just about the age of ten;Lord,
I got me a job a-workin' on the levee
Totin' water for the hard workin' men.

One day my pappy told me,
Some advice I wanna give to you
--Son, find a good woman, be good to her,
An' she's gonna be good to you.

If anyone should ever ask you,
Just who is that fella Brown?
You can tell him I'm the boy
Who left his hammer smokin'

Where he beat that steam drill down.


*Andre De Moller The blues playing barrister is back where he belongs. It's been a few years since Dedham-based Andre brought his all star group to Christchurch Park.

Also in Andre's band will be Lincoln Anderson on bass, Greg Titheridge on drums, James Maddison on guitar and Joe Toomey on harmonica and keyboards player Max Middleton This will be blues from the top drawer.