A new blues address "Robert Lockwood Jr. Way, Cleveland North" was announced at the rock and roll hall of fame's third annual the American Masters Series in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's third annual The American Masters Series paid tribute to the legacy of Robert Johnson. Thursday 24 September, however, the spotlight was shared with Robert Johnson's stepson and Cleveland's blues Godfather, "Robert Jr." Lockwood. The highpoint of the evening had to be a speechless Robert Lockwood, Jr. accepting the news that the City of Cleveland had named a street for him. In the popular flats area of Cleveland, the major road was renamed "Robert Lockwood Jr. Way." This was his night and the Cuyahoga Community College Auditorium rang with some of the finest delta blues from veterans Lockwood, Honeyboy Edwards, and Robert Townsend and new generation artists Rory Block, Guy Davis, Alvin Youngblood Hart.
Lockwood opened the show with an acoustic set of delta blues on his legendary 12-string guitar (inviting comparisons with Leadbelly) and closed the show with a set of what can only be called electric "delta jazz" playing a heartfelt "Love In Vain" as an encore.
While it was Lockwood's night, it was a surprisingly strong Honeyboy Edwards set which electrified the crowd already excited by strong performances from Davis, Hart, and Townsend. A fascinating, almost impressionist, "Crossroads Blues" drawing on only selected verses and never getting to the familiar "Crossroads" chorus took the audience several levels deeper into the essence of that Johnson masterpiece.
Rory Block, who fearlessly followed Edwards and Townsend, still youthful in their eighties, and preceded Lockwood on stage, performed her equally impressionist "Gone Woman Blues" and Son House's "Preaching Blues."
'fessor Mojo's Cleveland Report - Friday 9/24/98
