Louisiana Red born 23 March 1932

 

Louisiana Red (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012) was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. A master of slide guitar, he played both traditional acoustic and urban electric styles, with lyrics both honest and often remarkably personal. His career includes collaborations with artists as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Eric Burdon, and others. He could create moods and textures, both musically and spiritually, and had the ability of falling so deep into his own songs that he would go to tears, making his audience cry with him. That was the gift of this great artist. It is surprising that he was not better known, as he performed almost continuously for more than fifty years and played with a host of legendary figures.

Wikipedia lists Louisiana Red as being born Iverson Minter, in Bessemer, Alabama but his own reports have fluctuated from various Southern towns and cities. Red lost his mother at birth and his father was killed in a Ku Klux Klan lynching when Red was just 5 years old. He lived in an orphanage in New Orleans for a few a his childhood years until his grandmother took him to Pittsburgh to live. When he was 11 years old she bought him his first guitar, a $12 Kay. Red would play along with records and the radio and begged some guitar lessons from his first mentor, Crit Walters. It was early in life that Red made the decision to become a blues musician. At sixteen, Minter lied about his age and joined the U.S. Army, serving in Korea during the Korean War. Minter was assigned to a labour battalion and spent his evenings belting out the blues at the service club. He went through a series of stage names when he was establishing himself, but the nickname associated with his passion for oysters doused in Louisiana red pepper sauce is the one that stuck.

Red with Muddy Waters

In the late 1940s Red would follow his passion to Detroit where he would become friends with Eddie Burns and John Lee Hooker. He would make his first recordings in Detroit for producer Joe Von Battle under the moniker of Rocky Fuller, a pair of these recordings were leased to Chess records. He would accompany John Lee Hooker on a session for Modern Records and you can hear Red shouting “Lord Have Mercy” in the middle of JLH’s “Down Child”. In 1953 Red landed a deal with Chicago’s influential Chess Records after playing a song over the phone for label co-owner Phil Chess, who sent him a bus ticket for Chicago. 

The man who picked Red up at the station to drive him to meet Chess was Muddy Waters, who was to become one of the label’s biggest stars. During that recording session he was accompanied by Little Walter on the brilliant “Funeral Hearse At My Door” which remained in the vaults unreleased for decades. Red’s next stop would be New York where he would record for producer Bobby Robinson and for Atlas Records. But it was Louisiana Red’s 1962 Roulette label recordings that garnered him national recognition as a bluesman. His single “Red’s Dream” with its humorous political commentary became a major hit and was followed by his first album The Lowdown Back Porch Blues, recorded in New York City with Tommy Tucker and released in 1963.

                                   

His second album, Seventh Son, was released later the same year. Louisiana Red released the single "I'm Too Poor to Die" for the Glover label in 1964. It peaked at number 117 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 30 on the Cashbox chart. (Billboard did not publish an R&B chart in 1964.) In the mid 70s he became the cornerstone of the Blue Labor label cutting two excellent solo acoustic albums; Sweet Blood Call and Dead Stray Dog and also appearing on that label as a featured sideman on albums by Johnny Shines, Roosevelt Sykes, Brownie McGhee, and Peg Leg Sam. He was romantically involved with folk legend Odetta for a small period of time in the 1970s. European promoters and booking agents took an interest, and Red found a new audience with his annual overseas tours. 

After his appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1975, Louisiana Red was acclaimed as a master of the slide guitar and a powerful and effective singer. Labels such as L+R from Germany and JSP from England began recording Red, the latter debuting their catalog with Red, Funk and Blue, a duet album with Sugar Blue. Red appeared as himself in the movie Come Back featuring Eric Burdon of Animals fame. Red lived in Chicago for awhile in the early 1980s where he worked at the Delta Fish Market. He would then move to Phoenix in late 1981 where he lived and played with Bob Corritore for about a year.

Red left Phoenix for a European tour in late 1982, and it was then and there that he met his true love, Dora, who he married and spent the rest of his life with. Dora gave Red an uncompromised love and the constant companionship and protective looking-out-for that Red needed. Dora also provided the family situation that Red yearned for in his life as Red took great pride in his love and adoption of Dora’s sons. The positive impact and dedication that Dora provided Red was simply amazing. Red would live in Hanover Germany for the rest of his life with Dora and each year in January, the two would vacation in Ghana, Africa, Dora’s country of origin. He found work so plentiful in Europe that for a period of time he rarely would come to the USA.

In 1995 Earwig Records would release Sittin’ Here Wondering. which had been recorded by Bob Corritore in 1982 and sat on the shelf for over a decade. This CD created a relationship between Red and Earwig label chief Michael Frank who would record 2 more records by Red and book annual US tours. In 1983 he received the W.C. Handy Award as best traditional blues artist. In 1994, Louisiana Red fused the blues with the urban Greek music of the bouzouki player Stelios Vamvakaris, on the album Blues Meets Rembetika. In 2005, Louisiana Red, became the central figure in the documentary film 'Red and Blues' directed by the German-Finnish filmmaker Susanna Salonen. The documentary chronicles Louisiana Red's life touring across Germany, providing an intimate look into his experiences as an elderly African-American blues artist residing in Europe.

Red & Bob Corritore

Releases followed on High Tone and Severn as well as a documentary DVD released only in Europe. In 2009 Little Victor struck gold with his production of Red’s Back To The Black Bayou CD released first on the Bluestown Label and then picked up by Ruf Records. Victor had idolized and studied under Red for years and lovingly coaxed this brilliant album from his mentor. Back To The Black Bayou swept Europe and the US with awards and nominations. 

Simultaneously, Red’s collaboration with pianist David Maxwell produced You Got To Move, and in 2010 Red would go to the Blues Music Awards with 5 nominations and receive 2 wins for acoustic blues artist of the year and acoustic album of the year for his duet with pianist David Maxwell, “You Got to Move.” Little Victor also produced Red’s final critically acclaimed CD Memphis Mojo. In 2011, Louisiana Red released the album Memphis Mojo, to broad public acclaim. Minter adopted Dora’s two sons and together they resided in Hanover, Germany.

English slide guitarist Michael Messer noted on February 25, 2012, that he was very sorry to be the bringer of such sad news that his dear friend, Louisiana Red, died that morning in a Hanover hospital, aged 79. He had a stroke a week earlier due to a thyroid imbalance, and had been in a coma.

(Edited from Blues Magazine, Wikipedia, Los Angeles Times & Independent)