Description
Rory Block is one of America’s greatest performing blues historians. Her Greenwich Village upbringing provided her with a solid foundation as she met many contemporary folk-blues revivalists, including Peter Rowan, Maria Muldaur, and John Sebastian. She hit the road at 15 years of age to seek out the greats and perform for others. Despite many gaps caused by personal issues and recording squabbles, she has a substantial discography and has received many awards for her blues discs.
For the last 15 or so years, Block has worked at honoring those that came before her. She created what she calls her “Mentor Series”, where she offered her album-length interpretations of artists she met back in her early days, including Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Reverend Gary Davis, Skip James, Bukka White, and Mississippi John Hurt. This is a who’s who of the country blues masters. The fact that she learned directly from all of them speaks volumes about her credibility and talent.
In 2018 she decided to pay tribute to blues women and began by releasing an album of Bessie Smith (A Woman’s Soul). Block has just issued her second record in the series, Prove It on Me, which contains nine classic tracks by female blues artists from the relatively obscure (Rosetta Howard, Arizona Dranes) to the more well-known (Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Memphis Minnie) as well as one self-penned gem (“Eagles”). The songs range from the bawdy to the religious and convey the diversity of elements within the blues tradition. They share one thing in common: they were all written &/or recorded by proud women who refused to accept their social status as inferior beings.
