Mississippi Millie & Tiger Gagan
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | SELF
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Mississippi Millie In The House
And when I say "in the house", I mean specifically Ri'chard's Louisiana Cafe', just North of Nashville on OHB and Whites Creek Pike, last Sunday.
I had the very distinct pleasure of actually sitting in with both Mississippi Millie and her partner in soul, Tiger Gagan; the southpaw blues player extraordinaire, who plays slide guitar like nobody's business. A genuine treat for this old Chicago Blues player, and that's for sure.
Mississippi Millie McLaine's style is pure Delta Blues, but as smooth or raunchy as she cares to make it, when she offers up her original, 'straight from the heart' songs. Tiger backs her up with a proficiency that is not easy to describe. The best I can do is to say that if you close your eyes, you'd swear there is a bass player, a rhythm guitarist and a slide player up there with Millie. But, when you open your eyes, there's Millie holding down the beat, with some very interesting rhythm instruments and a 'stomp box', and one lone and very accomplished Tiger Gagan.
Millie was born in the Delta, and as a very young girl used to go out and sing with the "bad boys", as she called them, singing in the 'rundown joints and party houses' in the Delta Bayou. The biography, on her website, tells the tale of a nine year old girl, beginning her travels with her mother's move to Pennsylvania and eventually finding herself all over the country, from New York City, to Nashville, to LA and San Francisco and finally back to settle in Nashville. The way I see it, that makes Nashville one lucky city.
I'd be remiss if I didn't at least once mention the great Cajun brunch I had at Ri'chard's, by the way. There was no way a spicy-food addict like myself was going to pass up some blackened redfish with all the trimmings. Ri'chard himself was seen to play harp (blues harmonica) and a little guitar, leaving me wanting more, but mostly he just made room for all the great guests who sat in after Millie and Tiger's first set. You can hear some great music online at Ri'chard's MySpace page, or contact them at richardscafe@comcast.net.
As for staying in touch with Mississippi Millie and Tiger Gagan, you can always contact them via their website, which also has links to their show itinerary, videos, photos and more.
--Ken Utterback, Nashville Music Examiner, Nashville, TN - Nashville Music Examiner
Mississippi Millie McLaine, a Delta blues singer, added some sassy sensuality with her charismatic strutting and dancing. Her elastic, booming vocals during "Done Somebody Wrong" and Jimmy Reed's "Shame, Shame, Shame" created a rush of excitement both on stage and in the attentive audience.
--John Roos, LA Times, Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Times
(Tiger Gagan) displays both supremely impressive technical virtuosity and impeccable taste. The man absolutely knows which notes to play to get the feeling he's looking for, and never lets a desire to impress get in the way.
--Jim Trageser, North County Times’ Preview, San Diego, CA - North County Times’ Preview, San Diego, CA
Acoustic down home blues deeply rooted on Delta music is what you will find on this excellent album of singer Mississippi Millie McLaine. Eleven priceless blues, cool, simple, perfect to make your forget all your fears and tears. You will simply find here old Mississippi folk music, their legends, the stories told from generation to generation, the natural beauty of life in that southern places and the passionate fight to survive.
--Vicente Zumel, La Hora Del Blues, Barcelona, Spain - La Hora Del Blues, Barcelona, Spain
Stomping around mostly in slide blues, but with a little Hawaiian slack key thrown in, the artist holds the attention of any music fan with just his innovative guitar work.
...Gagan’s live performances are incendiary...
Tiger is known to do all kinds of depraved and debauched things to his guitar (stuff Hendrix would approve, but never tried…)
--Shannon Williford, Nashville Music Guide, Nashville, TN
- Nashville Music Guide
Discography
Mississippi Millie:
Front Porch Blues
Live In LA
Tiger Gagan:
Wild Animal
Shock To The System
Live At The Catamount
Happy Time
Photos
Bio
To see Mississippi Millie and Tiger Gagan videos, please visit http://www.mississippimillie.tigergagan.com/mmtgvideo.php
A tiny woman with hair big as the Mississippi, Millie stands at the microphone, a lanky guitar player at her side. She counts “1… 2… 1, 2, 3, 4!” The guitar picker takes up a riff and Mississippi Millie smiles. “Go Tiger, you pick that thing!” she says. And pick that thing Tiger does, working the guitar with the bottleneck slide.
Then, Millie starts singing, quiet-like at first, drawing you in. Her singing tells a story, that timeless story of misery and joy. She moves her arms, gesturing and waving like a magician conjuring a spirit. Her voice builds until it fills the room, while at the same time tearing right into your heart, ripping down through your gut all the way into your soul to ignite that place that makes you feel alive. And the audience is happy too; they’re smiling as she sings, and when she’s done, it’s the applause that fills the room.
This is The Blues. Millie was born into it in Mississippi where the Delta Blues were once called the “Devil’s Music” by some folks. But to Millie, the Blues were as natural as the willows and the rich earth. She would even sneak into the local party houses and rundown joints every chance she could, just so she could get up on stage and sing with the 'bad boys.'
At age nine, Millie’s mother moved her and her family away from Mississippi to Pennsylvania. In the years that followed, whether performing as part of the blossoming Philly soul scene, singing standards, studying opera vocal technique, or taking on Rock’n’Roll, Millie always drew on the Delta Blues—if not in repertoire, then in feeling—for inspiration and motivation. Eventually that spirit became so strong in Millie that she made a full-blown return to performing Delta Blues exclusively.
Meanwhile, far from the Mississippi Delta, in a tiny town in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, a 12-year old boy heard Elmore James’ “Sunnyland” and was thunderstruck. From that point on, Tiger Gagan spent his days with a guitar and a slide trying to get that sound and that feel that Elmore had taken from the Delta and amplified so powerfully. As a teenager, Tiger began his musical career with the start of a blues-rock band. Through the years, Tiger went on to play many kinds of music—rock, jazz, Top 40, punk, country, world beat—and collaborate with a variety of stylists. But, as was the case with Millie, the Blues always loomed in the background. Tiger’s love affair with the slide guitar is now in its fourth decade.
Fortunately, Nashville and the Blues brought Millie and Tiger together. They share a love for Delta Blues music and its artists. What the audience sees when these two perform is a spontaneity that is the heart of the music, a love for making music, and a love for entertaining people. It’s easy to get swept up in the spirit that playing the Blues brings to both Mississippi Millie and Tiger Gagan.
To see Mississippi Millie and Tiger Gagan videos, please visit http://www.mississippimillie.tigergagan.com/mmtgvideo.php
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