Inducted into the 2015 Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame, Jacquie Maddix and her band “Lady J Griot & Her Root Doctors” work Root Wisdom from the Elders Circle.
The story of the blues is really the story of a cultures’ spiritual roots. If you listen closely to the lyrics, you’ll hear the recipe or set of instructions on how to make African tribal religion work for you.
Blues producer and composer Willie Dixon grew up in Vicksburg, Mississippi and heard the stories of ancient African tribal religion from the elders of the Southern community. He learned about ancient African rituals, known as Voodoo in the New World, and incorporated them into his messages of the blues. In tunes such as Hootchie Cootchie Man, Seventh Son, Evil, Hidden Charms, and I Ain’t Superstitious, you can clearly hear the wisdom of the elders reaching out to inform and educate the youngsters of today. Lady J learned the stories too, from her mother and aunties, who brought the wisdom with them to the north from Indianola, Mississippi.
On her radio show, Rollin & Tumblin, Lady J tries to keep that heritage alive, weaving history, magic and the spiritual roots of the blues into a rich tapestry of songs, interviews and live in-studio performances.
As a vocalist and performer, Lady J has performed at venues around Minnesota spreading the gospel of the blues. In the style of a female tribal shaman and orator, Lady J Griot tells the history of the lyrics of the blues, and shows how this venerable music is a remnant from ancient African spirit worship.
Blues is the root sound of R & B, soul, funk and jazz music, but it too has a root sound. The sound of the blues is the resonance of the tribal medicine wo/man or witch doctor lowering the barrier between the material world and the world of Spirit. The blues appeals to so many, regardless of age, cultural background or language because the blues bridges the divide between all differences. There’s a reason at all cultures around the world use the color blue to describe the human soul……it’s because blue is the color of transcendence, blue is the color of healing and blue is the color of the SOUL.
