Words by BB King on Bluesville

I may be out of line here, but is anyone else tired of the repetitive Words by BB King on the Bluesville channel?

Yes -- and you are not "out of line." Welcome to Sirius Buzz! And, considering B.B. King died in May 2015, there is no logical reason for SiriusXM to continue to call the channel B.B. King's Bluesville. Of course SiriusXM also has a channel called Tom Petty's Buried Treasure, which is a creepy name considering Petty died in 2017 -- although his body was cremated, not buried.

I understand that SiriusXM itself just manages the satellites. Does anyone know if there is a customer service arm at Bluesville that will listen to subscriber feedback? I'm thinking that it could be a contractual issue (i.e. BB King music + words = minimum # of minutes per day), but I do not know that. At this point, it's inconceivable to me that the Bluesville channel programmers wouldn't realize that their repetitive BB Kings Words are not welcome. But if it's only 2 of us, things won't change.

SiriusXM does indeed "listen to subscriber feedback." Of course they may not do anything other than just listen.....but you can call Bluesville at 877-64-BLUES or contact the channel via email at

https://m.siriusxm.com/bluesville

The channel's Facebook page is

https://m.facebook.com/siriusxmbluesville

Bluesville is playing Don't Throw It Away from Keb Mo's new album Oklahoma. The song, which also features Taj Mahal, urges everyone in the world to stop polluting our planet and our oceans with plastic bags, plastic cups and plastic bottles. The lyrics mention "Leo B." That is Belgian-born inventor Leo Baekeland, who in 1907 created Bakelite, the first commercially available synthetic plastic. Look what he started! The video of Don't Throw It Away is a call to action:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZdNipkansw

Blues singer/guitarist Arthur "Blind" Blake was born in Florida and grew up in Georgia. In 1926, he moved to Chicago and launched a recording career. He recorded 79 songs for Paramount Records, which had been founded in 1917 in Wisconsin. Blake also played on recordings by Ma Rainey, Gus Cannon, Irene Scruggs, Blind Lemon Jefferson and other artists. When the label effectively went out of business in 1932 – it officially shut down in 1935 – Blake abandoned his music career and returned to Florida. He is believed to have died in 1933 at age 38 or 1934 at age 39. Bluesville just played his West Coast Blues, the B-side of Early Morning Blues. It was Blake's first 78-rpm single (Paramount 12387), recorded in August 1926. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZayTpvm0Yho

Bluesville just played Tyler Dow Bryant's Born In Texas, the title track of his first CD, which was released in 2006 when he was 15 years old. Yes, he really was born in Texas, in Honey Grove (population 1,700), known as "The sweetest town in Texas." Bryant began playing blues guitar and singing when he was 13. Born In Texas isn't on YouTube but here is Have I The Right. I think he sounds like Johnny Winter.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lz9lBrKNvAk

Bluesville just played Katie Webster's version of Ray Charles' Hallelujah I Love Her So, retitled Hallelujah I Just Love Him So. She recorded it during the sessions for her 1989 album Two Fisted Mama but it remained unreleased until February 1999 when it appeared on Katie Webster: Deluxe Edition. Sadly, Webster died of heart failure less than seven months later. She was 63.

Webster, born Kathryn Thorne in Houston in 1936, was known as The Swamp Boogie Queen. She played piano on more than 500 recordings in the 1950s and '60s, most notably on Phil Phillips' Sea Of Love. In 1965 she joined Otis Redding's touring band. Had she not been pregnant in 1967, she would have been on the plane that crashed and took Redding's life. Webster recorded several albums for the Alligator and Ornament labels in the 1980s-90s. Here is Hallelujah I Just Love Him So:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9wv_mrBMJuU