But I know his name, he’s called Mr. D,
And one of these days, he’s going to set you free ‘
I don’t know if D. Miner of The Black Tongued Bells shortened his first name because of the Rolling Stones’ song, but he and his band sound so much like a rougher, murkier and muddier version of the Stones, I would not be surprised. He described himself his music as if ‘The Stones came from Louisiana’, and from that, you may just have got the accurate and vivid picture.
The Bells were playing at the Crazy Horse, just after Mick Rhodes and his band, and following his advice, I stayed to watch the performance of the band that the announcer described as one of the best bands around.
With a name coming from a Dylan Thomas poem, a rugged-scrapping-throat voiced frontman, tons of charisma on stage, a lot of delta guitars, a quite aggressive delivery of the lyrics, and some of the best Jaegger-inspired moves, The Black Tongued Bells make some swampy, bluesy rock and roll, as if they were bogged down in the Mississippi bayous. But this American swamp, or swampy Americana gets its influence from about everything from rhythms and blues, gospel to roots rock and country.
Louis Cox and Mary Stuart have a lot to do with this, adding their Motown dance acts as well as their gospel-ish vocals behind the raucous voice of D. Miner, or even lead singing songs like ‘Midnite Porter’ soulfully sung by L. Cox, or ‘To love somebody’ covered by Mary Stuart as if the standard song was coming from the deepest part of her body.
They also put on a second type of show entitled ‘That Great and Dreadful Day… Tall Tales from the American Swamp’, a sort of musical theater play in period costumes, using storytelling and songs to narrate the adventures of musicians during the Depression years into the 60’s. But this has to be a whole different enterprise there.