Rob Tognoni – “Baby Please Don’t Go”

“Baby Please Don’t Go” needs little if any introduction. Most every music fan will have his or her favorite version of this oft-covered tune, originally popularized by Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams in 1935. For some, it will be the 1964 single by Them featuring a 19-year-old Van Morrison on vocals. Or the blistering take AC/DC included on their 1975 debut album High Voltage. Blues-minded folk can debate the merits of any number of versions, including those by Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee Hooker and Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins. (The latter is the essence of cool on his version.)

For sheer firepower, look no further than Australian bluesrocker Rob Tognoni, who has been performing the song for as long as he can remember. It’s easy to decipher which of the above-mentioned versions of “Baby Please Don’t Go” inspired Tognoni’s razor-sharp, full tilt rendition.

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Adrian Byron Burns – “Massa John”

Singer-songwriter Adrian Byron Burns speaks a variety of musical dialects. Blues, reggae, rock, bluegrass, jazz. A native of Arlington County, Virginia and a current resident of France, he’s been recording since the mid-70s. Burns has been a frequent collaborator of Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman in his Rhythm Kings project and is a respected guitarist and vocalist in his own right.

When I asked him about “Massa John,” a cut from his 1998 UK release Back To The Wood, Burns gave a surprising answer.

“The influence was Disney’s Song of the South, which, while a charming movie, is also extremely delusionary about slavery.”

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Rosco Gordon – “No Dark In America”

No Dark In America, the final album and ultimate musical statement of Rosco Gordon’s career, emerged posthumously in 2004, two years after his passing in the summer of 2002. The title song and centerpiece of the record is an unusually upbeat tune written in the wake of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center in New York. The tune celebrates the human spirit to an infectious, ska-inflected rhythm, exuding joy and a firm belief that any calamity, no matter how great, can be overcome.

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The blues is more than “I woke up this morning.” Or “my baby done left me.”

WIB of the Week (WoW) uncovers the genre’s gems, shining a weekly spotlight on an obscure, overlooked or merely great blues song.

It’s a once-a-week listening party – and the place where artists, producers and songwriters share the stories behind the songs.