Daily Express: Woke up this morning, and my horse done me wrong

What is the Express talking about here?

ROBERT PLANT’S done it, Hugh Laurie’s had a go and now Lionel Richie looks set to become the next in line to ...

You'll probably struggle with the answer:

...bring out a country album.

Hugh Laurie? Country album? Does the Express not know the difference between blues and country, or does it simply not care?

Bluesobit: Pinetop Perkins

Blues legend Pinetop Perkins has died.

Born in 1913 in Mississippi, Joe Willie Perkins might have remained a cottonpicker had he not run away from home following a fight with his grandmother. Earning a living playing in juke joints, he might have remained a guitar player, had he not had a botched operation after his arm got cut in a club fight.

Instead, he turned to piano, a decision that would give him an extraordinarily long career - he won a Grammy in 2005, the oldest person so to do. But his most profilic era was the 30s and the 40s - working across the Mississippi delta with Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, BB King and Earl Hooker. It was this period - and in particular a cover of Clarence Pinetop Smith's Pinetop's Boogie Woogie - that secured Perkins his slightly-borrowed nickname.

A great sidesman for his first 70 years or so, in the late 80s Pinetop started to build a solo career. He threw himself into it, too, with over a dozen albums across the 1990s.

He played SXSW in 2005, and despite being about four times the age of most of the other acts there showed them how to do it:



Pinetop Perkins died in his sleep. He was 97.

Mr Music, will you play?

Anyone who heard the Jeeves And Wooster album knows that Hugh Laurie is actually pretty nifty behind the piano, so the prospect of a new record isn't too scary.

And he's not going to do it in character, although I bet Warners are hoping they can persuade him to call it House music.

Laurie is characteristically wry about deal:

"I am drunk with excitement at this opportunity," the 51-year-old said. "I know the history of actors making music is a chequered one, but I promise no one will get hurt.

"I am particularly thrilled to be working with Joe Henry, who has produced some of my favourite records of all time, and I can't wait to get started."

Obviously, for the fabulously wealthy and successful actor, he's working on a blues album. Which is a bit like Lindsay Lohan recording gospel.

Legendobit: Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley has died from heart failure, it has been announced.

Otha Ellas Bates was born in Mississippi in 1928, and found his first taste of public performance - and his stage name - in the boxing ring rather than on a guitar stool. He had, however, performed in a high school band, The Hipsters, which had picked up paid gigs. Choosing music over pugilism, and with a healthy dose of influence drawn from Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters, Diddley built a following in Chicago blues clubs before landing a recording deal with the Checkers label, which would see him amass a collection of songs - the self-titled Bo Diddley, Mona, Pretty Thing - which would play a role in shaping the future direction of not just R&B, but also rock, for decades to follow.

He didn't just shape music; he also designed instruments - his 1958 'cigar-box' style guitar was somehow created in a five year period in which he recorded eleven albums for Checkers. In 1964, he released the Two Great Guitars collaboration with Chubby Checker and - never one to hide his light under a falsely modest bushel - in 1966 his The Originator collection declared his belief that he was responsible for the creation of rock.

Although the industry might have squeezed him - he spoke often about his belief that he'd been ripped off - other artists showed their respect for his work; in 1979, The Clash invited him to open on their US tour, seven years after playing with the Grateful Dead. There aren't many musicians who could comfortably unite the punks and the hippies like that.

Perhaps surprisingly, he also spent a couple of years working as deputy sheriff of Valencia County Citizens' Patrol (no, really).

Just over a year ago, Diddley suffered a massive heart attack and stroke which effectively brought an end to his live performances. He did, however, play once more in public, at the unveiling of a Memphis National Blues Trail Plaque.

Diddley pretty much did a clean sweep of awards: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987), Hollywood Walk Of Fame (1989), lifetime achievement at the Blues Awards (1996) and the Grammys lifetime achievement (1998). In 1989, he played at George Bush Senior's inauguration.

A 1994 court judgement helped ease some of his money worries, although not so much as to remove his sense of injustice at the way the suits treated him:

"I am owed. I've never got paid. A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun."

Bo is survived by a wife, Sylvia, and four children from his previous marriages.

Not fair, cry Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention and other bands who played last year's Isle Of Wight Folk and Blues festival claim they've not been paid yet. So, they've done exactly what you or I would do. No, I mean exactly. They complained to You and Yours. Dave Pegg told the programme:

"We did a concert there which was sold out. I personally travelled all the way from France where I was on holiday and took three days out of my life.

"The audience were great. We had a really good night. We may appear to be a big name but this is our livelihood and we really do need to get paid."

Rather missing the point, the organiser admits she hasn't yet sent out any cheques but has paid other musicians:

Geri Ward, who organises the Folk and Blues festival and the Isle of Wight International Jazz Festival, says performers will get their appearance fees.

"The jazz festival musicians from last year have been paid. The majority of this year's are already paid," she said.

"The folk and blues festival is a big problem to us because we do have to find reinvestment and find sponsors.

Perhaps the idea of not paying the blues performers was that, at least, they'd be able to get some more songs out of their predicament, but we're not quite sure that saying you've paid off the jazz guys is all that reassuring. It's like Peaches Geldof saying 'yes, but I paid for the shoes, didn't I?" and hoping that will be an end of the matter.