Rory Block Bio
Michael Baryshnikov
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Biography by Chris Nickson (Ó)AMG
Aurora "Rory" Block has staked her claim to be one of America's top acoustic
blues women, an interpreter of the great Delta blues singers, a slide guitarist
par excellence, and also a talented songwriter on her own account. Born and
raised in Manhattan by a family that had bohemian leanings, she spent her
formative years hanging out with musicians like Peter Rowan, John Sebastian,
and Geoff Muldaur, who hung out in her father's sandal shop, before picking up
the guitar at the age of ten. Her record debut came two years later, backing
her father on The Elektra String Band Project, a concept album. She met
guitarist Stefan Grossman, who, like her, was in love with the blues. The pair
would often travel to the Bronx to visit Reverend Gary Davis, one of the
greatest living bluesmen.
At the tender age of 15 Block left home, hitting the road in true '60s fashion
and traveling through the South, where she learned her blues trade at the feet
of Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, her greatest influence, before ending
up in Berkeley. It was there that she developed her slide technique (she uses a
socket wrench as her slide), but she didn't record until 1975, when she
released I'm in Love (a compilation of earlier material, The Early Tapes
1975-1976, appeared later). After two records for Chrysalis, she recorded the
instructional How to Play Blues Guitar for Grossman's Kicking Mule label, and
later moved to then-fledgling Rounder, with whom she enjoyed an ongoing
relationship. She toured constantly, often playing as many as 250 dates in a
year, which kept her away from her family -- she'd married and begun having
children in the early '70s -- but developed her reputation as a strong, vibrant
live performer, and one of the best players of old country blues in America.
In 1987 the best of Block's Rounder cuts were compiled on Best Blues &
Originals, which, as it said, featured her interpretations of blues classics
and some of her own material. Two of the tracks, released as singles in Belgium
and Holland, became gold record hits. In addition to her regular albums, Block
made a series of instructional records and videos, as well as a children's
record, Color Me Wild. Although she had been performing for a long time, the
plaudits didn't really begin until 1992, when she won a NAIRD Award for Ain't I
a Woman, a feat repeated in 1994 and 1997. In 1996 she began winning W.C. Handy
Awards, first for Best Traditional Album (When a Woman Gets the Blues), and in
1997 and 1998 for Best Traditional Blues Female Artist. In 1997 she was elected
to the CAMA Hall of Fame, and in 1999 she received yet another Handy Award, for
Best Acoustic Blues Album (Confessions of a Blues Singer).
Block continued to tour, although not as heavily as in earlier times, and she's
often accompanied by her grown son Jordan Block, who also plays on her albums.
She remained busy in the early part of the 2000s, releasing six albums,
including a live recording. 2005's From the Dust drew raving critical reviews,
as did 2006's The Lady and Mr. Johnson, an album that sees Block taking on
select songs of her musical hero, idol, and biggest influence, Robert Johnson.
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Rest begards...oh, sorry, best regards, Michael
... Night is drawin' near, shadows of the evening crawl across the gear