Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Friday, September 30 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). Download or listen to “Police Dog Blues” below. The download will be available until 10/4/2011.

Download “Police Dog Blues,” the tenth track on Hugh Laurie’s debut album Let Them Talk.

Watch a preview:

Defying simple categorization, Laurie finds his greatest satisfaction and inspiration from the mixture of blues and jazz that grew out of New Orleans at the beginning of the last century. He was inspired as a teenager by hearing blues great Professor Longhair’s “Tipitina.” Let Them Talk is Laurie’s very personal journey into the heart and soul of that music: “Here I am in the French Quarter playing with all these amazing musicians. This may be about as good as it gets. In fact, this may be what heaven is like.”

Laurie sings a wide selection of tunes, accompanying himself on piano or guitar, and backed by some of the town’s top-flight musicians. He refuses to pigeonhole his selections. “There are only two categories: good and bad. Those are the only things that matter.”

Throughout the hour, there are intimate performances and rehearsals with blues legends Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas, known as the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” as well as another fellow traveler from Great Britain similarly inspired by this uniquely American music, Sir Tom Jones.

Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues also includes documentary segments showing Laurie’s daytime and nocturnal travels around the city on foot, by bike, or car, including a visit to the legendary Euclid Records shop, where he reverently inspects the classic LPs there.

Laurie dubs the city “the most romantic place on earth” and observes that this is “a city that doesn’t fear death. It’s looked death in the eye.” This aspect is reflected in its music, he notes. “Death is the minor key. Life is the major key.”

He freely admits he’s following “in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese, Ken Burns, and Spike Lee,” all of whom memorably trod similar cinematic musical paths.

Of Laurie’s piano prowess, Jones observes admiringly, “He must have listened to a lot of blues players, a lot of boogie-woogie players,” and notes that Laurie’s playing resembles that of Jerry Lee Lewis. Thomas marvels that when she saw him on the keyboards on House, she “could tell he was actually playing.”

With concert sequences filmed at the historic Latrobe’s building in the French Quarter, the musical selections include New Orleans blues standards along with forgotten and neglected gems.

Song Listing

“Swanee River” (Foster/Charles)
Hugh Laurie

“Baby What Do You Want Me to Do”/“You Got Me Running” (Jimmy Read)
Miss Lovell White & The Austin Blues Society Band

“You Don’t Know My Mind” (Williams/Gray/Liston)
Hugh Laurie

“You Don’t Know Me” (Walker/Arnold)
Lady on Guitar

“Copperhead Road” (Steve Earle)
Group Singing and Playing Guitars

“Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” (Moman/Emmons)
Group Singing and Playing Banjos/Guitars

“John Henry” (Traditional Arrangement – Chatman)
Hugh Laurie/Irma Thomas

“St. James Infirmary” (Traditional Arrangement – Primrose)
Hugh Laurie

“Buddy Bolden’s Blues” (Traditional Arrangement – Morton)
Hugh Laurie

“Baby Please Make A Change” (Mississippi Sheiks)
Hugh Laurie/Tom Jones/Irma Thomas

“Let Them Talk”
Hugh Laurie

“Tipitina” (Professor Longhair)
Hugh Laurie

No stranger to public television, Laurie’s “Jeeves and Wooster” (with comedy partner Stephen Fry) was a popular Masterpiece Theatre presentation in the early 1990s.

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET New York Public Media, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues was directed for television by JP Davidson. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer, and David Horn is executive producer.

Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by Vivian Milstein, LuEsther T. Mertz, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation.

• Viewing Guide

Time Allotment: 20 minutes

1. Ask the students to define the term “the blues” by brainstorming ideas as a group and recording them on the board/overhead.

2. After all ideas have been listed, share some specific information about blues music by reading and distributing the essay “What Is the Blues?” available at http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html, and the essay “Chicago Blues,” available at http://www.pbs.org/gperf/shows/crossroads2/essay1.html. Discuss the characteristics of blues music and its origins as well as why Chicago is known as the blues capital. Take time to list some of the key people associated with the blues described in each essay.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Time Allotment: 30-45 minutes

1. Introduce ERIC CLAPTON CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL CHICAGO by explaining to the students that they will be viewing a program that showcases some of the world’s best guitarists performing classic blues selections. Refer them to the essay “Guitar Evolution,” available at http://www.pbs.org/gperf/shows/guitargods/essay1.html to learn more about the history of the guitar and the role it played in blues music and rock ‘n’ roll.

2. Distribute the Viewing Guide and have the students read the directions before they watch the film excerpts. Explain that the goal is for them to see how the blues can be performed in a variety of ways and to compare and contrast the varying styles. (Note to teachers: On the Viewing Guide, performers are listed in order of their appearance in the program. As you preview the program, make notes about the approximate start and end times of each performance to make locating them easier when you play the excerpts.)

3. After the students have watched the program excerpts and completed the Viewing Guide, discuss each of the performances included in it. The students should be able to note specific ways that the performances are alike and different.

CULMINATING ACTIVITIES:

Time Allotment: 20 minutes

1. Based on what they have learned from reading the essays in Step 2 of the Introductory Activities and by watching the program, have the students participate in a final class discussion or generate a short written response to topics such as:

• You have seen examples of traditional blues music as well as the way the blues have been interpreted by modern artists. Discuss the role of the blues in today’s popular music.
• You have learned that the blues is an uniquely American art form and that in the 1960s, it was embraced by European bands and experienced a revival through new sounds brought here by British performers like Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. Discuss how the electric guitar and guitarists such as Clapton and Jeff Beck helped change the blues.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

1. Encourage the students to learn more about the history of the blues and to create a multimedia project based on their research, such as an illustrated timeline. They can include pictures of important blues artists and audio clips of their signature songs as part of their presentation.

2. Have the students work in small groups to learn a traditional blues song or write their own blues song using traditional characteristics of the genre, which they can then perform for the class.

ERIC CLAPTON CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL CHICAGO brings together guitar legends from blues, country, rock, and pop music in the blues capital, Chicago, in a salute to this American musical tradition.

Time Allotment:
Approximately two 45-minute class periods

Subject Matter:
Music, History, and Language Arts

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will:

1. Brainstorm as a group and record what they know about blues music.

2. Research information about the blues and its origins.

3. View excerpts of various blues performances and compare and contrast them in
terms of style and artistry.

4. Discuss or write about how the blues has influenced modern music and how
the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time.

Materials:
A copy of GREAT PERFORMANCES’ ERIC CLAPTON CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL CHICAGO

Prep for Teachers:
Prior to teaching the lesson, record the broadcast of ERIC CLAPTON CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL CHICAGO (check local listings to determine if and when the program will air in your state), review the program for content, bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer, and download the necessary plug-ins. Print out and make copies of the related handouts: “What Is the Blues?” essay, “Chicago Blues” essay, “Guitar Evolution” essay, and the Viewing Guide.

Bookmark the following sites:

PBS.org: THE BLUES: Blues Classroom: Background Essays: What Is the Blues?
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html

PBS.org: THE BLUES: Blues Road Trip: Chicago and Detroit: History and Highlights
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/roadtrip/chi-dethist.html

Grove Music Online
http://www.grovemusic.com

STANDARDS:

Art Connections

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=9&standardID=1

Understands connections among the various art forms and other disciplines.

Music

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=11&standardID=7

Understands the relationship between music and history and culture.

Historical Understanding

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=3&standardID=2

Understands the historical perspective.

Language Arts

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/SubjectTopics.asp?SubjectID=7

Writing
Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process.

Reading
Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process.
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.

Listening and Speaking
Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.

Viewing
Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.

Working with Others

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=22&standardID=4
Displays effective interpersonal communication skills.

Thinking and Reasoning

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=21&standardID=3
Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences.

This lesson was prepared by Lisa Prososki, an independent educational consultant and instructional design specialist who taught middle school and high school social studies, English, reading, and technology courses for 12 years.