Susan Tedeschi’s “Friar’s Point”

Singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi was born on November 09, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Her vocals showcase a natural ease and consistency maintained even at high volume, and the stylistic lessons learned singing in African-American Baptist churches growing up (raised a Catholic, she didn’t feel the same spiritual connection singing in her own church’s choirs)

She is also a fine guitarist, capable of fierce, piercing runs as well as smoother, more patient grooves.

Tedeschi formed her first band, “Smokin’ Section” in 1988 at the age of eighteen.

In 1993, she formed the Susan Tedeschi Band. Sessions from 1997 were acquired and licensed to Tone-Cool Records. Released early in 1998, the LP earned excellent reviews and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. She toured throughout the U.S. all through 1998 and 1999.

Soon, she was opening for, among others, B. B. King, Buddy Guy, Bob Dylan, and the Allman Brothers. It was when opening for the Allman Brothers in 1999 she meant Derek Trucks. They married in 2001.
In 2002 she gave birth to their first child.

This song was the closing track on her 1998 Tone-Cool debut, “Just Won’t Burn” – it is not a cover of Robert Nighthawk’s ‘Friar’s Point Blues’; it was written by Tedeschi and Tom Hambridge.

Susan Tedeschi – Friar’s Point (Just Won’t Burn 25th Anniversary Sessions)

Lyrics:
Just past Friar’s Point, over where the crossroads lay
Just past Friar’s Point, over where the crossroads lay

I was walking by the cotton fields, and I swear I heard Robert Johnson play

Down in New Orleans, I know a girl who preaches in the Lion’s Den
Down in New Orleans, I know a girl who sings in the Lion’s Den

You can hear Irma Thomas, and she’ll take you right back to church again

We got the blues now, surely ain’t got a thing to lose
Oh we got the blues, surely don’t have a thing to lose
Oh darling it’s these blues that really make you move

Doin’ the hang on Beale Street, there’s music blasting out of every door
Hangin’ out on Beale Street, there’s always music pouring out of every door
Rocking the house at BB’s, your feet they never touch the floor

Oh south side of Chicago, oh all the way where Magic Sam used to play
Oh south side of Chicago, maybe over at the Checkerboard Lounge
You can still hear Muddy Waters, laying all that old soul down

Oh we got the blues darlin’, sure don’t have a thing to lose
Oh we got the blues, surely don’t have a thing to lose
And these are some of the people who really make you move