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Come Together

by Sir Rod & The Blues Doctors

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This whole project, in which the Satan & Adam documentary connected me with Sterling Magee's nephew Rod Roderick Patterson, a remarkable creative artist in his own right, has been a joy-filled endeavor from Day 1. Rod, Alan Gross, and I recorded the album in an upstairs bedroom at a house in Water Valley, Miss., over the course of a pair of weekends back in January and February with the help of my favorite engineer and production guru, Bryan Ward. (Bryan also contributed harmony vocals and bass on one track apiece. And Jerry Jemmott, the Groovemaster, made the title track infinitely groovier with his bass-clef magic.)
    Little did we know what sort of challenges and changes were about to break across the American landscape this spring and early summer.
    Nine of the eleven tracks, including "Heartbreak," were songs that I performed and/or recorded with Mr. Magee. Two of the tracks, "Come Together" and "So Mean," are our originals. (Lyrics by Rod in the first case; lyrics and music in the second.) The album design was by Rod as well.
    Satan & Adam fans will want this, in other words. But we hope the rest of you will check it out.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Come Together via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
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1.
Come Together 04:34
lyrics
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I Thought We Settled This Long Ago Don’t Know What We’re Arguing For Cause In This Fight Nobody Wins I’m Hoping Now We Can Be Friends We’re So Much Stronger Together We Really Need Each Other…Hey But You're Worried About Me And I’m Worried About You You Wearing Red and I’m Wearing Blue When The Real Enemy Lies, Cheats and Kills Taking Everything From Us at Will. We Need To Open Our Minds Y’all We Need To Open Our Eyes Open Our Ears We Need To Open Our Hearts We’re So Much Stronger Together We Really Need Each Other I’m Talking About Peace I’m Talking About Love But You're Worried About Me And I’m Worried About You You Wearing Red and I’m Wearing Blue When The Real Enemy Lies, Cheats and Kills Taking Everything From Us at Will. We Need To Open Our Minds Y’all We Need To Open Our Eyes Open Our Ears Open Our Hearts We Need To Come Together We’re So Much Stronger Together We Really Need Each Other Yes We Do, OH We Really Need To Come Together Oh! [Break] But You're Worried About Me And I’m Worried About You You Wearing Red and I’m Wearing Blue When The Real Enemy Lies, Cheats and Kills Taking Everything From Us at Will. We Need To Open Our Minds Y’all We Need To Open Our Eyes Open Our Ears Open Our Hearts We’re So Much Stronger Together We Really Need Each Other We Need To Come Together We Need To Come Together Oh! I’m Talking About Peace Talking About Us Coming Together Coming Together Oh! I’m Talking About Love Y’all I’m Talking About Us Coming Together Oh Good God! Oh! Coming Together We Need To Come Together Yes We Do (Yes We Do) Yes We Do, We Need To Come Together Ohhhhhhhhhhh!
2.
Sanctified Blues 03:55
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3.
Seventh Avenue 04:52
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4.
I Want You 05:19
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5.
I Got You ( I Feel Good ) 02:41
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6.
Little Red Rooster 06:22
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7.
Heartbreak (It's Hurtin' Me) 03:29
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8.
So Mean 04:54
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9.
No More Doggin' 03:25
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10.
Freedom For My People 04:26
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11.
What'd I Say 03:59
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about

Sir Rod & The Blues Doctors came together in an unlikely way, almost as if by fate.
In early December 2019, Rod emailed Adam.  "My name is Rod Patterson," he wrote.  "I’m Mr. Satan’s Nephew (Uncle Sterling).  Congratulations on all your success.  I love the documentary.  Great job!  I would love to do a Satan and Adam tribute tour.  I can’t play guitar but I can sing my uncle's songs."
The documentary was Satan & Adam, which had been screening on Netflix since June 2019.  A two-decade project by filmmaker V. Scott Balcerek, it told the story of Adam's longtime blues duo, a Harlem street act in the mid-1980s that became a national touring act in the 1990s, suffered a series of setbacks, but somehow managed to rise again, capped off by a triumphant reappearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2013.
Sterling Magee, it turned out, had lived down in Florida with Rod and his mother Ollie--Sterling's sister--for several years in the early 1980s.  This was not long after Magee had had a breakdown and renamed himself Mr. Satan.  He played guitar for Ollie's house parties; Rod watched, listened, grooved to his uncle's music.  Eventually Magee returned to Harlem, where he established himself as Mr. Satan, the guitar man of 125th Street.  That's where Gussow first began jamming with him in 1986.
So Rod and Adam spoke on the phone.  They'd both been mentored, they realized, by the same master musician.  They were Mr. Satan's children.  They shared stories, memories.  They chatted about the Satan & Adam songbook--Magee's compositions and other songs the duo had performed over the years.  Rod had been woodshedding with Satan & Adam's old albums:  Harlem Blues, Mother Mojo, Living on the River.  "Sir Rod" was the stage name he'd been using in Atlanta, where he'd been preaching against bullying in local schools and bringing his high-energy tribute act--the music of Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Michael Jackson--to local nursing homes.  
In early January 2020, Rod drove to Water Valley, Mississippi, where Adam had set up a recording session with guitarist Alan Gross, his partner of eight years.  Hands were shaken; hugs were given. Within an hour, tape was rolling.  Seven of the eleven tracks on this album were iced in the next 24 hours.  The vibe was uncanny, like old friends reuniting.  A spirit had risen.  Sir Rod & The Blues Doctors were born, or reborn, that weekend.
A second session in mid-February finished off the album--including the lead track, "Come Together."  Adam sent Rod the music the day before the session; Rod wrote the lyrics in a few hours.  Only later, after the COVID-19 pandemic sent death and destruction across America, did the song's deeper meaning become apparent.  (Sterling's old bandmate, Jerry Jemmott, contributed some fat-bottom bass.)
 
So that's who we are and how we came together.  We're sheltering in place, y'all.  When the rain stops, when the clouds part, we'll be coming soon to a venue near you.  Meanwhile, please enjoy our music.  It's Sterling's music, too.      
 
--Rod, Adam, and Alan
ATL and Oxford MS
April 2020    
 

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released July 21, 2020

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Sir Rod and The Blues Doctors Atlanta, Georgia

The two-man band has become a three-man wrecking crew. The Blues Doctors are happy to welcome singer/dancer "Sir Rod" Patterson to the team. Rod is Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee's nephew. This is the birth of the Sir Rod and The Blues Doctors.

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