All Ways

Written & Performed By: Terry Blade
Produced By: Distant.Face

The Silent Treatment(ELEM Version)

Won't Be Around is a dedication to the rural and early American roots music of the first half of the 20th century--the lifeblood of America's musical and cultural heritage. The song is about telling a loved one that I'm fed up and moving on. I ask "Who are you going to run to?" "Who are you going lie to?" "Who are you going to rescue?" when "I won't be with you," "I won't hear you," and "I won't even need you."

Primary Artist: Terry Blade

Composer: Bobby Cole

Lyricist: Terry Blade

Producers: Terry Blade, Bobby Cole

Ethos: Son of a Sharecropper

Won't Be Around

Inspired by the stories of:
-Cyntoia Brown (first verse)
-William “Marc” Wilson (second verse)
-Isaiah Brown (third verse)

--Lyrics--
Tell my sista’ 
To stay strong
Remember tell my sista’ 
To stay strong
Cuz I know the system 
Done my sista’ wrong

Tell my brotha’ 
Always watch your back
Tell my brotha’ 
Always watch your back
Cuz I know the system 
Won’t give my brotha no slack

Tell my people 
That I will die for them
Tell my people 
That I will die for them
Just so they can be free 
Of the system

--Track Credits--
Lyrics and Vocals By: Terry Blade
Instrumental Music By: Neil Cross
Photograph By: Matt Richmond
Produced By: Terry Blade and Neil Cross

Chicago Kinfolk: The Juke Joint Blues

Tell 'Em

Excerpts of interview with Chicago blues singer-songwriter James Williams (Muddy Waters Jr.), at his home in Chicago, Illinois on May 31, 1977.

--Track Credits--
Ralph H. Metcalfe: 1948 - Present (Collector)
Muddy Waters Jr.: 1936 - Present (Interviewee)
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade
Photograph By: Jonas Dovydenas
Special Credit Contribution: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Ain't Been Through No Changes (feat. Muddy Waters Jr.)

Inspired by the notorious Harlem crime boss, Madame Stephanie St. Clair. Her infamy was the subject of articles published in the Chicago Defender (and throughout the country) through the 1920s and 1930s.

--Lyrics--
Hello mama
How you been?
I hear you in trouble 
Once again

All you say
And all you do
No wonder they done left you
Black and blue

I say hey little mama
I think they gettin’
Tired of you

Mama it’s your actions
The venom you speak
You pick on the small
And you prey on the weak
Yeah mama
You lie until you think it’s true

I say hey little mama
I think they gettin’
Tired of you

Well you mean and you nasty
You big and your strong
Know you ain’t right
But you keep on doin’ wrong
Yeah mama
Some day you gonna pay

Well mama you’re so rotten
You must decay

Well mama you lived 
A whole life of crime
Now you’re here 
And you’re out of time
Oh mama
What you gonna do?

I say hey little mama
I think they gettin’
Tired of you

--Track Credits--
Lyrics and Vocals By: Terry Blade
Instrumental Music By: Jason Shaw, excerpt of "Acoustic Blues," Free Music Archive
Instrumental Music License: CC Attribution.
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade and Jason Shaw

Gettin' Tired of You

Gettin' Tired Of You

Excerpts of interview with Chicago blues guitarist and singer Walter Williams (Lefty Dizz) outside Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, Illinois on May 30, 1977.

--Track Credits--
Ralph H. Metcalfe: Collector
Lefty Dizz: Interviewee
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade
Special Contribution Credit: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

The Blues Is Not Written (feat. Lefty Dizz)

Original version of what later became Terry Blade's 2023 single "Won't Be Around." The original version is faster in tempo and much shorter in duration, as it was intended as a demo. The song is about leaving abusive relationships (of all kinds), and never returning to them again.

--Lyrics--
Who you gon’ lie to?
I won’t even hear you
Who you gon’ rescue?
I won’t even need you

Cuz I won’t be around
Cuz I won’t be around

Who you gon’ plead to?
I don’t have to keep you
And who you gon’ weep to?
I’ve no more to give you

Cuz I won’t be around
Cuz I won’t be around

I won’t be behind you
I won’t be beside you
I’m gonna leave you
And I won’t even miss you

Cuz I won’t be around

--Track Credits--
Lyrics and Vocals By: Terry Blade
Instrumental Music By: Bobby Cole
Produced by: Terry Blade and Bobby Cole

Be Around No More (Original Version)

That's Alright is a cover of "That's All Right," which is a song written and originally performed by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (Father of "Rock 'n' Roll"). Crudup recorded the song in Chicago in 1946. "That's All Right" later became the debut single recorded and released by Elvis Presley in 1956. Although Crudup was credited as the composer on the single of Presley's label, he never received any royalties.

--Lyrics--
Well, now that's alright, mama
That's alright for you
That's alright mama
Anyway you do

That's alright
That's alright
That's alright now mama
Anyway you do

Mama she done told me
Papa told me too
They love you leavin' son now
We'll be there for you

That's alright
That's alright
That's alright now mama
Anyway you do

Yeah man

Baby one and one is two
Two and two is four
I love that man 
But I've got to let him go

That's alright
That's alright
That's alright now mama
Anyway you do

Baby now you don't want me
Why not tell me so?
You won't be bothered with me
'Round you have me no more

Baby that's alright
That's alright
That's alright now mama
Anyway you do

--Track Credits--
Written and Originally Performed By: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup 
Licensed By: Warner Unichappell Music Inc.
Original Song Copyright and Publishing By: Warner Chappell Music Inc.
Instrumental Music By: Carl Bludts
Vocals By: Terry Blade
Lyrical Variations By: Terry Blade

That's Alright

Excerpts from interview with Theresa Needham (Godmother of the Chicago Blues) on May 25, 1977. Needham was the owner of the famous blues club "Theresa's Tavern," located at 48th and Indiana Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

--Track Credits--
Ralph H. Metcalfe: Collector
Theresa Needham: Interviewee
Instrumental Music By: Kevin Macleod, excerpt of "Porch Blues", Free Music Archive
Instrumental Music License: CC Attribution
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade
Special Contribution Credit: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Nothin' But The Blues (feat. Theresa Needham)

Excerpts from interview with Chicago blues musician Willie Monroe outside Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago, Illinois on May 30, 1977.

--Track Credits--
Ralph H. Metcalfe: Collector
Willie Monroe: Interviewee
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade
Special Contribution Credit: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

The Blues What They Call It (feat. Willie Monroe)

Excerpts from part 2 of an interview with famous Chicago blues pianist, Jimmy Walker in May 1977 in Chicago, Illinois.

--Track Credits--
Beverly Robinson: (Collector)
Jimmy Walker: (Interviewee)
Instrumental Music By: Lobo Loco, excerpt of "Free Guitar Riding Blues F 014", Free Music Archive
Instrumental Music License: CC Attribution 
Produced and Arranged By: Terry Blade
Special Contribution Credit: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

The Blues Is Pressure (feat. Jimmy Walker)

Inspired by the many lives lost at the hands of gun violence on the southside of Chicago. The song is also a dedication to the lesser-known history of African-American cowboys, using "Wild West" duels as a metaphor for modern-day gun violence in Chicago. 

This song is the unreleased original version of Blade's rearranged "Black Cowboys," containing an capella introduction, and a musicical arrangement quicker in tempo.

--Lyrics--
Bow your head
Bow your head
Bow your head
Bow your heads
For your son

Draw your gun
Shuffle your feet
Can't cut and run
It's death you'll cheat

You a black cowboy
In your cattle boot
You walk ten paces
Then you turn and shoot

Now bow your head
For your sons
Bow your head
For your son
Bow your head
Bow your heads
For your son

Oh this life
In the wild west
One too many son
Been laid to rest

Take his body
To the river, stream
Hold your heartache
One day you'll scream

Now bow your head
For your sons
Bow your head
For you son
Bow your head
Bow your heads
For your son

That's how it's done 
In the great Midwest 
Down in Chitown
Be my guest 

That's how it's done
In the great Midwest
Down in Chitown
Be my guest

Now bow your head

--Track Credits--
Lyrics and Vocals By: Terry Blade
Additional Songwriting By: Ryan Jenkins
Instrumental Music Composed By: Antonio Di Giovanni
Produced By: Terry Blade and Sleeping Ghost

Fallen Sons (Original Version)

Vocals By: Terry Blade
Written By: Terry Blade
Produced By: Ryini Beats

Misery (Mastered for Headphones)

The Unloveable

Vocals By: Terry Blade
Djembe: Dan Blishen
Cover Art: Kirsten Marie
Mechanical License Granted By: Unichappell Music, Inc. 
Originally By: Vera Hall

Trouble So Hard

This song is about Terry's personal experience with his estranged father. It is a social commentary on the difficulties of family reintegration of absent African-American fathers.  It received Clouzine Magazine's "Best Folk Song Award" for 2020.

Written & Performed By: Terry Blade
Produced By: Ryini Beats
Track Art By: Ketut Subiyanto

Mr. Robertson

Terry Blade is a singer-songwriter and four-time gold medal winner at the Global Music Awards. A multi-genre artist and a Hollywood Music in Media Award nominee, his musical work is grounded in his experience as a black queer artist. He has drawn comparisons to artists such as Meshell Ndegeocello, Nina Simone and Gil Scott-Heron. With musical roots in DC and Chicago, Terry's music has been featured by Country Queer, Adobe and Teardrops, Surviving the Golden Age, Apple Music's Proud Radio, Yellow & Black, SwanoDown, Tinnitist and Alt77.

Terry Blade

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