Check out BIG GEORGE BROCK'S 1950s boxing photo below. Big George used to box out at Stovall store (near where Muddy Waters grew up) on weekends. He also once wrestled a bear near Clarksdale and won... and went the distance with a "huge Mongolian fighter" brought from overseas to fight down and dirty bouts in the Delta. After relocating to St. Louis in the '50s, he fought around 27 bouts. According to Big George, he never lost -- though he did get paid to take occasional dives! -- and won most by knockout. He even beat a young (pre-Ali) Sonny Liston in the second round shortly before Liston turned pro, though George said Sonny gave George one hit to the forehead that he can STILL feel! He says that he gave up boxing for his family since a month of intensive, no-visits training was required before each bout. When he'd finally see his family again after the fight, "their was no food in the house." For more on Big George and other Delta bluesmen's boxing careers, see the May/June and July/August 2005 issues of Living Blues Magazine. Also see the December 2005 issue of Blues & Rhythm magazine.

PHOTO BELOW (Oct. 2005, Helena, AR): Big George sits in for a smokin' version of "Mojo Workin'" with Bill Abel and Jimbo Mathus during the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival (formerly called King Biscuit).

PHOTO BELOW (Oct. 2005, Memphis, TN): Hubert Sumlin and Big George reminisce about playing with Howlin' Wolf during the recording sessions for actor Steven Seagal's upcoming all-star blues album.

PHOTO BELOW (Oct. 2005, Memphis, TN): Marial arts expert and action film actor Steven Seagal after Big George laid down harp tracks at House of Blues Studio.

CLICK HERE for more performance photos featuring Big George Brock.

SEE BELOW FOR RECENT REVIEWS of Big George's Club Caravan CD on Cat Head Presents...

REVIEWS FOR CLUB CARAVAN CD:

• "The first time I saw him play (at a tiny juke in Clarksdale, MS), I was blown away -- I thought I knew what to expect, but George's stories about bear wrasslin', his GIANT hands, his Howlin' Wolf-like presence, his ability to get down and writhe across the floor, and, of course, his prowess on the harp, exceeded my expectations. With this CD, George [has] again gone above and beyond to deliver an even dozen songs that are above par with most of the blues albums released this decade." -- Andria Lisle, Memphis music critic

• "The music is 50's real deal blues, and has been recorded in the same vein; in fact it’s a perfect accompaniment to Southern fried chicken & cold beer. If George sounds just like this 'live' I'm sure he would be a scoop to book. Juke style music predominates, with a smatter of Chi-town, and it is not prettied up & sanitised. This is definitely old school, and the bell is ringing out for playtime." -- Billy Hutchinson, Blues Matters magazine

• "Every track on [Brock's Club Caravan CD] is an explosive example of real deal blues guaranteed to drill a hole to your soul and as such deserves your full support; artists and music like this are in increasingly short supply; savour both while you can." -- Mick Rainsford, Blues in Britain magazine

• "Mississippi-born harp player Big George Brock, a 73-year-old bluesman [has] a sound as big as a freight train hurtling through the cotton fields in the Delta. Big George composed most of the music on Club Caravan with some Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters tossed in to spice things up. But this is Brock’s show, which sounds like one of his marathon juke joint performances. All you have to do is hit replay and keep listening to a genuine master of the Delta blues. Big George is one of the last of the authentic Southern bluesmen. Most people don’t even know they’re still around. When they’re gone, their music will only be heard on CDs and LPs." -- Garrick Feldman, Arkansas Leader newspaper

• "This is one of the coolest traditional blues CDs I've heard in some time. Big George's voice is very bluesy and his down home harmonica suits it very well. Together with a tight band that sounds like a unit taken from 1950s George has recorded one hell of an album!" -- Przemek Draheim, Radio Sfera in Poland

• "It's fantastic -- deep, earnest, and sincere! No flash, no over-the-top effects; nothing but solid!" -- Doug Price, WVKR radio
 
• "This cd has a sound and feel of being made in the 50's Chicago! Great vocals and band as well as original songs. It's not full of glam and glitter but the real thing Blues. This is in heavy rotation on my radio show and I highly suggest you buy it as you won't be sorry." -- Robert Lynn, KSPQ-FM radio

• "Club Caravan seems to be everything it has been touted to be. [Brock] has been a sharecropper, a boxer, and a club owner and now he's doing what he loves most... singing and playing the Blues. This CD is well worth adding to anyone's collection. Big George is a big man but not a big recording artist by any stretch of the imagination. So when you purchase it, you can be sure it's gonna be money well spent on a most deserving artist." -- The Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society, www.bjfm.org

• "Club Caravan is an excellent harmonica CD in the Delta tradition. It has a really strong 'live' feel to it.
 a must-have for fans of harmonica blues." -- Phil Spooner, blues fan

• "Cat Head and Big George can be justly proud of this CD. Down home electric blues that sounds every bit as live as intended. I'm a serious blues music fan who might not have had the opportunity to enjoy the tremendous talent that is Big George were it not for this effort by Cat Head. -- Vern Melvin, blues fan

DISCOGRAPHY

• Big George Brock & the Houserockers, Native Sons film documentary, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, release date TBA.
• Big George Brock & the Houserockers, Club Caravan CD, Cat Head Presents label, 2005.
• Jimbo Mathus & Friends, Live at Ground Zero Blues Club CD, NPR/GZBC/Knockdown South label, 2005.
• Big George Brock, Front Door Man, Tee Ti Records label, circa 1990s.
• Big George Brock & the Houserockers, 45-rpm records: Sing the Blues (Like I Wanna)/Just a Dream,
Problems/Front Door Man, Big G. Brock label, circa late 1980s.\

SELECTED MEDIA

• Living Blues magazine, May/June 2005.
• Il Soffio Dell'anima: Armonice E Armonicisti Blues (blues harmonica encyclopedia), 2005.
• Clarion Ledger newspaper, July 2005.
• Arkansas Leader newspaper, July 2005.
• Blues & Rhythm magazine, December 2005.
• Good Morning Mississippi, Blues Trekkers and Aloha from Clarksdale TV shows, 2005.