Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

We cast a wide net on today’s show playing records spanning 1926 to 1976. The mix shows are usually a good indicator of some of the records I’ve been listening to and also usually feature some of the new reissues and records I’ve picked up recently. This week we spotlight a number of excellent post-war blues reissues from Ace Records as well as some recent JSP box sets .

We feature several tracks from JSP’s 4-CD That’s What They Want - Juke Joint Blues: Good Time Rhythm & Blues 1943 - 1956 which is chock full of incredible down-home blues performances by a host of unknowns and more famous artists. With this set JSP seems to be mining the same vein as Boulevard Vintage who for the past few years have been putting out intelligent, well conceived multi CD sets of post-war down home blues built around a specific geographic region. Notable from this set are two terrific early Earl Hooker tracks; “Ride Hooker Rider” with unknown vocalist and “Goin’ Home To Mother” with Little Sam Davis on vocal/harmonica, both cut for the small Rockin’ label out of Miami in 1953. Schoolboy Cleve’s “She’s Gone” is a genuine harmonica killer and believe it or not Cleve recently cut some new recordings. In a strange coincidence I had already planned to play this track when I found out Cleve had passed away. Cleve cut a handful of sides between 1954-1963 for a series of small labels, issued some 45’s on his own Cherrie label and in 2006 issued the full length CD South to West: Iron and Gold. Also from JSP is the 4-CD A Richer Tradition: Country Blues and String Band Music 1923-1942. There’s some fascinating music on this set ranging from blues, string band, jug band music and it’s amazing how much eclectic music was recorded before the industry became homogenized.

Ace Records is without a doubt one of the great reissue labels for post-war blues. I recently picked up a trio of their new recordings: Willie Headen - Blame It On The Blues, Cool Daddy: The Central Avenue Scene 1951-1957 Vol. 3 and R&B On Lakewood Boulevard. I’ve never heard of Willie Headen but he left behind a fine and varied body of work in his five year on-off-on stint with Dootsie Williams’ Dootone and Dooto labels. He’s a terrific vocalist who’s singing bears a strong gospel stamp as well as similarity to Clyde McPhatter. Hopefully Ace will see fit to issue the Kent sides Headen cut in the late 1960’s. Cool Daddy is the third volume in Ace’s exhaustive survey of Jake Porter’s Los Angles based Combo label featuring excellent tracks by Johnny Otis, Peppermint Harris, Joe Houston and slew of forgotten figures. The whole series presents a fascinating snapshot of the L.A. blues scene of the late 1940’s and 50’s. R&B On Lakewood Boulevard features blues and R&B from the Downey label also based in L.A. and boasts fine material by T-Bone Walker Jr. aka R.S. Rankin, Little Johnny Taylor, Ace Holder among others. We also dip back to an Ace release from a few years back, Welcome To The Club, gathering togehter some wonderful Chicago blues sides cut for the Federal label.

As usual there’s a a number of vintage country blues cuts with the show kicking off with Charlie Patton’s “Jim Lee Blues Part I.” There’s something about the way Patton sings this number that really grabs me. Then there’s Garfield Akers’ throbbing, intense “Dough Roller Blues” and Bo Weavil Jackson’s slide masterpiece “You Can’t Keep No Brown” from 1926. Little is known about these artists outside of some recollections from contemporaries. We hear some later country from Leroy Williams and Fiddlin’ Joe Martin recorded for the Library of Congress in 1941 with the legendary Willie Brown on guitar. This session is most famous for the Son House recordings and in fact you can hear Son providing commentary on Martin’s beautifully sung number. Unfortunately Brown was recorded solo on just one number, Make Me A Pallet On The Floor, which we played a couple of weeks ago.

Also worth noting are a number of piano blues including one by Jimmy Blythe. Blythe recorded dozens of piano rolls in the early 1920’s some of which have just been reissued on Delmark’s Messin’ Around Blues. He began cutting records in 1924 and backed many singers including blues artists like Ma Rainey, Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson. Jimmy Blythe died at the age of 30 from meningitis. There’s also tracks by Sunnyland Slim and Roosevelt Sykes who need little introduction although pianist Curtis Jones is perhaps not as well remembered. “Lonesome Bedroom Blues” was a huge hit for Jones in 1937 and the next five years Jones was in the studio on no fewer than twenty occasions recording some hundred titles but never achieved similar success. Lyrically “Bad Avenue” is something of a precursor to “Tin Pan Alley” which Jones cut in 1941.