Houston Stackhouse & Robert Nighthawk

Robert Nighthawk, Houston Stackhouse, Peck Curtis, Powell, MS, April, 1967

At the tail end of August 1967 George Mitchell recorded an impromptu combo who called themselves the Blues Rhythm Boys in Dundee, MS, a small town on route 61 roughly halfway between Tunica and Friars Point and just across the river from Helena, AR. The group consisted of Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk and James “Peck” Curtis. As I wrote in my notes to Prowling With The Nighthawk: “The music harks back to Nighthawk and Stackhouse’s early delta days. Tommy Johnson’s influence looms large with five of his songs being covered. In a way Nighthawk’s life had come full circle; he was once again playing with Stackhouse who taught how to play guitar, Stackhouse in turn learned directly from Tommy Johnson and here were the two old friends performing the songs of Johnson together one final time. Nghthawk died less than two months after these recordings on Nov. 5 1967 of congestive heart failure at the Helena hospital”

Houston Stackhouse & Carey Mason Crystal Springs, MS, August, 1967

The recordings have been justly celebrated and long available, with sides appearing on Arhoolie’s Mississippi Delta Blues- Blow My Blues Away Vol. 1 & 2 and Robert Nighthawk & Houston Stackhouse - Masters of Modern Blues Volume 4. These are beautiful recordings with Stackhouse singing magnificently as he delivers a perfect falsetto in the manner of Tommy Johnson coupled with some his fairly modern guitar playing while Nighthawk seconds on guitar and Peck Curtis provides ramshackle, clattering drums. Nighthawk took the lead on three numbers; “Nighthawk Boogie” was an inventive instrumental not far removed from the recordings he made on Maxwell Street three years earlier, “Blues Before Midnight” was a gorgeous mellow blues with a “Blues After Hours” feel while Carey Mason takes the vocal on “You Call Yourself A Cadillac.” Carey Mason was a guitarist/vocalist from Crystal Springs who was the main local partner of Stackhouse. The duo were recorded a few days later in Crystal Springs by David Evans and those recordings can be found on Wolf’s Big Road Blues.

It appears that some unknown sides have surfaced via Fat Possum’s reissue of the George Mitchell recordings. These are not listed in Blues Discography 1943-70. The Stackhouse sides are “Fare You Well Blues” and “See Here Woman” while the unlisted Nighthawk sides are “Down By The Wayside”, “Travelin’ Man Blues” and “Down By The Woodshed” (this track appears on Vol. 44 of Fat Possum’s 7″ record series). Furthermore it sounds like “Fare You Well Blues” and “Down By The Wayside” are the same song although different lengths and that the titles might be switched on the two Nighthawk sides (”Down By The Wayside” has lyrics that suggest the title should be “Travelin’ Man Blues”)!? The vocalist on the two Stackhouse sides and Nighthawk’s “Travelin’ Man Blues” is uncredited but I believe it’s Carey Mason who was obviously present at the recordings. I’ve been unable to contact George Mitchell regarding this session. Furthermore Blues Discography 1943-70 lists three unissued titles: “Country Shack”, “Stuttering Blues” and and untitled instrumental which could be one of the two newly issued Nighthawk instrumentals. One further bit of strangeness is the listing in Blues Discography 1943-70 of bassist Houston Goff on several sides who, as far as I know, has never been listed anywhere else as part of this session. This whole session is a bit confusing, which I guess is the nature of field recordings. A minor discographical puzzle to be sure, but as one who’s been researching Robert Nighthawk for some time it’s all a bit maddening!

Travelin’ Man Blues (MP3)