Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

For the inaugural show a wide ranging mix of favorites spanning the 1920’s through the 1970’s. We’ll be spinning plenty of country blues in upcoming shows and we have some prime numbers for the first show: Crying Sam Collins was a wonderful singer heard here on the beautiful Lonesome Road Blues while Leadbelly’s powerhouse singing is gorgeously echoed by The Golden Gate Quartet from a marvelous 1940 session. Willie Harris (not to be confused with William Harris) cut only five songs in 1929 and 1930. One wishes he had recorded more as all his numbers are quite good but my favorite is Never Drive A Stranger From Your Door with a propulsive, driving slide that’s irresistible. Speaking of irresistible numbers, Georgia Crawl is an infectious number driven by Eddie Anthony’s ragged but right fiddle work. Anthony and Henry Williams recorded with Peg leg Howell and the duo cut only one 78 in 1928. In later years Howell told George Mitchell that after Anthony died in 1934 “…I just didn’t feel like playing anymore.”

Pat Hare, who wrote and recorded “I’m Gonna Murder My Baby” in 1954, carried out the threat when he murdered his girlfriend eight years later as well as the police officer who ran to the scene. He spent the rest of his life in prison. The sordid facts obscure the fact that Hare’s distinctively aggresive, distorted guitar tone spice up numerous records by artists like James Cotton, Bobby Bland, Roscoe Gordon, Junior Parker, Muddy Waters and others. He cut only two sides, sounding fully engaged on the loping Bonus Pay and absolutley smokes on Walter Bradford’s moody Reward For My Baby and James Cotton’s Cotton Crop Blues. Stayed tuned for an in depth feature on Hare.

Speaking of in depth features a few of today’s artists will get the in depth treatment including Pee Wee Crayton, Dave Bartholomew, Lafayette Thomas and a feature on pre-war Texas piano players exemplified by Ice Pick Mama which features piano playing from the great Andy Boy. The latter track is one of my favorites featuring the heavy, expressive vocals of Walter”Cowboy” Washington who tells the tale of Roberta. Washington only cut four sides in 1937 before drifting off into obscurity - let’s hope he didn’t meet his fate crossing a certain ice pick carrying mama!

We wrap up with a trio of fine female singers. Lizzie Miles was a fine classic blues singer who you rarely hear about anymore. She recorded extensively between 1922 -1939, making a comeback in the 1950’s. I Hate A Man Like You with piano by Jelly Roll Morton is a simple, unadorned number that nonetheless packs plenty of power. Hattie Hart was an expressive, powerful singer who recorded with the Memphis Jug Band and a few sides under her own name. Coldest Stuff In Town is a fun number featuring guitars and vocals from Allen Shaw and Willie Borum. As good as Hart was it’s odd that out of the twenty-two songs she recorded only six were actually released. Lillian Miller only waxed six sides, the best being Dead Drunk Blues which owes plenty to the driving guitar and spoken asides from Charlie Hill. You’ve got to love a woman who starts her song with “I’m dead drunk today daddy…” and “You know I was drunk when I lay across your bed/All the whiskey I drank it’s gone right to my head.”