Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

On the last mix show we spotlighted recordings by the recently passed Lula Reed and this week starts on a similarly somber tone as we spin sides by the recently departed Chuck Carbo. R&B singer Chuck Carbo passed away on July 11th after a lengthy battle with cancer. I first became acquainted with Carbo with the two excellent comeback records he cut for Rounder: Drawers Trouble (1993) and The Barber’s Blues (1996). I recall these records getting quite a bit of play on my radio program at the time. I soon tracked down his early recordings with the Spiders, a fabulous New Orleans vocal group who had a string of R&B hits in the 1950’s, led by Carbo and his brother Chick. Just about all these sides can be found on Bear Family’s 2-CD The Imperial Sessions. After the Spiders Carbo cut a number of 45’s, only a few that I’m familiar with, and returned to music after a long absence. We open today with a trio of great sides by Carbo and the Spiders and conclude the show with a track by Carbo fronting The Clowns and a 45 he cut under his own name.

We have a couple of twin spins on today’s program with sides by Jimmy McCracklin and Big Joe Turner. In his heyday, from the late 1940’s through the 1960’s, he led one of the toughest, hardest rocking blues bands on the West Coast. He was a prolific and witty composer, a fine singer/pianist and was a real pioneer in defining the soul-blues style made so popular by Little Milton, Bobby Bland and others. With a pair of excellent records in the 1990’s for Bullseye he achieved some wider exposure although during his hit making days he remained something of a neglected figure with a stature that seems to have always been higher in the black community. At 87, McCracklin is still active and I was thrilled to get a chance to see him at this year’s Pocono Blues Festival. We go back to 1947 to hear Big Joe Turner teaming up with Wynonie Harris on “Blues” as Wynonie has this to say to Big Joe: “Yes the girl that used to sleep with you, Joe Turner she’s sleeping with Mr. Blues now.” This is one of four songs Turner and Harris recorded together for Imperial in 1947. We jump ahead a few years to hear Big Joe’s “Sweet Sixteen” from 1952.

On today’s show we spotlight recordings from two recent releases: Blues Images Presents Vol. 6 and And This Free. Blues Images Presents Vol. 6 is the companion CD to the latest blues calendar put out by record collector John Tefteller. Several years back Tefteller uncovered a huge cache of Paramount promotional material. Paramount marketed their “race records”, as they were called, to African-Americans, most notably in the pages of the Chicago Defender, the African-American newspaper, and sent promotional material to record stores and distributors. Tefteller bought a huge cache of this artwork from a pair of journalists who rescued them from the rubbish heap some twenty years previously. The depression essentially killed off Paramount’s advertising budget so many of these images were never sent out and hence have not been seen by anyone since they were first produced. Tefteller has been making these gorgeous ads available in his Classic Blues Artwork Calendar since 2004 and the 2009 version has just been printed. The accompanying CD is a collection of songs that match the artwork. For pre-war blues fans these CD’s are eagerly anticipated as that always include some newly discovered sides. This year is no exception with newly discovered titles by Blind Blake, Ben Curry and two test recordings of the Paramount All Star’s “Home Town Skiffle.” The Blind Blake sides were discovered in 2007 and I’m very glad to be able to play “Night And Day Blues” a very nice laid back number sporting some fine guitar solos. We also play one of the “Home Town Skiffle” tests which was a group consisting of The Hokum Boys, Georgia Tom, Will Ezell, Blind Blake, Charlie Spand and Papa Charlie Jackson. This was made as a sampler to advertise Paramount artists. It was thought Blind Lemon Jefferson was on this but he is clearly not after listening closely to these test recordings.

After languishing out of print for many years, Mike Shea’s legendary film on Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market, And This Is Free, has finally been reissued. Housed in a soft covered fold out set is a two disc set containing the 50 minute documentary And This Is Free, the 30 minute documentary Maxwell Street: A Living Memory, some fascinating archival footage, an interview with sound man Gordon Quinn, a separate CD of performances by artists associated with Maxwell Street. Form the CD we play Blind Percy & His Blind Band’s “Fourteenth Street Blues” which is supposedly a pseudonym for Blind Taggart who recorded primarily gospel material.

The most recent song on today’s show is Junior Wells’ “Trouble Don’t Last Always” cut circa 1969/1970. The song comes from Southside Blues Jam which is easily one of Wells’ best records from this era featuring longtime partner Buddy Guy along with Otis Spann. Spann’s rumbling, two-fisted piano adds much to this date and is his last studio recording before his untimely death in April 1970. Fittingly the album is dedicated to Spann.

Among the other early blues we spin are fine sides by Bayless Rose, Blind Willie McTell, Leroy Carr, Little Brother Montgomery, J.T. “Funny Papa” Smith plus blues ladies Victoria Spivey and Merline Johnson. The mysterious Bayless Rose recorded 3 sides in 1930 plus several unissued sides and there’s some dispute if Rose is a white or black performer. “Frisco Blues” is a gorgeous instrumental sporting some amazing quick fingered playing and crystal clear, fluid tone. I’ve played Little Brother often on the show and today’s selection, “No Special Rider Blues”, was cut in 1960 but is a reprise of a song he cut at his very first session for Paramount back in 1930. This version comes from the Bluesville album Tasty Blues, one of his finest records and featuring the wonderful guitar of Lafayette Thomas. Montgomery also shows up on another song we play, “Ethel Bea”, by Little Son Joe which also features Joe’s wife, Memphis Minnie. Speaking of piano blues we play Leroy Carr’s timeless “Midnight Hour Blues.” Little is known about Merline Johnson who was one of the most prolific female blues artists of the 1930’s. She recorded over 70 sides between 1937 and 1941and on our selection, “He May Be Your Man” she’s ably supported by Blind John Davis and Lonnie Johnson. I’ve been listening quite a bit to J.T. “Funny Papa” Smith who cut twenty issued sides between 1930 and 1931. He was a superb singer/guitarist and a marvelous lyricist as he shows on the salacious “Hoppin’ Toad Frog:”

I’m harmless as I can be, I stays out of all peoples way (2x)
I’m just a little old toad, I’m gonna hop back to my home someday

I’ll hop down in your basement, don’t mean to harm a single soul (2x)
I’ll shake all of your ashes, then shovel you in some brand new coal

I don’t have no friend, by myself I’m always on the road (2x)
Just let me hop for you one time mama and you’ll keep me for your little old toad

Mama would you let a poor little old toad frog hop down in your water pond (2x)
I’ll dive down and come right out and I won’t stay in your water long

I ain’t no bottle stopper, I ain’t no police copper, I ain’t no cradle rocker, you know I ain’t the baby’s papa
But I know for my self, in your front yard is where I get my load
Well you talk you like my hoppin’, why don’t you keep me for your little toad

Mama do you know one thing, your water tank is just deep enough (2x)
I can dive down to the bottom, take my time and then tread right back up