Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

Today’s program revolves around record collector John Tefteller who’s record collection contains some of the rarest blues 78′s in existence. I’ve interviewed him on two separate occasions and each time I’ve found him to be extremely knowledgeable regarding blues from the 1920′s with a keen insight into how the record companies operated and how they marketed blues records. Due to some technical issues some of the most recent interview was not broadcast quality so I’ve combined some of the salvageable segments with the interview I conducted a few years back. What follows is some background on Tefteller as well as some context for today’s selections.

Tefteller has been buying and selling rare phonograph records for the past 30 years. According to his website he has the world’s largest inventory of blues, rhythm & blues and rock & roll 78′s with over 75,000 in stock. He also has a selection of over 100,000 45′s from the 1950′s and early 1960′s in the following categories: blues, rhythm & blues, rockabilly, rock & roll, girl groups, surf and country. His company, Blues Images, was established in 1998. As he notes: “At the time, we had no idea that in just a few short years we would have a previously unseen photograph of Charley Patton and a treasure trove of original Paramount Records label artwork. When that collection was discovered and purchased, we knew it would only be a short time before Blues Images would become a reality. The vision of this company is to provide the world with the very finest reproductions of classic Blues Images.”

In addition Tefteller regularly makes his collection available to reissue companies including Yazoo as well as issuing his own CD compilations. Like Yazoo and a few other labels, Tefteller’s CD’s contain some of the best sounding transfers of blues 78′s. Credit for this goes to Richard Nevins of  Yazoo. According to Tefteller, Nevins has about thirty different 78 needles and painstakingly tries each needle on the 78 to find out which one works best, making a test of each one. Apparently the right needle is the one that fits the groove the best and thus extracts the most music out of the grooves. After this some filtering is done, some removal of clicks and pops but unlike unlike other reissue labels they don’t lop off the high end which  makes the record sound old and tinny.

Every year around June/July Tefteller, through his Blues Images imprint, publishes his Classic Blues Artwork Calendar with a companion CD that matches the artwork with the songs. The CD’s have also been one of the main places that newly discovered blues 78’s turn up. Several years ago 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 weekly 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’s annual calendars have been the main vehicle for reprinting these ads. A book in conjunction with artist Robert Crumb is planned with the tentative title, Sellin’ The Blues. “The book of all the artwork should be ready in a year or so”, Tefteller said. “I am just waiting for Robert Crumb to finish his current project illustrating the Bible.”

I should make a quick aside and pay tribute to the late Max Vreede who in the 1960′s first discovered some of the blues advertisements while doing research for his book, Paramount 12000/13000 Series . Paramount’s “race” series started with issue No 12000 and finished with No 13156. Vreede found, on microfilm,  old issues of the Chicago Defender, which contained some of the artwork. His book (long out of print) reproduced a few of the images for the first time but left much to be desired quality-wise. Tefteller purchased Vreede’s papers and record collection in 1998.

Why are these old blues 78′s so rare is a question Tefteller fields often. There’s a few factors: African-Americans were often displaced and unable to hold on to collections, low press runs especially during the depression (although Tefteller has the Paramount files that state press runs were higher that was previously thought) and 78′s were used for shellac during the war, perhaps millions (Paramount donated a warehouse full of their old records) were given to the war effort which were used to make the olive colored paint for tanks and battleships. “When you’re looking at that”, Tefteller told me, “you’re looking at melted down Charley Patton records.”

King Solomon Hill signed to the Paramount label in 1932, soon traveling to Grafton, Wisconsin to record six tracks – two of them alternate takes – which comprise his known discography; songs like the eerie “Gone Dead Train” and “Down on Bended Knee” are masterly performances featuring Hill’s eerie falsetto and raw, unorthodox guitar work. In 2002 Tefteller went to Grafton and discovered the long lost Hill 78 “My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon”/”Times Has Done Got Hard” in mint condition. Not much is known of Hill – whose real name was Joe Holmes. He was closely connected to Sam Collins and traveled with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Rambling Thomas. He roamed through Louisiana and Texas playing and in 1932 was invited to record for Paramount along with Ben Curry and Marshall Owens. After this lone session, Hill returned to the juke joint circuit, eventually vanishing from sight; reputedly a heavy drinker, he died of a massive brain hemorrhage in Sibley, Louisiana in 1949.

Jaydee Short was born in Port Gibson, MS on Dec. 26, 1902 and moved to St. Louis in 1923. He made his first recordings for Paramount in 1930. One of them, Paramount 13012 “Steamboat Rousty”/”Gittin’ Up On The Hill”, has yet to be located. In 1932 he recorded for Vocalion using the name Jelly Jaw Short. Peetie Wheatstraw recorded duets with “Neckbones” who is believed to be Short. In 1933, using the name Joe Stone, he recorded for Bluebird. Short recorded again in 1958 for the Delmark label and was filmed by Sam Charters for the 1963 documentary “The Blues.” He died on Oct. 21, 1962 in St. Louis.

In November 1929 at the Paramount Recording Studios in Grafton, Wisconsin, four songs were recorded at 78 rpm by a Louisiana street musician named Joe Sheppard who, on the run from the law, used the name Blind Joe Reynolds. Within a year, the four songs were released on two records. Neither record sold well, but almost 40 years later, one of the two attracted the attention of Eric Clapton who heard the song “Outside Woman Blues” on a reissue album. In 1967, Clapton and his Cream bandmates Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce recorded a more modern day version of “Outside Woman Blues” on their classic LP “Disraeli Gears.” The second record recorded in Wisconsin on that day, “Ninety Nine Blues” backed with “Cold Woman Blues” has been lost since it was first released in October of 1930. No copies in any condition were ever located until just a few years ago. Bruce Smith, a school teacher from Ohio with an appreciation for old blues records, was attending a teachers’ conference in Nashville. With an hour to kill before catching a flight home from a school conference, he wandered into the Nashville Flea Market and found the record in a stack of old 78′s. The records were without sleeves and not in particularly good condition, but the price was right at $1.00 each. He purchased three records-two were common blues records of the 1930′s and the third was the long lost Blind Joe Reynolds (Paramount 12983.) Unaware of its value, he purchased it simply because it “looked interesting.” Not realizing quite what he had, the teacher began searching the internet to figure out exactly who Blind Joe Reynolds was and if this record might be of some significance. One site referred him to Gayle Dean Wardlow’s book Chasin’ That Devil Music. A chapter in that book called “A Devil of a Joe” tells the story of Blind Joe Reynolds and the significance of his recordings. It also said that there was a missing Blind Joe Reynolds recording, which turned out to be the one purchased at the flea market. Realizing he had stumbled upon a rare find, Smith contacted Tefteller for an appraisal, but ended up selling it to him for an undisclosed amount.

It appears that all of Patton’s 78′s have been found although there have been some significant Patton finds. Found in the material Tefteller purchased in Grafton was a full length photo of Patton. In the 1960′s a small, grainy of only Patton’s head was found in Georgia on a Paramount advertising flyer by blues collector Max Tarpley. It was until, the newly found photo, the only existing photo of Patton. There was also some confusion regarding how Patton spelled his name. According to Tefteller: “Final proof of this occurred in 2008 when Bernard MacMahon found Patton’s original handwritten military draft papers for World War I where Mr. Patton clearly signs his name ‘Charley’.”

A close friend of Charley Patton, Willie Brown played second guitar on many of Patton’s records and Patton played second guitar on at least one of his. Brown had a small amount of success, selling perhaps a few hundred copies of “M&O Blues” simply because the song became a big seller by Walter Davis. Brown made two other records, both of which have yet to be found. Not one single copy of is known to exist of Paramount 13001 “Grandma Blues”/”Sorry Blues”, which was not even known to exist until Tefteller found Paramount artwork advertising this record in 2002, or Paramount 13099 “Kickin’ In My Sleep Blues”/”Window Blues.” Tefteller has offered a $20, 000 reward for either of those records in playable condition.

In 1930, Arthur Laibley who had produced Charley Patton’s last session for Paramount, stopped in Lula to arrange another session with Patton. Patton was famous throughout the Delta and had already recorded close to forty sides for Paramount. Patton told Laibley about Son House and two other musicians Willie Brown and Louise Johnson. The group headed to the Paramount studios in Grafton, WI, where House recorded six songs at the session. Two songs, “Clarksdale Moan”/”Mississippi County Farm Blues” were issued as a 78, but no copy has ever been found until just a couple of years ago. Circumstances are hazy as to it’s discovery but apparently the collector who had it owned it for some time before making the disclosure. All the collector has said was that the record was found in the south. Tefteller has since purchased the record. Could there be another missing Son House record? Tefteller had this to say: “There was a notation in Max Vreede’s files of a Son House/Skip James double sided coupling on Paramount. He assigned it to be one of the missing numbers, but there was no information as to song titles or where he got the information. Son House, in interviews in the 60′s, insists that he recorded 16 songs for Paramount which would be eight 78′s. There are four records (eight sides) known and accounted for…along with a one sided test for “Walking Blues” but there sure could be another one issued on one of the missing numbers and also the others could exist on test pressings but none have been found (outside of “Walkin’ Blues”).”

In 2007 Tefteller issued what is apparently the only known copy of Blind Willie McTell & Mary Willis’ “Talkin’ To You Wimmen’ About The Blues.” The track and it’s flip side, “Merciful Blues”, was issued on the CD that accompanies Tefteller’s 2008 blues artwork calendar. To quote Tefteller: “the record…apparently has not been heard by anyone since its release back in the late fall of 1931. I have had this record in my collection for almost ten years. I had no idea that it was potentially a one-of-a-kind record! …Late last year, legendary Blues reissue producer Larry Cohn called me about his upcoming Blind Willie McTell box set. He told me he would like to borrow certain records from my collection …I sent him a list of what I had. To my amazement, he called immediately with the comment, “I’ve never heard the Mary Willis record!” Apparently, there is no master in the Columbia vaults. Cohn is aware of no other copy of the record anywhere. Finding this hard to believe, I started calling “all the usual suspects” and sure enough, none of them had the record or had ever heard it.”

“Night And Day Blues” b/w “Sun To Sun” (Paramount 13123) was discovered in 2007 when it was retrieved from an old steamer trunk in a trailer park in Raleigh, NC, and acquired by Old Hat Records. In either May or October 1931, Paramount cut four Blake sides and the other record for this session, “Dissatisfied Blues”/”Miss Emma Liza” has also never been found. The Blake records were acquired by Old Hat Records along with records by Charley Jordan, Buddy Moss, Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Jackson, Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell, Casey Bill, Georgia Tom, and the duo of Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah, to name just a few. Tefteller had this to say regarding other possible missing Blake sides: “In a Paramount recording ledger which was found in the 60′s, there are notations of at least six more songs that Blake recorded for Paramount but were never released and no tests have ever been found. They could exist on tests but we will never know for sure until one turns up.”

Issued on Tefteller’s newest CD are two test pressings of “Home Town Skiffle” a super group of Paramount’s biggest selling artists including Charley Spand, Will Ezell, The Hokum Boys, Papa Charlie Jackson and Blind Blake. According to Tefteller: “Paramount, however, told a lie on this one – claiming on both the record label and the ad that Blind Lemon Jefferson appears on this record. Not true! Collectors long suspected that Blind Blake simply imitates Jefferson’s guitar licks and they are correct! Newly discovered test pressings of other takes of the song reveal this. We include one of those complete tests on this year’s CD so you can clearly hear for yourself that Jefferson was not in the room for these sessions.”

A welcome surprise in recent years has been the discovery of several Tommy Johnson recordings of unissued material. In 1985 an untitled Tommy Johnson test pressing was found and issued on Document as “Boogaloosa Woman”/”Morning Prayer.” Yazoo has issued “Morning Prayer” with the title “Button Up Shoes.” In around 2001 yet another important batch of records came to light. A box of unissued Paramount and QRS test pressings (the QRS material likely obtained by Paramount from Art Satherley in 1930/31) has been found by an antique dealer in Wisconsin. Tefteller purchased the Tommy Johnson test pressing of “I Want Someone To Love Me” for over $12,000. The record has since been issued on the CD that accompanies the 2004 Blues Images calendar. Our selection today is “Alchohol And Jake Blues.” The flip side is “Ridin’ Horse Blues” and is the only known copy of this 78 which was issued as Paramount 12950 purchased by Tefteller in November 2007.

John Tefteller Interview [edited version] (MP3)