Big Road Blues

It’s hard to think of the blues without a guitar but in the years when blues first emerged on record it was the blues queens who dominated the market. When the guitar did appear, after several years, it was treated as quite a novelty. The man who introduced the guitar on record was the remarkable guitarist Sylvester Weaver, a man of many talents who cut a significant body of work at the dawn of the blues recording era but remains little remembered today. Not only does he have the distinction of making the first solo recordings of blues guitar playing in 1923 but he was also the first to provide guitar accompaniment on record, backing the popular Sara Martin. Through the end of 1927, when Weaver decided to retire from music, he recorded a total of 26 sides under his own name, two dozen sides backing Sara Martin and eight sides accompanying a teenaged Helen Humes. Weaver was a consummate guitarist, displaying brilliance and invention on just about every session he was involved with, whether providing tasteful backing to female singers, playing deft slide or showing off his ragtime picking style. He also happened to be a fine banjo player, a mannered but superb blues singer and a lyricist of rare wit and invention.

Sylvester Weaver & Sara Martin

Relatively little is known about Weaver although we are lucky that  he left behind a rare paper trail with several of his records advertised, a number of mentions in the black press of the time and most importantly the discovery of his scrapbook in the 1970’s. Weaver was born on July 25, 1897 in Louisville, Kentucky, a resident of Smoketown, a neighborhood one mile southeast of downtown Louisville.  In fact Weaver lived his entire life in the Louisville area. From his death certificate we know that his father was Walter Weaver, his mother was Mattie who’s maiden name was Emery and that he died of cancer on April 4, 1960 in Louisville. In Louisville blacks lived in separate colored districts: Uptown, Downtown and Smoketown.  Most of the area’s blues artists came from Smoketown which acquired its name from the dirty smoke from the many small industrial plants burning soft coal for power and heat. The area had many saloons which featured blues singers playing guitar or piano in the back rooms. Smoketown has been a historically black neighborhood since the Civil War. With its shotgun houses and narrow streets, the neighborhood was a densely populated area with a population of over 15,000 by 1880. African American property ownership was rare, with most living in properties rented from whites. Weaver immortalized the area in the 1924 recording “Smoketown Strut.” Outside of this biographical sketch little else is known and he was little remembered by his peers. The only artist to have anything to say about Weaver was Lonnie Johnson. Paul Oliver reported that Johnson “was very impressed by Weaver’s guitar playing - in fact he very  seldom spoke about anyone else’s work, but Weaver obviously  (in person anyway) was someone he respected.” In all his years of intrepid blues research, Oliver writes, “Lonnie was the only blues singer I ever met who recalled Weaver.” It was Johnson who gave Oliver the tip that Weaver was from Louisville as Oliver recalled: “Lonnie told me that while he was working in St. Louis, playing both for Charlie Creath’s riverboat band and also at the Booker T. Washington Theatre in 1925, he met Sylvester Weaver who was traveling on tour with Sara Martin.”

Weaver likely got on record through Sara Martin, also a native of Louisville, who was born there in 1884. She probably heard Weaver playing in the area and decided to use him on her recordings. Weaver first recorded in New York in 1923, where on October 23 of that year he accompanied Martin on two numbers, “Longing For Daddy Blues” and “I’ve Got to Go And Leave My Daddy Behind,” for Okeh. Two weeks later, Weaver cut his first pair of solo recordings, “Guitar Blues” and “Guitar Rag” for the same label. The Sara Martin selections represented the first time on records that a popular female singer had been backed up solely by guitar, and were an immediate success. Two more recordings with Martin were recorded at this session, “Roamin’ Blues” b/w “Good-Bye Blues.” Both “Guitar Blues” and “Guitar Rag” are smooth, melodic slide numbers probably played with a knife. It was “Guitar Rag” (Weaver recorded it again in 1927) that would prove influential as Dick Spottswood noted: “In 1936 it was recorded by Bob Wills, featuring his popular guitarist Leon McAuliffle, and called ‘Steel Guitar Rag.’ Without citing Weaver as the source of the melody, McAuliffle’s version became a national hit and gave the amplified steel guitar a permanent place in country music.” The song later returned to the blues canon when it was recorded on three different occasions in 1953 and 1969 by Earl Hooker.

As for the Martin/Weaver sides, the record companies were quick to capitalize on the novelty as this January 5 Chicago Defender ad makes clear:

WHO’S HEARD the man with the talking guitar?

The first blue guitar record out is the “Roamin’ Blues” - a new Okeh. H-m-m-m! Sara Martin chirps, ‘em sweet, and Sylvester Weaver certainly plays ‘em strong on his big mean. blue guitar.

8104, don’t forget that number.

“Longing for Daddy Blues” was actually the first guitar record but that record was not advertised. Early in 1924 Ralph S. Peer of the General Phonograph Corp., Okeh’s parent company, wrote Sara Martin:

“ROAMIN’ BLUES with guitar accompaniment is the biggest seller you have had since SUGAR BLUES. it might be well for you to rearrange your act so that this is your feature number using guitar accompaniment. It seems to me that this would make a wonderful encore number to be used very near the end of your act.”

Another Okeh ad stated the following:

Sara Martin discovered the clever idea of making recordings with a guitar accompaniment, and the first records of this kind pit out have made remarkable impressions in all parts of the country. Sylvester Weaver plays his guitar in a highly original manner, which consists chiefly of sliding a knife up and down the strings while he picks with the other hand. His guitar solos, No. 8109, are having wide sales.

In 1924 Weaver, playing guitar and banjo, accompanied Martin on seven numbers at three sessions, two in Atlanta and one in New York.  One of the best numbers was “Pleading Blues”, given a passionate reading from Martin. The number was advertised in the October 18, 1924 edition of the Chicago Defender (Weaver actually plays guitar not banjo on this number):

“PLEADING BLUES”

This blues spreadin’ mama will sure satisfy your blues cravin’ far, wide and handsome in “Pleading Blues”. It’s a mighty good tastin’ sample of the kind of blues Sara totes. And that ain’t all. ‘Cause Sylvester Weaver rattles off the banjo accompaniment right snappy!

Point your dogs toward the OKeh store quick, for here’s an OKeh Record that sure does leave you feelin’ grand!

The March 21, 1924 session produced  two exceptionally strong blues: “Got To Leave My Home Blues” b/w “Poor Boy Blues” that prominently feature Weaver’s dramatic playing, laying down some fine treble runs on the latter number and an exceptionally long solo on the former. As for Sara Martin, Tony Russell made the following observation: “In her early recordings Martin, like many of her contemporaries, sings blues without quite qualifying as a blues singer: her exaggeratedly correct diction, with its rolled ‘r’s, does little to distinguish her from contemporary white vaudeville artists.” Her records took on a different tone once she began working with Weaver: “What is interesting about these records is not so much Weaver’s deliberate guitar (and banjo) playing as the power it has to draw Martin still further from her vaudeville background and towards the kind of singing recently introduced on records by Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.”

Weaver cut four solo instrumentals in 1924 at two sessions in New York: “Smoketown Strut”, “I’m Busy And You Can’t Come In”, Mixin’ ‘Em Up In C” and “Weaver’s Blues.” “Smoketown Strut” was the lone number cut at a May 28th session and showcased Weaver on a wonderful mid-tempo ragtime number. On June 10th Weaver cut three numbers including the driving “I’m Busy And You Can’t Come In” played in a similar style to “Smoketown Strut” and based on the well known tune “Keep-A-Knocking But You Can’t Come In.” “Mixing Them Up In C” and “Weaver’s Blues” are performed in a similar style but at a slower tempo. Weaver hardly played any fast pieces. This latter pairing was advertised in a 1925 Christmas ad in the Chicago Defender: Sylvester Weaver wants you to hear one of his best Okeh records. At the time of the first LP reissue of Weaver’s sides, Smoketown Strut (Agram, 1983), this record (OK 8207) was still missing. Weaver was also mentioned in a full-page OKeh records ad in the June 19th, 1924 Chicago Defender: World’s greatest Race Artists and they record exclusively for OKeh Race Records. Pictured are Sara Martin, Clarence Williams, Virginia Liston, Sippie Wallace, Ed Andrew and fifteen other artists including Sylvester Weaver “with the talkin’ guitar.” Speaking of Virginia Liston there is a possibility that Weaver plays on her “Jail House Blues” recorded on January 10, 1924.

Weaver would not record for almost a year when he returned for as six-song session in St. Louis on April 24, 1925 with Sara Martin, banjoist Charles Washington and violinist E.L. Coleman. Coleman, Washington and Weaver back Martin up on “Strange Lovin’ Blues” b/w “I Can Always Tell When A Man Is Treatin’ Me Cool.” Weaver backs Martin unaccompanied on the sides except for the instrumental “Steel String Blues” which was issued under the name Instrumental Trio. Like “Strange Lovin’ Blues”, Weaver plays slide, probably with a knife, on this draggy instrumental.

Weaver was absent from the studio in 1926 because of the death of Sara Martin’s brother. 1927, however, would prove to be Weaver’s busiest on record and also his last. The year began with four sessions in April in New York. For the April 6 session he formed a vocal trio with Sara Martin and her future second husband Hayes B. Withers. Four religious titles were recorded with two unissued. “I Am Happy In Jesus” b/w “Where Shall I Be?” features Weaver playing rather sedately on the latter number but more sprightly on the former with just a hint of ragtime flavor. These sides are also the first to present Weaver’s vocals on record, albeit as background with Withers’ in service to Martin’s lead. The following day Weaver accompanied Martin on two superb slow blues “Gonna Ramble Blues” b/w “Teasing Brown Blues.”

Weaver returned to the studio to record five solo songs on April 12th and 13th including his first vocals numbers: “True Love Blues” b/w “Poor Boy Blues.” Both numbers show Weaver’s guitar prowess, soloing at length and with plenty of imagination. Perhaps the length of his solos is due to his lack of confidence as a vocalist but these numbers prove Weaver a fine, if understated vocalist. Weaver delivers his lines in a careful, deliberate manner but possesses a rich, slightly quavering baritone that has an appealingly lonesome quality. The remaining sides feature a terrific update of “Guitar Rag” with a more melodic approach plus Damfino Stump” and “Six String Banjo Piece” which spotlight Weaver on the banjo-guitar. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that it was announced that a copy of “Damfino Stump” had finally surfaced and one who had heard it suggested a mishearing of Damn Fine Stomp! Cor van Sliedregt, who provides guitar analysis on the Agram LP had this to say: “Fifteen progressions, each of only eight ragtime bars with a richness of harmonic and rhythmic variations. …That Weaver knew his fingerboard inside out, this dynamic instrumental proves. …A ‘damn fine’ stomp indeed.” “Six String Banjo Piece” was a previously unknown and unissued number, which also surfaced in the 1970’s. No file information exists on this number and the number was first issued on the album Folk Music In America Vol. 14 - Solo And Display Music part of a 15 LP Library of Congress series to celebrate the Bicentennial in 1976. The title was apparently given by Dick Spottswood who compiled and wrote the notes for the series. This is one of the rare, relatively fast numbers and has the swing and drive of Weaver’s best instrumentals.

Guitar Blues (MP3)

Guitar Rag (MP3)

Pleading Blues (MP3)

Got To Leave My Home Blues (MP3)

Smoketown Strut (MP3)

Gonna Ramble Blues (MP3)

True Love Blues (MP3)

Poor Boy Blues (MP3)

Damfino Stump (MP3)

Guitar Rag (1927) (MP3)