Sun 24 Jan 2010
Big Road Blues Show 1/24/10: Windy City Boogie – The United/States Label
Posted by Jeff under 1950's Blues, Chicago Blues, Playlists, Record Labels
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| ARTIST | SONG | ALBUM |
|---|---|---|
| Scrapper Blackwell | Blues Before Sunrise | Mr. Scrapper's Blues |
| Scrapper Blackwell | Little Boy Blue | Mr. Scrapper's Blues |
| Shirley Griffith | Saturday Blues | Saturday Blues |
| Shirley Griffith | Maggie Campbell Blues | Saturday Blues |
| J.T. Adams & Shirley Griffith | Blind Lemon's Blues | Indiana Ave. Blues |
| J.T. Adams & Shirley Griffith | Naptown Boogie | Indiana Ave. Blues |
| Brooks Berry & Scrapper Blackwell | Bama Bound | My Heart Struck Sorrow |
| Pete Franklin | I Got To Find My Baby | Guitar Pete's Blues |
| Neal Patman | Key To The Highway | Art of Field Recording: Vol I |
| Cecil Barfield | Georgia Bottleneck Blues | Art of Field Recording: Vol I |
| Art Rosenbaum Interview | ||
| Yank Rachel & Shirley Griffith | Peach Orchard Mama | Art of Field Recording: Vol. I |
| Scrapper Blackwell | Nobody Knows When Your Down... | Mr. Scrapper's Blues |
| Shirley Griffith | River Line Blues | Saturday Blues |
| J.T. Adams & Shirley Griffith | Big Road Blues | Indianapolis Jump |
| Brooks Berry & Scrapper Blackwell | Brook's Blues | Art of Field Recording: Vol. I |
| Tony Bryant | Broke Down Engine | Art of Field Recording: Vol. II |
| J. Easley, P. Franklin and Ray Holloway | Big Leg Woman | Indianapolis Jump |
Show Notes:
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| Mission statement released after United had been in existence for one year |
The United Record Company was launched in July 1951, by Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins, a veteran record man who had worked for the Miracle and Premium Records and brought many of their former artists to the new label. A news item in the trade press dated July 21, 1951, announces the formation of the United Recording Company. “The guiding force behind this new company is a Chicago area entertainment entrepreneur by the name of Lewis Simpkins. He had previous experience with the local Miracle and Premium labels in the Chicago areas. Simpkins is unique because he is one of the very few Black record company owners producing this music that is largely by and for the Black community. He joins the Rene Brothers in California (Excelsior and Exclusive) and soon to be executives Vivian Carter and James Bracken in nearby Gary Indiana with the Vee-Jay label.”
United enjoyed early success, scoring hits by Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, and the Four Blazes; during its first year it was outdoing its local rival Chess on the charts. The United label took off impressively, scoring two number one R&B hits among its first ten releases: Tab Smith’s “Because of You,” and Jimmy Forrest’s “Night Train.” United formally opened for business with a long recording session on July 12, 1951. The company was able to expand and open a new imprint called States in May 1952. United and States recorded a substantial roster of jazz artists. The company also recorded a substantial amount of blues including artists like Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slim, J. T. Brown, “Big” Walter Horton, J. T. Brown, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Wells and others. The label also recorded a fair bit of gospel and vocal harmony groups.During its first 2 1/2 years of operation, the company recorded 463 masters. The death of Lew Simpkins, who died suddenly on April 27, 1953, was a serious blow; Leonard Allen was left to run the enterprise with limited help until the label’s demise in 1957. While the company remained fairly healthy during 1954, activity dropped off sharply after that. Of the 281 sides that the company cut during this period, 130 were done in 1954. By the end of 1956 Leonard Allen was reduced to selling off half of the house music publishing company to pay his tax bill. Too many years without hits finally brought United and States down after the company’s Christmas releases in 1957. Bob Koester of Delmark Records acquired most of the label’s masters in 1975 and has reissued the bulk of this material on LP and CD. I want to thank the folks at Delmark for sending me several titles that made this show possible. Below is some background on some of today’s featured artists, most of which comes from the The Red Saunders Research Foundation website.
Roosevelt Sykes, like Nighthawk, was recorded on United’s first day of sessions on July 12, 1951. He cut two additional sessions in August 1951 and March 1953. There is speculation that Nighthawk plays guitar on the first Sykes session. Robert Nighthawk was recorded by United on their very first day of sessions and two of United’s first five releases were by Robert Nighthawk and his Nighthawks Band. Sales never took off and Nighthawk headed back south and wouldn’t record again until 1964. Leonard Allen scoffed: “Robert Nighthawk? I didn’t think nothin’ of him. I didn’t go into those joints where they were playing. Lew knew him- he had Robert Nighthawk in mind for the first session. So after he cut the session it did nothin’.” Nighthawk recorded two sessions for United, one on July 12, 1951 and one on October 25, 1952 for its subsidiary States. His complete recordings for the label are collected on the CD Bricks in My Pillow.
Memphis Slim cut around 30 sides for United at sessions in 1952, 1953 and two in 1954. This was a particularly inspired period for Slim who added his first permanent guitarist, Matt Murphy to his band. These recordings have been reissued on the Delmark CD’s Memphis Slim U.S.A. and The Come Back. Memphis Slim had been recording since 1940. Based in Chicago during this phase of his career, he had been a mainstay at three postwar independents: first Hy-Tone, then Miracle, and finally Miracle’s successor entity Premium. After Premium collapsed in the summer of 1951, Slim cut three sessions for Mercury in Chicago. Lew Simpkins, who knew Slim from the days when he was moving 78′s for Miracle and Premium, brought him to United as soon as he could.
J.T. Brown also recorded during United’s first day – and his “Windy City Boogie” was credited by United proprietor Leonard Allen with “saving our first money.” J.T. is best remembered for the accompaniments he provided for Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Roosevelt Sykes, Johnny Shines, and J.B. Lenoir. In his liner notes for the United reissues on Delmark, Jim O’Neal remarked that he “was a bluesman. By jazz standards, he was not a great instrumentalist. His lack of sophistication, subtlety, and tonal variations prevented him from moving into more ‘progressive’ circles.” Brown first performed as a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels in the South before moving to Chicago in the early 1940′s.
One of the top R&B records of 1952, “Mary Jo” provided a moment in the national spotlight for one of Chicago’s hottest vocal combos, The Four Blazes. The single moved rapidly to the top, displacing Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” as the #1 R&B song in the nation at the end of August. Bassist Tommy Braden was the main lead singer while all members provided backup harmony vocals. “Jelly” Holt was the founder and drummer in the group, while Floyd McDaniel and “Shorty” Hill played guitars. The Four Blazes formed in 1940 and made their recording debut with a few sides for Aristocrat in 1947 before landing at United in 1952.
In what was likely a response to Chess’ success with Little Walter, United signed harp ace Junior Wells. After a youthful apprenticeship in the Aces and then the Muddy Waters band (when Little Walter went out on his own he took over the Aces, while Junior moved into his chair in Muddy’s band, and appeared on one of Muddy’s sessions for Chess), he was ready to make his first sides as a leader for the States subsidiary. Down Beat’s Pete Welding wrote “In their power, directness, unerring taste and utter consistency of mood, these may well be the most perfectly distilled examples of Wells’ music ever recorded, taking their place alongside of those of Waters, Walter, Wolf and other masters of the period.” These historic sessions also feature Louis and Dave Myers, Willie Dixon, Johnnie Jones, Fred Below and Odie Payne Jr. Recorded by United Records in 1953 and 1954 at Universal Studio in Chicago, eight sides were issued on the subsidiary States label.
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Walter Horton moved to Chicago in the late 1940′s, but during 1951-54 made frequent trips to Memphis to record for Modern, behind other artists and under the name Mumbles. He also made sideman appearances for Chicago-based labels, with Muddy Waters for Chess (January 1953) and Johnny Shines for JOB (the same month). He recorded under the name Big Walter Horton for the first time when he signed with United in 1954. Horton also backed singer Tommy Brown the same year. Brown’s United session on August 26 featured an all-star lineup of Walter Horton (harmonica), Harold Ashby (tenor sax), Memphis Slim (piano), Lee Cooper (guitar), and Willie Dixon (bass); the drums are unknown. Brown remains an active performer.
Leonard Allen recorded blues artists Morris Pejoe and Big Boy Spires in Al Smith’s basement (5313 South Drexel). Although the Pejoe session was interesting enough to justify putting matrix numbers on it, Allen eventually backpedaled, most likely because of the less-than-professional sound quality. Neither saw release until Delmarkr put them out on an album in 1989. Pejoe was born Morris Pejas in Louisiana, and began his music career on the violin. After moving to Beaumont, Texas, in 1949, he switched to guitar. In 1951 he was in Chicago, performing with pianist Henry Gray. During 1952-53 he recorded three sessions for Checker, accompanied by Gray among others. The United session was held in December 1954.
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Arthur “Big Boy” Spires was born in Natchez, Mississippi; he started playing guitar only in the late 1930s. Spires came to Chicago in 1943, and played house-rent parties during the decade. It was not until 1950 or 1951 that he graduated to nightclubs. He first recorded for Checker in 1952 (which produced his best known record, “Murmur Low”), and did a strong session for Chance in January 1953. In December 1953, Big Boy Spires and His Rhythm Rocking Three was advertised as the feature act in the grand opening celebration of the Palace Inn (the ad failed to list an address). The date of the Spires session for Leonard Allen seems to be December 1954 or shortly thereafter.
The most down-home blues session ever recorded by Leonard Allen featured harmonica player Alfred “Blues King” Harris and drummer James Bannister. Bannister got the vocals on “Blues and Trouble” and “Gold Digger,” which were the only titles to be released from the session at the time; States 141 is a very rare record. Harris sang on the rest, which did not see issue until they appeared on a Delmark LP many years later. Bannister had made unissued recordings for Sun in Memphis and for Chess before cutting this session for States. Harris, who could sing in the B. B. King manner and often billed himself as Blues King, made one track for Modern in Memphis. He was booked into the Be-Bop Club for 6 months in 1954 when Allen recorded him. He waxed five sides for United that same year. In the late 1950′s, Harris put out a single on J. Mayo Williams’ low-circulation Ebony label. He dropped off the Chicago scene after 1959 and his later movements are untraced.
Other performers featured today include Jimmy Coe, Eddie Chamblee, Arbee Stidham, L.C. McKinley and Ernie K-Doe among others. United recorded several fine sax players who’s music straddled the line between R&B and jazz. Many are featured on Delmark’s three volume Honkers & Bar Walkers series including Jimmy Coe and Eddie Chamblee. From 1941 to 1946 Chamblee worked as a musician in Army bands; after his discharge he put together his own combo. His first notable work was on the Miracle label, particularly on the huge hit “Long Gone” by Sonny Thompson, which recorded for 1947. After Chamblee went out on his own in 1948, his records for Miracle and Premium sold well, and Lew Simpkins no doubt remembered him. In addition to putting out sides under his own name he also played on many sides backing the Four Blazes. On our selection, “La! La! La! Lady”, Chamblee also takes the vocal. Arbee Stidham was the last blues artist to record for Leonard Allen, and was responsible for the very last release on States. He came to Chicago in the 1940s and his first recording for RCA Victor in 1947 produced a number one R&B hit on the Billboard race chart, “My Heart Belongs To You.” Subsequently he cut sides for Victor, Checker, Sittin’ With and Abco before signing with States in 1957. Only rone record was issued featuring the guitar of Earl Hooker. L. C. McKinley was T-Bone Walker disciple who made from Mississippi to Chicago in 1951. In the early 1950′s he was a regular headliner at the famed 708 Club. In 1951 and 1952, he recorded as a sideman with pianist Eddie Boyd for JOB, appearing on Boyd’s biggest hit, “Five Long Years.” He first recorded as a leader in 1953 for the Parrot label, but Al Benson chose not to release his session. McKinley signed with States around the beginning of 1954 and cut four sides for the label. In 1955 United became the first to record Ernie K-Doe, who was living and performing in Chicago at the time under his real name, Ernest Kador. K-Doe spent nearly his entire life in New Orleans, but in 1953, after winning several singing and dancing competitions back home, he came to Chicago for a brief time to live with his mother. He met the Four Blazes at the Crown Propeller Lounge; the Blazes introduced him to A&R man Dave Clark, who was doing some work for United at the time and supervised the session. In early November he was singing at the Apex Country Club in Robbins, Illinois (13624 Claire Blvd) as “Ernest Kado.” The Chicago Defender ad (12 November) was already billing him as “United Recording Artist.”





As protégé David “Honeyboy” Edwards described him,
Sonny Boy I and Big Joe first recorded together May 5, 1937. This was a marathon recording session. Robert Lee McCoy cut six sides at this session with backing by Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams. The May 5th sessions were also Sonny Boy Williamson’s first and Nighthawk and Joe Williams backed him on this legendary session that produced such enduring classics as “Good Morning Little School Girl”, “Blue Bird Blues” and “Sugar Mama”. In addition Big Joe Williams recorded eight sides under his own name with Nighthawk and Sonny Boy backing him and Nighthawk also backed Walter Davis on an eight-song session. Big Joe backed Sonny Boy again for two sessions in March and June 1939 which yielded 18 sides.
By the 1960′s Joe was became much in demand as the blues revival picked up steam. He performed at festivals, clubs and coffeehouses through the country as well as playing overseas as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. He recorded prolifically during this period for labels such as Bluesville,
Crawford from 1971. Goin’ Back to Crawford was produced by Big Joe in his hometown of Crawford, MS in 1971 by gathering talented relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances to hopefully present their songs to the wider world. Big Joe performs on seven of his own tracks and backs several of the artists including Shortstuff Macon who died two years after these recordings.

“Bad Whiskey And Wild Woman” feature superb guitar from Brownie McGhee and comes form the brand new 4-CD set 

Sunnyland backed Robert Lockwood on several sessions; one for J.O.B. in March 1951, a second session for Mercury in November and again for J.O.B. in 1955. Lockwood in turn backed Sunnyland on sessions for J.O.B. and Mercury in 1951 and again for J.O.B. in 1954 plus some sessions in 1960. Lockwood and Sunnyland made a potent team and among their collaborations we hear “Down Home Child”, “Low Down Sunnyland Train”, “Glory For Man”, “I’m Gonna Dig Myself a Hole” and “Pearly B.”
with Dunbar and of these, two thirds were sung white style in the key of C. ” The thirteen songs on From Lake Mary are mostly blues, likely selected to appeal to the blues revival market while the vast majority of recordings from this session have not been issued, forty-eight unissued sides in total. At lengthy recording sessions n February, April and August of 1970 Dunbar proves to be a true songster, laying down songs like “Wabash Cannonball”, “Sally Good’n”, “Blue Heaven”, “Tennessee Waltz” and “You Are My Sunshine.” In 1994 Fat Possum reissued From Lake Mary on CD with no additional tracks.Dunbar passed away at the age of 90 in 1994 with his death largely unnoticed outside of a couple of obituaries in blues magazines and a recorded legacy of nineteen issued sides.
uncommon ability Bill Williams enjoyed an all-too brief period of public recognition. Within fifteen minutes of the time he first picked up an instrument in 1908 he was accomplished enough to play a song, but he was still completely unknown beyond his home town of Greenup, Kentucky before Blue Goose recorded him in the fall of 1970 and issued an album (Low and Lonesome) that brought him unqualified acclaim as a 73-year old folk find. A brief series of concert engagements (notably at the Smithsonian Institution and the Mariposa Folk Festival) followed, along with an extended recording session in New York, before a heart ailment brought about his musical retirement. In October of 1973, nearly three years to the day of his recording debut, he was fatally stricken in his sleep. This memorial album and its soon to be released sequel will constitute the remainder of Bill’s musical legacy.”
Bruce Bastin called 
James was born in Canton, MS on January 27, 1918. He came to music at an early age, learning to play bottleneck on a homemade instrument. By the age of 14, he was already a weekend musician, working the various country suppers and juke joints in the area. He would join up and work with traveling players coming through like Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. By the late ’30s he had formed his first band and was working with Sonny Boy until WW II broke out, spending three years stationed with the Navy in Guam. When he was discharged, he picked off where he left off, moving for a while to Memphis, working in clubs with Eddie Taylor and his cousin Homesick James. James was first recorded by Lillian McMurray of Trumpet Records in 1951 at the tail end of a Sonny Boy session doing his classic “Dust My Broom.” Legend has it that James didn’t even stay around long enough to hear the playback, much less record a second side. McMurray stuck a local singer (BoBo “Slim” Thomas) on the flip side and the record became the surprise R&B hit of 1951, making the Top Ten. James also backed Trumpet artists Willie Love and Tiny Kennedy the same year.
James “Homesick” Williamson was playing guitar at age ten and soon ran away from his Tennessee home to play at fish fries and dances. His travels took the guitarist through Mississippi and North Carolina during the 1920s, where he crossed paths with Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Boy Fuller, and Big Joe Williams. Settling in Chicago during the 1930s, Williamson played local clubs and cut his first sides in 1952-53 for Chance Records. Homesick also worked extensively as a sideman, backing harp great Sonny Boy Williamson and during the 1950s with his cousin, Elmore James. Homesick backs Elmore on sessions for Chief in 1957, Fire in 1959, Chess in 1960 and again for Fire in 1960 and 1961. Homesick’s own recordings included 45s for Colt and USA in 1962, a fine 1964 album for Prestige, and four tracks on a Vanguard anthology in 1965. Homesick was recording and touring up until shortly before his death in 2006.
Washboard Sam recorded hundreds of records between 1935 and 1949 for the bluebird label, usually with backing by guitarist Big Bill Broonzy. Out of all the washboard players of the era, Sam was the most popular, which was due not only to his washboard talent, but also his skills as a highly imaginative songwriter and powerful, expressive vocalist. As an accompanist, Washboard Sam not only played with Broonzy, but also backed bluesmen like Bukka White, Memphis Slim, and Jazz Gillum. Sam added a phonograph turntable and a couple of cowbells to his washboard for added tone and his washboard playing is consistently driving and swinging. Washboard Sam (born Robert Brown) was the illegitimate son of Frank Broonzy, who also fathered Big Bill Broonzy. Sam was raised in Arkansas, working on a farm. He moved to Memphis in the early ’20s to play the blues. While in Memphis, he met Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon and the trio played street corners, collecting tips from passerby’s. In 1932, Sam moved to Chicago. Initially he played for tips, but soon he began performing regularly with Big Bill Broonzy. Within a few years, Sam was supporting Broonzy on the guitarist’s Bluebird recordings. Soon, he was supporting a number of different musicians on their recording sessions, including pianist Memphis Slim, bassist Ransom Knowling, and a handful of saxophone players, who all recorded for Bluebird. In 1935, Sam began recording for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records. Throughout the rest of the ’30s and the ’40s, Sam was one of the most popular Chicago bluesmen, selling plenty of records and playing to packed audiences in the Chicago clubs. In 1953, Washboard Sam recorded a session for Chess Records and then retired. In the early ’60s, Willie Dixon and Memphis Slim tried to persuade Sam to return to the stage to capitalize on the blues revival. Initially, he refused, but in 1963 began performing concerts in clubs and coffeehouses in Chicago; he even played a handful of dates in Europe in early 1964. He cut his last sides in 1964 before passing in 1966.
Easily the most important harmonica player of the pre-war era, John Lee Williamson almost single-handedly made the harmonica a major instrument, leading the way for the amazing innovations of Little Walter and others who followed. Already a harp virtuoso in his teens, he learned from Hammie Nixon and Noah Lewis and ran with Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell before settling in Chicago in 1934. Sonny Boy signed to Bluebird in 1937. He recorded prolifically for Victor both as a leader and behind others in the vast Melrose stable (including Robert Lee McCoy and Big Joe Williams, who in turn played on some of Williamson’s sides). Sonny Boy cut more than 120 sides in all for RCA from 1937 to 1947. John Lee was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex “Rice” Miller, who was based in Helena, Arkansas, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. His first recording session was supported by the great Big Joe Williams, at the beginning of his distinguished career playing delta blues guitar. After this session Sonny Boy alternated between guitar and piano backups, occasionally using both at the same session. His most frequent accompanists were Big Bill Broonzy and the record company’s “house” piano player Blind John Davis. Other famous accompanists over the years were Eddie Boyd, Yank Rachel, Big Maceo and Willie Dixon. But some say the best accompanist was Joshua Altheimer, a piano player who played on the seven numbers of a 1940 session and then died the next year. Writer Pete Welding noted that the only significant difference between Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy and those of say Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf is the matter of electric amplification. Othewise all the ingredients are the same: guitar, harp, bass and drums. He continues, “Big Joe and John Lee stand as vital, connecting links between the older Mississippi style and those of the postwar years.” Sonny Boy Williamson wouldn’t live to reap any appreciable rewards from his inventions. He died at the age of 34, while at the zenith of his popularity (his romping “Shake That Boogie” was a national R&B hit in 1947 on Victor), from a violent bludgeoning about the head that occurred during an apparent mugging on the South side. “Better Cut That Out,” another storming rocker later appropriated by Junior Wells, became a posthumous hit for Williamson in late 1948. Williamson’s style had a profund influence on those who followed including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Little Walter, and Snooky Pryor among many others.
Today’s show is obviously geared to Aristocrat’s blues output although the label issued a broad scope of musical styles. As the Red Saunders website notes: “The most-recorded musician during 1947 was Lee Monti, who led a polka band with two accordions; the second and third-most recorded artists were jazz tenor saxophonist Tom Archia and uptown blues singer Andrew Tibbs. In the early going, the company also recorded the piano trios of Prince Cooper, Duke Groner, and Jimmie Bell, ballad singer Danny Knight and crooner Jerry Abbott, a gospel group called the Seven Melody Men; it even tried out Country and Western guitarist Dick Hiorns. When Muddy Waters scored a hit with “I Can’t Be Satisfied” in June 1948, the label’s orientation began to shift… The dual emphasis on jazz (Gene Ammons) and down-home blues (Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk, The Blues Rockers) wasn’t fully established until the first half of 1950, after the Chess brothers had bought out Evelyn Aron’s remaining share of the company.”
he used his middle name and his mother’s maiden name, becoming “Andrew Tibbs.” He was singing at Jimmy’s Palm Garden when Sammy Goldberg saw him at the club and signed him to Aristocrat; Leonard Chess saw commercial potential in recording Tibbs, and decided to invest in the company. Tibbs’ debut session has always been said to be the first one that Leonard Chess attended. Tibbs continued to be the company’s top seller until well into 1949. Tibbs’ output is available on
Muddy Waters was renowned for his blues-playing prowess across the Delta, but that was about it until 1943, when he left for the bright lights of Chicago. Sunnyland Slim played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters. The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce “Johnson Machine Gun.” One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn’t about to let such a golden opportunity slip through his talented fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business. When Sunnyland had finished that auspicious day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, “Little Anna Mae” and “Gypsy Woman,” that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78. “I Feel Like Going Home” became his first national R&B hit in 1948.
Leroy Foster was a charter member of the Headhunters, a band that included Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers. He switched to rhythm guitar to accompany Waters on several of his 1948-49 Aristocrat 78s, notably “You’re Gonna Miss Me (When I’m Dead and Gone),” “Mean Red Spider,” and “Screamin’ and Cryin’,” as well as Johnny Jones’s rolling “Big Town Playboy.” Foster also recorded for Aristocrat as a front man: “Locked Out Boogie” and “Shady Grove Blues” were done at a 1948 date that produced six Muddy masters. All of Foster’s recordings can be found on 
Tampa was born Hudson Woodbridge in Smithville, Georgia with various birth dates given between 1900 and 1908. His parents died when he was a child, and he moved to Tampa, Florida, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and adopted their surname, Whittaker. He emulated his older brother, Eddie, who played guitar, and he was especially inspired by an old street musician called Piccolo Pete, who first taught him to play blues licks on a guitar. In the 1920′s, having already perfected his slide technique, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and began his career as a musician, adopting the name “Tampa Red” from his childhood home and red hair.
the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification; acquiring one in the first year they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single string runs, not block chords, which was a precursor to later blues and rock guitar soloing. The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s and later sold to the “Experience Music Project” in Seattle. Tampa Red was known as “The Man With The Gold Guitar”, and, into the 1930s, he was billed as “The Guitar Wizard”.
Through the 1940′s Tampa remained a prime seller among black audiences with hits like “Let Me Play With Your Poodle” and “She Wants To Sell My Monkey.” During his Bluebird stint, between 1934 and 1953, he recorded over 200 sides. In addition to recordings he regularly played the clubs such as Club Georgia, the Flame Club, Sylvio’s, the Purple Cat , the 708 club, the Zanzibar, the Peacock and the C&T Lounge all of which were black clubs on Chicago’s South and West sides. Tampa’s music continued to evolve as Jim O’Neal notes: “…He was right there swinging with horns when big band jump blues were in fashion, and he had the boogie numbers down, too; even on his last Victor sessions he had adapted to the mainstream ’50′s Chicago blues sound with featured harmonica backing from Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Big Walter Horton. He was following trends, but setting them too with numbers that many other bluesmen were to re-record in later years. …Less frequently was Tamap a solo act; Big Maceo teamed up with him for for a while, and after Maceo suffered a stroke, Sunnyland Slim filled in until Maceo’s protege Johnnie Jones took over on piano. By now Tampa also had added support from a drummer, Odie Payne Jr., and Johnnie would sing about half the numbers when he, Tampa, and Odie worked the Peacock and the C&T in 1949. Johnnie also sang on at least a dozen of Tampa’s later records.” His last hit was 1949′s “When Things Go Wrong With You (it Hurts Me Too)” which briefly hit the national R&B charts. By the early 1950′s Tampa rarely played the clubs anymore and he made his final commercial recording for Victor in 1953.

loiterers, the occasional sightseers and the pickpockets – are the beggars, as many as there are to be found in the shadows of the churches in a Southern Italian town, or along the shrouded streets of an “Arab Quarter.” Beggars – but with one striking, exhilarating difference. These are not wheedling seekers after alms with cries of “baksheesh” or “Gawd Bless yer, guv” but proud men, creative artists, singers of the blues who accept the dimes and quarters as tokens of esteem for their paying and singing. If the blues in general has tended to become more sophisticated in recent years Maxwell Street exists as a living storehouse of the folk blues, the blues of the rambling man. And in its few hundred yards is pictured the life story of the blues singer of the streets, from the children who stand wide-eyed to the singers of their to choice to the young men who are trying their luck and their talent on the critical audience of the market; from the tough music and manner of the street singer of many years to the fading abilities to the old men who have played in the street in all weathers for more years then they can count.”
One-Armed harmonica player Big John Wrencher was a recognizable fixture of Maxwell Street. Wrencher was a traveling musician, playing throughout Tennessee and neighboring Arkansas from the late 1940′s to the early 1950′s. In 1958 Wrencher lost his left arm in a car crash in Memphis. By the early 1960′s he had moved North to Chicago and quickly became a regular fixture on Maxwell Street, always working on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to nearly 3:00 in the afternoon. His first recordings surfaced on a pair of Testament albums from the 1960′s, featuring Big John in a sideman role behind Robert Nighthawk. He cut the excellent Maxwell Street Alley Blues (recorded in 1969 and issued in 1978) for the Barrelhouse label (reissued on CD on the P-Vine label) and cut Big John’s Boogie for the British Big Bear label in 1975. He also cut a 45 and we play “Memphis To Maxwell Street” from that record. Big John Wrencher passed in 1977.


