Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

For today’s show we head to Memphis circa the 1920’s and 30’s. Memphis was was loaded with talent, many of which made records. Spotlighted today are artists such as Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins, Memphis Jug Band , Gus Cannon and several others.

In the notes to Yazoo’s Memphis Masters, Don Kent writes: “Of all the Southern cities that flourished with traditional blues in the period between the world Wars, none offered more dazzling diversity and top-drawer quality musicians than Memphis. The city’s geographical and economic position in the 1920’s was as the center of cotton and agricultural transactions, insuring a flow of itinerant laborers, especially during the fall harvest. Following the jobs and money, musicians came from Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas countryside. …The size of Memphis, and the pool of talent on which it was able to draw, attracted record companies who sought salable talent to offer their customers. Beale Street, with it’s wide-open vice, gambling and barrelhouses, was an attraction in itself to the rural out-of-towner intent on a good time and, since the early 1900’s, a gathering place for musicians looking for work. There is a pronounced ragtime and country-dance flavor to Memphis blues, in addition to vaudeville, medicine show, jazz and pop influence as well as the different regional styles brought by musicians from other areas. Most of the musicians who established roots in Memphis knew each other, played together.”

The show kicks off with several tracks by Frank Stokes. As Don Kent notes: “If there was any one person who epitomized Memphis blues, it would have to be Frank Stokes, whose diversified repertoire seemed to embody black rural music up to the point of his recording.” Stokes was already playing the streets of Memphis by the turn of the century, about the same time the blues began to flourish. A medicine show and house party favorite, Stokes, either solo, with Dan Sane (as The Beale Street Sheiks) and sometimes fiddler Will Batts, Stokes recorded 38 sides for Paramount and Victor between 1927 and 1929.

Furry Lewis was another major Memphis figure. Lewis’s musical start took place on Beale Street in the late teens, where he began his career. Lewis’s recording career began in April 1927, with a trip to Chicago to record for the Vocalion label, which resulted in five songs. In October of 1927 Lewis was back in Chicago to cut six more songs. Lewis gave up music as a profession during the mid-’30s, when the Depression reduced the market for country blues. At the end of the 1950’s blues scholar Sam Charters discovered Lewis and persuaded him to resume his music career. Gradually, as the 1960s and the ensuing blues boom wore on, Lewis emerged as one of the favorite rediscovered stars of the 1930s, playing festivals, appearing on talk shows, and recording.

Robert Wilkins was another prominent Memphis bluesman who, like Lewis, was originally born in Mississippi but made his fame in Memphis. Wilkins’ early performing life included touring with small vaudeville and minstrel shows. In 1928, he met Ralph Peer of the Victor label and was invited to cut four songs. Vocalion recorded eight new songs the following year. In 1935 he cut four more sides for Vocalion and shortly afterwards joined the Church of God in Christ and became a minister. Wilkins was rediscovered in the 1960’s and performed and recorded gospel material along with the blues. In 1964 he recorded the wonderful Memphis Gospel Singer for the Piedmont label which unfortunately has not been issued on CD.

Born in Hernando, Mississippi in 1890, Jackson took an interest in music early on, learning the rudiments of guitar from his father. By the age of 15, he was already steadily employed in local medicine shows and by his 20’s was working the country frolic and juke joint circuit, usually in the company of Gus Cannon and Robert Wilkins. After joining up with the Silas Green Minstrel Show, he settled in Memphis, working clubs with Furry Lewis, Gus Cannon, and Will Shade. The 1920s found him regularly working with his Memphis cronies, finally recording his best-known tune, “Kansas City Blues” and a batch of other classics by the end of the decade. He also appeared in one of the early talkies, Hallelujah!, in 1929.

In addition to the above mentioned bluesman, Memphis had a jug band scene. Among those who recorded, and who we feature today, are the Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers and the South Memphis Jug Band. One of the definitive jug bands of the ’20s and early ’30s, the Memphis Jug Band was comprised of Will Shade, Will Weldon, Hattie Hart, Charlie Polk, Walter Horton, and others, in various configurations. Guitarist/harpist Will Shade formed the Memphis Jug Band in the Beale Street section of Memphis in the mid-’20s. A few years after their formation, Shade signed a contract with Victor Records in 1927. Over the next seven years, Shade and the Memphis Jug Band recorded nearly 60 songs for the record label. A remarkable musician, who could play five-string banjo and jug, Gus Cannon led the Cannon’s Jug Stompers in’20s and ’30s. The early 1900’s found him playing around Memphis with songster Jim Jackson and forming a partnership with Noah Lewis. He cut close to three dozen sides between 1927-1930. He continued to record into the ’30s as a soloist and with his incredible trio, which included Noah Lewis along with guitarists Hosea Wood or Ashley Thompson. He resumed his stalled recording efforts in 1956 with sessions for Folkways. Subsequent sessions paired him with other Memphis survivors like Furry Lewis. Singer/guitarist Jack Kelly was the front man of the South Memphis Jug Band. He led the group in tandem with fiddler Will Batts, and they made their first recordings in 1933, followed in 1939 by a second and final session. Although the South Memphis Jug Band’s lineup changed frequently, Kelly remained a constant, leading the group in various incarnations until as late as the mid-’50s.

RIP 1931 - 2007

Show Notes:

By now everyone knows that Ike Turner has passed. Just about every notable publication had an obituary or opinion on Ike and not surprisingly many focused on his well publicized troubles instead of his musical legacy. Serious blues and rock fans know that well before Tina, Ike was a major player on the R&B and blues scene of the 1950’s.

Ike and his Kings of Rhythm were right in the thick of things when blues and R&B was coalescing into rock and roll. Ike made his mark as rock solid boogie piano player and was also a distinctive guitarist with a biting tone who was one of the first to make the whammy bar an integral part of his sound. Growing up in Clarksdale Ike’s first inspiration was pianist Pinetop Perkins who also inspired Ike’s life long friend Ernest Lane. “Anyway”, he recalled, “we started talkin’ to Pinetop and he started teaching us different little boogie-woogie things. And from there, that started my musical life.” It should be noted that Lane was still touring with Ike at the time of death and remains a fine piano player in his own right, and is one of the last who plays in the rock ribbed, boogie based style.

As a teenager talked himself into a DJ slot on the local radio station, where he played everything from the jump blues of Louis Jordan to country & western. He formed his first band while still in high school, and by the late ’40s had assembled an outfit dubbed the Kings of Rhythm. After “Rocket 88” Turner and his band became session regulars around Memphis; they went on to back legendary bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, Bobby Bland, Jr. Parker, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and a host of Sun artists . During the early ’50s, Turner switched from piano to guitar, and also doubled as a talent scout for the Bihari Brothers’ Los Angeles-based Modern Records, where he helped get early breaks for artists like Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King. For many years Turner was the linchpin of Modern, working as a talent scout for Joe Bihari, a go-getter, a good pair of hands in the studio, and a fine musician to boot. On today’s program we feature sides by Howlin’ Wolf, Charley Booker, Elmore James, Driftin’ Slim and Baby Face Turner all featuring Ike’s piano.

Also featured today are many sides Ike cut with the mighty Kings of Rhythm, some of which came were issued variously as Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, Ike Turner and His Orchestra and other variations. The Kings of Rhythm employed several fine vocalists including Jackie Brenston, Billy Gayles, Billy Emerson, Dennis Binder, Clayton Love, Lonnie “The Cat”, Johnny Wright. Many of these sides were issued under the singer’s name and we feature a number of these sides on today’s show. In addition we feature many of Ike’s many scorching instrumentals. Ike’s ferocious whammy-bar and ultra-aggressive string-bending solos were way ahead of their time from the mid-1950s onwards. He always considered himself foremost a boogie pianist who picked up electric guitar during the early 1950s because he had difficulty finding a reliable axeman for his band. “It sounds like I was a guitar player,” said Ike. “But I’m not.” We counter that claim by playing a number of Ike’s jaw dropping guitar workouts like “Loosely (The Wild One),” “Go To It (Stringin’ Along),”"Prancing, “The New Breed” among others.

Ike relocated to St. Louis in he late 50’s frontong one of the hottest live acts in the area. The late 50’s were leaner times for Ike cutting an unissued session for Sun, scattered 45’s for Cobra/Artistic in Chicago (backing Otis Rush, Betty Everett, Buddy Guy in addition to cutting thier own material). Though his hitmaking activities with Tina began to relegate Ike’s wild guitar to the background from 1960 on, he found time to cut an instrumental album for Sue in 1962 called Dance With Ike & Tina Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. Ike Turner Rocks The Blues was issued on Crown in 1963 and was a collection of his 50’s sides. Ike and Tina did cut a couple of solid blues based albums for Blue Thumb in 1969; Outta Season and The Hunter which actually featured an uncredited Albert Collins on guitar. Also in 1969 when he was out on tour in 1969 with his regular gig, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Ike Turner cut the instrumental album A Black Man’s Soul which was reissued by Funky Delicacies in 2003 with bonus cuts. Strange Fruit was another instrumental outing cut in 1972 for United Artists and the aptly titled Blues Roots was also cut for United Artists in 1972.

Ike has been well served on CD reissues. Among those featured on today’s show include: Traiblazer (Charly) a collection of late 50’s sides for Federal, Ike Turner: 1958-1959 (reissued by Fuel 2000 as King Cobra: The Chicago Sessions) a collection of his Cobra sides, Rhythm Rockin’ Blues a collection of early-’50s sessions with the Kings of Rhythm, Ike’s Instrumentals, Blues Kingpins a 18-track collection drawn from the vaults of RPM, Modern, Crown, and Sue. In addition Ike’s role as talent scout is meticulously documented on the 4-CD Ace label series Modern Downhome Blues Session which collects sides Joe Bihari and Ike Turner recorded in the deep South for Modern between 1951 and early 1952. Notewriter Jim O’Neal sets the scene for these recordings: “The tale of their [the Bihari brothers] exploits in the land of cotton has all the elements of a Dixie docu-drama, complete with an indignant Southern heroine [Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records], a double-dealing native talent scout [Ike Turner], small town sheriffs and police, subterfuge, disguise, raiders, traitors, spies, and clandestine operations. But no shots were fired in these skirmishes, and the only casualties were in lost record sales revenue, broken contracts, violated trusts, and one unfortunate blues artist’s shattered career. The Biharis’ battle wagon was a flashy new Cadillac, their artillery a four-channel Magnecord tape recorder, and their ammunition reels of magnetic tape and rolls of cash.”

Ike Before Tina

Ike Turner New York Times Obit

Ike Turner Discography

Show Notes:

From late 1958 into the early 60s, Junior Parker toured the country with a show called Blues Consolidated with long time running mate Bobby Bland and Willa Mae Thornton with a combo led by Duke Records veteran Joe Scott. Today’s show spotlights both of the remarkable singers who rose to prominence in the early 1950’s on the fertile Memphis blues scene.

Junior Parker was an extraordinary blues singer and harmonica player who laid down some superb material over the course of a twenty-year career (1952-1971) before his life was cut short just prior to his fortieth birthday. It’s inexplicable, then, why he has such a low profile among blues aficionados. He hit the charts a fair bit through the 1960’s for Duke, retained a strong following among the black club audience but failed to break through to a wider audience. As such he was virtually ignored by the new white blues audience of the 1960’s. If Parker is mentioned at all these days it’s usually in association with his 1953 number “Mystery Train” which was picked up by Elvis.

Parker learned his initial harmonica style from Sonny Boy Williamson II and gigged with the Howlin’ Wolf while still in his teens. Like so many young blues artists, Little Junior (as he was known then) got his first recording opportunity from talent scout Ike Turner, who brought him to Modern Records for his debut session as a leader in 1952. It produced the lone single “You’re My Angel” b/w “Bad Woman, Bad Whiskey” with Turner on piano and Matt Murphy on guitar. Parker and his band, the Blue Flames (including Floyd Murphy, Matt’s brother, on guitar), landed at Sun Records in 1953 and promptly scored a hit with their rollicking “Feelin’ Good.” Later that year, Parker cut “Love My Baby” and “Mystery Train.”

Before 1953 was through, Junior Parker had moved on to Don Robey’s Duke label in Houston. It took a while for the harpist to regain his hitmaking momentum, but he scored big in 1957 with the “Next Time You See Me.” Parker developed a horn driven sound (usually the work of trumpeter/Duke-house-bandleader Joe Scott) that added power to his vocals and harp solos. Parker’s updated remake of Roosevelt Sykes’s “Driving Wheel” was a huge R&B hit in 1961, as was “In the Dark.”

Parker continued to hit the charts through the 60’s with a mix of blues and R&B scoring with songs like “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Annie Get Your Yo-Yo”, “Man Or Mouse”, “Someone Somewhere.” Once Parker split from Robey’s employ in 1966 the hits began to wane. From 1966-1968 he recorded for Mercury and its Blue Rock subsidiary and cut sides for Capitol in 1970. Parker died in November 1971 during an operation for a brain tumor. Before he passed he sailed into the 1970’s in promising fashion cutting a pair of terrific albums; “You Don’t Have To Be Black To Love The Blues” circa 1970/1971 for Groove Merchant and “I Tell Stories Sad And True” for United Artists which was released in 1972. In 2001, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

For all his promise, Bland’s musical career started slowly. He was a founding member of the Beale Streeters, the famous Memphis aggregation that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace. He cut singles for Chess in (produced by Sam Phillips) and Modern in 1951 that failed to catch on. Bland hooked up with Duke in 1952 cutting a few singles before entering the army. Bland always had a great voice but his early sides were a bit rough around the edges. But his progress upon his 1955 return was remarkable; with saxist Bill Harvey’s band providing support, Bland sounded much more assured.

Most of Bland’s sides during the mid- to late ’50s featured the slashing guitar of Clarence Hollimon, notably “I Smell Trouble,” “I Don’t Believe,” “Don’t Want No Woman,” “You Got Me (Where You Want Me),” the torrid “Loan a Helping Hand” and “Teach Me (How to Love You).” But the guitar riffs guiding Bland’s first national hit, 1957’s “Farther Up the Road,” were contributed by Pat Hare. Later, Wayne Bennett took over on guitar, his fret work prominent on Bland’s Duke waxings throughout much of the ’60s. “Farther Up the Road” was a #1 R&B hit, the first of more than 20 R&B top ten records. During this period Bland toured the Southern chitlin circuit incessantly. Joe Scott steered Bland into smoother material as the decade turned; a mixture of blues, R&B, and soul on numbers like”I Pity the Fool,” “I’ll Take Care of You,” and “Two Steps From the Blues” which were tremendously influential. Scott’s brass arrangements provided the perfect backing on Bland’s rockers like “Turn on Your Love Light” in 1961 and “Yield Not to Temptation” the next year.

In 1973, Don Robey sold his labels to ABC Records, and Bland was part of the deal. Without Joe Scott and his familiar surroundings to lean on, Bland’s releases grew less consistent although “His California Album” in 1973 and 1974’s “Dreamer” had some nice moments. Bland re-teamed with his old pal B.B. King for a couple of mid-’70s albums. Since the mid-’80s, Bland has recorded Malaco Records. His last album was “Blues At midnight” in 2003.