Big Road Blues

This is our second installment of my rummage thought the amazing trove of field recordings George Mitchell recorded over a twenty year period. For more background make sure to read part one. As I mentioned in the first installment a good chunk of these recordings have been collected in the 7-CD George Mitchell Collection box set from Fat Possum. In the first part I covered the first three volumes and now take a look at the remaining ones.

Disc 4 is dominated by two giants, Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside, recorded two days apart in the summer of 1967. McDowell had recorded prolifically by this point ever since Alan Lomax found him in 1959. Burnside, however, was unknown outside of his community. As Mitchell recalled: “We heard about R.L. from Othar Turner. See, Fred McDowell hadn’t mentioned R.L. – competition. Big-time competition. …The very first song he did was “Goin’ Down South.” You can imagine…I was completely taken aback. …’Goddamn this motherfucker’s good. I have found somebody.’” Four of those songs are included here which have all been reissued by Fat Possum as First Recordings and they remain among Burnside’s finest. What makes the McDowell session so special is his reunion with harmonica player Johnny Woods who McDowell hadn’t seen in eight years. The resulting off-the-cuff jam session is a spellbinding, intense affair as the duo pour it on with jaw dropping intensity on McDowell’s trademark “Shake Em’ On Down” and “Mama Says I’m Crazy.” All of these sides have been collected on Fat Possum’s Mama Says I’m Crazy. Three additional tracks with Woods taking the vocal appear on disc 3.

“Too many people went to Mississippi”, lamented Mitchell. Unlike many, Mitchell, didn’t confine his activities to that state, instead recording extensively in Georgia and Alabama. Mitchell uncovered the details of a rural sound in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley which encompasses the Chattahoochee River as it runs the southern border between Georgia and Alabama to the state line of Florida. Those who play in the style include: Cliff Scott, J.W. Warren, Jimmy Lee Harris, Precious Bryant, Albert Macon and Eddie Harris. Fat Possum’s Lower Chattahoochee Valley collects fifteen sides by various exponents of the style. The standout is Cliff Scott a wonderful bottleneck player who had a gently rolling style and a mellow, expressive vocal exemplified on songs like “Long Wavy Hair.” “Woke Up This Morning” has a strong delta feel, close to the style of Muddy’s plantation recordings. Jimmy Lee Harris, who worked with his brother Eddie Harris, played uncanny harmonica without a harmonica, a skill he learned in jail and was an expressive vocalist with a rhythmic style. Both men were recorded in the early 1980′s in Alabama. Eddie’s two numbers reveal a a fine electric guitarist with a down-home Jimmy Reed style. Mitchell also recorded the duo Albert Macon & Robert Thomas around the same time. The two had been playing together for some twenty years and their empathy is on display on the rollicking “Flat Foot Boogie” (“Play the strings out of it! Beat the blood out of it, now!”) as the two interweave their percussive guitars with remarkable skill and vitality. Precious Bryant has achieved a measure of success in recent years with a pair of national releases but the Mitchell recordings from 1969 were her first, cut when she was just twenty-seven. Her three numbers are utterly charming propelled by her propulsive, gently rolling guitar and husky, quite vocals. J.W. Warren was the last artist Mitchell recorded in the field and certainly a major talent. Warren had a gently driving guitar style, occasionally employing slide, and was a wonderful interpretor of traditional material as well as laying down intriguing originals like “Hoboing Into Hollywood.” A dozen of Warren’s sides have been issued on Fat Possum’s Life Ain’t Worth Livin’.

There’s several name artists on these volumes including Robert Nighthawk, Maxwell Street Jimmy, Jesse Mae Hemphill, John Henry Barbee, Furry Lewis, Will Shade and Charlie Burse. Nighthawk, of course, needs no introduction and Mitchell’s recordings capture him just months before he passed away. Although the booklet doesn’t say so, “Down By The Woodshed” is a previously unissued instrumental and two more unissued sides are available as digital download: “Down By The Wayside” and “Travelin’ Man Blues.” Mitchell was involved in a concert series at Chicago’s Fickle Pickle club where excellent recordings were made by under recorded figures like John Henry Barbee and Maxwell Street Jimmy. Not available on the box set but available as digital download, possibly from the Fickle Pickle series, are a half-a-dozen sides by James Brewer who’s long been a favorite. As far as I can tell these have not been issued before. As for the Memphis contingent, Furry Lewis is in exceptional form stretching out at length on “Good Morning Judge” and “Furry Lewis’ Careless Love.” Fat Possum’s Good Morning Judge contains ten tracks Mitchell recorded in 1962 and 1967. Will Shade’s sides are a bit rough around the edges although quite entertaining, especially his filthy version of “Dirty Dozens” where, as Mitchell notes, “he says it all” and the lively “K.C. Blues” with Burse on vocals. Like Precious Bryant, Jesse Mae Hemphill made her first side with Mitchell. She was only twenty-two when delivered a pair of absolutely captivating gospel numbers with minimal guitar backing.

Another notable female artist was Rosa Lee Hill who lived near Jesse Mae and was the daughter of Sid Hemphill. Mitchell devoted a chapter to Hill in his 1971 book Blow My Blues Away. Hill played compelling, hypnotic blues in the North Mississippi style and is captivating on stark numbers like “Bullying Well” and “Pork & Beans” (“Mama’s in the kitchen cookin’ pork and beans/Daddy’s on the ocean runnin’ submarines”). Two other artists featured in Mitchell’s book were Robert Diggs and Robert Johnson. Diggs was a marvelously expressive harp player delivering a lovely version of “Someday Baby”and a virtuoso harmonica workout on the instrumental “Racehorse Charleston.” Robert Johnson had given up the blues in 1927 for the church. Johnson’s powerful, bluesy moaning vocal is heard on four riveting numbers accompanied by his daughters. There’s some marvelous gospel on the final disc, a bonus CD by artists Fat Possum didn’t know enough about to include in the original 7″ set, by the Pettis Sisters who lay down a pair of rousing numbers making one wish they had been more extensively recorded. There’s no shortage of talent on this disc including fine sides by Willie Rockomo, Bruce Upshaw and George Hollis all of whom had some sides issued on the Revival label back in the 1970′s.

The days when you could go down south with a portable recorder and capture some unheralded blues genius is gone. These recordings are a rich, vibrant look at a vanished era. Historically and musically this is and incredible cache of recordings and I’m glad Fat Possum made these available. However, as I said in part one, I wish they had presented these in a more consistent, less scattershot manner. These recordings deserve better. You only have to look at how Dust-to-Digital handled the Art Rosenbaum field recordings to see how it should have been done.

Cliff Scott – Long Wavey Hair (MP3)

Albert Macon & Robert Thomas – Flat Foot Boogie (MP3)

Rosa Lee Hill – Pork & Beans (MP3)

J.W. Warren – Rabbit On A Log (MP3)

Robert Diggs – Someday Baby (MP3)

Show Notes:

West Coast blues (California blues specifically) has never gotten anywhere near the attention of Chicago blues or say Delta blues, but has been home to many leading blues performers. While the West Coast still has a thriving blues scene the scene was in it’s heyday in the 1940′s and 50′s with most of the activity centering around the Los Angeles, Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco Bay areas. There’s not much of a prewar Californian blues tradition, which is likely due to the fact that the African-American communities weren’t very large in the beginning of the 20th century. The Black population swelled in the 1940s, due to large manpower needs to work in the U.S. defense industry during World War II. These new arrivals needed entertainment, of course, and the local jazz and blues club scene heated up quickly. There was a host of labels recording blues and R&B in Los Angeles in the 1940s including Specialty, Imperial, Aladdin, and the umbrella of labels run by the Bihari brothers RPM/Modern/Kent/Flair/Crown were the most notable. Bob Geddins was a key player who operated numerous small labels like Down Town, Big Town, Irma, and others. May of these sides were leased to larger outfits like Chess, Specialty, Modern and others.

The towering figure of West Coast blues was Texas born guitarist T-Bone Walker. Walker was a key figure in the electrification and urbanization of the blues, probably doing more to popularize the use of electric guitar in the form than anyone else. Much of his material had a distinct jazzy jump blues feel, an influence that would characterize much of the blues to emerge from California in the 1940s and 1950s. Among those who were influenced by Walker were B.B. King, Gatemouth Brown, Johnny “Guitar” Watson and West Coast guitar hero Lafayette Thomas who we profiled last year. Add that list Louisiana born Pete “Guitar” Lewis, Oklahoma born Jimmy Nolen, Chuck Norris, Pee Wee Crayton, Ulysses James and Goree Carter.

Among T-Bone’s legion of disciples was Houston’s Goree Carter, whose big break came when he signed to Houston’s Freedom Records circa 1949. For his gis first couple of side he was billed as “Little T-Bone.” Freedom issued plenty of Carter records over the next few years, and he later recorded for Imperial/Bayou, Sittin’ in With, Coral, Jade, and Modern without denting the national charts. Eventually, he left music behind altogether. Technically Carter isn’t a West Coast artist but I decided to lump him in as he’s certainly a T-Bone disciple and I was looking for an excuse to feature his music.

Although he was certainly influenced by T-Bone Walker , Pee Wee Crayton brought enough innovation to his playing to avoid being labeled as a mere T-Bone imitator. Crayton’s recorded output for Modern, Imperial, and Vee-Jay contains plenty of dazzling guitar work, especially on stunning instrumentals such as “Texas Hop,” “Pee Wee’s Boogie,” and “Poppa Stoppa,” all far more aggressive performances than Walker usually indulged in. Crayton was from Texas but relocated to Los Angeles in 1935. He signed with the L.A.-based Modern label in 1948, quickly hitting with “Blues After Hours” which topped the R&B charts in late 1948. He also hit with “Texas Hop” shortly thereafter, followed the next year by “I Love You So.” After recording prolifically at Modern to no further commercial avail, Crayton moved on to Aladdin and, in 1954, Imperial. After Imperial Crayton tried to regain his momentum at Vee-Jay in Chicago. After one-off 45s for Jamie, Guyden, and Smash during the early ’60s, Crayton largely faded from view until Vanguard unleashed his LP, “Things I Used to Do”, in 1971. After that, Pee Wee Crayton’s profile was raised somewhat; he toured and made a few more albums prior to his passing in 1985.

Jimmy Nolen

Jimmy Nolen took up guitar after hearing T-Bone Walker on the radio at the age of 14 in 1948. He was soon proficient enough on his instrument to get his first electric guitar and join J.D. Nicholson & His Jivin’ Five, receiving his first exposure to a recording studio in 1952. In 1955, Jimmy Wilson heard Jimmy playing at a club in Tulsa and hired him to go on the road with him and his band. When Wilson’s band broke up in Los Angeles and Nolen decided to stay. He played a short time with trumpeter Monte Easter’s band recording with him for Aladdin and singing on “Blues In The Evening.” Possibly on recommendation from Easter or Wilson, Nolen began recording for J.R. Fullbright’s Elko label in 1954 providing support for Ray Agee, J.D. Nicholson and Jimmy Wilson. In 1954 he joined Chuck Higgins band and was featured prominently on several recordings for the Dootone label. It was during this time that he contracted with Federal Records, a subsidiary of the King label and recorded his first sides under his own name. using a number of Higgins band members and other LA session men. In addition to his fine guitar work he proved himself an able singer on terrific sides such as “Wipe Your Tears”, “How Fine Can You Be” an intense version of Tampa Red’s “It Hurts Me Too” and instrumentals like “After Hours” and “Strollin’ With Nolen.” Jimmy replaced the ailing Pete “Guitar” Lewis in the Johnny Otis Band around 1957 and became very busy as a recording session guitarist, resulting in Otis’s big hit, “Willie And The Hand Jive” and other Capitol successes such as “Ma, He’s Making Eyes At Me” and “In The Dark.” Striking out on his own in 1960, he formed his own band and was sought after by many of the major blues stars that came into L.A. for backing when they were without their own bands. B.B. King and T-Bone Walker would always use Jimmy and his band when they were in town without their sidemen. Jimmy played throughout California and Arizona working steadily until he decided to accept James Brown’s offer to join his band in 1965. His patented funky chicken scratch style can be heard on hits like “Papa’ Got A Brand New Bag” and many more hits between 1965 to 1983, except for the two years he left the band to go with Brown sidemen, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley as “All the Kings Men”. He was with the band in Atlanta, GA when he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 16, 1983 at the age of 48.

One of the hottest guitarists working on the coast during the 40s and 50s was Carl Pete Lewis. He was discovered by Johnny Otis in 1948 who signed him on the spot after he won a talent contest at his Barrelhouse Club at the Thursday Night Talent Hour. Otis quickly spotlighted his new discovery on the guitar workout “Midnight In The Barrelhouse” issued on Excelsior in 1948 selling well enough to be picked up by Savoy and cut a similarly themed “Thursday Night Blues” for Modern. Lewis went on to be a permanent member of Otis’ band and is featured on most of Otis’ sides for Modern, Savoy, Mercury, Peacock and Aladdin. Lewis also cut a batch of fine solo sides for Federal and Peacock which also showcased his considerable singing and harmonica abilities. Among the notable numbers from this period include “Louisiana Hop”, “Raggedy Blues”, “Goofy Dust Blues” and “Chocolate Pork Chop Man.” For Peacock he backed Johnny Ace (most notably “Pledging My Love”), Big Mama Thornton (most notably “Hound Dog”) plus others. Lewis stuck with Otis throughout the 50′s cutting some sides for Otis’ Dig label during this period. He was eventually replaced by Jimmy Nolen in 1957. Lewis went on to play with George “Harmonica” Smith with whom he recorded for Sotoplay. He died of alcohol related problems in the early 60′s.

Chuck Norris worked in Chicago until the mid-’40s, when he moved out to the West Coast. He soon became one of the most-called musicians in Hollywood. He did sessions on his own between 1947-1953, including singles for Coast, Imperial, Mercury, Aladdin, Selective and Atlantic. Some of the guitarist’s best playing was on records by artists such as Percy Mayfield, Roy Hawkins and Floyd Dixon. Norris had a live record released in 1980 on the European Route 66 label.

Not only was Roy Hawkins dogged by bad luck during his career (at the height of his popularity, the pianist lost the use of an arm in a car wreck), he couldn’t even cash in after the fact. When B.B. King hit the charts in 1970 with Roy Hawkins’s classic “The Thrill Is Gone,” the tune was mistakenly credited to the wrong composers on early pressings. Little is known of Hawkins’s early days. Producer Bob Geddins discovered Hawkins playing in an Oakland, CA nightspot and supervised his first 78s for Cavatone and Downtown in 1948. Modern Records picked up the rights to several Downtown masters before signing Hawkins to a contract in 1949. Two major R&B hits resulted: 1950′s “Why Do Things Happen to Me” and “The Thrill Is Gone” the following year. Hawkins recorded for the Modern and RPM imprints into 1954. After that, a handful of 45s for Rhythm and Kent were all that was heard of the Bay Area pianist. He employed some of the best West Coast guitarist of the period; Oscar Moore, Ulysses James, Chuck Norris, Lafayette Thomas all appeared on his records. He’s rumored to have died in 1973.

Pete “Guitar” Lewis

A couple of interesting items from the New York Times in the past couple of days:

After Years of Neglect, Rebirth for a Blues Singer’s House

She danced the black bottom, doled out world-weary advice and claimed to be ready with a butcher knife if she caught her lover straying. She was a whiskey-slugging contralto with raunchy songs, a sound business sense and bisexual tastes. So a visitor to the newly opened home of Gertrude Rainey, who as Ma Rainey was the embodiment of the “big mama” blues singers of the 1920s, might be a tad disappointed to find nothing more titillating than painstakingly restored bedroom furniture and prim period wallpaper. “She had kind of calmed down by the time she moved back here,” said Fred C. Fussell, the curator of the Ma Rainey House, which opened four months ago as a small museum in this city on the Chattahoochee River. “She wasn’t living that kind of life.” Besides, said Mr. Fussell and Florene Dawkins, the chairwoman of the Friends of Ma Rainey, what is remarkable is not so much what the Ma Rainey House has on display (in fairness, there are also photos, minstrel show memorabilia, original recordings and theater invoices) but that the house is still standing.

The next item doesn’t have any blues content but it’s fascinating none the less.

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison

For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades. The 10-second recording of a singer crooning the folk song “Au Clair de la Lune” was discovered earlier this month in an archive in Paris by a group of American audio historians. It was made, the researchers say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph recording, or phonautogram, was made playable — converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

The thought of “lost” blues recordings always gets me worked up even though I usually get disappointed with the final result. Such is the case with Chris Barber’s The Blues Legacy Series: Lost & Found, a three volume series touting unreleased live recordings of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Champion Jack Dupree and Louis Jordan. According to the liner notes: “The formation of the ‘Lost & Found’ Series came into being; when the Jazz & Blues legend Chris Barber came across some old 1/4 inch magnetic tape. On these, he discovered the unique sounds of Sonny Boy Williamson in concert, recorded many decades ago, in England. Chris set about investigating his archives further, only to find more of these tapes…”

The bulk of the recordings were made between 1957-1964 at the very beginning of the blues boom that swept across Europe. I was always under the impression that interest in blues really took off in Europe with the inception of the American Folk Blues Festival in 1962. I’m not sure what kind of blues audience there was in England in the late 1950′s; I don’t think labels like Chess were easy to come by back then and it wasn’t until 1960 that Paul Oliver published his pioneering Blues Fell This Morning. Certainly the audiences on these recordings are enthusiastic but I would certainly be interested in more information regarding the British blues scene of the period.

Firstly, just to make clear, the 1958 Muddy Waters recordings from the Manchester Free Trade Hall have been previously issued. These are Muddy’s earliest live recordings and his first tour of England. Vocally Muddy is in magnificent form, his vocals miked right up front, unfortunately his guitar is submerged in the mix. It’s also too bad that Muddy’s band didn’t make it over with him although thankfully Otis Spann did and his piano playing, although low in the mix, is a thing of beauty. Most of the program features just Muddy, Spann and Barber’s drummer Graham Burbridge which is just fine. More problematic is “Walking Thru The Park” featuring Barber’s band wailing along behind Muddy with their brand of traditional jazz, a jarring contrast that simply doesn’t work. Unfortunately this is emblematic of many of the recordings.

Like Muddy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is in terrific vocal form and like Muddy she suffers from a guitar that’s virtually inaudible which is a real shame. Again Barber’s band and Tharpe’s vocals make for an incongruous mix on numbers like “Every Time I Feel The Spirit”, “Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air”, “Old Time Religion” where they virtually drown poor Rosetta out. Where’s Lucky Millinder when you need him? The latter number plus “When The Saints Go Marching in feature white vocalist Ottilie Patterson who, to be fair, is not a bad vocalist but comes across as a bit staid. Fortunately most of the Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee sides from their 1958 date at the Manchester Free Trade Hall feature just the duo who are in reliably fine form. Several other sides from the same year are from a BBC broadcast which liberally feature Barber’s band as well as Ottilie Patterson. To be honest the duo’s sides have never excited me all that much although in small doses they’re quite enjoyable. Similar issues plague the Sonny Boy Williamson performance from 1964. The band is present on just about all the tracks much to the detriment of Sonny Boy’s subtle, nuanced blues. I believe some of these sides have been issued before but I’m not sure if it was a legitimate release. Much better are his AFBF performances of the same year backed by Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin and Willie Dixon.

The Jimmy Witherspoon and Howlin’ Wolf sides fare much better. Witherspoon is in superb voice, delivering an aching, world weary version of “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” and his classic “Times Are Getting Tougher Than Tough” from a 1964 date that get fairly sympathetic backing. A 1980 set for Dutch Radio finds him in still superb form just prior to the cancer that would ravage his voice in his later years. Howlin’ Wolf alongside trusty guitarist Hubert Sumlin are simply electrifying on a torrid “Dust My Broom” and a dramatic, powerhouse version of “May I Have A Talk With You.” I have to admit that the riffing horns on “Howling For My Baby” are quite effective as Wolf storms through this one.

From a historical standpoint these are fascinating recordings but a mixed bag musically. Overall there’s enough good performances to recommend these, at least the second and third volumes, although all the artists involved have better live recordings on the market. One must also give Barber his due for taking a chance on these artists at a time when the blues was anything but a sure bet.

Muddy Waters – Blow Wind Blow (MP3)

Howlin’ Wolf – May I Have A Talk With You (MP3)

Jimmy Witherspoon – Have You Ever Loved A Woman (MP3)

Show Notes:

Today’s mix show spotlights a number of recent reissues I’ve been listening to. For a number of years now the Fat Possum label has been issuing the field recordings of George Mitchell who roamed the southeastern states making recordings over a twenty year period from the 1960′s up through the early 1980′s. My first introduction to Mitchell’s music was on Arhoolie’s wonderful Blues My Blues Away Vol. 1 & 2 which featured music by Joe Callicott, R.L. Burnside, Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk and others. Prior to these records Mitchell’s recordings appeared on LP’s on specialist labels like Southland and Revival. Fat Posssum has been releasing these on 7″ vinyl, for a total of 45 volumes which have also been repackaged as a box set. Some of these recordings have been repackaged onto CD and it appears just about all the recordings are available as digital downloads though emusic and Amazon. To be honest, Fat Possum’s reissue of these has been rather frustrating and confusing which is why I held back on picking some of these up. I finally decided to pick up the The George Mitchell Collection box set which contains all 150 songs on each of the 45 7-inches spread out over six CD’s plus a bonus CD by artists Fat Possum didn’t know enough about to include in the original 7″ set. I have to admit I’ve been a bit obsessed with these remarkable recordings and also picked up a couple of the individual CD’s plus downloaded a number of songs that don’t appear on the box set. On today’s show we give you a small taste of these and I plan on doing an entire show around these recordings in the future that will hopefully include an interview with Mr. Mitchell himself.

From the other side of the pond I received three volumes from Chris Barber’s Blues Legacy Series which contains newly discovered performances circa the late 1950′s and early 1960′s by Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I’m not all that surprised that these recordings surfaced (it seems to happen with some frequency) but that doesn’t negate the importance of these recordings which should be of major interest to blues fans. I’ve also been grabbing up the the Blue Horizon series which Mike Vernon seems to be reissuing at a fast clip. Blue Horizon was a short lived UK label (1966-1971) which cut records by artists like Otis Spann, Champion Jack Dupree, Johnny Young, Eddie Boyd, Furry Lewis among many others. This has been an excellent reissue series with great notes, excellent sound and all with previously unissued cuts. The series is particularly valuable as the original records are long out of print and highly collectible (meaning expensive!). Today’s show features selections from Johnny Young and Curtis Jones who both cut fine records for the label.

Plenty of country blues today from 1920′s and 1930′s as well as latter day country blues from the 1960′s and 1970′s. We kick things off with some blues featuring violin including two cuts off Old Hat’s marvelous Violin, Sing The Blues For Me. Old Hat puts out wonderful collections of blues and roots music and I find myself going back to their releases quite often. One violin blues not included is Peg Leg Howell’s “New Jelly Roll Blues” featuring the terrific alley fiddle of Eddie Anthony. We close our show with sides by Son House, Tommy McClennan and Jazz Gillum. Gravel voiced singer Tommy McClennan wasn’t exactly a refined bluesman, not even a particularly good guitar player, yet he had a very powerful and charismatic style. His “Cotton Patch Blues” opens with a striking image:

I left my baby in Mississippi, picking cotton down on her knees (2x)
She says babe you get to Chicago alright, please right me a letter if you please

Jazz Gillum had a more urban style and was also a fine lyricist as he proves on the humorous “Whiskey Head Buddies:”

Can’t see why my whiskey head buddies
They all thinks I’m Santa Claus
‘Cause I’m too young to grow white whiskers
And don’t wear red suits at all

Among the later country blues is a selection by Piedmont stylist Alec Seward a close associate of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. “Blues All Around My Head #2″ comes from Late One Saturday Evening which was recorded at a house party in 1966 and was never intended for commercial release. It’s a jam session with Seward up front, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and washboard player Washboard Doc. Another great document from the era is Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Vol. 1 & 2 on Arhoolie. This a marvelous set of studio performances from artists appearing at the 1969 Memphis Blues Festival like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Othar Turner, Furry Lewis and others. Another interesting collection featured today is San Diego Blues Jam. The San Diego blues scene largely escaped notice until Lou Curtiss met Thomas Shaw, who helped him locate most of the other artists on this CD. We play a cut by Bonnie Jefferson, a fine rural blues woman originally from Arkansas who unfortunately cut only a handful of sides. Another fine performer from this period was Bill Williams. Blue Goose issued two albums by Williams in the early 70’s: Low And Lonesome and The Late Bill Williams Blues, Rags and Ballads (posthumous). Ragtime guitarist Williams was born in 1897 in Richmond, Virginia. He developed his ragtime style early but didn’t work professionally but rather went to work on the railroad. While living in Bristol, Tennessee in 1922, Bill met the legendary Blind Blake and worked as Blake’s regular second guitarist. Williams didn’t cut his first records until he was in his 70’s and passed in October of 1973.

For the last few weeks I’ve been captivated by the recordings of George Mitchell who made some remarkable field recordings throughout the South over a twenty year period beginning in the early 1960′s. Many of these recordings have appeared on specialist labels like Southland, Revival, Flyright, Arhoolie and Rounder but are long out of print now. Several years ago the Fat Possum label acquired the Mitchell archive and has been reissuing the recordings through a variety of formats including CD, 7-inch record and digital download. While I admire Fat Possum for issuing these recordings, which will be of interest to a very narrow audience, their reissue of the material has been frustrating. They started the reissue program with single CD’s of artists like Fred McDowell, J.W. Warren, Joe Callicott but eventually settled on putting the records out as series of 7″ records (45 volumes in total) which seems a sure fire way of limiting their impact. Furthermore they have issued some more single artists CD’s of folks like Cecil Barfield, Leon Pinson and Buddy Moss but these now seem impossible to locate. It seems a good chunk of the Mitchell collection (including many sides not on the box set) is available through eMusic and Amazon as digital downloads. I finally decided to pick up the The George Mitchell Collection box set which contains all 150 songs on each of the 45 7-inches spread out over six CD’s plus a 24-track bonus CD by artists Fat Possum didn’t know enough about to include in the original set. Also included is a well written booklet. I have to admit I’ve been a bit obsessed with these remarkable recordings and also picked up a couple of the individual CD’s plus downloaded a number of songs that don’t appear on the box set. Here, then, is the first of a two part trawl through these recordings as we look through the first three CD’s.

Mitchell wasn’t the only one roaming the south in the 1960′s in search of blues; there was folklorists and researchers such as David Evans, Sam Charters, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Art Rosenbaum and others. Some were hunting for the famous names who made records in the 1920′s and 1930′s, others were seeking to fill in biographical blanks regarding some of the older musicians coveted by collectors and then there were those, like Mitchell, who were seeking to record whoever they could find. Mitchell did record some of the famous artists of the past like Buddy Moss, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Sleepy Johns Estes and was the first to record artists who would achieve later fame such as R.L. Burnside, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Othar Turner and Precious Bryant. While the blues revival was picking up steam with newly discovered artists like Son House, Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt hitting the circuit, Mitchell’s recordings were a sort of a parallel undercurrent to the more famous artists. What Mitchell recorded in the rural communities of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960′s was a still thriving, if largely undocumented, blues culture. Mitchell had the passion and drive to seek out these folks, and unlike some folklorists didn’t use the music to reinforce his own theories, he simply let the musicians speak for themselves and judging by the recordings they clearly responded to Mitchell’s sincerity (being a southerner probably didn’t hurt as well). Mitchell came along at the right time as he relates in the notes to the LP South Georgia Blues by William Robertson aka Cecil Barfield: “As late as 1969 a country bluesman who at least occasionally played could be located in most small towns of Georgia. In 1976, there are very few active blues musicians left in the state! In the short span of seven years, one of the world’s most vital and influential forms of music as it was originally performed has all but died out in Georgia, and probably in the rest of the South as well. …Most bluesmen have either died or fallen into ill health accompanying old age, and the younger generation of rural blacks long ago turned their backs on the blues.” It was also, he noted, the Church who claimed many bluesmen as well as the lack of financial incentive to play the blues that was the music’s death knell.

The most striking musician on the first disc is Cecil Barfield, and I agree with Mitchell’s assessment that he was some kind of genius. Mitchell called him “probably the greatest previously unrecorded bluesman I have had the pleasure of recording during my 15 years of field research.” Using the name William Robertson, in fear of endangering his welfare checks, he cut the LP South Georgia Blues for Southland in the mid-70′s with several other tracks appearing on Flyright’s Georgia Blues Today (reissued by Fat Possum with the same title and liner notes). I imagine Barfield is an acquired taste but to me he is simply mesmerizing; his music, with his droning, lightly distorted electric guitar coupled with his powerful mushed mouth, nasal singing, is hypnotic. Barfield has some originals but his genius is in the way he transforms well known songs by Frankie Lee Sims (“Lucy Mae Blues”), Lightnin’ Hopkins (“Mojo Hand”), J.B. Lenoir (“Talk To Your Daughter”) and others into something startlingly original. Only four songs by Barfield are on the box set although I was so taken with his music I downloaded all his songs on Amazon (George Mitchell Collection Vol. 2, Disc 3 & 4), 43 songs in all!

The sheer depth of singular talent is consistently surprising. Take John Lee Zielgler recorded in Georgia in 1978 and Lonzie Thomas recorded in Alabama in the early 1980′s. Zielgler achieves a a gorgeous, fluid slide technique from his unorthodox style (he was a left-handed guitarist who played a right-handed guitar upside-down). His three numbers not only feature his slide work but also his beautiful high pitched voice backed by the wonderful spoon player Rufus Jones. In true field recording tradition you can hear little children playing in the background. More of his sides can be found on George Mitchell Collection Vol. 5. Thomas plays some fine finger picking reminiscent of John Hurt but not as refined, and possesses a deep, rich voice as he delivers old time numbers like “Rabbit On A Log”, “Raise A Ruckus Tonight” and showcases some slide on the fine “My Three Woman.”

Teddy Williams and William “Do Boy” Diamond were both recorded in Canton, Mississippi in 1967 on subsequent days. Diamond was a basic guitar player but possessed a great, relaxed voice. “Hard Time Blues” is a magnificent number, sharing the same haunting quality of some of Skip James’ numbers. More of his sides can be found on George Mitchell Collection Vol. 5. It’s suggested the older Williams may have taught Diamond, and he too is a powerful singer in a similar style. Mitchell’s trip to Mississippi in 1967 was an extremely fruitful one and in addition to the above artists he recorded stunning sides by Houston Stackhouse (in a trio with Robert Nighthawk and Peck Curtis plus Carey “Ditty” Mason on some sides). It was a fortuitous recordings as Nighthawk died a few months later followed by Mason in 1969 and Curtis in 1970. These highly regarded sides have been issued before on Arhoolie and Testament. In addition there is some unissued material by Nighthawk and Stackhouse that should be of major interest to collectors. Also recorded during this trip were some powerhouse sides by Fred McDowell and harpist Johnny Woods and the wonderful Joe Callicott who’s long been a favorite of mine. Only three songs apiece are included by each artist but each has full length CD’s available on Fat Possum, both of which come highly recommended.

Other older, established players Mitchell recorded were Buddy Moss in 1963 and Dewey Corley in 1967. Mitchell found Moss through Peg Leg Howell (who he also recorded although his sides have not been reissued). Moss was part of the the great Atlanta blue scene of the 1930′s working with Barbecue Bob, Curley Weaver, Blind Willie McTell as well as recording prolifically between 1933 and 1941. He was a forgotten man when Mitchell recorded him but the six sides included here find him in superb form. A moody and difficult character (a 1976 interview with Robert Springer was titled So I Said ‘The Hell with It: A Difficult Interview with Eugene ‘Buddy’ Moss) his comeback never took off like it should, although Atlanta Blues Legend recorded in 1966 and issued on Biograph is quite good. Jug band veteran Dewey Corley is also in good form playing vigorous kazoo and one-stringed bass backed by Walter Miller on guitar on three loose, fun numbers.

Disc three features a trio of fine players from Georgia recorded in 1969: Bud White, Jim Bunkley and George Henry Bussey. Like many of the artists Mitchell found, none were professional musicians but all are quite good. White was a percussive guitar player with a high, rich voice, Bussey had a light, gently propulsive style and good voice while Mitchell describes Bunkley’s style as a”frolicking” sound in contrast to the harder Mississippi style. Both Bussey and Bunkley were paired on the 1971 album George Henry Bussey and Jim Bunkley issued on Revival.

Mitchell also recorded a fair number of religious material including gospel singers and marvelous slide players, Leon Pinson and Green Paschal, both who play stirring gospel inflected blues. Pinson worked with the great singer/harmonica player Elder Roma Wilson early in his career and reunited with him when Wilson was rediscovered in the 80′s, with the duo having a fair bit of success on the festival circuit. Pinson is a major artist with fine understated baritone and a ringing slide style. The stunner is “What God Can Do” sung in a beautiful crooning style, dipping occasionally into falsetto. It only lasts a minute-and-a-half but the depth of feeling resonates long after the song concludes. Paschal was a rough expressive singer and exciting, percussive slide player who comes across as a less intense version of Son House.

Cecil Barfield – Lucy Mae Blues (MP3)

John Lee Ziegler – Who’s Gonna Be Your Man (MP3)

Lonzie Thomas – My Three Woman (MP3)

William ‘Do Boy’ Diamond – Hard Time Blues (MP3)

Leon Pinson – What God Can Do (MP3)

The world lost not only a great blues and gospel singer in May 2004, but a truly charismatic, larger than life figure when Arnold “Gatemouth” Moore passed in Yazoo City, Mississippi at the age of 90. Gatemouth summed up his talents as a blues singer this way: “I am one of the ultra-men blues singers. I am not accustomed and don’t know nothing about that gut-belly stuff in the joints…I put on tuxedos, dressed up, sang intelligent…Without a doubt, and I’m not being facetious, I’m the best blues singer in the business with that singing voice. Now I can’t wiggle and I can’t dance, but telling a story, I don’t think them other boys are in my class.” Often labeled a blues shouter,with his perfect diction and huge, mellow, enveloping voice he was more accurately a blues crooner of the highest order. His heyday as a blues career was short lived, cutting a couple of dozen sides between 1945 and 1947 that saw release on Gilmore’s Chez Paree, Savoy, National with his final records cut for King at the very end of 1947. His most famous number was the immortal “Did You Ever Love A Woman” although his output was consistently high cutting should-have been-classics like “I Ain’t Mad at You Pretty Baby”, “Walking My Blues Away”, “They Can’t Do This to You”, “Highway 61 Blues” backed by swinging big bands featuring top flight jazz musicians such as Budd Johnson, Jimmy Hamilton, Harry Carney, Tiny Grimes, and John Hardee. His blues career came to a close in 1949 when he had a religious conversion on stage at Chicago’s Club DeLisa. After walking off stage he eventually became a preacher, gospel disc jockey and gospel recording artist.

Inexplicably in 1977 he stepped back briefly into the world of blues cutting Great Rhythm & Blues Oldies Vol. 7, an exceptional album despite it’s generic title. The album was produced by Johnny Otis and issued on the Blues Spectrum label. According to the notes: “Three years ago in Los Angles, Moore startled his longtime buddy, Johnny Otis, by announcing his intention to record some of his old blues. ‘You can’t do that, Gate, you’re a minister,’ Johnny protested. ‘Yes, I can, ‘ Moore countered, ‘I’m not going to be a blues singer again but it is part of my heritage and I want you to produce it.’” On the surface this is an easy album to overlook; firstly it’s not available on CD, there’s that generic title and a program of remakes of older material. Yet Gatemouth was in dynamic, inspired form, backed by spirited support from Johnny Otis and his son Shuggie.

Good old fashioned blues singing, the ability to really sell a song, to tell a compelling story to your audience don’t seem to be the attributes favored by white fans who value instrumental prowess and equate sophistication with commercialism. Gatemouth puts on a clinic of good old fashioned blues singing on this album, refashioning his old material and delivering some fine new compositions. The album kicks off with the chugging”I Ain’t Mad At You, Pretty Baby” sung with gusto. The number was first cut in 1945 and based on a real life incident as Gatemouth recalled: “I was in Washington D.C. when I wrote that one. A woman had just taken her shoe off and busted her old man across the head with it. As the cop car came to take her away, the guy ran up behind it, blood still running from his forehead, yelling ‘I ain’t mad at you, baby’.” Gatemouth tells the following story regarding “Did You Ever Love A Woman” which he also remakes on this album: “Well, my wife wasn’t home when I came back to Memphis from a trip, so I went down on Beale Street to look for her. A fellow said, ‘Yeah, she’s upstairs.’ I’m mad now. The band leader saw me. ‘Sing something, Gate,’ he said. I was looking for my wife, and I told him to turn up all the lights. I shouted out singing: ‘My wife is here with another man/and I swear we’re going to fight.’ That song came from me looking for Willa Mae. She got outta there too.” Many have covered this song but no one sang it better than Gatemouth and here he delivers a vigorous, impassioned remake that has all the power of the original cut thirty tears previously. Those famous lines still resonate: “Did you ever love a woman/And love her with all your might/When all the time you knew she wasn’t treating you right.” Backed by Johnny Otis’ sparkling vibes, “My Mother Thinks I’m Something” is a marvelous update of “Something I’m Gonna Be” originally cut for King in 1947. It’s another great story song:

My mother thought I was something
You know folks something I gotta be
I tried so hard to make fame, so I could let my dear mother see
I tried so hard to make fame, so I could let dear Georgia see
See my mother thinks I’m something, and I declare something I gotta be

“Gate’s Christmas Blues” is a silky remake of of his 1946 number “Christmas Blues” again featuring terrific vibes from Otis. 1945′s “It Ain’t None of Me” is remade in glorious fashion as “Somebody Got To Go” as Gatemouth bellows out the blues with that great opening line : “Say Mr. Jones, turn up all them lights/My baby’s in the house with another man and I swear we gonna a fight.” Newer material includes the deeply soulful blues of “Everybody Has Their Turn” which has more updated sound, the rocking “Boogie Woogie Papa” (I wonder what the congregation thought about this one?!) and a gorgeous interpretation of “Goin’ Down Slow” sporting some sympathetic guitar work from Shuggie and piano from Johnny.

The album’s masterpiece is “Beale Street Ain’t Beale Street No More” an impassioned six minute lament on the destruction of Gatemouth’s old stomping grounds. According to the liner notes this was done off-the-cuff which would make it all the more remarkable. Like many, Gatemouth cut his teeth singing the blues at the Beale Street clubs and for almost a hundred years it was the center of black urban life in Memphis. According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History: “In 1969 the city undertook urban renewal projects, including Beale Street I and Beale Street II, which erased the area’s housing, demolished 474 buildings, and placed a block-wide barrier of empty lots and parking spaces between African Americans and Beale Street. This project left a thin commercial (blue light) district between Second and Fourth Avenues, where African American businesses were forced out through condemnation of buildings and high property resale prices. The Memphis Press-Scimitar (June 10, 1979) declared “Urban renewal destroyed Beale Street.” This is the backdrop of Gatemouth’s passionate, bitter insider’s recounting of the old street as he recalls the street in better days: “My mind run back/When it was a fast track/The old Street was jumping.”He nostalgically recalls now shuttered joints like the One Minute, Pee Wee’s and the Palace (“where I learned to sing the blues”) and to the street’s characters like Robert Henry, Little Mickey, Brother Moss, Lieutenant Lee and Memphis Ma Rainey. The song slowly builds up steam to rousing finish as he sadly concludes: “Beale Street ain’t Beale Street no more/My street is gone, gone to come back no more.”

My Mother Thinks I’m Something (MP3)

Beale Street Ain’t Beale Street No More (MP3)

Somebody Got To Go (MP3)

Goin’ Down Slow (MP3)

Show Notes:

A typically wide ranging show show today spanning from 1927 to 1977. We kick things off with a set featuring the brilliant boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson. All these tracks come from the fascinating Document collection Pete Johnson Radio Broadcasts, Film Soundtracks, Alternate Takes 1939 – c.1947. I always play some classic piano blues and we also play some great tracks by Peanut The Kidnapper, Blind John Davis and Lazy Bill Lucas. James Sherrill, under the name Peanut The Kidnapper, cut 4 sides for ARC in 1937 in backed by fine pianist Robert McCoy. McCoy hailed from Birmingham, Alabama, a good piano town that also boasted such players as Jabbo Williams, Walter Roland and Cow Cow Davenport. In the 30′s he also accompanied Guitar Slim and Jaybird Coleman. McCoy cut two rare LP’s in the early 60s’ on the Vulcan label (reissued on Delmark with many previously unissued tracks as Bye Bye Blues) , his first as leader. “Walkin’ and Talkin’” is a fine number Blind John Davis cut at a 1947 session. Davis backed scores of artist during the ’30′s and ’40′s including Tampa Red, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, and others. He was the first pianist to do a European blues tour (with Broonzy in 1952), returning to the continent frequently as a solo act during the ’70′s and ’80′s and recordings several albums over there as well. Lazy Bill Lucas first cut “She Got Me Walkin’” for Chance in 1953 but the version we play today comes from the excellent self titled LP he cut for Philo in 1974. After moving to Minneapolis, Lucas mounted a comeback making some recordings in the late 60′s and early 70′s. The Philo LP is long out of print and finds him in excellent form. The LP includes a really nice insert written by blues scholar Jeff Todd Titon. I have the two LP’s he cut for Wild in 1969 and 1970 and will spotlight these in future shows.

As usual there’s plenty of country blues on tap including a set featuring Blind Blake. I’ve had Blake on the brain after hearing the news that a long lost Blake record had just been discovered. Blake plays guitar on Gus Cannon’s “My Money Never Runs Out”, cuts loose with Charlie Spand on “Hastings St.” (“You always tellin’ me about Brady Street … wonder what is on Brady … must be something there very marvelous, mm, mm, mm…”) and the playful “Righteous Blues” from 1930. One of the most haunting pre-war bluesmen was the mysterious King Solomon Hill. His “The Gone Dead Train” is a masterpiece, a stunning marriage of his eerie high pitched vocals and immaculate slide playing, it’s one of those songs that sticks with you long after you’ve heard it. Born Joe Holmes circa 1897 in McComb, Mississippi he is rumored to have roamed the south playing alongside Sam Collins, Ramblin’ Thomas, Oscar Woods and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Hill signed to the Paramount label in 1932, soon traveling to Grafton, Wisconsin to record six tracks. After this lone session, Hill returned to the juke joint circuit, dying in Sibley, Louisiana in 1949. Another slide player of note, perhaps more accurately bottleneck, was the popular Kokomo Arnold who shows off his prodigious skills on the tour-de-force “Back To The Woods.” We close the program with a number of artists who give us a glimpse of what the blues sounded like before it was called blues; Papa Harvey Hull, Henry Thomas, Bogus Ben Covington are musicians from an earlier era with Thomas born in 1874, making him one of the oldest artists to record a significant body of work.

We also delve into some later country blues by Scrapper Blackwell, Roy Dunn and Jim Brewer. Blackwell’s “Life Of A Millionaire” is a beautiful, poignant version of “Nobody Knows You when You’re Down And Out.” This track comes from Document’s Scrapper Blackwell, Vol. 2 (1934-1958) which features four cuts from the outset of his comeback. There’s something very compelling about his latter day recordings; his playing isn’t as crisp as his early work and his voice has hoarsened, yet his blues come across as somehow deeper, and more moving than his earlier work. His best rediscovery work can be found on Mr. Scrapper’s Blues cut for Bluesville in 1961 a year before he was murdered.  Jim Brewer performed regularly on Maxwell Street singing both blues and religious songs. He recorded sides on a number of anthologies and cut two full length albums; Jim Brewer (Philo, 1974) and Tough Luck (Earwig, 1983), neither of which is available on CD.

Just a quick note that in addition to hosting Big Road Blues I will also be hosting Doc’s Juke Joint this week. The program airs every Sunday night from 7-10pm. Doc’s Juke Joint is a continuing tradition on WGMC started over 15 years ago by Dave Moskal, originally called Muskie’s Juke Joint. In February 2008, Greg “Doc” Lefebre took over the program and renamed it Doc’s Juke Joint.

Also just a reminder that our Spring 2008 pledge drive is underway. If you enjoy listening to the five hours of blues programming on Jazz90.1 please show your support. Jazz90.1 has set a goal of $50,000 for the drive, which runs through March 12th. We have some great blues “thank you” gifts this year. Those interested can make pledges by calling (585) 966-5299, 1-800-790-0415, or pledge securely on line at www.jazz901.org, where you can listen live any time, anywhere.

Show Notes:

Todays show focuses on blues songs about hard times; songs about the 29’ depression, job loss, inflation, recession and welfare are just some of the themes touched upon in the songs played today. While hard times touched both whites and blacks, it always hurt the poorest, which in the segregation area meant the black population. This is the second installment of a planned series of topical blues shows; the first was one we did last year on blues songs dealing with war.

When the Wall Street crash occurred at the end of October 1929 there were many stories of lost fortunes, of bankrupt financiers throwing themselves from skyscraper buildings. Those who bore the brunt were the poor, and of those the black population was the worst off. As steel mills ceased to operate and factories were closed down, thousands of workers, many of whom were seasonal employees, were laid off. Few were members of unions, and there was no protection against unemployment. “The Panic Was On” as Hezekiah Jenkins sang in 1931:

What this country is coming to
I sure would like to know
If they don’t do something bye and bye, the rich will live and the poor will die
Doggone, I mean the panic is on

Can’t get no work, can’t draw no pay
Unemployment getting worser every day
Nothing to eat no place to sleep
All night long folks walking the street
Doggone, I mean the panic is on

The shantytowns constructed from waste materials that sprang up around the cities were named “Hoovervilles” after President Hoover. In J.D. Short’s “It’s Hard Time” he sings:

Now we have got a little city that we calls ‘down in Hooverville’
Times have got so hard, people ain’t got no place to live

Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in March 1933 and took many measures in his first hundred days to combat the depression. In June he established the Public Works Administration (PWA) for which over $3 billion was appropriated. PWA projects were largely engaged in construction projects like sewage plants, flood control and bridge building. Under the PWA was an alphabet soup of agencies with acronyms like PWA, CCC, CWA, CCC and others. Later came the WPA which replaced direct relief and built over a half million miles of roads, a hundred thousand bridges and even more pubic buildings. Many blues songs deal with this topic. In his “Charity Blues” Charlie McCoy sums up the situation:

I Said you ain’t got no money and you got no place to stay
You got to get you a job on the P.W.A.
The rent man keeps askin’ ‘When is you goin-a pay’ (2x)
I said ‘Just as soon as I get my money from the W.P.A.

In “Don’t Take Away My P.W.A” Jimmy Gordon shared a similar sentiment:

Lord, Mister President listen to what I’m going to say (2x)
You can take away all he alphabet but please leave the P.W.A.

Not everyone had kind words about the situation. Relief rates were often unequal among blacks and whites. In some instances black families were getting only a third of the sums that whites got. In “Let’s Have A New Deal” Carl Martin had this to say:

Everybody’s crying ‘let’s have a new deal’
Relief stations closing down – I know just how you feel
If you went to the relief workers and put in a complaint, 8 times out of 10, you know, they’ll say they can’t
They won’t give you no dough, won’t hardly pay your rent, and it ain’t costin’ them one dog-gone cent

In “Working on The Project” Peetie Wheatstraw complained:

Working on he project with pay-day three or four weeks away (2X)
Now how can you make ends meet, ooh well, well, when you can’t get no pay?

While the entry in WW II eased the pressure on many who were drafted or employed in the plants, it was largely the white population who benefited. Many were still “On The Killin’ Floor” as Doctor Clayton described in 1942:

Please give me a match to light this short that I found
I know it looks bad for me, picking tobacco off the ground
I was in my prime not so very long ago
But high priced whiskey and woman done put me on the killin’ floor

Truman became President in 1945. Inflation was a major reason Truman’s popularity dropped from 87% after his election to 32% by the time he was up for re-election. In addition, after the war prices began to rise and opportunities lessen. Prices rose 38% between 1946 and 1948.Among the songs that deal with this period are Jimmy Witherspoon’s “Money’s Getting Cheaper” (1947), Louis Jordan’s “Inflation Blues” (1947), Roosevelt Sykes’ “High Price Blues” (1945), Sunnyland Slim’s “Bad Times (Cost of Living)” (1949), Smokey Hogg’s “High Priced Meat” (1947) and Ivory Joe Hunter’s “High Cost Low Pay Blues” (1947).

Eisenhower was elected President in 1953. In the spring of 1954 the U.S. suffered a modest recession. The most bitter attack on the President was “Eisenhower Blues” by J.B. Lenoir:

Hey everybody, I was talkin’ to you
I ain’t tellin’ you jivin’, this is the natural truth
Mm mm mm, I got them Eisenhower blues
Thinkin’ about me and you, what on earth are we gonna do?

Taken all my money, to pay the tax
I’m only givin’ you people, the natural facts
I only tellin’ you people, my belief
Because I am headed straight, on relief
Mm mm mm, I got them Eisenhower blues
Thinkin’ about me and you, what on earth are we gonna do?

Ain’t go a dime, ain’t even got a cent
I don’t even have no money, to pay my rent
My baby needs some clothes, she needs some shoes
Peoples I don’t know what, I’m gonna do
Mm mm mm, I got them Eisenhower blues
Thinkin’ about me and you, what on earth are we gonna do?

In “Everybody Wants To Know (Laid Off Blues) ” he was even more militant:

You rich people listen, you better listen real deep:
If we poor peoples get so hungry, we gonna take some food to eat

By 1954 there were three million people on the dole. The specter of the depression haunted many of the blues songs of the Eisenhower years. Jimmy McCracklin, who had experienced the depression as a child, pronounced the “Panic’s On”:

The panic’s on, wonder what are we going to do?
Lord, it reminds me of nineteen and thirty-two

“Tough Times” was recorded the same year by John Brim who sang a similar refrain:

Things like times getting tough like 32’

As the 1960 presidential election campaign got under way, the 1960-1961 recession began. John F Kennedy’s 1960 campaign promise “ to get America moving again “ referred to the American economy. Though Richard Nixon came to office preoccupied with foreign policy, he soon had to grapple with an economy that threatened him with political defeat when the economy dipped into recession. We wrap up the show with several songs from this period: Freddie King “(The Welfare) Turns Its Back On You” (1962), Jimmy Lee Robinson “Times Is Hard” (1962), Little Wolf Jr. (King Solomon) “Inflation Blues” (1970), Jimmy Dawkins “Welfare Blues” (1971) and Mighty Joe Young “Hard Times” (1966).