Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

Today’s show is the first installment of an ongoing series of programs built around a particular year. The bulk of the information for today’s show notes comes from the books Recording The Blues (reprinted along with two other titles in Yonder Come The Blues) by Robert M.W. Dixon and John Godrich and Blues & Gospel Records, 1890-1943 by Robert M.W. Dixon, John Godrich and Howard Rye.

The year 1927 was the beginning of a blues boom that would last until 1930; there were just 500 blues and gospel records issued in 1927 and increase of fifty percent from 1926 a trend that would continue until the depression. Paramount, the market leader at the time, brought talent up to their northern studios. To feed the demand other record companies conducted exhaustive searches for new talent, which included making trips down south with field recording units. Between 1927-1930 Atlanta was visited seventeen times, Memphis eleven times, Dallas eight times, New Orleans seven times and so on. The record companies advertised their record in black newspapers, mainly in the Chicago Defender, which was the nation’s most influential black weekly newspaper.

After neglecting the race market, Victor decided to jump in the field in 1926 with negligible results. Victor’s fortunes turned around when they hired Ralph Peer who had been responsible for building up the race and hilliby catalogs for OKeh. In February 1927 Peer ventured out with the Victor filed unit to Atlanta, Memphis and finally New Orleans. Among the artists recorded in Memphis were the Memphis Jug Band, Furry Lewis and Frank Stokes. In Atlanta recordings were made by Julius Daniels, Blind Willie McTell and others. In New Orleans the major find was songster Richard “Rabbit” Brown who recorded six sides.

Early in 1927 Mayo Williams, who had built up the Paramount catalog, formed his Black Patti label. The recordings were made by Gennett, with half the material issued on Gennett’s own labels. Black Patti Records debuted with advertisements in May of 1927, with some two dozen discs said to already be available. The repertory included jazz, blues, sermons, spirituals, and vaudeville skits, most (but not quite all) by African American entertainers. A total of 55 different discs were manufactured. Williams found running his own label not as lucrative and easy as he had hoped, and closed up operations before the end of 1927. Among the notable blues artists recorded were Papa Harvey Hull, Sam Collins, Clara Smith, Jaybird Collins among others.

When Black Patti folded in August 1927, Vocalion quickly hired him as a talent scout. Williams hit pay dirt with Jim Jackson’s “Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues” which was released in December 1927 and was an immediate hit.

Gennett began recording blues in 1923 but was the only major label not to have a separate race series. Gennett recorded most of their recordings at their Richmond, Indiana and New York studios. They made one group of recordings in the South in Birmingham Alabama in 1927. Among those recorded during this trip were Jay Bird Coleman, Daddy Stovepipe,, William Harris and Joe Evans.Other artists to appear on the label included Sam Collins and Cow Cow Davenport.

Columbia’s race records  were primarily issued on the 1400-D series which ran from December 1923 through April 1933. The first country blues singer to appear on the series was Peg Leg Howell who was recorded in Atalanta in November 1926 and the following year in April.  Also recorded in April 1927 were Robert Hicks aka Barbecue Bob. According to Robert M.W. Dixon John Godrich in their book Recording The Blues, 10, 850 copies of “Barbecue Blues” b/w “Cloudy Sky Blues” were pressed. Initial sales were so good that Hicks was called to New York in the middle of June to record 8 more numbers, and when Columbia returned to Atlanta in November they not only recorded a further 8 selections by Barbecue Bob, but also 6 by his brother Charley Lincoln, who sang the same sort of songs in very much the same style. In December 1927 the Columbia field unti went to Dallas and Memphis.  Notable artists recorded in Dallas inluded Blind Willie Johnson, the Dallas String Band, Lillian Glinn while Memphis yielded important recordings by Reubin Lacy and Pearl Dickson.

In 1926 Columbia and OKeh merged but the labels were run by separate management for three years after the merger and did not compete for the same artists. Since 1927 OKeh had been issuing a new record every six weeks by Lonnie Johnson and issued some two-dozen sides by him in 1927. Johnson also backed other OKeh artists that year including Texas Alexander and Victoria Spivey. OKeh also recorded two sessions by Blind Lemon Jefferson, exclusively a Paramount artist, but these were never issued. Today’s show features tracks by all these artists as well as the duo of Butterbeans & Susie who cut close to 70 sides for the label between 1924 and 1930.

The only race company that made no field trips was Paramount. Despite this Paramount remained the market leader in records released and singers recorded. Paramount issued records by the many of the blues biggest stars. In 1927 the label issued records by Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake both of whom were extensivley advertised in the Chicago Defender. Other big names were Ma Rainey, Lucille Bogan Ida Cox, and Papa Charlie Jackson.

Show Notes:

John Cephas, Photo by Tom Pich for National Endowment of the Arts

A somber note hangs over today’s show as we pay tribute to the recently departed John Cephas and Snooks Eaglin. John Cephas, best known as the guitarist and singer with the duo Cephas & Wiggins died March 4th. He was 78. Both Cephas and Wiggins were born in Washington, D.C., although Wiggins was a quarter century younger than his partner; they met at a jam session in 1977, and both performed as regular members of Big Chief Ellis’ band prior to Ellis’ death. The duo had been recording since the early 80′s, cutting records for Flying Fish, Rounder and most recently Alligator. The tracks featured today were the first by Cephas, cut in the mid-70′s by Pete Lowry but never released at the time. Lowry has given me permission to play these cuts which are not available anywhere else. Lowry recorded Cephas & Wiggins extensively in 1980 and recorded Cephas in-depth in 1976.

Snooks Eaglin passed away on February 18th. In true New Orleans fashion he was given a full jazz funeral send off. I first encountered Snooks via his terrific Black Top Records of the late 1980′s and 90′s. After the label’s demise Snooks only recorded one more album, The Way It Is, in 2001 which happens to be one of my favorites. Fans of Snooks’ later electric records may be surprised that his earliest records (1958-1959) which are all acoustic. From that period we spin the charming “Country Boy Down In New Orleans” from the wonderful album of the same name on Arhoolie. We also play the soulful “By The Water” cut for Imperial in 1960 and “I Get The Blues When It Rains” from 1971′s The Sonet Blues Story.

We do a bit of compare and contrast today by playing two versions of the classic “How Blue Can You Get?”, one by Louis Jordan and the other by B.B. King.  Johnny Moore’s Three Blazer’s cut the original version in 1949 which we played on the program a couple of weeks back. It was covered in 1951 by Louis Jordan which is where B.B. King first heard the song. King began using it in his live act at recorded it on his classic Live At The Regal album from 1963.

There’s plenty vintage blues from the 1920′s and 30′s including a trio of sides from Atlanta artists Peg Leg Howell, Sloppy Henry and Barbecue Bob.  Like Memphis, Atlanta was a staging post for musicians on their way to all points. It’s not surprising then that the first country blues musician, Ed Andrews, was recorded there in 1924. The company that recorded him, Okeh, was one of many to send their engineers to Southern cities to record local talent. Companies like Victor, Columbia, Vocalion and Brunswick made at least yearly visits until the depression. Between 1927-1930 Atlanta was visited seventeen times by the record companies. Among the bluesmen to record in Atalanta in the 1920′s, the first to arrive in the city was Joshua Barnes Powell, known as Peg Leg because of a shooting accident in 1916. We also hear Peg Leg in the company of singer Sloppy Henry. Henry cut sixteen between 1924 and 1929 for the Okeh label. Within a year or so of Howell’s arrival in Atlanta, Robert Hicks came to the city. He learned guitar, as did his older brother Charlie, and their friend Curley Weaver from the latter’s mother Savannah Weaver. Hicks earned his nickname from his day job as the chef of a barbecue restaurant and Columbia photographed him for their publicity material in his work apron.  As Barbecue Bob he became the most heavily recorded Atlanta bluesman of the 1920′s with his records selling steadily for Columbia until his untimely death in 1931.

We also feature some fine blues ladies including Susie Hawthorne, one half of the popular Butterbeans & Susie, Lucille Bogan and Bessie Smith. Butterbeans and Susie were a comedy duo that began touring with the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) and later moved to vaudeville before signing with Okeh Records. They cut close to 70 sides for the label between 1924 and 1930. Our track, “He Likes It Slow”, from 1926 features Louis Armstrong on cornet. From the same year we play Bessie Smith’s “Them ‘Has Been’ Blues.” This cut comes form the the eight volume series on the Frog label that collects all of Bessie’s recordings.  Sound quality on this series is outstanding, noticeably better then Columbia’s series, which is interesting since Columbia had the actual masters to work with. The Frog series is a testament to the skills of engineer John R.T. Davies and label owner David French, who commissioned collectors for the best available originals. Sadly Davies and French both passed before the completion of the series. From Lucille Bogan we spin her classic “Shave ‘Em Dry.” This of course is the  clean version. The unreleased version is extremely explicit and if aired would surely be the end of my broadcasting career!

Butterbeans & Susie

We close out our show with a stunning version of “Prodigal Son” by Robert Wilkins recorded live at Newport in 1964.  During the 1920′s and 1930′s, Tim Wilkins was one of the most popular blues artists associated with Beale Street. He left the blues world to become an ordained minister. When the Rolling Stones recorded Wilkins’ “Prodigal Son” in the early ’60s (originally titled “That’s No Way To Get Along”), blues researchers found Wilkins at home in Memphis, ministering to the congregation at the Lane Avenue Church of God in Christ and performing gospel songs at street corner revivals. He returned to recording with the album Memphis Gospel Singer in 1964, a classic record that yet to make it to CD. He performed at several festivals including Newport in 1964 and the Memphis Country Blues Festival in 1968. He passed in 1987.

Just a quick note to mention that my Robert Nighthawk website has been relocated and can be found at: http://nighthawk.sundayblues.org. The website is a compendium of just about all the available information regarding this legendary bluesman. The site includes detailed biographical information, audio clips, rare photos and more. There area few links that do not work but this should be fixed within a few days.

Show Notes:

We kick today’s show off with the last commercial recordings by Memphis Minnie and husband Ernest Lawlars AKA Little Son Joe. The two first began recording together back in February 1939, cutting about 70 sides together, laying down their last recordings for the J.O.B. label on October 5, 1953.  From this final session we spin the romping “Kissing In The Dark” with Minnie taking the vocal and “A Little Too Late” released under Little Son Joe’s name which is the “B” side of his “Ethel Bea.” He cut only a handful of sides under his name and these later numbers showcase a very fine, plaintive voiced singer and a terrific electric guitarist. Little Son Joe took up with Memphis Minnie in the late 1930′s, replacing her previous husband and partner, Kansas Joe McCoy. He made a few records under his own name at sessions in 1939 and 1941, including the well-known “Black Rat Swing” but mostly appeared in a supporting role. He retired from music with Minnie in the 1950′s.

We play another twin spin, this time moving up to the 1950′s, with a pair of featured tracks by Johnny Fuller. Fuller was a West Coast bluesman who left behind a bunch of 1950′s recordings. He was equally at home with low down blues, gospel, R&B, and rock & roll. Making the Bay Area his home throughout his career, Fuller turned in classic sides for Heritage, Aladdin, Specialty, Flair, Checker, and Hollywood. By and large retiring from the music scene in the 1960′s (with the exception of one excellent album in 1974), Fuller worked as a garage mechanic until his passing in 1985. “Roughest Place In Town” is superb rendition of “Tin Pan Alley” while “Mean Old World”, from the same session, is a smoldering uptempo number with some lyrics that still resonate today:

Well you think you got trouble, oughta see what I’m going through (2x)
Well I’m going through starvation, man jobs are so doggone few
Well the banks foreclosed on my home, had no place to hang my head (2x)
Well my finance man came, took my brand new Cadillac

Another double spin, of sorts, is a spotlight on two excellent out of print Bluesway LP’s: Lee Jackson’s Lonely Girl (Bluesway, 1974) and Andrew “Voice” Odom’s Farther Up The Road (Bluesway, 1969). Guitarist/bass session man Lee Jackson played on records of Eddie Clearwater, Homesick James, J.B. Hutto, Little Walter, Shakey Jake, Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Hound Dog Taylor among others. He cut a few singles of his own on small labels and one full-length LP. He was murdered in Chicago in 1979. Andrew Odom was was a great journeyman Chicago singer who recorded relatively sparingly. Odom fell in with Albert King and Johnny O’Neal on the St. Louis blues scene of the mid-’50s and  made his recording debut in 1961, singing “East St. Louis” with the band of one Little Aaron for the obscure Marlo imprint. He arrived in Chicago around 1960, hooking up with Earl Hooker and working and recording with him through the decade. A single for Nation Records in 1967 (as Andre Odom) preceded his debut album for BluesWay (cut in 1969, it remained in the can for quite a while before the label finally issued it). A guest spot on Jimmy Dawkins’s  All for Business, was a highlight of the ’70s for the singer. He cut his own album for the French Isabel label in 1982 in the company of Magic Slim & the Teardrops (reissued by Evidence in 1993) and finished his career with the superb 1992 set for Flying Fish, Goin’ to California which came out posthumously. Odom passed in December 1991.

There’s some excellent vocal performances on today’s program including a gorgeous reading of Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone To Love” by Dinah Washington and Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers on the original 1949 version of  “How Blue Can You Get.” This number was covered in 1951 by Louis Jordan which is where B.B. King first heard the song. King began using it in his live act at recorded it on his classic Live At The Regal album from 1963. Speaking of Percy Mayfield we hear Percy at his world weary best on the mellow “Ha Ha In The Daytime” his last side for Ray Charles’ Tangerine label, a remake of a previously unreleased 1962 number. This one come from Rhino’s Tangerine and Atlantic Sides an indispensable collection of Mayfield’s 1960′s sides.

From the 1970′s we play some fine downhome blues form Guitar Gabriel plus excellent field recordings by James Davis and Albert Macon with Robert Thomas recorded by the tireless George Mitchell. Guitar Gabriel is familiar to some collectors as Nyles Jones, the name under which he recorded the superb LP, My South, My Blues, for the Gemini label in 1970.He dropped out of sight for about 20 years and his belated return to performing was due largely to folklorist and musician Timothy Duffy, who located Gabriel in 1991. With Duffy accompanying him as second guitarist on acoustic sets and as a member of his band, Brothers in the Kitchen, Gabriel performed frequently at clubs and festivals, and appeared overseas. He recorded several albums for Duffy’s Music Maker label before passing in 1996. Albert Macon began teaching Robert Thomas to play blues guitar when Thomas, who was nine years younger than Macon, was about 15 years old. For over 40 years the two men played music together at fish fries, parties and festivals around Georgia. The two men also received national and international attention, playing such venues as the Knoxville World’s Fair and the American Blues Festival in the Netherlands and the WDR Blues Festival in Bonn, Germany. Macon and Thomas recorded Blues and Boogie from Alabama on the Dutch Swingmaster label as well as captured by George Mitchell

As usual there’s plenty of vintage blues from the 1920′s and 1930′s. On tap today are classic performances by Henry Thomas, Tommy Johnson, Georgia White, Sleep John Estes, William Moore and all-time blues classics in Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues” and Pinetop Smith’s “Pine Top’s Blues.” We also jump ahead to hear Son House on a 1964 performance of “Pony Blues” (34 years after his recording debut for Paramount) which comes from the excellent Blue Goose LP The Real Delta Blues, a great collection of early rediscovery sides that unfortunately has yet to make it to CD.

Show Notes:

Elmore James was undoubtedly the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period. Although his early death from heart failure kept him from enjoying the fruits of the ’60s blues revival like his contemporaries Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf did, Elmore was hugely influential on a generation of guitar players. James always gave it everything he had, everything he could emotionally invest in a number. The fact is that over his twelve-year recording career it can be argued that he never really cut a bad performance. Between 1951 and 1963 James cut about 100 sides for labels like Trumpet, Modern, Chess, Chief, Meteor and Fire. Backing him was one of the greatest Chicago blues bands,the Broomdusters, named after James’ big hit, and featuring Little Johnny Jones on piano, J.T. Brown on tenor sax and Elmore’s cousin, Homesick James on rhythm guitar. This talented combo was often augmented by a second saxophone on occasion while the drumming stool changed frequently. On later recordings his band would include pianist Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, guitarist Eddie Taylor and Sam Myers on harp. In addition James backed a few artists, particularly in the early years, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Love and later bandmate Little Johnnie Jones. Today’s show spotlights not only great sides James cut under his own name but several sides by his talented bandmates and associates.

With a few months left on his Trumpet contract, Elmore was recorded by the Bihari Brothers for their Modern label subsidiaries, Flair and Meteor, but the results were left in the can until James’ contract ran out. In the meantime, Elmore had moved to Chicago and cut a quick session for Chess, which resulted in one single being issued and just as quickly yanked off the market as the Bihari Brothers swooped in to protect their investment. This period of activity found Elmore assembling the nucleus of his great band the Broomdusters and several fine recordings were issued over the next few years on a slew of the Bihari Brothers’owned labels with several of them charting.

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.

By the late 1950′s James had established a beach-head in the clubs of Chicago as one of the most popular live acts and regularly broadcasting over WPOA under the aegis of disc jockey Big Bill Hill. In 1957, with his contract with the Bihari Brothers at an end, he recorded several successful sides for Mel London’s Chief label, all of them later being issued on the larger Vee-Jay label.

In May of 1963, Elmore returned to Chicago, ready to resume his on-again off-again playing career — his records were still being regularly issued and reissued on a variety of labels — when he suffered his final heart attack. His wake was attended by over 400 blues luminaries before his body was shipped back to Mississippi.

Mississippi-born John T. Brown was a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels down south before arriving in Chicago. By 1945, Brown was recording behind pianist Roosevelt Sykes and singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden, later backing Eddie Boyd and Washboard Sam for RCA Victor. He debuted on wax as a bandleader in 1950 on the Harlem label, subsequently cutting sessions in 1951 and 1952 for Chicago’s United logo as well as JOB. Brown backed Elmore James and pianist Little Johnny Jones on the Meteor and Flair lbels in 1952 and 1953. Meteor issued a couple of singles under Brown’s own name. After a final 1956 date for United that laid unissued at the time, Brown’s studio activities were limited to sideman roles. In January of 1969, he was part of Fleetwood Mac’s Blues Jam at Chess album, even singing a tune for the project, but he died before the close of that year.

Johnny Jones arrived in Chicago from Mississippi in 1946 and was influenced greatly by pianist Big Maceo.Jones followed Maceo into Tampa Red’s band in 1947 after Maceo suffered a stroke. In addition to playing behind Tampa Red from 1949 to 1953, he backed Muddy Waters on his 1949 classic “Screamin’ and Cryin’” and later appeared on sides by Howlin’ Wolf. It’s Elmore James that he’ll forever be associated with; the pianist played on James’ classic 1952-56 Chicago sessions for the Bihari brothers’ Meteor, Flair, and Modern labels, as well as dates for Checker, Chief, and Fire. James only had a few opportunities to record under his own name; Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, and Leroy Foster backed Jones on his 1949 Aristocrat label classic “Big Town Playboy”, while Elmore James and saxist J.T. Brown were on hand for Jones’s 1953 Flair coupling “I May Be Wrong”/”Sweet Little Woman.” The rocking “Hoy Hoy,” his last commercial single, was done in 1953 for Atlantic and also featured James and his group in support. Jones continued to work in the clubs (with Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Syl Johnson, Billy Boy Arnold, and Magic Sam, among others) prior to his 1964 death of lung cancer at the age of 40.

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.

Eddie Taylor is best know for his guitar work on the great majority of Jimmy Reed’s Vee-Jay sides during the 1950s and early ’60s, and he even found time to wax a few classic sides of his own for Vee-Jay during the mid-’50s. But Taylor’s records didn’t sell in the quantities that Reed’s did, so he was largely relegated to the role of sideman (he recorded behind John Lee Hooker, John Brim, Elmore James, Snooky Pryor, and many more during the ’50s) not cutting his first full-length record until the early 1970′s. Taylor backed Elmore on sessions in 1956 for Modern and for Chief in 1957.

During the ‘50s Johnny “Big Moose” Walker played with many local Greenville, MS bluesmen, joined Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm in Clarksdale and sat in with the King Biscuit Boys in Helena, Arkansas and worked the Mississippi juke joints with Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson. He traveled extensively with Earl Hooker. Walker’s first studio date was with Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson, for Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi that went unissued. In 1955 Ike Turner taped Moose in a Greenville club; two of those sides, credited to J.W Walker, appeared years later on the Kent Label. He cut his first 45, as Moose John, for Johnny Otis’ Ultra label, also in 1955. Moose recorded even more after Sunnyland Slim brought him to Chicago. He backed Earl Hooker, Ricky Allen, Lorenzo Smith and others on local sessions. Willie Dixon took Moose to New York in 1960 to do some studio work for Prestige/Bluesville. Moose rejoined Elmore James at Silvio’s on the West Side and went to New Orleans with Elmore to record for Bobby Robinson’s Fire label. At another session for Robinson, Moose sang a few himself. He cut some singles during the ‘60s and waxed his first album in 1969 when he and Earl Hooker went to Los Angeles to record for ABC Bluesway. He remained active until the 1980′s before suffering a stroke.

Sam Myers cut his first sides for Ace in 1957 and played both drums and harp behind slide guitar great Elmore James at a 1961 session for Bobby Robinson’s Fire label in New Orleans. In 1960 he cut a single for Robinson’s Fury label and another in 1961 backed by Elmore James and Big Moose Walker. Most listeners know Myers as the frontman for Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets, which lasted for some 20 years before Myers passed in 2006.

Show Notes:

Charlie McCoy ranked among the great blues accompanists of his era and his deft mandolin/guitar work can be heard on numerous recordings from the late 1920′s through the early 1940′s. His younger brother Joe McCoy was another great sideman whose slide style was most notably preserved on the landmark recordings he cut with his wife Memphis Minnie between 1929 and 1934. Charlie McCoy was recording regularly by the late 1920′s, often alongside Walter Vincson and sat in with many other Delta bluesmen that passed through the Jackson area in the years to follow, appearing on guitar and mandolin. He made notable recordings on mandolin backing  Ishman Bracey, Tommy Johnson, his sister-in-law Memphis Minnie, Big Bill Broonzy, Curtis Jones, Monkey Joe, Mary Butler and others. Between 1936 and 1939 he also cut a number of sessions with the groups Papa Charlie’s Boys and the Harlem Hamfats, the latter featuring Joe McCoy as lead vocalist on most sides. Charlie McCoy also cut scattered sides under his own name between 1929 and 1935, some with his brother, but made no more recordings after 1942, passing in 1950, at the age of 44. Joe McCoy died of heart disease in Chicago, only a few months before his brother Charlie. They are both buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Today’s program spans the years 1928 through 1942, finding the brothers playing in a wide variety of settings and styles.

Jackson, Mississippi in the 1920’s was a city with a vibrant blues scene, teeming with artists such as Tommy Johnson, Walter Vincson, Ishman Bracey, Johnnie Temple, the Chatmon Brothers (Bo, Lonnie and Sam were the most prominent) Skip James and Rube Lacey. Lacey recalled McCoy being among the best of this talented group: “But I really believe Charlie got to be a better musician than I was. He was young, but he got to be about the best musician there was in our band, Charlie McCoy. He was wonderful. He could play anything pretty well you sing. …He was good as I ever want to see.”

Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy

The years 1927-31 saw the first commercial recordings of many of the Jackson musicians. Most extensively recorded were the Chatmons, Walter Vincson and Joe and Charlie McCoy. McCoy first recorded in 1928, strictly as an accompanist, backing singer Rosie Mae Moore, Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey, all of whom are featured in our opening set. Moore was a powerful, rough voiced singer who receives excellent guitar support from McCoy stretches out quite a bit on “School Girl Blues”, “Staggering Blues”and who’s playing owes a strong debt to Rube Lacey. Better yet were the four magnificent songs he backed Tommy Johnson on over a two day period: “Cool Drink of Water Blues” “Big Road Blues”, “Bye, Bye Blues” and “Maggie Campbell Blues.” McCoy’s second guitar is superb, not only duplicating Johnson’s guitar part but as, David Evans notes, uses “a flat pick and often strums the strings like a mandolin on his bass part, occasionally doing the same on the treble strings as a beautiful contrast.” McCoy also backed Bracey in very similar fashion on his two numbers, “Saturday Blues” and “Left Alone Blues.” Johnson, Bracey and McCoy returned on Friday, August 31, 1928 for another session for Victor. For whatever reason McCoy didn’t back Johnson but did play mandolin on Bracey’s “Trouble Hearted Blues” and “Brown Mama Blues.” McCoy’s playing is subdued on the beautiful, somber “Trouble Hearted Blues” but his bold, rippling mandolin is heard loud and clear on the equally fine “Brown Mama Blues.”

Between 1928-1931 Charlie played on a variety of sides, many string band related, in the company of Walter Vincson and Bo Carter. In November 1928 Carter, McCoy and an unknown pianist backed singer Alec Johnson on four of six sides. Johnson’s music harks back to an earlier pre-blues era. As Tony Russell notes they “form a lively and expressive pit orchestra to accompany a set of antique minstrel songs and a couple of blues.” McCoy’s playing is superb on the blues”Miss Meal Cramp Blues” and older sounding material like “Sister Maud Mule”, and he rather discomforting “Mysterious Coon.” Also in November of the same year Carter, Vincson and McCoy backed singer Mary Butler on four numbers. Butler may in fact be Rosie Mae Moore who McCoy backed in February of the same year. McCoy plays mandolin on three of the four tracks including the tough minded “Electrocuted Blues (Electric Chair Blues)”, “Bungalow Blues” and “Mary Blues.” The session isn’t quite as strong as the earlier session.

With Walter Vincson he cut sides as the Mississippi Mud Steppers, with the addition of guitarist Sam Hill (plus Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon on one track) as the Mississippi Blacksnakes and with Carter and Vincson as the Jackson Blue Boys. With the Mississippi Mud Steppers he cut the remarkable instrumental “Jackson Stomp”, based on the seminal “Cow Cow Blues”, (the song was modified as “The Lonesome Train That Took My Baby Away” at a Charlie McCoy session with Bo Carter on guitar). The song is a dazzling, virtuoso mandolin performance. McCoy further showcases his versatility on a trio of waltzes, playing mandolin on “Alma Waltz (Ruby Waltz)” and plays banjo on two numbers. With the Mississippi Blacksnakes his robust mandolin is heard on the bawdy “Grind So Fine” and the country tinged “Blue Sky Blues” both boasting terrific vocals from Vincson. Two days after the first Blacksnakes session the group recorded again with Bo Carter as the vocalist and either McCoy or Sam Hill on guitar. This is a bluesier session with McCoy again on mandolin/banjo with his mandolin heard in fine form on “It Still Ain’t No Good (New It Ain’t No Good)” and “Easy Going Woman Blues.” One more song by the group, “Bye Bye Baby Blues”, was cut the following day featuring fine slide from McCoy. The two tracks cut as the Jackson Blue Boys are interesting for featuring singing from Carter, Vincson and McCoy in unison and taking solo turns with McCoy playing mandolin.

Between 1929-1936 Charlie cut scattered sides under his own name or as lead in various bands. By the early 1930′s many of the Jackson musicians began to disperse, either heading to the delta or like Johnnie Temple and Charlie McCoy to Chicago. By 1932 all of McCoy’s recordings were waxed up North. He did cut several sessions between 1929-1930 in Memphis and Jackson. The bulk of the recordings again feature McCoy’s pals Walter Vincson and Bo Carter on material that ranges from hokum, blues and string band. Billed as Charlie McCoy with Chatman’s Mississippi Hot Footers they cut hokum sides in the vein of the immensely popular “It’s Tight Like That” such as “It Ain’t No Good – Part 1 & II” and “It Is So Good – Part 1 & II” the latter sporting prominent mandolin from McCoy. When not sharing the vocals with his partners, McCoy proves himself a fine reedy singer on straight blues numbers such as “You Gonna Need Me” and the superb “Last Time Blues” where he lays down some watery slide playing. With Carter on violin McCoy delivers “Your Valves Need Grinding”managing to sound wistful and racy at the same time, the string band blues of “Blue Heaven Blues” and takes it solo on the low down “Gland Hand Blues” framed by some imaginative guitar figures. The highlight from a December 15, 1930 session is “That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away” a rippling mandolin showcase based on the theme of “Cow Cow Blues” and wonderfully sung by McCoy. Four days later, on a duet with Bo Carter, he cut a pair of interesting topical numbers: “The Northern Starvers Are Returning Home” and “Mississippi I’m Longing For You” both with a strong country feel.

By the early 1930′s Charlie was in Chicago where he settled in as a much in demand session musician although he managed a few sides under his own name. In February 1930, As Papa Charlie McCoy, he cut the excellent “Times Ain’t What They Used To Be” playing terrific banjo with guitar from either his brother Joe or Tampa Red. The following day, with Georgia Tom on piano, he cut “Too Long” an insinuating, bluesy pop song that proved to be a sizable hit. In 1934 under the pseudonym Mississippi Mudder he waxed the bouncy “Candy Man Blues”, the wonderful hard time blues of “Charity Blues” featuring some strong piano from Chuck Segar, “Baltimore Blues” a variation on the “Sweet Old Kokomo/Sweet Home Chicago” theme with brother Joe on guitar and the moody slide driven “Motherless & Fatherless Blues.” In 1936 he led a group listed as Papa Charlie’s Boys (Papa Charlie); McCoy is in superb form on vocal and jazzy mandolin on a sparkling remake of “Too Long”, “Let My Peaches Be” and “You Can’t Play Me Cheap” laying down some acrobatic mandolin solos, and the heartfelt “Gypsy Woman Blues.”

Joe McCoy was well known for his association with his wife Memphis Minnie where he played the part of Kansas Joe. During the late 1920′s Minnie began playing guitar with a variety of ad hoc jug bands during the jug band craze. Minnie also began a common law marriage with Kansas Joe McCoy. Their very first session yielded the hit song “Bumble Bee” (later recorded by Muddy Waters as “Honey Bee”), and McCoy would be her musical partner for the next six years. Between 1929 and 1934 (they divorced in early 1935) they cut around one hundred sides together. Joe McCoy never recorded under his own name, instead performing under various pseudonyms; Georgia Pine Boy, Hallelujah Joe, Big Joe McCoy and His Washboard Band, and The Mississippi Mudder. Other names he used from time to time included Hillbilly Plowboy, Mud Dauber Joe and Hamfoot Ham.

After Joe and Minnie separated Joe occupied himself in small bands, singing with the Harlem Hamfats, working as a songwriter and working with his brother Charlie. The Harlem Hamfats were based in Chicago, and were put together by record producer and entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams simply for the purpose of making studio recordings. The band usually consisted of: Joe McCoy (guitar, vocals), Charlie McCoy (guitar, mandolin), Herb Morand (trumpet, vocals), John Lindsay (bass), Odell Rand (clarinet), Horace Malcolm (piano), Freddie Flynn and Pearlis Williams (drums). The band’s sound blended blues, dixieland and swing jazz. Led by Morand and Joe McCoy, the main songwriters, the group initially provided instrumental backing to artists including Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon, Rosetta Howard, and Johnny Temple. Their first major hits were “Oh! Red”, recorded in April 1936, and “Let’s Get Drunk And Truck” (originally recorded by Tampa Red), recorded in August of the same year. “Oh! Red” was popular enough to be covered by Count Basie, The Ink Spots, Blind Willie McTell and, later, Howlin’ Wolf.

Joe and Charlie recorded, with Joe as lead bill, for Decca in 1934 as The Mississippi Mudder (Mud Dauber Joe) on notable numbers like “Evil Devil Woman Blues” a smoother version of Skip James’ “Devil Got My Woman” with mandolin like guitar from Charlie and “Going Back Home Blues” strongly influenced by Tommy Johnson. Three sessions in 1941-1942 are listed as Big Joe And His Rhythm a group containing, at times, Robert Lee McCoy, Washboard Sam, Ransom Knowling, Alfred Elkins, Amanda Sortier and Harman Ray. The music is hard to define with Tony Russell dubbing it “skiffle Blues” and describing it this way: “the blend of perky harmonica, stolid rhythm guitar and washboard produces an unusual but shallow ensemble sound and, although it is somewhat freshened by the addition of Charlie McCoy’s mandolin…the half dozen examples…may for some listeners be all the late Joe McCoy they need.” Overall the music is entertaining particularity a follow-up to the Hamfat’s popular “Oh! Red” in “Oh Red’s Twin Brother”, the prominent mandolin of “I’ll Get You Off My Mind” and “It Ain’t No Lie” once again featuring the “Cow Cow Blues” motif and “Bessie Lee Blues.”