Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

We cover a wide swath of blues spanning from 1927 through 1976. Along the way we spotlight some fine piano blues, several superb blues ladies, lots of pre-war blues including twin spins of Charlie Patton and two by Memphis Slim. Among the featured piano players are a couple from St. Louis; Aaron “Pinteop” Sparks and Charlie McFadden. According to Henry Townsend McFadden could play a little piano but on his records deferred to others including Roosevelt Sykes, Eddie Miller and Aaron “Pinteop” Sparks. McFadden was a marvelous vocalist who possessed a plaintive, laid back delivery and was a good lyricist to boot. McFadden used the name “Speck” Pertum when he recorded for Brunswick, nicknamed for the glasses he always wore. Based in St. Louis, he toured extensively with Roosevelt Sykes, traveling as far south as Texas. McFadden cut two-dozen sides between 1929 and 1937 for a variety of different labels. According to Townsend he passed sometime in the early 1940’s.

The Sparks brothers were based in St. Louis and cut four sessions, the first for Victor and the other three for Bluebird, between 1932 and 1935. Milton cut two songs for Decca in 1934 under the name Flyin’ Lindberg. Aaron backed a number of St. Louis artists at their second session: Elisabeth Washington, Tecumseh McDowell, Dorotha Trowbridge, James “Stump” Johnson and Charlie McFadden.Townsend remembered the brothers well:   “He [Marion] just kept getting better and better and got to playing for illegal joints y’know. …Pinetop was doing a lot of house-party playing and uh ’cause this was a trend then. We would go from house-party to house-party and make some money to pay the rent. We’d go from place to place like that I mean it’d be announced at this party before it was over that there would be such and such a place to get their rent paid and Pinetop would play for those kind of parties where they had a piano–and I kinda went around him quite a bit.” Now at that time Milton wasn’t singing, Pinetop was the star when it come to singing. And so just out of nowhere Milton decided he was going to sing and he’d start. …Aaron got the name Pinetop because “He was very good at the number that Smith made [Pinetop Smith's "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie"]. Today’s selection, “Down On The Levee”, is a typically sensitive mid-tempo number featuring Milton’s fine, mellow delivery and some wonderful right hand flourishes from Aaron.

Mack Rhinehart and Brownie Stubblefield were a piano/guitar team that cut a dozen sides in 1936 and 1937. Rhinehart also recorded solo as Blind Mack in 1935 but only two of his ten  sides were ever released.  According to Blues & Gospel Records some twenty-two sides by the duo remain unissued. Nothing is known about the duo although noted researcher David Evans called Rhinehart “a major artist” with “an outstanding recorded legacy.”

Better known is Montana Taylor who was born Arthur Taylor in Butte, Montana, where his father owned a club. The family moved to Chicago and then Indianapolis, where Taylor learned piano around 1919. Later he moved to Cleveland, Ohio. By 1929 he was back in Chicago, where he recorded a few tracks for Vocalion Records, including “Indiana Avenue Stomp” and “Detroit Rocks”. He then disappeared for some years but was rediscovered by jazz fan Rudi Blesh, and was recorded both solo and as the accompanist to Bertha “Chippie” Hill who sings on today’s track, “Mistreatin’ Mr. Dupree.” His final recordings were from a 1948 radio broadcast. Taylor died in 1954. Taylor’s final recordings are collected on the CD Circle Recordings on the Southland label.

Bertha “Chippie” Hill

We showcase several fine blues ladies including stars Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith plus lesser known singers like Mary Johnson, Hattie Burleson and Hattie Hudson. From 1928 we hear Bessie in top form in “Slow And Easy Man.” The Columbia Records 1927 catalog gave prominence to Bessie as “The Empress of the Blues” and listed a full three pages of her recordings. The advertising read: “Wherever the blues are sung, there you will hear the name of Bessie Smith, best loved of all the Race’s blues singers. Bessie has the knack for picking the songs you like and the gift of singing them the way you want them sung. Every year this famous ‘Empress of the Blues’ tours the country appearing before packed houses.”  Like Bessie Ma Rainey made her debut in 1923. Born in 1886, she said that she added blues in her act in 1902 and by the 1920’s it certainly dominated her repertoire. Our selection, “Leaving This Morning”, is one of eight numbers she cut in 1928 backed by the team of Tampa Red and Georgia Tom Dorsey.

Of the lesser known ladies, Mary Johnson of St. Louis (sometimes billed as “Signifying Mary”) made her debut in 1929. She cut just shy of two-dozen songs, achieved modest success and never recorded again after 1936 despite living until 1970. Johnson was blessed with superb backing musicians throughout her brief career that elevated her recordings above many of her contemporaries. She was accompanied by either Henry Brown, Judson Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, or Peetie Wheetstraw on piano, many selections featuring trombonist Ike Rodgers, guitarists Tampa Red and Kokomo Arnold and violinist Artie Mosby. Hattie Burleson and Hattie Hudson both hail from Dallas. Hudson cut one 78 in Dallas in 1927.Texas blues singer Hattie Burleson recorded four tracks in Dallas, TX, for Brunswick Records in October 1928. Two years later she recorded three sides in Grafton, WI, for Paramount Records. Little else is known about her life, save that she lived in the famed Deep Ellum area of downtown Dallas, where she operated a dancehall for a time. Her “Sadie’s Servant Room Blues” is a rare protest song dealing with domestic service:

Missus Jarvis don’t pay me much
They give me just what they think I’m worth
I’m gonna change my mind, yes change my mind
Cause I keep the servant room blues all the time

I receive my company in the rear
Still these folks don’t want to see them here
Gonna change my mind, yes change my mind
Cause I keep the servant room blues all the time

We spin a pair of tracks apiece by Memphis Slim and Charlie Patton. From Slim we play tracks form two excellent 1960’s records: Sonet Blues Story cut for Verve in 1967 and  Bad Luck & Trouble cut for Candid in 1961 a session he shared with Jazz Gillum and Arbee Stidham. The former session is a nice date featuring excellent contributions from guitarist Billy Butler and tenor man Eddie Chamblee. Slim is in majestic form on today’s number, “I Am The Blues.” The latter date finds Slim running through some favorites and offering up some spoken commentary about the songs’ originators like Leroy Carr, Big Maceo and Curtis Jones.

We return again to Charlie Patton who we spotlighted at the end of November. I never get tired of listening to Patton and this time we spin a couple of tracks I didn’t get to last time: “Elder Greene” and “Hammer Blues.” “Elder Greene” was likely a song Patton picked up from his mentor Henry Sloan.  As David Evans noted the song is “related melodically to versions of “Alabama Bound,” a song that Patton’s niece identified in Sloan’s repertoire. Of the latter number Evans writes  “‘Hammer Blues’ there are brief mentions of serving a sentence on a road gang and being shackled in preparation for a train ride to Parchman Penitentiary in northern Sunflower County. It is not known whether these verses refer to an experience of Patton or of one or more of his friends.”

We play some more modern blues, relatively speaking, from the 1960’s. Among those are cuts by L.C. Robinson (House Cleanin’ Blues) and Homesick James (Ain’t Sick No More) cut for the Bluesway label. ABC-Paramount formed the BluesWay subsidiary in 1966 to record blues music. The label lasted into 1974, with the last new releases coming in February, 1974. The label issued over 70 albums, numerous 45’s plus several titles that remain unreleased. The label has been ill served reissue wise with only a handful of releases issued on CD, usually by labels other than the parent company MCA, and in many cases these CD’s themselves are out of print. MCA has largely left the catalogue languish. The BluesWay label has a decidedly mixed reputation, cutting many very good records and many downright bad ones. At some point I’ll be doing a feature on the Bluesway label.

Show Notes:

Today’s mix show shines the light on several fine woman blues singers of the 20’s and 30’s as well as a batch of exceptional piano players. We open and close the program by spotlighting some famous singers and some utterly forgotten. Among the most famous are Victoria Spivey and the incomparable Bessie Smith. Smith made her debut in 1923 scoring a huge hit that year with “Down Hearted Blues.” Her sales were so impressive that record companies immediately sent talent scouts down south for similar blues ladies, opening the door for singers like Clara Smith, Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and Sippie Wallace. These woman singers dominated the market for the first half of the 20’s. Our selection, I’m Down In The Dumps”, comes from Bessie’s final four-song session in 1933. Victoria Spivey made her debut relatively late, in 1926 and recorded prolifically through 1937.

Among the other female singers we spotlight are Margaret Johnson, Lizzie Miles, Elizabeth Johnson, Lil Johnson, Lillie Mae Kirkman and Merline Johnson. Margaret Johnson cut 26 sides between 1923-1927 and worked with some top players including Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong. Little in known of her life outside of the fact she worked the vaudeville circuit throughout the 1920’s. Johnson was a powerful, expressive singer as she proves on 1924’s “Nobody Knows The Way I Feel Dis Mornin’” easily cutting through the limitations of the acoustic recording process to deliver a rousing performance. Lizzie Miles was another distinctive singer who worked in early jazz band, circuses and minstrel shows between 1909 and 1921 before launching her recording career. She recorded extensively between 1922 and 1929 and again in 1939. She came out of retirement in 1950. She’s in superb form on “The Man I Got Ain’t The Man I Want “ featuring some tasteful playing from guitarist Teddy Bunn. After making a few records in 1929, Lil Johnson didn’t surface again on record until 1935, cutting some 60 sides through 1937. Merline Johnson was one of the most prolific female artists of the 30’s, cutting almost 100 songs, yet little is known about her background.  Known as The Yas Yas Girl, she recorded with some of Chicago’s top musicians including Big Bill Broonzy, Black Bob, Casey Bill Weldon, Ransom Knowling, Blind John Davis and others. “Bad Whiskey Blues” comes form a final unissued 1947 session with Big Bill Broonzy and Blind John Davis.

We showcase several fine piano players including a couple apiece by the popular Walter Davis and Curtis Jones. Walter Davis was one of the most recorded artists of the era, cutting some 160 sides between 1930 and 1941. He came to St. Louis in 1925 and became a protégé of Roosevelt Sykes who played on his first six sessions. Davis continued to record steadily through the 1940’s until his final sessions in 1952. ‘Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” is a rare topical blues from Davis illustrating the problems of black soldiers returning from the war only to confront the same old prejudices:

I spent two years in the European country, way out across the deep blues sea (2x)
And since I been round here, don’t seem like home to me

Curtis Jones scored a huge hit in 1937 with “Lonesome Bedroom Blues.” The song remained in Columbia’s catalog until the demise of the 78 rpm record in the late fifties and eventually to become a blues standard. In 1929, Curtis Jones left Dallas working his way through the Mid and Southwest via Kansas City, then traveling to New Orleans where he finally made his way to Chicago. Arriving there in 1936, he formed his own group and began playing at rent parties and in Southside joints or bars and was soon spotted by Vocalion talent scout Lester Melrose. Over the next five years Curtis Jones was in the studio on no fewer than twenty occasions, recording some hundred titles, proving himself a very imaginative songwriter. His career picked up during the 60’s blues revival where he cut several records and eventually moved to Europe where he remained until his death in 1971. It’s easy to underestimate Jones with the seemingly sameness of his songs, yet he was an imaginative, often startling lyricist as he proves on our selections: “Down In The Slums” and particularly “Alley Bound”:

I have been singing sentimental, songs all over town (2x)
And I haven’t made no headway so you know I’m alley bound
I done made every beer tavern, I done stopped at every liquor store (2x)
So I try the alley, and stop by the bootleggers door
The bootlegger tells me, that the g-men have been around (2x)
And broke up all the moonshine, and poured the ice on the ground

In addition to two songs we play under Jones’ name, we also find him backing Lillie Mae Kirkman’s on her provocative “Hop Head Blues”:

I said daddy, daddy, daddy, you the meanest man I’ve ever seen (2x)
You use hop and reefer, and you even use morphine
Believe I smoke my reefer, but they don’t take no effect on me (2x)
I can smoke them every morning, be as happy as any woman can be
Reefer’s all right to smoke, but they treat you so low down (2x)
Doctor said if I didn’t quit I’d be six feet down in the ground

We spin a trio of great piano records from 1929 including Eddie Miller’s seductive “Good Jelly Blues.” The other side contains the marvelous “Freight Train Blues”, his two finest recordings. Nolan Welsh cut six sides between 1926 and 1929 including two featuring Louis Armstrong. Montana Taylor’s “Indiana Avenue Stomp b/w Detroit Rocks” has to rank as some of the finest barrelhouse numbers of the era. He was rediscovered in 1946, cutting some material for the Circle label.

We move up to the 50’s and 60’s to hear fine performances from Lightnin’ Hopkins  and Big Mama Thornton. As I was putting the program together I was watching the news about the wildfires outside of L.A. and immediately though of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ great “Burnin’ In L.A “ from 1961. From 1963 we play “Mercy” by Big Mama Thornton, and with all respects to “Hound Dog” and “Ball And Chain”, this is one of her finest, if unheralded numbers featuring a terrific uncredited guitarist.

Show Notes:

Today’s show is the second 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 first year we spotlighted was 1927 which 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. The average blues or gospel record had sales in the region of 10,000. In 1928 the figure was 1,000 or so lower which was still a thriving market. 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.

During the peak years there were five major companies issuing records for the race market: Okeh, Columbia, Paramount, Brunswick-Balke-Collender (encompassing Brunswick and Vocalion (a division of Gennett). Victor was the only label  to systematically exploit the the blues talent around Memphis. Their second visit there, in January and February 1928, yielded three times as much material as their initial 1927 visit. Among those recorded were Blind Willie McTell, Jim Jackson, Memphis Jug Band, Frank Stokes, Tommy Johnson, Ishman Bracey, Furry Lewis, Cannon’s Jug Stompers among many others. In August alone the label cut some 180 sides, mostly by black artists.

Jim Jackson’s “Kansas City Blues” was the massive hit of 1927 and in 1928 that honor went to “How Long How Long Blues” by Leroy Carr and “It’ Tight like That” by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, both records issued by Vocalion. The highly suggestive “It’ Tight like That” was cut in September of 1928 which was just a few months after Vocalion dropped their tag “Better and Cleaner Race Records.” Vocalion also cut several sides by Leroy Carr’s guitarist, Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. In 1928 Brunswick recorded Bo Carter, Fannie Mae Goosby and Hattie Burleson among others.

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 and about half that number in 1928. After the takeover by Columbia, OKeh made no field recordings until 1928 when they visited Memphis where they recorded blues singers such as Tom Dickson and the now legendary recordings by Mississippi John Hurt. They also recorded Sloppy Henry and Uncle Bud Walker in Atlanta a few months afterwards. Lonnie Johnson went with the unit, himself recording in both Memphis and san Antonio. In San Antonio he backed Texas Alexander who OKeh had initially recorded in New York the previous August. Columbia also made field recordings in Atlanta and Dallas where they recorded blues singers such as Barbecue Bob and his brother Charley Lincoln, Pink Anderson with Simmie Dooley, Peg Leg Howell, Curley Weaver, Lillian Glinn among many others.

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.

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.

Back-Water Blues (MP3)

The 1927 flood inundated 27,000 square miles along the lower reaches of the Mississippi River populated by more than 900,000 people. For a period of months in the spring and summer of 1927, water covered the whole vast flood plain of the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries. It swallowed up nearly all of cotton country, making a lake of the tens of thousands of square miles of the Mississippi Delta. Some 700,000 people were driven from the land, the great majority of them black sharecroppers and tenant farmers. The 1927 flood provoked an outpouring of songs by both whites and African-Americans. Many blues songs were written directly about the flood itself while others dealt with related matters like levee work, refugee camps and other natural disasters. The four record companies-Columbia, OKeh, Paramount and Victor engaged in a sweepstakes of sorts to see which one could come up with the biggest original “race record” song hit dealing with this 1927 flood. Columbia took the lead from the start. According to David Evans: “Their most popular blues artist, and probably the most popular of any label, Bessie Smith, had already recorded ‘Back-Water Blues’ and ‘Muddy Water,’ and Columbia had these two records on the market by the time the levees broke in the South in April.” In fact “Back-Water Blues” was recorded on February 17, 1927, some two months before the levees actually broke. Through some impressive detective work Evans determined that Bessie was actually singing about flooding in Nashville in December 1926, the effects of which she witnessed first hand. This flood contributed to the rising waters of the Mississippi River that reached flood stage four months later. Nonetheless “Back-Water Blues” was the biggest hit of the flood related songs and has become a blues standard. Again from Evans: “On June 18, 1927, the Baltimore Afro-American reported that ‘Back-Water Blues’ and ‘Muddy Water (a Mississippi moan)’ are probably in the fore of best sellers of the past week. Both are by Bessie Smith. Some owners of the record shops attribute the present popularity of these records to the publicity given to the Mississippi river floods which are laying waste to many former haunts of record buyers.” It also didn’t hurt that the record was advertised extensively in the black press including the above advertisement from the Chicago Defender. It’s not hard to see why Bessie’s account resonated with the public, providing a personal feel to the disaster:

When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night (2x)
Then trouble’s takin’ place in the lowlands at night

I woke up this mornin’, can’t even get out of my door (2x)
There’s been enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she want to go

Then they rowed a little boat about five miles ‘cross the pond (2x)
I packed all my clothes, throwed them in and they rowed me along

When it thunders and lightnin’ and when the wind begins to blow (2x)
There’s thousands of people ain’t got no place to go

Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill (2x)
Then looked down on the house were I used to live

Backwater1 blues done call me to pack my things and go (2x)
‘Cause my house fell down and I can’t live there no more

Mmm, I can’t move no more (2x)
There ain’t no place for a poor old girl to go

High Water Blues (MP3)

OKeh Records first entry in the flood sweepstakes was “South Bound Water” recorded on April 25 by their biggest blues star Lonnie Johnson only four days after the levee broke at Greenville. As Evans notes: “The bursting of the levee above Greenville, Mississippi, on April 21 was the defining event of the 1927 flood, and the great rush to record flood songs began only after this catastrophe.” On May 3 Johnson cut “Back-Water Blues” a cover of the Bessie Smith hit which was issued as the flip side of “South Bound Water”, another flood song. The record was advertised in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender. Johnson returned to the flood theme several times including “Low Land Moan”, “The New Fallin’ Rain Blues” and “Broken Levee Blues”, one of the few flood songs with a streak of protest.  OKeh also recorded and advertised “High Water Blues” in  by Blue Belle featuring Lonnie Johnson on guitar and advertised in the Chicago Defender on August 13, 1927. Bessie Mae Smith recorded variously as St. Louis Bessie, Blue Belle and Streamline Mae. Her 18 sides recorded between 1927-1930 showcase a strong singer who used some striking imagery in her songs.

Several other flood songs were advertised in the Chicago Defender including Barbecue Bob’s “Mississippi Heavy Water Blues”, Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Rising High Water Blues” and Charlie Patton’s two-part “High Water Everywhere” of which Paramount devoted one of it’s last advertisements to this record which became a surprise hit at the dawn of the Great Depression. I’ll be reproducing these ads in a future installment of our ongoing exploration of the Chicago Defender blues ads.

Back Water Blues (MP3)

Show notes:

I’ve been doing a Christmas blues show for something like the past dozen years and was always frustrated with the lack of a really good collection of early blues Christmas songs. Luckily in 20o5 I hooked up with the Document label to put together a 2-CD, 52 track collection of blues and gospel songs from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. The result was Blues, Blues Christmas and the majority of today’s show comes from that collection. For some reason the CD is currently out of stock so good luck finding a copy – and no I don’t have any extras!

[This is an updated version of an article I wrote in 2006]

“Hurray for Christmas” exclaims Bessie Smith on her classic “At The Christmas Ball”, which lays claim to being the first recorded Christmas blues song cut way back in 1925. Little did Bessie know that a tradition was born and through the years there have been hundreds of blues Christmas songs recorded by both well-established artists and a host of up-and-coming hopefuls. Record companies were quick to see the possibilities, often advertising these boldly in the trade papers of the day. The familiar blues themes of loneliness and hard times are always more acute during the holidays. Christmas themes are usually split between the “I want my baby for Christmas” variety and the “Its Christmas and I don’t have a lousy dime” lament. Surprisingly there’s a relative scarcity of gospel Christmas songs although there were plenty of Christmas sermons in the early years when recorded sermons were in vogue. In addition there’s a rich vein of New Year’s songs usually revolving around the hope that upcoming year will be better than the last.

Santa Claus Blues: The 1920’s & 30’s

The earliest Christmas blues songs that I tracked down date from 1925. On Oct. 8 of that year Eva Taylor featured with Clarence Williams’ Trio cut “Santa Claus Blues” for the Okeh label and recut the tune again on Oct. 16 with a slightly larger band, the Clarence Williams’ Blue Five. Both versions feature Louis Armstrong on cornet. The song is more pop than blues however. On Nov. 18 Bessie Smith cut At The Christmas Ball [Lyrics] for Columbia. She recut the song again Dec. 9 but this version remained unissued. Many blues artists from the 20’s cut Christmas songs including: Elzadie Robinson “The Santa Claus Crave” (1927), Victoria Spivey “Christmas Mornin’ Blues” (1927), Blind Lemon Jefferson “Christmas Eve Blues” (1928), Bertha Chippie Hill “Christmas Man Blues” (1928), Blind Blake “Lonesome Christmas Blues” (1929), Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers w/ Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jaxon Christ Was Born On Christmas Morn (1929) [Lyrics].

The trend continued with more frequency in the 30’s. Here are a few notable songs: Butterbeans & Susie Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus (1930), Charlie Jordan “Santa Claus Blues” ["Christmas Christmas, how glad I am you are here/ Well I ain’t had a chicken dinner for this whole round year/Shiny bones and naked bones gleaming from around my plate/ …So pass me that chicken, the turkey, duck and the goose/Well all you birds gonna be one legged when I turn you-a-loose"] (1931) and “Christmas “Christmas Blues” (1935), Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom “Christmas Morning Blues” (1934) [Lyrics], Verdi Lee “Christmas “Tree Blues” (1935), Tampa Red “Christmas And New Years Blues” (1934), Peetie Wheatstraw “Santa Claus Blues” (1935), Bumble Bee Slim’s “Christmas And No Santa Claus and “Santa Claus Bring Me A New Woman” (1936), Black Ace “Christmas Time Blues (Beggin’ Santa Claus)” (1937), Casey Bill Weldon “Christmas Time Blues” (1937), Bo Carter “Santa Claus” (1938), Walter Davis “Santa Claus” (1935) [Lyrics], Sonny Boy Williamson I “Christmas Morning Blues” (1938).

Merry Christmas Baby: The 40’s & 50’s

In the 40’s there of course was more blues Christmas songs but there was a new music brewing called R&B. Evolving out of jump blues in the late ’40s, R&B laid the groundwork for rock & roll. Notable blues and R&B songs from this period include: Gatemouth Moore “Christmas Blues” (1946), Little Willie Littlefield “Merry Xmas” (1949), Mabel Scott “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” (1947), Harman Ray Xmas Blues ["Hold it, hold it man/Don’t play me no jingle bells the way I feel this Christmas/Only kind of bells I want to have anything to do with is some of them mission bells/Man, play me the blues long, loud and lowdown"] (1947), Boll Weavil “Christmas Time Blues” (1947), Big Joe Turner Christmas Date Boogie (1948), Thelma Cooper “I Need A Man (For Xmas)” (1948), Smokey Hogg “I Want My Baby For Christmas” (1949), Amos Milburn “Let’s Make Christmas Merry Baby” (1949), Harry Crafton “Bring That Cadillac Back” ["I let you eat my turkey on Christmas morn/When I looked around you and my Cadillac was gone"] (1949), Felix Gross “Love For Christmas” ["You can have your turkey and your dressing/Sweet cakes and apple pie/Blue Champagne and Rock & Rye/Everything that money can buy"] (1949), J.B. Summers “I Want a Present For Christmas” ["Santa Claus, Santa Claus/Hear my plea/Open up your bag and give a fine brown baby to me/ …You can stop by my chimney/Drop her in the chute/ Leave your reindeer outside/Come in and get my loot"] (1949).

The era’s biggest Christmas song was undoubtedly the immortal “Merry Christmas, Baby” cut by Charles Brown & The Blazers in 1947. This perennial classic has been covered numerous times including versions by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Lena Horne , Lou Rawls, Booker T. & the MG’s, Otis Redding, James Brown and countless others. Charles Brown’s smooth ballad style has become synonymous with Christmas ever since remaking “Merry Christmas, Baby” many times, cutting many other Christmas songs and full length albums including 1961’s “Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs” and “Cool Christmas Blues” in 1994. One other song from this era is the downright odd “Junior’s a Jap Girl’s Christmas for His Santa Claus” (1942) a Library of Congress recording by Willie Blackwell that defies categorization. Oher non-R&B Christmas songs from the 40’s include a few by Leadbelly such as “Christmas Is A-Coming” [Lyrics], “The Christmas Song”, “On A Christmas Day”, Sylvestor Cotton “Christmas Blues” (1948), Washboard Pete [aka Ralph Willis] “Christmas Blues” (1948), Alex Seward & Louis Hayes “Christmas Time Blues” (1948), Walter Davis “Santa Claus” (1949).

The 50’s produced many more Christmas gems including: Lowell Fulson’s oft covered “”Lonesome Christmas” (1950), Cecil Gant It’s Christmas Time Again (1950), Roy Milton “Christmas Time Blues” (1950), Johnny Otis & Little Esther Phillips “Far Away Blues” [also known as "Faraway Christmas Blues"] (1950), Jimmy Liggins “I Want My Baby For Christmas” (1950), Larry Darnell Christmas Blues (1950), Sonny Parker w/ Lionel Hampton “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” (1950), Lloyd Glenn “Sleigh Ride” (1951), Sugar Chile Robinson “Christmas Boogie b/w Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1950), Titus Turner Christmas Morning (1952), Lightning Hopkins “Merry Christmas” (1953), Chuck Berry “Run, Rudolph, Run” (1958) and “Merry Christmas Baby” (1958), John Lee Hooker “Blues for Christmas” (1959).

Please Come Home For Christmas Baby: The 60’s To The Present

The 60’s, less so in the 70’s, produced a number of strong Christmas blues songs including at least one blues classic, Little Johnny Taylor’s “Please Come Home For Christmas” (1969) which has become an oft covered holiday classic. Other notable 60’s songs include: Sonny Boy Williamson II “Santa Claus” (1960), Lightnin’ Hopkins “Santa” (1960), Black Ace “Santa Claus Blues” (1960), B.B. King “Christmas Celebration” (1960), Hop Wilson “Merry Christmas, Darling” (1961), Robert Nighthawk “Merry Christmas Baby” (1964), Lowell Fulson “I Wanna Spend Christmas With You” (1967), Louis Jordan “Santa Claus, Santa Claus” (1968), Charles Brown “New Merry Christmas Baby” (1969) featuring Earl Hooker, Bukka White “Christmas Eve Blues” (1969). In the 70’s: Jimmy Reed “Christmas Present Blues” (1970), Lee Jackson “The Christmas Song” (1971), Albert King “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” (1974) and “Christmas Comes But Once A Year” (1974), Eddie C. Campbell “Santa’s Messin’ with the Kid” (1977).

There seems to be a dearth of quality Christmas songs in the 70’s and 80’s. By the late 80’s the rise of the CD caused the demise of the 45 record which was one of the main vehicles for putting out holiday songs. However in lieu of the 45 labels began releasing Christmas themed compilations and there have been a number of very good collections. Some of the best include: “Austin Rhythm and Blues Christmas” (1989) from the Antone’s label [reissued on Epic in 1986 and Sony in 2001], “Alligator Records Christmas Collection” (1992), “Ichiban Blues At Christmas Vol. 1-4″ (1991-97) ["Best of Ichiban Blues at Christmas" was issued 2002], “Bullseye Blues Christmas” (1995), “Stony Plain’s Christmas Blues” (2000), “Blue Christmas” (2000) from the Dialtone label, “Blue Xmas” (2001) on Evidence. A number of artists issued Christmas themed records including Charles Brown, Huey “Piano’ Smith, Johnny Adams, B.B. King and Etta James. Also with the dominance of the CD age labels went back into their vaults to put together compilations of classic Christmas blues. Many of the songs listed earlier in this article can be found on these collections and the best of these will be listed below.

Let Me Hang My Stocking On Your Christmas Tree

Christmas blues as sexual metaphor? Of course! The blues has always been loaded with double entendres and Christmas blues offers plenty of examples: Roosevelt Sykes “Let Me Hang My Stocking In Your Christmas Tree” (1937), Jimmy Butler Trim Your Tree ["I’m gonna bring along my hatchet/My beautiful Christmas balls/I’ll sprinkle my snow up on your tree and hang my mistletoe on your wall"] (1955), Clarence Carter “Back Door Santa” (1968), “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” by Albert King (1974) and Sir Mack Rice (1982), Rufus Thomas “I’ll Be Your Santa, Baby” (1982) and Sonny Rhodes the same year, Chick Willis “(All I Want for Christmas Is To) Lay Around and Love On You” (1991).

Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus

Those who listen to the blues know it’s not all doom and gloom. The blues are laced with humor and that comes across in many blues Christmas songs: Butterbeans & Susie “Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus” (1930) [Lyrics], Big Jack Johnson “Rudolph Got Drunk Last Night” (1990), Clyde Lasley “Santa Claus Home Drunk”, Billy Ray Charles “I Been Double Crossed By Santa Claus”, Louis Armstrong “Zat You Santa Claus.”

Empty Stocking Blues

Not everyone enjoys the holidays and many people suffer from the Christmas blues. If you want to wallow in your depression here’s an appropriate blues soundtrack: Leroy Carr Christmas In Jail – Ain’t That A Pain? (1929) [Lyrics], Jimmy Witherspoon “Christmas Blues” [alternately titled "How I Hate To See Christmas Come Around"] (1947), Jimmy Grissom “Christmas Brings Me Down” (1948), Floyd Dixon “Empty Stocking Blues” (1950), “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues” ["Unless you come home to me/I'll be drunk all day Christmas Day"]” (1951), Lowell Fulson’s two-part “Lonesome Christmas” (1951), Freddie King’s classic two sided 45 “Christmas Tears b/w I Hear Jingle Bells” (1961), Jerry McCain & B.B. Coleman “Sad, Sad Christmas” (1992).

Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?

Recorded sermons were among the most popular and best selling of the “race records”in the 1920’s and 1930’s. These records provided a fascinating look into the views and concerns of black America at a time when very few outlets existed for black expression. Rev. J.M. Gates was the most popular and prolific of them all, waxing some two hundred titles between 1926 and 1941, which accounted for a staggering quarter of all sermons recorded during this period. Notable sermons from this period include: Rev. Edward Clayborn “The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas” (1928) [Lyrics], Rev. A.W. Nix “Death Might Be Your Christmas Gift” (1927), or these three by Rev. J.M. Gates: “You May Be Alive Or You May Be Dead, Christmas Day” (1927), “Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?” (1927), “Did You Spend Christmas Day In Jail?” (1929).

Happy New Year Darling

While there’s far more Christmas songs, New Year has inspired a number of noteworthy songs: Blind Lemon Jefferson “Happy New Year Blues” (1928), Mary Harris with Peetie Wheatstraw “Happy New Year Blues” (1935) [Lyrics], Smokey Hogg “New Years Eve Blues” (1947), Lonnie Johnson Happy New Year, Darling["It seems a long time since I been fightin' the Japs 'cross the deep blue sea/Yes, that's why I'm so glad darlin', to have a li'l wife still waitin' for me/It's so great to have you darlin', to have a li'l wife like you/My three brothers couldn't make it but they say happy new year to you"] (1947), Johnny Otis “Happy New Year, Baby” (1947), Lil’ Son Jackson “New Year’s Resolution” (1950), Roy Milton New Year’s Resolution Blues ["I’m gonna deal them from the bottom/Ain’t going to play it fair at all/Please believe me pretty baby/I’m going to have myself a ball/Going to give up my apartment, and you know they’re hard to find/ I don’t want no last year’s memories running through my weary mind"] (1950), Lightnin’ Hopkins “Happy New Year” (1953) [Lyrics], Charles Brown “Bringing In A Brand New Year” (1993), Lil Ed and Dave Weld “New Year’s Resolution” (1996).

Notable Christmas Blues Compilations

Blues, Blues Christmas (Document): Comprehensive 2-CD collection of jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and gospel recordings dedicated to the season. Collects 52 numbers spanning from 1925 to 1955 including tracks by Bessie Smith, Leroy Carr, Rev. J.M. Gates, Butterbeans & Susie, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Milton, Larry Darnell, Cecil Gant, Lightnin’ Hopkins and many, many others.

Where Will You Be Christmas Day? (Dust To Digital): Fine collectiof rare early Christmas gems by Leroy Carr, Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Butterbeans and Susie, Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Kansas City Kitty, Bessie Smith and many others.

Soul Christmas (Atlantic): This 1991 reissue includes eight of the original 11 tracks included on the Atco 1968 release with 11 more tracks added from the Atlantic vaults. An essential set that includes Otis Redding’s “White Christmas” and “Merry Christmas, Baby”, Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa”, Joe Tex’s “I’ll Make Every Day Christmas (For My Woman)” and others.

Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics (Rhino): A killer 18-song compilation. Includes hard to find tracks by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Hop Wilson, Big Jack Johnson and other gems.

It’s Christmas Time Again (Stax): A great collection of funky blues and soul from the Stax catalog. Standout tracks include “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” with versions by Mack Rice and Albert King plus Rufus Thomas’ “I’ll Be Your Santa Baby’” and Little Johnny Taylor’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”

Merry Christmas, Baby (Paula): Some real gems on here although some can be found on other compilations. Includes fine songs like Johnny And Jon’s “Christmas in Vietnam”, Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”, Lowell Fulson’s “Lonesome Christmas” parts 1 & 2 plus songs by Big Joe Williams, Sugar Boy Crawford, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Reed and others.

Jingle Blues (Platinum): Entertaining collection from the House of Blues. Includes a wide variety of styles by artists such as Bessie Smith, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Witherspoon, B.B. King, Amos Milburn and others.

James Brown’s Funky Christmas (Polygram): What would Christmas be without this funky collection? This 17-track compilation includes selections cut between 1966-1970. Highlights include “Go Power at Christmas Time”, “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” and “Hey America” (It’s Christmas Time).

Christmas Blues (Savoy): Fine Christmas blues from the vaults of Savoy like Gatemouth Moore’s “Christmas Blues”, Jimmy Butler’s rocking “Trim Your Tree”, the country blues of Ralph Willis’ “Christmas Blues” and several other vintage tunes.

Rhythm & Blues Christmas (Hollywood): Budget priced collection that includes Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby,” Freddie King’s “Christmas Tears/I Hear Jingle Bells”, Mabel Scott’s “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” and others.