Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

Jimmy Dawkins

A wide ranging mix show on tap for today. We open up with the sad news of the passing of Jimmy Dawkins. As the years roll on and more and more blues artists pass I realize I'm grateful I am that I go to see many of them. I only saw Dawkins once but it certainly was a memorable show in Cleveland probably a decade or so ago. Also on deck today are some long forgotten blues ladies from the 20's, several equally little remembered bluesmen and groups from the same era, twin spins of Rabbit Muse and Eugene Powell, a batch of excellent 45's, some vintage Chicago blues and some excellent down-home blues.

Jimmy Dawkins passed away from undisclosed causes on April 10, 2013. Dawkins moved up to Chicago from Mississippi at the age of 19 in 1955. He became a part of the so called West Side blues scene in Chicago, playing with and befriending Magic Sam, Luther Allison, Otis Rush and Billy Boy Arnold, among many others. In 1969, thanks to the efforts of his friend Magic Sam, he released his first album Fast Fingers on Delmark Records. In 1971 Delmark released his second album All For Business with singer, Andrew "Big Voice" Odom, and the guitarist, Otis Rush. Dawkins began to tour in Europe and Japan and recorded more albums in the United States and Europe. Dawkins also contributed a column to the blues magazine Living Blues. In the 1980s he released few recordings, but began his own record label, Leric Records, and was more interested in promoting other artists.

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Regular listeners to the show know that I always like to spotlight some of the forgotten blues ladies of the 20's. Everyone knows the stars like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey but there were hundreds of lesser known ladies who cut perhaps dozens of records or maybe maybe just a handful. Some are forgotten for good reason while others were fine singers who just never made it. Annie Summerford, for instance, was a rich, expressive singer who cut one fine 78 in 1924, "'Fo Day Blues b/w Low Down Blues" backed by Eddie Heywood's Black Bottom Ramblers. Then there was Edmonia Henderson who cut 14 sides between 1923 and 1926 for Paramount, Okeh and Vocalion. Our selection, "Four-Thirty Blues" was cut under the pseudonym Catherine Henderson with backing from just Eddie Heywood on piano. Finally there's Evelyn Thompson's "I Got A Papa Down In New Orleans, Another Papa Up In Maine" from 1927. Thompson also recorded as Evelyn Preer and recorded as a vocalist for the Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson bands.

Born in 1908 in Franklin County, VA, Lewis "Rabbit" Muse performed for white and black audiences from the 1920's until the '80s. A consummate entertainer, he played, sang and danced at medicine shows and folk festivals. He recorded a pair of hard to find albums, Muse Blues and Sixty Minute Man, for Rocky Mount's Outlet Records label in the 1970's. He passed in 1982. I've been searching for these records for some time and finally tracked down a copy of Muse Blues – still looking for the other one if any knows where I can get a copy! This is an absolutely charming record featuring blues and pop numbers played with equal verve.

We also spin two by Eugene Powell. Powell was born in Utica, Mississippi, December 23, 1908. He started playing the guitar at age eight. His mother ran a juke house so he grew up around music. He took the name "Sonny Boy Nelson" after his step father. His early experiences around Hollandale were with Robert Nighthawk, Robert Hill, and the great blues instrumentalist Richard "Hacksaw" Harney. In 1936 Eugene and wife "Mississippi Matilda" along with Willie "Brother" Harris traveled with the Chatmon Brothers to New Orleans to record for the Bluebird label. Powell moved to Greenville in the 1940s and played with several bands until the early 1950s. He remained largely musically inactive until 1972 when he performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Powell made few recordings during the following twenty years, with only the Italian LP, Police in Mississippi Blues, on Albatros being his only full-length album. I've been featuring a few albums on Albatros lately and may do a  show devoted to the label. There's just a few more on the label I need to track down.

Another future show will be devoted exclusively to 45's that haven't been issued on album or CD. I've never been a huge collector of 45's although I do have quite a few and my friend Axel Künster recently dubbed me some rare ones. Today we play a couple of 45 sets including one featuring James Shelby and Ben Harper. James "Son" Shelby was born in Jasper, TX. in 1927. Blind at birth, he learned how to play harmonica from his father who was a local musician. Shelby worked local dances and other functions in his youth, and later learned how to play guitar from a man by the name of Charlie Hafford. Shelby moved to Beaumont sometime in the 1940's and worked as a street musician for tips through the early 1970's. He also played at the South Texas State Fair from 1970 to 1972. His last documented performance was at the University of Texas in Austin in 1972. Today I spin a 45 he cut in 1972 for the Swoon label. I was unable to track down anything concrete on Harper outside of the fact he cut nine sides in Los Angeles between 1960 and 1962 for the Talent, Cenco and Sylark labels.  "Which-A-Way" finds Harper backed by a rocking band sporting some great sax and background harmony. The song is a really interesting update of the standard "Red River Blues."

45's by Robert Lowery and Charles Conley were issued on the Blues Connoisseur label. The label was run by Donald Lindenau between 1972 and 1975. The label issued fifteen singles by artists such as Richard Riggins, Boogie Jake, Charles Conley, K. C. Douglas, Little Willie Littlefield, Robert Lowery, Sonny Rhodes, and Schoolboy. The majority of these sides have not been issued on album or CD and would make a terrific anthology if someone ever collected them together.

Some strong Chicago blues today including tracks by Blue Smitty, Sonny Boy Williamson with Memphis Slim, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Johnny “Big Moose Walker and Willie James Lyons. Claude "Blue Smitty" Smith allegedly taught Muddy Waters, already an accomplished slide guitar player in the 1940's, how to finger the fretboard of his instrument. Smitty cut just a few sides for Chess (under the name Blue Smitty & His String Men) in 1952 which were unissued at the time.

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In 1963 Sonny Boy was headed to Europe for the first time, as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. He loved Europe and stayed behind in Britain when the tour headed home. He started working the teenage beat club circuit, touring and recording with the Yardbirds and Eric Burdon's band, whom he always referred to as "de Mammimals." Sonny Boy was truly appreciative of all the attention, and contemplated moving to Europe permanently but went back to the States and made some final recordings for Chess. He returned to England in 1964 and one of his final recordings, with Jimmy Page on guitar, was entitled "I'm Trying to Make London My Home." Today we spin his classic "Nine Below Zero" backed by Memphis Slim from 1963 which comes from an album called Live In Paris.

The Black & Blue label was a French record company established by Jean-Marie .Monestier in 1966. Isabel was a subsidiary label that operated between 1977–1984 wholly devoted to blues, including albums by Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, and Lucky Peterson. From that label we play Johnny “Big Moose Walker's Going Home Tomorrow and Willie James Lyons' Chicago Woman both cut for the label in 1979. Both play on each others album backed also by Big Mojo Elem on bass and Odie Payne on drums.

We feature some excellent down-home blues today including tracks from the 50's by Woodrow Adams and Levi Seabury and sides from the 80'sby Algia Mae Hinton and Big Boy Henry. Adams learned both harmonica and guitar during childhood, but was 35 years old before he made his first record. He cut his debut single for Checker in 1952, cut some unissued sides for Sun the same year, followed by a single for Meteor in 1955, a single for Home of the Blues in 1961 and some final sides in 1967 that remain unissued. He passed in 1988. Very little is known about James Levi Sebury. He was probably an Alabama blues singer and harmonica player. He came to Memphis in 1956 to record for B.B. King's short-lived Blues Boys Kingdom label. B.B. didn't keep the label in business very long due to his own recording and touring schedule, and Seabury was one of the very few artists that recorded for it. B.B. produced Seabury's session and plays guitar on his recordings. Seabury never had a chance to record again. It is documented that he died in Dixon Mills, AL. on January 12, 1957.

Both the Big Boy Henry and Algia Mae Hinton EP's featured today were produced by Lightnin' Wells for the Audio Arts label. Wells has produced several recordings by Piedmont artists and currently serves on the board of Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Show Notes:

Little Johnny Jones and his wife Letha

Johnny Jones may never have made it past his 40th birthday but in that time he established himself as one of the finest piano players in Chicago. As perhaps the greatest of the post-war Chicago pianists, Otis Spann said of Jones: "My favorite piano player – I hate to say it, he was my first cousin, dead now and gone, we were two sisters' children – is Johnnie Jones.  I wind up teaching him, but he beat me at my own game." And as Bruce Igluaer wrote: "His fellow bluesmen remember him well, though, mostly as the pianist at Sylvio's, the huge tavern at Lake & Oakley that was the blues capital of Chicago's West Side during the 50's„ Johnnie played there with Elmore, with the Wolf, with second Sonny Boy Williamson, with Billy Boy Arnold, and with Magic Sam. Most nights Sylvio's had three bands, and Johnny would play with all of them! Dressed immaculately and with his hair and mustache perfectly groomed, he would open the shows singing his favorite risque classics, "The Dirty Dozens" and "Love Her With A Feeling." Billy Boy remembers, "He didn't sit there like a lot of piano players and just play– he rocked with the rhythm, he bounced. He used to sing "Dirty Mother F'or Ya" and that would just crack the house up! Johnnie and Elmore had Sylvio's sewed up five nights a week!"

Best known for his rock steady accompaniment in Elmore James’ band he also backed just about everyone else worth mentioning on the Chicago scene. The handful of times he stepped in front as leader produced a number of excellent sides and more than a few classics. We spin all of the sides Johnny cut as a leader, some superb live recordings by him and hear him backing artists such as Tampa Red, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, J.B. Hutto, Jimmy Rogers and Big Joe Turner.

 Jones came to the city in 1946, at the age of 22, already an accomplished pianist. Friends recall his talking about his mother, Mary, who played piano in church in Jackson, Mississippi, and his father, George, an amateur guitarist and harp player. But Johnnie"s greatest influence was obviously the immensely popular Big Maceo Merriwether. When Johnnie first came to Chicago, he sought out Big Maceo and the other bluesmen 'who had put hit records for the RCA Bluebird label during the 30's and 40's – Tampa Red, Jazz Cillum, and the original Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson.  Big Maceo took Jones under his wing, honing Johnnie's piano technique and calling him his "son." In fact, it was Maceo who introduced Johnnie to his future wife, Letha Bethley. And it was Tampa Red who encouraged Johnnie to get a union card, and then hired him on his first gig, at the C&T Lounge at 22nd & Prairie, in 1947. After Big Maceo suffered a stroke, Johnnie took over the piano stool on Tampa's records, too.

Between 1949 and 1953 Jones and Tampa cut a number of sides together, including the popular "Early In The Morning", with Jones taking the lead vocal, and "Sweet Little Angel." By the time Johnnie Jones had taken over the piano chair in Tampa Red's band in March 1949 Tampa had been a recording star for twenty years. Outside of a national hit in 1949 Tampa's career was on the wane and his recording career essentially ended in 1953 outside of two disappointing albums for Bluesville in 1960. Certainly Tampa's partnership with Big Maceo from 1945 to 1947 has been justly praised pairing Maceo's rolling, thundering piano with Tampa's ringing slide ranking them in the upper ranks of great piano/guitar duos. Less celebrated is the teaming of  Jones and Tampa. Clearly the infusion of new blood, chiefly Jones' rolling two fisted-piano playing and insinuating, warm vocal refrains he supplied plus the addition of drummer Odie Payne added an exciting new charge to Tampa's music. Jones also played the clubs with Tampa often working at the Peacock and C&T.

During this period Jones also played piano behind Muddy Waters on a 1949 Aristocrat (soon to become Chess) session resulting in the tracks: "Screamin' and Cryin", "Where's My Woman Been" and "Last Time I Fool Around With You." At the tail end of this session Jones cut his lone 78 for the label "Shelby County Blues b/w Big Town Playboy” with Muddy Waters, Baby Face Leroy and Jimmy Rogers backing him up on both sides. Throughout the 50's and 60's Jones backed a who's who of Chicago artists including Howlin' Wolf, Junior Wells, Albert King, Lee Jackson, Jimmy Rogers, Magic Sam and  Eddie Taylor among others.

Jones' most famous association began in 1952 when he became the pianist for Elmore James and His Broomdusters. He remained with James through 1956 playing on classic recordings for the Bihari brothers’ Meteor, Flair and Modern labels as well as dates for Checker, Chief and Fire. The Broomdusters (with saxist J.T. Brown and drummer Odie Payne) held court on the West Side playing at Sylvio’s for five years. It was this association with James that resulted in his second stint as leader recording in 1953 for Flair. "I May Be Wrong" and "Sweet Little Woman" were issued as Johnny Jones and the Chicago Hound Dogs with backing from Elmore James and J.T. Brown.

Jones last official stint as leader came in 1953 when Atlantic Records came through Chicago and teamed Elmore and the Broomdusters behind Big Joe Turner resulting in the classic "TV Mama." Once again he recorded a couple of sides at the tail end of a session resulting in four songs: "Chicago Blues", 'Hoy Hoy', "Wait Baby" and "Doin' the Best I Can (Up the line)." Jones was backed by the full Broomdusters plus Ransom Knowling on bass.

Jones wasn’t caught on tape again until 1963 where he was working with Billy Boy Arnold in a Chicago folk club called the Fickle Pickle run by Michael Bloomfield. Norman Dayron recorded Johnny on portable equipment which has been released on the Alligator record titled Johnny Jones with Billy Boy Arnold. A few additional sides appear on the Flyright LP Live At The Fickle Pickle. Jones last session was recorded in 1964 and is something of a mystery. Possibly backed by Boyd Atkins on sax and Lee Jackson guitar he cut three songs: "Prison Bound Blues", "Don't You Lie to Me" and "I Get Evil" the last being unissued. "Prison Bound Blues b/w Don't You Lie to Me" was subsequently issued on Rooster Records as a 45 in 1980. Letha Jones, Johnnie's widow, had an acetate of this and Jim O'Neal of Rooster Records licensed the rights from her to issue the 45.

Little Johnny Jones, Otis Spann & George 'Mojo' Buford, Chicago, late 1950's. Source: Living Blues 42 (1979), p. 24 ("Courtesy Letha Jones")

In 1964 Jones did some recording with Eddie Taylor and rejoined Howlin'Wolf's band who he was set to tour Europe with later in the year. Jones died from lung cancer November, 19, 1964 leaving a huge space on the Chicago scene. Mike Leadbitter wrote at the time of Jones death, "In a Chicago full of guitarists and with comparatively few top-rate pianists, the death of Little Johnny Jones is a great loss, as it is to us, who were never really given a chance to appreciate him."

Show Notes:

We close out the year on a somber note as we pay tribute to several recently passed blues artists: Kansas City legend Myra Taylor, blues and R&B singer Lee Shot Williams, legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin and singer Howard Tate. Also on tap are great pre-war blues including Blind Lemon Jefferson and a couple of his admirers, a quartet of fine blues ladies and a batch of superb piano players. We also spin more contemporary blues including a trio of ace harmonica blowers and some hard hitting sides form the 60's and 70's.

Myra Taylor and Charlie Parker (left)

Myra Taylor, one of the final links to Kansas City’s heyday as a jazz mecca, died December 9th in Kansas City. She was 94.In the 1930's, she became a regular in the clubs in the 12th and Vine, 18th and Vine and 12th and Woodland districts, where she performed along with musicians as a dancer. There, she mingled with the likes of Big Joe Turner, Pete Johnson, Bennie Moten, Lester Young, Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie. Her career as a singer began in the early 1930s in Kansas City, which led to a stint through the Midwest with Clarence Love and his band. In 1937, she moved to Chicago, where she worked with jazz greats Warren “Baby” Dodds, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Eldridge and Lil’ Hardin Armstrong. She recorded ten sides at two sessions in 1946 and 1947. We open the show with a trio of her 40's sides: the silky "I'm In My Sins This Morning", "Tell Your Best Friend Nothin'" a reworking of "Don't Advertise Your Man" (a 20's anthem sung by Clara Smith, Sippie Wallace and Rosa Henderson) and the swinging "The Spider And The Fly."

The death of Hubert Sumlin made a bigger splash than Taylor's, garnering obituaries in many major papers. Sumlin died Dec. 4 at the age of 80. Sumlin began appearing on Howlin’ Wolf’s recordings in 1954, first appearing on "Baby How Long? b/w Evil Is Goin' on" alongside fellow guitarist Jody Williams. Sumlin’s partnership with Howlin’ Wolf lasted until the singer’s death in 1976. Speaking of their collaborations in a 1989 interview with Living Blues magazine, Sumlin said: “Hubert was Wolf, Wolf was Hubert. I got to where I knew what he wanted before he asked for it, because I could feel the man.”  He met Howlin’ Wolf while still a teenager, when Mr. Sumlin was performing in and around West Helena, Ark., with the blues harmonica player James Cotton, and first recorded with him, under the supervision of Sam Phillips, at Sun Studios in 1953. Sumlin also made more than a dozen albums under his own name; the first was recorded in Europe in 1964, and the last in 2007. Today we showcase a pair of early numbers with Wolf, "I'll Be Around" (1954) and "Who Will Be Next" (1955) plus Hubert's own "No Title Boogie" recorded at the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival when he was touring Europe with Wolf.

Hubert Sumlin and Howlin' Wolf

In recent years Lee Shot Williams was best known for such raunchy songs as “Meat Man” and “Starts With a P,” but he had a long career as a blues and R&B singer in Chicago where he first recorded in 1962 with a style similar to Bobby “Blue” Bland. His best known hits were “You’re Welcome to the Club” (1962) and “I Like Your Style” (1967). We spin a pair of blistering early sides, "I'm Tore Up" (1963)" featuring Bobby King on guitar and "Hello Baby" (1962) featuring Freddie Robinson on guitar and Mack Simmons on harmonica and the from the 70's his raunchy "Drop Your Laundry" (he updated the number on his stellar 1995 album, Cold Shot, released on the Black Magic label.

We close out the show with a soulful rendition of  "How Blue Can You Get?" (1966) by Howard Tate. Tate, who in collaboration with producer and songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, recorded such late 1960's soul classics as “Ain’t Nobody Home,” “Stop” and “Get It While You Can,” died Dec. 2 at 72. After struggling with cocaine addiction and homelessness, Tate became a preacher only to re-emerge in 2003 with the critically acclaimed album Rediscovered.

It's hard to overestimate the influence and popularity of Blind Lemon Jefferson who began recording in 1926. His records made him nationally known among the black audiences who bough race records as influencing many blues artists. In December 1925 or January 1926, he was taken to Chicago to record his first tracks. Jefferson's first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to be like Jesus in my Heart b/w "All I Want is that Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. This led to a second recording session in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues," were hits; this led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues," which also became hits. The latter number reworked by two of our featured artists; The Mississippi Moaner and Jesse Thomas. The Mississippi Moaner was the name used by Isaiah Nettles when he recorded five sides for Vocalion Records in Jackson, MS, on October 20, 1935. Only one 78 from the session was ever released, "Mississippi Moan" b/w "It's Cold in China Blues" (the song title was a lyric used in Blind Lemon's song). Jesse Thomas remarkable 1948 number, "Double Due Love You" opens with a tongue twisting run of words (taken from the Blind Lemon song) that is sort of a vocal equivalent to his knotty guitar phrases.

We spin several rather obscure blues ladies today including Margaret Thornton, Mary Johnson, Geeshie Wiley plus the better known Sippie Wallace. Thornton cut one lone record for the short-lived Black Patti label in 1927, "Texas Bound Blues b/w Jockey Blues." Thornton was a wonderful singer backed by the fine barrelhouse playing of the equally obscure Blind James Beck. St. Louis singer Mary Johnson is in superb form on "No Good Town Blues" backed by pianist Judson Brown. Brown  who cut just one side under his own name for Brunswick in 1930 as well as backing singers such as Jenny Pope and  Mozelle Alderson. Don Kent wrote in the notes to Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-35 that "If Geeshie Wiley did not exist, she could not be invented: her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists. She seems to represent the moment when black secular music was coalescing into blues." We feature her haunting "Skinny Leg Blues" which is worth quoting in full:

And I’m a little bitty mama, baby and I ain’t built for speed
Cryin’ I’m a little bitty mama, baby and I ain’t built for speed
Aaaaaaah and I ain’t built for speed
I’ve got everything that a little bitty mama needs

I’ve got little bitty legs, keep up these noble thighs (2x)
Aaaaaah, keep up these noble thighs
I’ve got somethin’ underneath them that works like a bo' hog's eye

But when you see me comin’, pull down your window blind (2x)
You see me comin’, pull down your window blind
So your next door neighbor sure can hear you whine

I’m gonna cut your throat baby, gonna look down in your face (2x)
Aaaaaaaaa, gonna look down in your face
I’m gonna let some lonesome graveyard be your restin’ place

Among the triumvirate of boogie-woogie pioneers, which include  Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons, Jimmy Yancey is my favorite. Yancey had a more delicate and subtle style then his hard driving peers as heard to good effect on the marvelous "Rollin' The Stone" from 1939. Far more obscure are Rudy Foster who cut one 78 for paramount in 1930. "Black Gal Makes Thunder" is a driving barrelhouse romp with the enigmatic lyric "black gal makes it thunder, yellow gal makes it fall down rain." James "Boodle It" Wiggins was a wonderfully expressive, heavy voiced singer who cut eight issued sides for Paramount in 1928 and 1929. His "Gotta Shave 'Em Dry" is an infectious number with terrific backing from pianist charlie Spand. As Paul Oliver noted in his Screening The Blues: "Shave 'Em Dry" …seems to have been favored by women though a number of men also sang it on record. As a term 'shave 'em dry' appears to have layers of meaning; at one level it refers to mean and aggressive action but as a sexual theme it refers to intercourse without preliminary love-making. Big Bill Broonzy put it succinctly: 'Shave 'em dry is what you call makin' it with a woman; you ain't doin' nothin', just makin' it.'" Among those who cut versions were Lucille Bogan, Ma Rainey, Lil Johnson and Papa charlie Jackson.

Show Notes:

We've had a run of interesting theme shows in the past few week and this time we take a pause with a mix show. We open today on a sad note with a pair of tracks from Houston stalwart Earl Gilliam. Also on deck  we spotlight the following recent collections: Hear Me Howling! Blues, Ballads & Beyond, Discovery: The Rebirth Of Mississippi John Hurt, Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960 and President Ford's Blues 1974-1976. In addition we spin a trio of fine artists from Louisiana, a batch of vintage Memphis blues and some outstanding country blues sides both pre-war and post-war.

Earl Gilliam

We open up with "Petite Baby" and "Wrong Doing Woman", two fine sides Earl Gilliam recorded back in 1955. Pianist Earl Gilliam passed away on Wednesday, October 20, 2011. He was part of the Houston blues scene for the past 60 years. Over the years, Gilliam would become known as Houston's premiere blues pianist, and he performed alongside such greats as Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert King, Albert Collins, and Joe "Guitar" Hughes, among many others. By 17 Gilliam landed a gig playing the Eldorado Ballroom with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. He cut a four song session for the Sarg label in 1955 backed by Lucian Davis & His Orchestra and cut one side for the Ivory label in 1962. Gilliam also led his own band, performing frequently in Houston clubs throughout the 1990's and 2000's. Gilliam only released one album under his own name, 2005's excellent Texas Doghouse Blues for the Dialtone label. I recall playing this one quite a bit when it first came out and even got an opportunity to interview Gilliam.

We feature four tracks today from the superb Hear Me Howling! Blues, Ballads & Beyond, an anthology of recordings made by Chris Strachwitz in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1954 and 1971 in the early days of his Arhoolie record label. Arranged chronologically over four discs and 72 tracks, and packaged with a 136-page hardcover book, these sides (many of them previously unreleased) were recorded at coffeehouses, festivals, and living rooms, and sometimes in studios. When performers came through the area, Strachwitz would tape them at a show, at a party, or in somebody’s home – often his own. He wound up with more material than he could release at the time. Some of the leftovers, collected for the first time, are stunning. We hear tracks from Lightnin' Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, clearly among Strachwitz' favorites, plus the gorgeous "No Special Lover" one of several Skip James tracks from 1965 and the title track by K.C. Douglas.

Speaking of K.C. Douglas we also play his "Had I Money" from the album Deadbeat Guitar And The Mississippi Blues (subtitled Street corner blues 'bout women and automobiles). I've always been intrigued by this album which was states that this material  was "collected" by Sam Eskin in Oakland in 1952.  The album was issued possibly in 1954 or maybe 1956 which would make it one of the earliest blues records issued that wasn't a reissue of older material.  As for Eskin, he was a folklorist who made field recordings between 1939 and 1969 and during this period made many cross-country trips from New York to California where he recorded American folk music. Beginning in 1950 he made recordings abroad in Mexico, Israel, Spain and the British Isles.  Eskin's recordings and notes are now housed at the Library of Congress. Other artists he recorded include Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Leadbelly.

This has been a good year for Mississippi John Hurt. Earlier this year so the publication of the biography Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues and now we get Discovery: The Rebirth Of Mississippi John Hurt, a collection of previously unissued recordings.  In  in 1963 guitarist and blues fanatic Thomas Hoskins rapped on the door of a small house in rural Mississippi. Inside the house Hoskins found found an amiable, humble man, who farmed to make a living. John Hurt was surrounded by family and friends. He hadn't owned a guitar in years, and was amazed that a young white man had sought him out 35 years after his last recording sessions. Hoskins gave Hurt his guitar and turned on his reel to reel recorder. On Discovery Hurt plays several of the songs from his 1928 sessions as well as some others that later became staples of his folk festival repertoire including "Let The Mermaids Flirt With" and "Richland Woman Blues" both featured today. Overall sound quality is surprisingly good considering the source and Hurt is much less polished then his studio recordings. All in all a fascinating document from the dawn of the blues revival. It's hard to believe that within a few year Hurt, Bukka White, Skip James and Son House would all be back in circulation. Amazing times.

Read Liner Notes

Two other collections featured today: Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960 and President Ford's Blues 1974-1976. The Wolf collection is a 97-track, four-disc limited-edition box set containing everything the Wolf cut in his first decade of recording. President Ford's Blues is a companion CD to the book The Nixon and Ford Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on Vietnam, Watergate, Civil Rights and Inflation 1969-1976. Guido van Rijn has written four previous books on topical blues and gospel songs. Good Time Charlie's (Charles Taylor) "Welfare Blues" is a funky slab of 70's blues  while B.B. Odom & The Earbenders deliver the tough "The World's In Trouble." Although from a different collection we also hear Johnny Sayles "Food Stamps Pt. 1", another hard hitting topical number.

We head down to Louisiana to hear records from the Lake Charles based Goldband label and a recording by legendary producer J.D. Miller. Goldband was formed by Eddie Shuler in 1945. In the early 1950's Shuler established the Goldband complex – including recording studio, record store, and TV store  in Lake Charles, and began recording all genres of music, including R&B, blues, country, rock and roll, swamp pop and Cajun. Hit recordings included Boozoo Chavis' "Paper in My Shoe" (1954) and the company's biggest seller, Phil Phillips' "Sea of Love" (1959). The label recorded a fair bit of blues including sides by Clarence Garlow, Juke Boy Bonner, Hop Wilson and today's selections from Morris "Big" Chenier and Left Handed Charlie Morris. Of Miller, Bruce Bastion wrote: "Close to South Louisiana bayou country, Crowley is the home of J.D. Miller's studio, responsible as much as any other factor for the sound we now know as the moody, loping blues of the Louisiana swamps. Many completely unknown artists found fleeting fame through Miller's recordings  and through the Excello issues of his recordings, he helped support one of the most consistent blues labels of the 1950's." Today we spin "I haven't Got A Home" by the mysterious Ramblin' Hi Harris who waxed just three sides for Jay Miller that were unissued at the time.

We head to Memphis for a fine set of vintage blues by the Memphis jug Band, Jed Davenport and Minnie Wallace. Davenport came from a tent show and medicine show background. Davenport cut around a dozen sides as leader between 1929-30. Wallace Cut six sides at sessions, plus several unissued sides, in 1929 and 1935 backed by members of the Memphis Jug Band.

I remember picking up the album Praise God I'm Satisfied by Blind Willie Johnson on Yazoo over twenty years and it was one of those albums that made a huge impression on me. I suppose I was more interested in his slide numbers that I overlooked today's featured track, the beautiful, "The Rain Don't Fall On Me" with second vocal by Johnson's wife Willie B. Harris. The track comes from an album on the Mississippi label that a friend gave me called The Rain Don't Fall On Me: Country Blues 1927-1952. The Mississippi label reissues an an eclectic mix of music strictly on vinyl including some interesting blues collections.

I also want to mention a great post-war recording by John Dudley. In early October 1959 Alan Lomax recorded an inmate named John Dudley in the "Dairy Camp" portion of the Mississippi prison camp known as Parchman Farms. Our selection, an unissued version of "Clarksdale Mill Blues", is a cover of Charley Patton's "Moon Going Down." Only three songs were issued but several others remain unreleased. This version comes from the album I’ll Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down issued on the Mississippi label. Lomax didn't give us much information on Dudley: "Lastly, in John Dudley's blues, we meet a country musician of the sophisticated, yet completely folk, tradition of the 1930's. Dudley and Robert Johnson both come from Tunica County, Mississippi and belong to the same school." In all Dudley recorded the following numbers:  "Clarksdale Mill (2 takes)", "You Got a Mean Disposition","Big Road Blues", "Cool Drink of Water Blues (2 takes)", "Poor Boy Blues",  "I'm Gonna Move To Kansas City" and an interview about "playing guitar at dances."

Today's show is devoted to Halloween. Today we spin a wide range of songs from the 20's through the 60's. We'll hear songs about evil, Bad luck, bloody murder (both by men and woman), Hoodoo, Mojo Hands, Black Cat Bones, graveyards, the devil, Hell, superstition, haunted houses, gypsy woman and more.

Among the themes running through today's are that of hoodoo. Hoodoo, also known as conjure, is a form of predominantly African-American traditional folk magic that developed from a number of separate cultures and magical traditions. The goal of hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their daily lives by gaining power in many areas of life, including luck, money, love, divination, revenge, health, employment, and necromancy. Many blues musicians have referred to hoodoo in their songs. In addition to the expected terms "hoodoo" and "mojo", other conjure words in blues songs include "jinx", "goofer dust", "nation sack", "black cat bone", "John de conkeroo" (John the Conqueror root), "graveyard dirt", and "black spider dumplings." We play several songs with these themes including Hop Wilson "My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone", Lightnin' Hopkins "Mojo Hand", Memphis Minnie "Hoodoo Lady", Muddy Waters "Gypsy Woman", Sonny Boy Williamson "Hoodoo Hoodoo" and  Casey Bill Weldon "I've Been Tricked."

The term black cat bone and mojo show up in a number of blues songs. The notorious black cat bone charm is strongly identified with African American hoodoo. Hoodoo doctors claimed that every black cat has within its body one bone that will either grant the owner invisibility or can be used to bring back a lost lover. To secure this bone, they said, a black cat must be thrown alive into a cauldron of boiling water at midnight. A mojo is the staple amulet of African-American hoodoo practice, a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. In Lightnin' Hopkins' classic "Mojo Hand" he sings:

I'm goin' to Louisiana, and get me a mojo hand (2x)
I'm gonna fix my woman so she can't have no other man

(John Lee) Sonny Boy Williamson sang a similar verse in his "Hoodoo Hoodoo":

One night I'm goin' down in Louisiana
And buy me another mojo hand
All because I got to break up my baby
From lovin' this other man

Mojos figure in numerous blues songs: Ida Cox "Mojo Hand Blues", Coot Grant & Wesley Wilson "Keep Your Hands Off My Mojo", Barbecue Bob "New Mojo Blues" and of couse Muddy Waters "Got My Mojo Working."

Murder also shows up in quite a number of blues songs. One of the more haunting numbers is "Bloodstains" originally cut by Frank 'Honeyboy' Patt for Specialty in 1953. Today we spin Lazy Lester's version circa cut 1958/59 which retains the memorable opening line:

Sheets and pillows torn to pieces, bloodstain all over the wall (2x)
Well, I know I wasn't injured when I left this mornin', I didn't leave the phone out in the hall

We also spin Victoria Spivey's "Blood Thirst blues" a haunting 1927 tale of murder:

Blood, blood look at all that blood (2x)
Yes I killed my man, a low down good for nothing cur

Along the same vein are Lil Johnson's "Murder In The First Degree" (1936) and Pat Hare's "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" (1954). Unfortunately in Hare's case, life imitated art. Sixteen years later Hare shot his girlfriend during a domestic dispute. When a police officer was dispatched to the scene, Hare also shot and killed him. He was sentenced to life in prison for the two killings. In 1980, he died in prison of cancer.

Cemetery and graveyards are the topic of many blues songs. Today we hear Billy Bird's "Down In the Cemetery", Charlie Seger's "Lonesome Graveyard Blues", Leola Manning "Laying in the Graveyard", Esther's Phillips "No Headstone On My Grave" and Blind Willie McTell's "Lay Some Flowers On My Grave", a beautifully poetic number:

You must lay some flowers on my grave (2x)
My mother and father have gone
Left me in this world alone
You must lay some flowers on my grave

My father was a roll sport and a gambler too
And he left me hear just singing the blues
I hope my heart will change
I don't want to die the same
You must lay some flowers on my grave

Put a wreath of flowers at my right side
Then you'll know that McTell's satisfied
Put a bouquet in my breast
You know the poor boy's gone to rest
You must lay some flowers on my grave

Now when this old building is fallin' down
Just lay me six feet in the cold cold ground
Wrap me up in silent clay
'Cause I come here to die one day
Hot mama, lay some flowers on my grave

Put a morning glory at my head and feet
Then you'll know that McTell's gone to sleep
On my headboard write my name
I  left a many girl's heart in pain
Hot mama, lay some flowers on my grave

Now snatch the pillow from under my head
Don't grieve and worry after the days I'm dead
When I bid you this last goodbye
Don't none of you womens cry
You just lay some flowers on my grave

Now when I'm gone to come no more
And old pallbearers lay me low
When you hear that coffin sound
You'll know McTell is in the ground
Hot mama, lay some flowers on my grave

Now when the poor boy's dead and gone
I'm left in this old world all alone
When you hear that church bell toll
You'll know McTell's dead and gone
Hot mama, lay some flowers on my grave

One of the enduring blues myths is that of Robert Johnson and the devil but before "Hellhound On My Trail" (1937) and "Me And The Devil Blues" (1937) the devil popped up in quite a number of songs: Clara Smith "Done Sold My Soul to the Devil" (1924), Sylvester Weaver "Devil Blues" (1927), Texas Alexander "Blue Devil Blues" (1928), Robert Peeples "Wicked Devil's Blues" (1929), Skip James "Devil Got My Woman" (1931), Peetie Wheatstraw "Devil's Son-In-Law" (1931), Mississippi Sheiks "I Am the Devil" (1934), Casey Bill Weldon "Sold It To The Devil" (1937) and more. Weaver's "Devil's Blues" is a particularly imaginative and humorous number:

Had a dream while sleeping, found myself way down below, my Lord,
I had a dream while sleeping, found myself way down below
Couldn't get to Heaven, Hell's the place I had to go

Devil had me cornered, stuck me with his old pitchfork (2x)
And he put me in an oven, thought he had me for roast pork

Hellhounds start to chasin' me and I was a runnin' fool
Hellhounds start to chase me and I was a runnin' fool
My ankles caught on fire, couldn't keep my puppies cool

Four thousand devils with big tails and sharp horns, my Lordy,
Saw a thousand devils with tails and sharp horns
Everyone wandered, tried to step on my corns

For miles around I heard men scream and yell, my Lord,
For miles around, heard men scream and yell
Couldn't see a woman, I said, "Lord, ain't this Hell?"

This number was updated by Lazy Bill Lucas in 1954 for Chance as "I Had A Dream."

As for superstitions like bad luck, ghosts and black cats the blues has those kinds of topics in spades. Today we feature numbers such as Gene Phillips "Superstitious Woman", Ma Rainey "Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues", Johnny Fuller "Black Cat", B.B. King "Bad Luck", Smokey Hogg "Born On The 13th", Lightnin' Hopkins "Black Ghost Blues" and Lonnie Johnson "Blue Ghost Blues" among others. Johnson cut several versions of  the chillingly poetic  "Blue Ghost Blues" but I think his 1938 version was the best:

Mmmmmm, something cold is creepin' around (2x)
Blue Ghost is got me, I feel myself sinkin' down

Black cat and a owl, come to keep my company (2x)
He understands my troubles, mmm, and sympathize with me

I been in this haunted house, for three long years today (2x)
Blue Ghost is got my shack surrounded, oh Lord, and I can't get away

I feel cold arms around me, and ice lips upon my cheeks (2x)
My lover is dead, how plainly plain I can hear her speak.

Oh Lonnie, oh Lonnie oh Lonnie, sweet Lonnie [spoken words - falsetto voice]
That's my baby [spoken words Lonnie Johnson]

My windows begin rattlin', my doorknob is turnin' round an' round (2x)
My lover's ghost is got me, and I know my time won't be long