Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

Sam Goody launched the Gotham label in 1946. Focusing on blues, spirituals, and jazz, Goody’s most successful artist was Eal Bostic. In 1948, Goody sold Gotham along with Bostic’s contract to Irvin Ballen of Philadelphia. Ballen’s two labels, Apex and 20th Century had been moderately successful, but he hoped Bostic could deliver a national hit. Instead, the breakthrough came from Gotham’s gospel series, a 1949 release “Touch Me Lord Jesus” by the Angelic Gospel Singers. With that success, Ballen continued releasing Gotham and 20th Century sides from both local artists and catalogs acquired by other labels. Ballen’s roster included doo-wop, R&B, blues and gospel. Among the label’s blues artists were Dan Pickett, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry, Champion Jack Dupree and Cousin Joe among others. By the late 50’s Gotham and 20^th Century were phased out as Ballen turned his attention to the record-pressing end of the business. The Gotham label has been well served on the reissue front, first as a series of reissue albums in the 1980′s on the Krazy Kat label, with these issued on CD with the same track listing and notes on the Collectables label.

The Gotham label issued some very fine down-home blues in the late 1940′s and early 1950′s. One of the label’s most intriguing artists was the brilliant and mysterious Dan Pickett. Back in the 1960′s some of the most highly prized 78′s among blues collectors were the rare Gotham records of Dan Pickett. These were valued, not only for their rarity but for the fact that they were among the finest commercial recordings of country blues in the post war era. His real, James Founty, was confirmed on a signature from an August 1949 contract with Gotham. Pickett was born and died in Alabama and field trips in the early 90’s have solved most mysteries although most of the research remains unpublished. He recorded five singles for Gotham plus four unreleased tracks in 1949. Pickett’s repertoire was derived almost exclusively from 1930’s race recordings, synthesizing the styles of Tampa Red, Blind boy Fuller, Buddy Moss and others  into a unique sound of his own.

Other down-home artists featured today include Wright Holmes, Stick Horse Hammond, Sonny Boy Johnson, David “Pete” Mckinley, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Dave Quattlebaum. Wright Holmes, who cut six sides in Houston in 1947, had an serpentine, unorthodox boogie style showcased most arrestingly on his “Good Road Blues”, one of two songs we play by him today. He was rediscovered and interviewed by Blues Unlimited magazine but had turned to religion and was no longer playing blues. John Lee Hooker was never one to pass up a recording deal even if he was under contract to another label. He cut a handful of superb sides for Gotham in 1950-51 under the name Johnny Williams. Sonny Boy Johnson, heard here in on our selection,”Quinsella,” was very obviously a devotee of John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, and not a bad singer in his own right. He waxed eight sides between 1947 and 1948. Harmonica player and vocalist Sonny Terry cut some stunning material for Gotham in 1952. Some of it was issued, and much of it wasn’t. This material is collected on the CD Sonny Terry – Gotham Records Sessions. Doug Quattlebaum cut three sides for Gotham in 1953, cut some sides for Testament in 1961 and the same year cut the excellent LP Softee Man Blues for Bluesville.

For the most part Gotham specialized in R&B and jump blues. The label employed a number of fine vocalists propelled by swinging bands including Charlie Gonzalez, Harry “Fats” Crafton, T.N.T. Tribble, Great Gates, Len McCall,  Cousin Joe and female singers like Daisey Mae and Thelma Cooper. Not much is known about Charlie Gonzalez except that he was a fine Blues shouter who could also handle Blues ballads with equal aplomb. He also recorded as Charles Prince and Bobby Prince.

Harry “Fats” Crafton was a fine guitarists and singer who’s s career was varied; he joined Gotham as an artist, became a songwriter, and then led bands of his own – The Jivetones (later known as The Craft Tones) and The Sonotones. He cut a dozen sides for Gotham in 1949 and 1950.

Drummer and singer T.N.T. Tribble first came to fame in 1951 and soon after began recording for Gotham. He often recorded with the exciting trumpet great Frank Motley and even led his own eclectic band, T.N.T. Tribble and His Crew. Tribble also was a much in-demand session man. He recorded as the drummer with Ike and Tina Turner in the early ’60s on “A Fool In Love” and “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine.”

Edward Gates White aka “The Great Gates” enjoyed a recording career as an R&B vocalist from 1949 to 1955, before changing to recording jazz organ instrumentals. He continually shifted between various small West Coast labels such as Selective, Kappa and Miltone (issued on Gotham as well).

Growing up in New Orleans, Cousin Joe began singing in church before crossing over to the blues. He picked up the piano instead, playing Crescent City clubs and riverboats. He moved to New York in 1942, gaining entry into the city’s thriving jazz scene. He recorded for King, Gotham, Philo, Savoy, and Decca along the way and after returning to New Orleans in 1948, he recorded for DeLuxe and Imperial in 1954.

Len McCall was a smooth, big voiced singer who’s legacy consists of a lone 78 cut for the label in 1947, the B-side “Philadelphia Boogie” gives today’s show its title.

Thelma Cooper was a Gotham recording artist in the late ’40s; her ‘girlie’ voice and undeniably suggestive and sexy lyrics were considered ahead of their time. Daisey Mae cut a handful of sides for Gotham in 1955 and 1956.

Gotham’s roster featured a couple of notable sax men including Jimmy Preston and Earl Bostic. Alto sax player Jimmy Preston was one of the fathers of the Rock and Roll sound. He recorded his best work in the late 1940′s for Gotham Records in Philadelphia. He cut over two-dozen sides for Gotham between 1948 and 1950. After the war, alto sax man Bostic formed his own band. He switched to the Gotham label, where he had a Top 10 R&B hit with a cover of  ”Temptation.” Two years latter, Syd Nathan lured him away to his Cincinnati-based label, King, and Bostic remained one of King’s featured artists until his death. He died after suffering a second heart attack while playing a hotel opening  in Rochester, New York.

Gotham’s roster contained two outstanding guitarists, Bill Jennings and Tiny Grimes. Jennings started playing the ukulele at an early age and switched to guitar since he wanted to be taken seriously. A long-time member of Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five, Jenning’s versatility made him an in-demand recording artist. He recorded a handful of sides under his own name for Gotham in the 1950’s. Tiny Grimes was one of the earliest jazz electric guitarists to be influenced by Charlie Christian, and he developed his own swinging style. In 1938, he started playing electric guitar, and two years later he was playing in the Cats and the Fiddle. During 1943-1944, Grimes was part of a classic Art Tatum Trio, which also included Slam Stewart. In September 1944, he led his first record date, using Charlie Parker. Grimes played in the jive group The Cats And The Fiddle and was part of the classic Art Tatum Trio before he put together his own group in the late 1940′s. Called The Rockin’ Highlanders, the group featured Grimes’ electric guitar playing as well as the tenor of Red Prysock. Grimes cut over a dozen sides for Gotham between 1949 and 1950.

Show Notes:

Stan Lewis is the owner of the seminal blues/R&B/gospel/rock label Jewel-Paula-Ronn-Records. In 1948, Lewis opened a record store, Stan’s Record Shop, on Texas Street in Shreveport, LA. Lewis became a one-stop operator (other record stores would buy from him) and distributor of independent record labels: Atlantic, Chess, Modern, Specialty, and Imperial. Lewis began a mail-order operation, advertising on John R’s (and others) nightly blues/R&B show on Nashville’s WLAC-AM, whose powerful clear channel nighttime signal was heard in most parts of the country. The record entrepreneur began to write and produce R&B and rock & roll acts. Fellow Louisianan Dale Hawkins’ 1957 number 27 pop hit on Chess, “Susie Q,” was written about Lewis’ daughter Susan.  Lewis founded Jewel Records in 1963 in Shreveport, LA. He started off his new Jewel label with #728, which was his store’s address (728 Texas Street in Shreveport, Louisiana), with a single by Louisiana singer/songwriter Bobby Charles. In all, Stan Lewis issued 13 singles on Jewel in 1964, were fairly forgettable. The next year, after moving some artists to the pop/country oriented Paula subsidiary, Lewis issued 14 more singles on Jewel, mostly blues-oriented material. He signed Ted Taylor, Peppermint Harris, Cookie and His Cupcakes, and Jerry McCain, among others. His first national chart record, though, was by the Carter Brothers, with “Little Country Boy” [Jewel 745], which reached #21 on the R&B charts in the summer. At the start of 1966, Stan Lewis moved into a new field with gospel.  Although Jewel’s new gospel series only issued 6 singles in 1966, it would eventually include almost 300 singles. Jewel issued 21 singles in 1966 on the including blues by Frank Frost and “Wild Child” Butler. The year 1967 brought fifteen more singles and the start of an LP series. New artists included Ray Agee, Bobby Powell, Big Mac and blues Lightnin’ Hopkins. Hopkins recorded the first album on Jewel, Blue Lightnin’, and the next two as well. The Jewel Blues series only issued five singles in 1968, and nine in 1969. New artist signings for 1968- 69 included the Roman Carter (of the Carter Brothers), Little Joe Blue, and veteran Lowell Fulson. Over the next few years, Lewis would also sign blues veterans Charles Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, and others. The series lasted until Jewel 852 in 1977. The Jewel label had three subsidiary labels; Paula, Ronn and Sue. In later years he aquired and reissued 1950′s blues recordings of defunct labels like JOB, Cobra and Chief.

Lightnin’ Hopkins who was given the first album on Jewel, Blue Lightnin’, and in fact the next two albums. Hopkins and Stan Lewis got along well (an instrumental on the second Jewel album was called “Mr. Stan, the Hip Hit Record Man”), and Lewis remarked that he probably recorded more songs by Hopkins than any other artist. In all Hopkins cut over 40 sides for the label between 1965 and 1969. All these sides were issued by Westside as the 2-CD set Fishing Clothes: The Jewel Recordings 1965-1969.

Texas R&B singer Peppermint Harris is best known for two early-’50s hits, the classic “Rainin’ in My Heart” and “I Get Loaded.” Harris arguably did his best work with Jewel Records. While he didn’t have any huge hits between 1965 and 1971, the length of his stay at Jewel, Harris nonetheless produced some excellent sides. All of these are collected on Westside’s Lonesome as I Can Be: The Jewel Recordings.

Wild Child Butler was gigging professionally as a bandleader by the late ’50s, but his recording career didn’t blossom until he moved to Chicago in 1966 and signed with Jewel Records (his sidemen on these sessions included bassist Willie Dixon and guitarist Jimmy Dawkins). He cut eight singles for the label in 1966 and 1967.

Buster Benton was a member of Dixon’s Blues All-Stars for a while, and Dixon is credited as songwriter of Benton’s best-known song, “Spider in My Stew.” Its release on the Jewel label gave Benton a taste of fame; its follow-up, “Money Is the Name of the Game,” solidified his reputation. He cut A 1979 LP for Jewel’s Ronn subsidiary titled Spider in My Stew.

Little Joe Blues recorded for various labels, including Kent and Chess’s Checker Records division during the early to mid-’60s. In 1966 when he racked up a modest hit in 1966 with the song “Dirty Work Is Going On,” which has since become a blues standard. He had extended stints with Jewel Records and Chess from the late ’60s into the early ’70s, and recorded until the end of the 1980s. He died in 1990.

Jerry McCain cut a series singles between 1965-1968 for Jewel Records, including a tailor-made tribute to the company, “728 Texas (Where the Action Is)” (Jewel’s address). These sides have been collected on Absolutely The Best – The Complete Jewel Singles 1965 – 1972.

Frank Frost moved to St. Louis in 1951, learning how to blow harp first from Little Willie Foster and then from the legendary Sonny Boy Williamson, who took him on the road — as a guitar player — from 1956 to 1959. Drummer Sam Carr, a longtime Frost friend, enticed Frost to front his combo in 1954 before hooking up with Sonny Boy. Frost and Carr settled in Lula, MS. Guitarist Jack Johnson came aboard in 1962. The three cut Hey Boss Man!, issued on Sun’s Phillips International subsidiary as by Frank Frost and the Nighthawks. Elvis Presley’s ex-guitarist Scotty Moore produced Frost’s next sessions in Nashville in 1966 for Jewel Records.

The Carter Brothers recorded for Jewel Records, among other labels. Roman Carter (lead vocals, bass), Albert Carter (guitar), and Jerry Carter (vocals, piano) came from Garland, AL, and began recording in 1964 for producer/songwriter Duke Coleman’s local label. Stan Lewis’ Jewel Records licensed a pair of their singles, of which “Southern Country Boy” got to number 21 on the R&B charts nationally. They never cut an album, but before splitting up in 1967 the trio recorded more than a dozen single sides. Lead singer Roman Carter some cut solo singles for Jewel as well. All of the Jewel sides can be found on Westside’s Blues on Tour: The Jewel Recordings 1965-1969.

Lowell Fulson cut sides for Jewel in 1969 and issued the LP In a Heavy Bag in 1969. Hooker released the LP I Feel Good in 1971, which featured Lowell Fulson on taking lead on most tracks.

Lewis was still active in the music business in the ’90s, working with Southern soul singers Carl Sims and Vickie Baker. A Jewel Records boxed set was issued by Capricorn Records in 1993. Tiring of the rigors of trying to run a competitive independent record label in a major-label dominated industry, Lewis decided to offer Jewel for sale while still retaining control of his music publishing companies.

Show Notes:

African-Americans began arriving in drove in Detroit by the 1920′s, most settling in an area called Black Bottom, later named Paradise Valley. Some of the earliest blues took place in the bars, brothels and house parties in Paradise Valley. Among the early bluesman who worked in Detroit included several fine pianists like Speckled Red, Charlie Spand, Big Maceo, Will Ezell plus guitarists like Calvin Frazier and Blind Blake who cut who celebrated the city in songs like “Hastings Street” with Charlie Spand and “Detroit Bound.”

From the turn of the century until its demise by urban renewal in the early 1960′s, Hastings Street remained the center of business for Detroit’s east side community, made up largely of Jewish entrepreneurs and small black business owners.  Lined with two-story family-owned shops and corner taverns, Hastings teemed by day with shoppers; at night it became transformed, into, what John Lee Hooker later described, as a “rough wide-open street.” Though the city had a number of corner taverns during the 1940s and 1950s, which featured down home blues, numerous Detroit bluesmen found their first jobs in the house party scene. Among the early clubs were places like Henry’s Swing club celebrated in a song by John Lee Hooker, the Harlem Inn, The Palms, The Flame, Club Three Sixes and the Paradise Theater. While many artists, like Big Maceo, went to Chicago to record, there were a number of small local labels that documented the scene like Sensation, JVB, DeLuxe, Holiday, Staff and Fortune. With the demolition of Hasting Street in the 1950′s and early 60′s and the rise of Motown, blues in Detroit became overshadowed.

Today’s show focuses on recordings made from the late 1940′s on up spotlighting great Detroit artists like John Lee Hooker, Baby Boy Warren, Eddie Burns, Eddie Kirkland, Big Maceo, Boogie Woogie Red, Bobo Jenkins Calvin Frazier and more.

John Lee Hooker was the biggest star to emerge from the Detroit scene. Hooker headed to Memphis while he was still in his teens, but he couldn’t gain much of a foothold there. He then relocated to Cincinnati for a seven-year stretch before making the move to the Motor City in 1943. Hooker began playing in burgeoning club scene along Hastings Street and at house parties. In 1948 he hooked up with entrepreneur Bernie Besman (who ran Sensation label) , who helped him hammer out his solo debut sides, “Sally Mae” and its seminal flip, “Boogie Chillen.” The Los Angeles-based Modern Records issued the sides and “Boogie Chillen” made it to the peak of the R&B charts. Besman felt that Hooker would sound best if he was recorded as a soloist, and did a lot to give his guitar and voice distinctive sound. He put a mike on Hooker’s guitar, and put a speaker in a toilet bowl for echo. He also put a board under Hooker’s feet to pick up his tapping feet. One of his innovative ideas was to double-track the voice and guitar for “I’m in the Mood,” a technique that was very advanced for 1951; the result was another huge hit. Besman did plenty of sides with Hooker in the late 1940′s and early 1950s, often solo, but sometimes with accompanying musicians. When he moved to California in the early ’50s, Besman ended his association with Hooker and left the record business Along with Modern, Hooker recorded for King (as Texas Slim), Regent (as Delta John), Savoy (as Birmingham Sam & His Magic Guitar), Danceland (as Little Pork Chops), Staff (as Johnny Williams), Sensation, Gotham, Regal, Swing Time, Federal, Gone (as John Lee Booker), Chess, Acorn (as the Boogie Man), Chance, DeLuxe (as Johnny Lee), JVB, Chart, and Specialty; before finally settling down at Vee-Jay in 1955 under his own name.

Two artists closely linked to Hooker are Eddie Burns and Eddie Kirkland. “Papa’s Boogie,” Eddie Burns’ 1948 debut, is a harmonica/guitar duet recorded by Bernie Bessman and leased to the Holiday label, which issued it under the pseudonym Slim Pickens. Burns enjoyed a modestly successful musical career with a dozen records to his credit and a decade of weekend club gigs often with John Lee Hooker who waxed some of his best performances with Burn’s harmonica in support. Kirkland was brought up around Dothan, AL, before heading north to Detroit in 1943. There he hooked up with Hooker five years later, recording with him for several firms as well as under his own name for RPM in 1952, King in 1953, and Fortune in 1959. Exiting the Motor City for Macon, GA, in 1962, Kirkland signed on with Otis Redding as a sideman and show opener not long thereafter. By the dawn of the 1970s’, Kirkland was recording for Pete Lowry’s Trix labe and waxed several CD’s for Deluge in the ’90s.

Many artists got their start through Detroit record man Joe Von Battle. Recording his sessions from within a cluttered record shop on Detroit’s Hastings Street that he opened in 1948, Von Battle was a magnet for most of the Motor City’s blues and R&B talent, including such notables as John Lee Hooker, Eddie Kirkland, Eddie Burns plus a slew of lesser knowns. His efforts were issued on his JVB and Von labels. From its Cincinnati base, King Records would sometimes acquire masters from Detroit-based producers like Battle. Battle’s approach to ‘producing’ may have amounted to little more than turning the tape machine on and off but, in his ramshackle way, he preserved some great Detroit blues performances. “Pet Milk Blues” was the first release on first release by Joe Von Battle. Featuring Walter Mitchell’s own vocal and harp, second harp by Robert Richard, Boogie Woogie Red on piano, and an unknown bass. Mitchell cut six sides for JVB in 1948, with some leased to King, and cut two more sides in for Strate-8 in 1959. Guitarist L.C. Green came to Detroit in the late forties according to his one time partner, Woodrow Adams, who grew up with L.C. in Minter City, Mississippi. Green waxed seven songs in Detroit for Joe Von Battle, but six were leased out and only one appeared on the Von label. Nothing is know of fine bluesman James Walton who cut about a dozen-and-a-half sides for Detroit labels like JVB, Fortune and Big Star between 1954 and 1964.

Fortune Records was another notable Detroit label.Fortune specialized in R&B, blues, soul and doo-wop music, although the label also released pop, big band, hillbilly, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, and even polka records. In spite of the spartan facilities, the company would produce some of the best preMotown R&B to come out of the city. Among the blues artists who recorded for the label were John Lee Hooker, Eddie Kirkland, Big Maceo, Bobo Jenkins, Doctor Ross, Grace Brim and Joe Weaver among others. It is estimated that Fortune Records and its subsidiaries, Hi-Q Records and Strate-8, released approximately 400 45-RPM vinyl records, as well as long-playing albums, during its existence. In the 1950′s Joe Weaver formed the Blue Notes typically practiced at producer/JVB label owner Joe Von Battle’s Hastings Street record store. Soon after Fortune hired the Blue Notes as its house band, and in addition to backing acts like Andre Williams and Nolan Strong, they also headlined records of their own. The Blue Note Orchestra’s stature as Detroit’s premier session band was firmly in place by the time Berry Gordy, Jr. hired their services for his fledgling Tamla label.

Big Maceo was already a seasoned pianist when he arrived in Detroit in 1924. After working around the Motor City scene, he headed to Chicago in 1941 to make his recording debut for Bluebird. He cut a series of terrific sessions as a leader for Bluebird in 1941-42, 1945 and in the company of Tampa Red before a stroke paralyzed his right side. He tried to overcome it, cutting for Victor in 1947 with Eddie Boyd assuming piano duties and again for Specialty in 1949 with Johnny Jones, this time at the stool. He cut his final sessions for Fortune in 1950 before passing in 1953.

Robert “Baby Boy” Warren cut some great records from 1949 to 1954 for a variety of Detroit labels without ever managing to transcend his local status along Hastings Street. After honing his blues guitar approach in Memphis (where he was raised), Warren came to Detroit in 1942 to work for General Motors and gig on the side. The fruits of his first recording session in 1949 with pianist Charley Mills supporting him came out on several different logos: Prize, Staff, Gotham, even King’s Federal subsidiary. A second date in 1950 that found him backed by pianist Boogie Woogie Red was split between Staff and Sampson while another sessions came out on Swing Time, Blue Lake and Excello. One of his most memorable sessions took place in 1954, when harpist Sonny Boy Williamson came to Detroit and backed Warren. The 1970s brought  Warren a some European touring  before he passed away in 1977.

Calvin Frazier began his career performing alongside his brothers, and in the company of Johnny Shines. He traveled to Helena, Arkansas in 1930 where they met Robert Johnson, and together the three men  journeyed north to Detroit, where they sang hymns on area gospel broadcasts. Upon returning south, Frazier and Johnson also joined with drummer Peck Curtis in a string-band combo. However, in 1935 Frazier was wounded in a Memphis shootout, which left another man dead; he fled back to Detroit, marrying Shines’ cousin. Apart from gigs supporting the likes of Big Maceo, Rice Miller and Baby Boy Warren, he resurfaced in 1938 long enough to cut a session for folklorist Alan Lomax. He did not record again until a 1951 date with T.J. Fowler’s jump band, and entered the studio one last time in 1954 with Baby Boy Warren. Frazier continued performing in the Detroit until his death on September 23, 1972.

It wasn’t until Washboard Willie AKA William Hensley was 31 years old that he decided to buy a washboard and begin to make music on it. He bought a wood and metal washboard, fastened a four-inch frying pan to one corner, put eight metal thimbles on his fingers, tied the board around his neck with a dog leash, and started beating away. In 1948 he moved north to Detroit and wasn’t until 1952, that he and a friend were out one night looking for John Lee Hooker, when they came upon Eddie Burns and his little group, playing at the Harlem Inn. After hearing the drummer playing out of time, Willie got his washboard from the car, and began playing along with the band. By the second song, the bar owner offered Hensley a job playing the washboard for the weekend. The band played there for three years. In 1956, he and Calvin Frazier recorded for Joe Von Battle. He continued to record for Von Battle from 1957 to 1962. In 1973, he toured with the American Blues Legends ’73 Tour, traveling all over Europe. He died on August 24, 1991, at the age of 82, in Detroit.

Playboy and Rocky Fuller are both early pseudonyms for New Orleans born Iverson Minter, who later had minor success using the name Louisiana Red. The sides included here are his first and typically were recorded in Von Battle’s basement.

Adams was raised in Detroit, Michigan by a relative, and got her break in the 1940s performing in a club on Hastings Street. Soon after she landed a recording contract with Chess Records and recorded alongside Red Saunders for the label. Her solo career did not lift off until the 1990′s, when she landed a contract with the now defunct Cannonball Records and recorded two albums for them. Adams recently returned to the studio at 91 years of age and recorded Detroit Is My Home for the same label,

T.J. Fowler assembled his own band and in 1947 accompanied saxophonist Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams on that artist’s first recordings for the Savoy label. Fowler began making records as a leader in 1948, beginning with small Detroit labels like Paradise and Sensation and landing his own contract with Savoy in 1952, sometimes featuring singer Alberta Adams. Fowler’s ensemble also used guitarist Calvin Frazier. In Detroit, Fowler and his men served as the backing band for T-Bone Walker and spent the next few years gigging around the Motor City and southeastern Michigan. Hired in 1959 by Berry Gordy, Fowler applied his music industry know-how to help Gordy create and establish the Motown record label. Fowler died in 1982.

Dr. Ross decided to fire his sidemen and carry on as a one-man band. A strong vocalist and excellent songwriter, Ross gained early experience playing Delta jukes and eventually landed radio shows in Clarksdale and Memphis, where he also recorded for Sam Phillips’s Sun label. At the peak of Ross’s career, he quit Sun, concerned that his royalties were being used to promote Elvis Presley’s recordings. Relocating in Michigan, he recorded for his own label and for several Detroit labels, while working for General Motors. Returning to music as a recording artist, he worked the festival circuit. Ross died May 28, 1993, and was buried in Flint, MI.

Though a Louisiana native, Vernon Harrison aka Boogie Woogie Red has been associated with the Detroit blues sound as long as anyone. A Motor City resident since 1927, he began performing in the local clubs as a teenager. As a sideman he worked locally with Sonny Boy Williamson, Baby Boy Warren, and John Lee Hooker. Despite Red’s renown for the blues and boogie-woogie style that earned him his nickname, he has recorded only a few times as a featured artist, and aside from a bit of European touring in the ’70s, he remained a local Detroit treasure, rarely appearing outside the area. He died in 1985.

Little Sonny moved to the Motor City in 1953 after growing up on his dad’s farm in Alabama.  Little Sonny worked the local haunts with John Lee Hooker, Eddie Burns, Eddie Kirkland, Baby Boy Warren, and Washboard Willie. In 1958, Sonny made his blues-recording debut, cutting for both Duke and local entrepreneur Joe Von Battle, who leased Little Sonny’s “Love Shock” to Nashville’s Excello label. During the early ’60s, he ran his tiny Speedway label. He leased “The Creeper” and “Latin Soul” to Detroit’s Revilot Records in 1966. That set the stage for his joining Stax’s Enterprise label in 1970; his first album was the largely instrumental New King of the Blues Harmonica. Two more Enterprise sets soon followed: Black & Blue and 1973′s Hard Goin’ Up. Not much was heard of the harpist in recent years until the British Sequel imprint released Sonny Side Up in 1995.

After his discharge from the army in 1944, Bobo Jenkins moved to Detroit. He soon got a job at the Packard Motor Company and on the side, managed a garage, before landing a job at Chrysler, where he worked for 27 years. He also got a job taking pictures at the Harlem Inn where John Lee Hooker was playing. Jenkins soon bought a guitar and began writing songs. In 1954, with the help of John Lee Hooker, “Democrat Blues” was recorded in Chicago for Chess Records. He recorded two more singles for the Boxer label in Chicago and Fortune Records in Detroit. he eventually formed his own label.The first record released on Jenkins’ Big Star label was his own: “You”ll Never Understand” and “Tell Me Where You Stayed Last Night.” Soon he was recording and promoting local Detroit musicians. In 1972 he put out his first album on his Big Star label called The Life of Bobo Jenkins. The 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival featured a special Detroit Blues Review and Jenkins was one of the stars. The next album by Jenkins came out in 1974, called Here I Am a Fool in Love Again on Big Star. In 1977 Detroit All Purpose Blues, was issued. In 1982, he went to Europe for his first tour, but due to poor health he returned home after the first concert. A long illness ultimately led to his death on August 14, 1984.

Show Notes:

Vee-Jay was one of Chicago’s most successful labels. Until the advent of Motown during the early 1960s, it was the country’s largest black-owned record company. Four individuals were most responsible for the success of the label: James Bracken and Vivian Carter who founded the company in mid-1953; Vivian’s brother, Calvin Carter, who was the principal producer and A&R man; and Ewart Abner, Jr. A fifth individual, Art Sheridan, was a secret partner in the company. Vee-Jay was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken (later that year, Mr. & Mrs. Bracken), who used their first initials for the label’s name.  In a short time, Vee-Jay was the most successful black- owned record company in the United States. By 1963, they were charting records faster than some of the major labels. They were the first U.S. company to have the Beatles. In one month alone in early 1964, they sold 2.6 million Beatles singles. Two years later, the company was bankrupt. Early on, Vee-Jay became involved in gospel music and recorded many of the top acts in the field, notably the Staple Singers, the Swan Silvertones, the Original Five Blind Boys, and the Highway QC’s. Early jazz performers included Tommy Dean, Turk Kincheloe, and Julian Dash. But Vee-Jay established itself as a hitmaker with doowop groups and blues singers. The biggest groups were the Spaniels, the El Dorados, and the Dells, but the label could boast a host of lesser names, such as the Magnificents, the Kool Gents, and the Rhythm Aces. Vee-Jay in 1955 considerably expanded its stable of blues acts, adding Eddie Taylor (as a reward for his stellar accompaniment to Jimmy Reed), L. C. McKinley, Billy Boy Arnold, Morris Pejoe, Billy “The Kid” Emerson, and the great John Lee Hooker.

The bulk of today’s tracks come from several fine box sets: Vee Jay, The Chicago Black Music (P-Vine), The Definitive Collection (Shout Factory), Jimmy Reed: The Vee-Jay Years (Charley) and John Lee Hooker The Vee-Jay Years (Charley). The 4-CD P-Vine collection is probably the best collection from a blues standpoint while the Shout Factory 4-CD is more of an overall view. Both Charley sets are 6-CD collections that contain everything Hooker and Reed cut for Vee-Jay. Below is some background on today’s artists.

Jimmy Reed was Vee-Jay’s second signing. He was born Mathis James Reed on September 6, 1925, on a plantation near Dunleith, Mississippi. Reed moved to Chicago in 1943, and after service in the Navy during World War II settled in Gary, Indiana. The first session in June 1953 produced no hits, but “Roll And Rhumba” (Vee-Jay 100) sold enough under both Vee-Jay and Chance imprints to keep the fledgling company interested. A second session near or at the end of the year produced Reed’s first national hit, “You Don’t Have to Go,” which upon release in early 1955 lasted 10 weeks and went to #5 on the Billboard R&B chart. The key ingredient in the Jimmy Reed sound was the addition of guitarist Eddie Taylor who provided a firm drive to the songs. Reed soon emerged as one of the biggest blues acts in the country.

Bluesman Eddie Taylor was born in Benoit, Mississippi, on January 29, 1923. As a youngster he took up guitar. In 1943, he moved to Memphis, and worked in the Beale Street clubs. In 1949 Taylor moved to Chicago, initially playing in Maxwell Street but then moving into the clubs. In 1953 he began working with Jimmy Reed, who was a childhood friend in the Delta. His guitar work played a large role in the success of Jimmy Reed’s records. Taylor also appeared on the February 1954 sessions with Floyd Jones and Sunnyland Slim and in January 1955, Vee-Jay rewarded Taylor by giving him another chance to record numbers of his own.

John Lee Hooker signed with Vee-Jay in 1955, experiencing his breakthrough session for in March 1956. There with guitarist Eddie Taylor, bassist George Washington, and drummer Tom Whitehead, he laid down one of the strongest sessions of his career. Even though “Dimples” did not make the Billboard national R&B chart, it was a genuine national hit, getting played on radio stations across the country. Hooker remained with Vee-Jay until 1964, recording a load of LPs, and producing a notable pop hit, “Boom Boom,” in 1962.

Harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold first began performing on 47th Street with Bo Diddley’s street band. He made his first recording in 1953 for the highly obscure Cool label.” After Bo Diddley was signed to Chess in February 1955, Arnold recorded a couple of his own numbers at the end of the first Bo Diddley session, but Leonard Chess did not seem interested in releasing them. So Arnold went to Vee-Jay, where he recorded his great number, “I Wish You Would” (this was really the same tune that Bo Diddley recorded on his second session as “Diddley Daddy”). The session took place on May 5, 1955; his supporting band included Henry Gray (piano), Jody Williams (electric guitar), Milton Rector (on the then-novel electric bass), and Earl Phillips (drums).

Pianist Tommy Dean was born in Franklin, Louisiana, on September 6, 1909, and grew up in Beaumont, Texas. By the time he reached adulthood he was a full-time musician. During much of the 1930s he worked in carnivals and circuses, then near the end of the decade was hired by the Eddie Randle Band in St. Louis. He eventually left Randle and formed his own band, and by 1945 was working the clubs in Chicago. Before he joined Vee-Jay, Tommy Dean recorded for Town & Country in St. Louis, and Miracle, Chance, and States in Chicago. His band for Vee-Jay included Joe Buckner a blues singer who was born in St. Louis in 1924.

Soulful blues singer Billy “the Kid” Emerson was born William Robert Emerson in Tarpon Springs, Florida, on December 21, 1929. His first recordings were made with Sun Records in Memphis in 1954-55, when he cut “Red Hot,” which subsequently became a rockabilly staple. In 1955, Emerson joined Vee-Jay Records.

A T-Bone Walker disciple, guitarist L. C. McKinley, was born on 22 October 1918, in Winona, Mississippi, but had relocated to Chicago by 1941. In the early 1950s he was a regular headliner at the famed 708 Club; in 1951 and 1952, he recorded as a sideman with pianist Eddie Boyd for JOB, appearing on Boyd’s biggest hit, “Five Long Years.” He first recorded as a leader in 1953 for the Parrot label, but label owner Al Benson chose not to release his session. He probably also did some further session work during this period. The guitarist’s next session under his name was with States, in 1954. The following year, he recorded two sessions for Vee-Jay.

Vee-Jay: The Early Years

Vee-Jay Records: The Official Website

The Vee-Jay Story

Show Notes:

Houston Stackhouse

We cut a wide swath on today’s mix show with recordings spanning1928 to 1979. We have a pair of twin spins including a pair of cuts by Houston Stackhouse. I recently wrote a piece on Stackhouse for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and have been listening to his music quite a bit lately.  Stackhouse never achieved much in the way of success yet he was a pivotal figure on the southern blues scene from the 1930′s through the 1960′s who worked with, or knew, just about every significant blues musician during that period. He was greatly influenced by Tommy Johnson who he met in the 1920′s. In the 1930′s he met Robert Nighthawk, whom he taught how to play guitar. In 1946 Nighthawk asked Stackhouse to join him in Helena where he would stay for almost twenty-five years. For a year he was a member of Nighthawk’s band. After splitting with Nighthawk in 1947 he joined with drummer James “Peck” Curtis who was working on KFFA’s King Biscuit Time. In 1948 Sonny Boy Williamson (the program started with him in 1941) rejoined the show and the group performed all over the delta. Stackhouse played with all the important musicians who passed through Helena including Jimmy Rogers and Sammy Lawhorn, both whom he tutored on guitar, as well as Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Willie Love, Ernest Lane and Roosevelt Sykes. Unlike many of his fellow bluesmen, Stackhouse remained in the south continuing to perform locally as well as working regular jobs through the 1950′s. In 1967 field researcher George Mitchell recorded Stackhouse in Dundee, Mississippi. The group, calling themselves the Blues Rhythm Boys, consisted of “Peck” Curtis and Robert Nighthawk and marked the final recordings of Nighthawk who died a few months later. A week later field researcher David Evans recorded Stackhouse in Crystal Springs with long time partner Carey “Ditty” Mason. In the 1970′s Stackhouse began taking part in the blues revival, touring with Wilkins throughout the decade as The King Biscuit Boys, traveling with the Memphis Blues Caravan, playing various festivals and making a lone trip overseas to Vienna in 1976. He recorded for Adelphi in 1972 with various live tracks appearing on compilations. He died in 1980.

The other twin spin today is a pair of cuts by Blind Willie McTell and his longtime partner Curley Weaver. Both tracks come from Document’s Blind Willie McTell & Curley Weaver: The Post-War Years 1949 – 1950. All tracks on this CD have been remastered in 2008 with three additional tracks and excellent booklet notes by David Evans. It’s McTell’s early sides that are most revered by collectors but these later sides find the versatile McTell in excellent shape playing a broad repertoire of blues, gospel and pop tunes. The under recorded Weaver is no slouch either as he proves on the bouncy, ragtime flavored “Trixie” a version of the oft covered “Trix Ain’t Walking No More.”

As usual there’s a good chunk of sides from the 1920′s and 30′s including sides by Lonnie Johnson, Johnnie Temple,  Tommy Johnson, Oscar “Buddy” Woods, Rube Lacey and Lane Hardin. “Violin Blues” was issued as The Johnson Boys which consisted of Lonnie Johnson on violin and vocals, Nap Hayes on guitar and Mathew Prater on mandolin. This is a wonderful low-down number with a great vocal by Johnson and superb mandolin by Prater. Also from the same session is the wailing “Memphis Stomp” which I’ll have to play at a later date. Johnson is also listed as playing guitar on “Good Suzie (Rusty Knees)” by Johnnie Temple although his playing is submerged. Temple delivers a great vocal on this number although I have no idea what the title means.  Born and raised in Mississippi, Temple learned to play guitar and mandolin as a child. By the time he was a teenager, he was playing house parties and various other local events. Temple moved to Chicago in the early 30′s, where he quickly became part of the town’s blues scene. Often, he performed with Charlie and Joe McCoy. In 1935, Temple began his recording, releasing “Louise Louise Blues” the following year on Decca Records. Although he never achieved stardom, Temple’s records, issued on a variety of record labels, sold consistently throughout the late 30′s and 40′s. In the 1950′s, his recording career stopped, but he continued to perform, frequently with Big Walter Horton and Billy Boy Arnold. He moved back to Mississippi where he played clubs and juke joints around the Jackson area for a few years before he disappeared from the scene. He died in 1968.

We also play some latter day country blues By Bukka White, K.C. Douglas with Sidney Maiden, Soldier Boy Houston and Robert Pete Williams. White’s “Black Bottom” comes from the fine out of print LP Living Legends featuring live performances by Skip James and Big Joe Williams recorded at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City in 1966. I first heard Soldier Boy Houston (Lawyer Houston was his real name) on an Atlantic LP years ago and he’s a very appealing singer with a light tenor voice backing himself with some springy guitar work. His songs are captivating tales packed with loads of descriptive detail, much seemingly based on his real life experiences. His eight issued sides can be found on Lightning Special: Volume 2 of the Collected Works.

I always slip in a few prime barrelhouse number, this time out we spin excellent tracks by Jabo Williams and Barrel House Welsh. I’ve been featuring Williams quite a bit on my mix show. He was a terrific player who cut only eight sides that appear to be extremely rare, with few in absolutely terrible shape. “Polock Blues”, which takes its name from a section of East St. Louis, is a marvelous mid-tempo blues. Nolan Welsh recorded as Barrel House Welch on three sides for Paramount in 1928-29 and as Nolan Welsh on sides in 1926, two with Louis Armstrong. He really gives those “Chicago women” the business on his forceful “Larceny Woman Blues.” From the wonderful album Country Negro Jam Session we hear Robert Pete Williams & Robert “Guitar” J. Welch reviving Barbecue Bob’s 1927 classic, “Mississippi Heavy Water Blues.”

Moving up to the 1950′s and 1960′s we play classic Chicago blues from Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters,  Jimmy Reed, Floyd Jones, Little Johnnie Jones plus excellent sides from Gatemouth Brown, Professor Longhair, Gene Phillips and  John Lee Hooker. Jimmy Rogers’ shuffling “Look-A-Here” sports superb piano from Otis Spann as does Muddy’s 1965 gem “I Got a Rich Man’s Woman” a great lesser known tune featuring  James Cotton and Sammy Lawhorn and Pee Wee Madison on guitars. Over in Texas we play Gatemouth’s torrid instrumental “Boogie Uproar”, Earl Hooker’s vicious instrumental “Alley Corn”, from New Orleans the tough “Longhair Stomp” by Professor Longhair and from the West Coast it’s Gene Phillips & His Rhythm Aces on the low-down “My Baby’s Mistreatin’ Me”featuring some great guitar from Phillip who’s guitar skills were not spotlighted nearly enough. If you’re a fan of West Coast blues I highly recommend the two Phillips collections on Ace, Swinging The Blues and Drinkin’ And Stinkin’. We close out with terrific topical number by John Lee Hooker, “Birmingham Blues” cut for Vee-Jay in 1963. The Birmingham campaign was a strategic effort by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to promote civil rights for black Americans. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, and aimed at ending the city’s segregated civil and discriminatory economic policies, the campaign lasted for more than two months in the spring of 1963. To provoke the police into filling the city’s jails to overflowing, Martin Luther King, Jr. and black citizens of Birmingham employed nonviolent tactics to flout laws they considered unfair.