Entries tagged with “Memphis Slim”.


ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Mississippi John Hurt Got The Blues (Can't Be Satisfied) Avalon Blues
Skip James Crow Jane Today!
Guitar Nubbit Georgia Chain Gang Blues Town Story Vol. 1
Babe Stovall Worried Blues Ruff Stuff - Roots Of Texas Blues Guitar
Scott Dunbar It's So Cold Up North Give My Poor Heart Ease
The Sparks Brothers Down On The Levee Down On The Levee
Charlie ''Speck'' Pertum Weak-Eyed Blues Charlie ''Specks'' McFadden 1929-1937
Mack Rhinehart & Brownie Stubblefield TPN Moaner Deep South Blues Piano 1935-1937
Montana Taylor & Bertha 'Chippie' Hill Mistreatin' Mr. Dupree The Circle Recordings
Memphis Slim I Am The Blues The Sonet Blues Story
Memphis Slim El Capitan Bad Luck & Trouble
Blind Connie Williams Papa's Got Your Bath Water On I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 1
Drink Small You Can Call Me Country I Know My Blues Are Different
Arvella Gray Have Mercy, Mr. Percy Pt. 2 Blues From Maxwell Street
Ma Rainey Leaving This Morning Mother Of The Blues
Mary Johnson Friendless Gal Blues Mary Johnson 1929-1936
Bessie Smith Slow And Easy Man The Complete Recordings (Frog)
The Four Blazes Women, Women Mary Jo
Jimmy Witherspoon You Gotta Crawl Before You Walk Sings the Blues Sessions
Blind Lemon Jefferson One Dime Blues The Best Of
Blind Willie McTell Mama, 'Taint Long Fo' Day The Classic Years 1927 - 1940
Peg Leg Howell Away From Home Peg Leg Howell Vol. 2 1928-1930
Rev. Gary Davis I'm Throwin' Up My Hands Meet You At The Station
Sonny Terry Crow Jane The Folkways Years 1944-1963
Jr. Wells I’m A Stranger Messin' With The Kid
Homesick James Fayette County Blues Ain't Sick No More
L.C. Robinson Stop Now House Cleanin' Blues
Charlie Patton Mean Black Cat Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs
Charlie Patton Elder Greene Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Blind Pete & George Ryan Banty Rooster Black Appalachia
Buster Bennett I'm A Bum Again Buster Bennett 1945-1947
Joe "Mr. Google Eyes" August Rough And Rocky Road The Very Best Of
Hattie Burleson Sadie's Servant Room Blues Sunshine Special
Hattie Hudson Black Hand Blues I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 1

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 BrothersThe 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 tim
e

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.

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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Roosevelt Sykes Fine And Brown Rainin' In My Heart
Robert Nighthawk Crying Won't Help You Bricks In My Pillow
Memphis Slim Two Of A Kind Memphis Slim - U.S.A.
Jimmy Coe After Hours Joint Honkers & Bar Walkers Vol. 1
Johnny Wicks' Swinging Ozarks Jockey Jack Boogie The United Records Story
J.T. Brown Blackjack Blues Windy City Boogie
J.T. Brown Windy City Boogie Windy City Boogie
Roosevelt Sykes Ruthie Lee Rainin' In My Heart
Memphis Slim Memphis Slim U.S.A. Memphis Slim U.S.A.
Robert Nighthawk Kansas City Bricks In My Pillow
Cliff Butler Jealous Hearted Woman Long Man Blues
Eddie Chamblee La! La! La! Lady Honkers & Bar Walkers Vol. 3
Four Blazes Done Got Over Mary jo
Jr. Wells Hoodoo Man Blues Hit Big Town
Big Walter Horton Back Home To Mama Harmonica Blues Kings
Big Walter Horton Hard-Hearted Woman Harmonica Blues Kings
Alfred Harris Great Lakes Boogie Harmonica Blues Kings
Memphis Slim Little Piece Of Mind Memphis Slim - U.S.A.
Robert Nighthawk You Missed A Good Man Bricks In My Pillow
Roosevelt Sykes Walkin' This Boogie Rainin' In My Heart
Ernest Cotton Empty Bed Long Man Blues
L.C. McKinley Disgusted Long Man Blues
Arbee Stidham Look Me Straight In The Eye Long Man Blues
Eddie Boyd Blue Coat Man Long Man Blues
Arthur "Big Boy" Spires Dark And Stormy Wrapped In My Baby
Morris Pejoe Let's Get High Wrapped In My Baby
Dennis Binder I'm A Lover Long Man Blues
Tommy Brown Remember Me Blues Hit Big Town
Helen Thompson Going Down to Big Mary's Yes Indeed! Women Vocalists On United
Harrold Burrage You're Gonna Cry Long Man Blues
Ernie K-Doe Get Out Of Here Woman Jump 'N' Shout
Alfred Harris Miss Ida Harmonica Blues Kings
Jr. Wells Blues Hit Big Town Blues Hit Big Town
Jr. Wells Cut That Out Blues Hit Big Town

Show Notes:

Mission statement released after
United had been in existence for one year

The United Record Company was launched in July 1951, by Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins, a veteran record man who had worked for the Miracle and Premium Records and brought many of their former artists to the new label. A news item in the trade press dated July 21, 1951, announces the formation of the United Recording Company. “The guiding force behind this new company is a Chicago area entertainment entrepreneur by the name of Lewis Simpkins. He had previous experience with the local Miracle and Premium labels in the Chicago areas. Simpkins is unique because he is one of the very few Black record company owners producing this music that is largely by and for the Black community. He joins the Rene Brothers in California (Excelsior and Exclusive) and soon to be executives Vivian Carter and James Bracken in nearby Gary Indiana with the Vee-Jay label.”

United enjoyed early success, scoring hits by Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, and the Four Blazes; during its first year it was outdoing its local rival Chess on the charts. The United label took off impressively, scoring two number one R&B hits among its first ten releases: Tab Smith’s “Because of You,” and Jimmy Forrest’s “Night Train.” United formally opened for business with a long recording session on July 12, 1951. The company was able to expand and open a new imprint called States in May 1952. United and States recorded a substantial roster of jazz artists. The company also recorded a substantial amount of blues including artists like Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slim, J. T. Brown, “Big” Walter Horton, J. T. Brown, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Wells and others. The label also recorded a fair bit of gospel and vocal harmony groups.During its first 2 1/2 years of operation, the company recorded 463 masters. The death of Lew Simpkins, who died suddenly on April 27, 1953, was a serious blow; Leonard Allen was left to run the enterprise with limited help until the label’s demise in 1957. While the company remained fairly healthy during 1954, activity dropped off sharply after that. Of the 281 sides that the company cut during this period, 130 were done in 1954. By the end of 1956 Leonard Allen was reduced to selling off half of the house music publishing company to pay his tax bill. Too many years without hits finally brought United and States down after the company’s Christmas releases in 1957. Bob Koester of Delmark Records acquired most of the label’s masters in 1975 and has reissued the bulk of this material on LP and CD. I want to thank the folks at Delmark for sending me several titles that made this show possible. Below is some background on some of today’s featured artists, most of which comes from the The Red Saunders Research Foundation website.

Roosevelt Sykes, like Nighthawk, was recorded on United’s first day of sessions on July 12, 1951. He cut two additional sessions in August 1951 and March 1953. There is speculation that Nighthawk plays guitar on the first Sykes session. Robert Nighthawk was recorded by United on their very first day of sessions and two of United’s first five releases were by Robert Nighthawk and his Nighthawks Band. Sales never took off and Nighthawk headed back south and wouldn’t record again until 1964. Leonard Allen scoffed: “Robert Nighthawk? I didn’t think nothin’ of him. I didn’t go into those joints where they were playing. Lew knew him- he had Robert Nighthawk in mind for the first session. So after he cut the session it did nothin’.” Nighthawk recorded two sessions for United, one on July 12, 1951 and one on October 25, 1952 for its subsidiary States. His complete recordings for the label are collected on the CD Bricks in My Pillow.

Memphis Slim cut around 30 sides for United at sessions in 1952, 1953 and two in 1954. This was a particularly inspired period for Slim who added his first permanent guitarist, Matt Murphy to his band. These recordings have been reissued on the Delmark CD’s Memphis Slim U.S.A. and The Come Back. Memphis Slim had been recording since 1940. Based in Chicago during this phase of his career, he had been a mainstay at three postwar independents: first Hy-Tone, then Miracle, and finally Miracle’s successor entity Premium. After Premium collapsed in the summer of 1951, Slim cut three sessions for Mercury in Chicago. Lew Simpkins, who knew Slim from the days when he was moving 78’s for Miracle and Premium, brought him to United as soon as he could.

J.T. Brown also recorded during United’s first day – and his “Windy City Boogie” was credited by United proprietor Leonard Allen with “saving our first money.” J.T. is best remembered for the accompaniments he provided for Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Roosevelt Sykes, Johnny Shines, and J.B. Lenoir. In his liner notes for the United reissues on Delmark, Jim O’Neal remarked that he “was a bluesman. By jazz standards, he was not a great instrumentalist. His lack of sophistication, subtlety, and tonal variations prevented him from moving into more ‘progressive’ circles.” Brown first performed as a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels in the South before moving to Chicago in the early 1940’s.

One of the top R&B records of 1952, “Mary Jo” provided a moment in the national spotlight for one of Chicago’s hottest vocal combos, The Four Blazes. The single moved rapidly to the top, displacing Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” as the #1 R&B song in the nation at the end of August. Bassist Tommy Braden was the main lead singer while all members provided backup harmony vocals. “Jelly” Holt was the founder and drummer in the group, while Floyd McDaniel and “Shorty” Hill played guitars. The Four Blazes formed in 1940 and made their recording debut with a few sides for Aristocrat in 1947 before landing at United in 1952.

In what was likely a response to Chess’ success with Little Walter, United signed harp ace Junior Wells. After a youthful apprenticeship in the Aces and then the Muddy Waters band (when Little Walter went out on his own he took over the Aces, while Junior moved into his chair in Muddy’s band, and appeared on one of Muddy’s sessions for Chess), he was ready to make his first sides as a leader for the States subsidiary.  Down Beat’s Pete Welding wrote “In their power, directness, unerring taste and utter consistency of mood, these may well be the most perfectly distilled examples of Wells’ music ever recorded, taking their place alongside of those of Waters, Walter, Wolf and other masters of the period.” These historic sessions also feature Louis and Dave Myers, Willie Dixon, Johnnie Jones, Fred Below and Odie Payne Jr. Recorded by United Records in 1953 and 1954 at Universal Studio in Chicago, eight sides were issued on the subsidiary States label.

Walter Horton moved to Chicago in the late 1940’s, but during 1951-54 made frequent trips to Memphis to record for Modern, behind other artists and under the name Mumbles. He also made sideman appearances for Chicago-based labels, with Muddy Waters for Chess (January 1953) and Johnny Shines for JOB (the same month). He recorded under the name Big Walter Horton for the first time when he signed with United in 1954. Horton also backed singer Tommy Brown the same year. Brown’s United session on August 26 featured an all-star lineup of Walter Horton (harmonica), Harold Ashby (tenor sax), Memphis Slim (piano), Lee Cooper (guitar), and Willie Dixon (bass); the drums are unknown. Brown remains an active performer.

Leonard Allen  recorded blues artists Morris Pejoe and Big Boy Spires in Al Smith’s basement (5313 South Drexel). Although the Pejoe session was interesting enough to justify putting matrix numbers on it, Allen eventually backpedaled, most likely because of the less-than-professional sound quality. Neither saw release until Delmarkr put them out on an album in 1989. Pejoe was born Morris Pejas in Louisiana, and began his music career on the violin. After moving to Beaumont, Texas, in 1949, he switched to guitar. In 1951 he was in Chicago, performing with pianist Henry Gray. During 1952-53 he recorded three sessions for Checker, accompanied by Gray among others. The United session was held in December 1954.

Arthur “Big Boy” Spires was born in Natchez, Mississippi; he started playing guitar only in the late 1930s. Spires came to Chicago in 1943, and played house-rent parties during the decade. It was not until 1950 or 1951 that he graduated to nightclubs. He first recorded for Checker in 1952 (which produced his best known record, “Murmur Low”), and did a strong session for Chance in January 1953. In December 1953, Big Boy Spires and His Rhythm Rocking Three was advertised as the feature act in the grand opening celebration of the Palace Inn (the ad failed to list an address). The date of the Spires session for Leonard Allen seems to be December 1954 or shortly thereafter.

The most down-home blues session ever recorded by Leonard Allen featured harmonica player Alfred “Blues King” Harris and drummer James Bannister. Bannister got the vocals on “Blues and Trouble” and “Gold Digger,” which were the only titles to be released from the session at the time; States 141 is a very rare record. Harris sang on the rest, which did not see issue until they appeared on a Delmark LP many years later. Bannister had made unissued recordings for Sun in Memphis and for Chess before cutting this session for States. Harris, who could sing in the B. B. King manner and often billed himself as Blues King, made one track for Modern in Memphis. He was booked into the Be-Bop Club for 6 months in 1954 when Allen recorded him. He waxed five sides for United that same year. In the late 1950’s, Harris put out a single on J. Mayo Williams’ low-circulation Ebony label. He dropped off the Chicago scene after 1959 and his later movements are untraced.

Other performers featured today include Jimmy Coe, Eddie Chamblee, Arbee Stidham, L.C. McKinley and Ernie K-Doe among others. United recorded several fine sax players who’s music straddled the line between R&B and jazz. Many are featured on Delmark’s three volume Honkers & Bar Walkers series including Jimmy Coe and Eddie Chamblee. From 1941 to 1946 Chamblee worked as a musician in Army bands; after his discharge he put together his own combo. His first notable work was on the Miracle label, particularly on the huge hit “Long Gone” by Sonny Thompson, which recorded for 1947. After Chamblee went out on his own in 1948, his records for Miracle and Premium sold well, and Lew Simpkins no doubt remembered him. In addition to putting out sides under his own name he also played on many sides backing the Four Blazes. On our selection, “La! La! La! Lady”, Chamblee also takes the vocal. Arbee Stidham was the last blues artist to record for Leonard Allen, and was responsible for the very last release on States. He came to Chicago in the 1940s and his first recording for RCA Victor in 1947 produced a number one R&B hit on the Billboard race chart, “My Heart Belongs To You.” Subsequently he cut sides for Victor, Checker, Sittin’ With and Abco before signing with States in 1957. Only rone record was issued featuring the guitar of Earl Hooker. L. C. McKinley was T-Bone Walker disciple who made from Mississippi to Chicago in 1951. In the early 1950’s 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 Al Benson chose not to release his session. McKinley signed with States around the beginning of 1954 and cut four sides for the label. In 1955 United became the first to record Ernie K-Doe, who was living and performing in Chicago at the time under his real name, Ernest Kador. K-Doe spent nearly his entire life in New Orleans, but in 1953, after winning several singing and dancing competitions back home, he came to Chicago for a brief time to live with his mother. He met the Four Blazes at the Crown Propeller Lounge; the Blazes introduced him to A&R man Dave Clark, who was doing some work for United at the time and supervised the session. In early November he was singing at the Apex Country Club in Robbins, Illinois (13624 Claire Blvd) as “Ernest Kado.” The Chicago Defender ad (12 November) was already billing him as “United Recording Artist.”

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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Champion Jack Dupree God Bless Our New President The Truman & Eisenhower Blues
Bobo Jenkins Democrat Blues The Truman & Eisenhower Blues
Otis Spann Sad Day In Texas Can’t Keep From Crying
James & Fannie Brewer I Want To Know Why Can’t Keep From Crying
Ronda Mitchell & Mrs. Lovell J.F. Kennedy's Reservation Blues Southside Chicago
Jack Kelly President Blues Jack Kelly 1933-1939
Harman Ray President's Blues The Truman & Eisenhower Blues
Big Joe Willimas His Spirit Lives On Big Joe & Stars Of Miss. Blues
Otis Jackson Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt Get Right With God
Memphis Slim Four Years Of Torment Rockin' This House
J.B. Lenoir Eisenhower Blues The Truman & Eisenhower Blues
Perry Tillis Kennedy Moan Kennedy's Blues
Son House President Kennedy Kennedy's Blues
Southern Bell Singers The Tragedy Of Kennedy Kennedy's Blues
Johnny Shines Livin' In The White House Evening Shuffle
Big Bill Broonzy Just A Dream No. 2 Big Bill Broonzy Vo. 9 1939
Louisiana Red Red's Dream Kennedy's Blues
Percy Mayfield I Don’t Want To Be President His Tangerine & Atlantic Sides
Louis Jordan Jordan For President The Truman & Eisenhower Blues
Sleepy John Estes President Kennedy Boomer's Story
Little Walter Dead Presidents The Chess Years
Mary Ross President Kennedy Gave His Life Can’t Keep From Crying
Dixie Nightingales Assassination Kennedy's Blues
Angels Of Joy Mr. President Slow And Moody, Black And Bluesy
Roy C Open Letter To The President Sex & Soul
King Solomon Please Mr. President Does Anybody Know I'm Here?
Gatemouth Brown Please Mr. Nixon Gate's On The Heat
Big Joe Williams Watergate Blues Watergate Blues
Howlin’ Wolf Watergate Blues The Back Door Wolf
John Lee Granderson A Man For The Nation Can’t Keep From Crying
Brother Thruman Ruth That Awful Day In Dallas Kennedy's Blues
Big Boy Henry The New Mr. President Carolina Blues Jam

Show Notes:

Bobo Jenkins: Democrat BluesToday’s shown revolves around blues songs relating to presidents and politics. Overt political commentary was rare in recorded blues and gospel prior to the 1960’s. Some of the most moving political songs were tributes for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, who had great appeal to African Americans. One theme running through today’s show is several songs dealing with the death of president Kennedy who was assassinated 45 years ago yesterday. There were also quite a number of gospel songs written on the topic, and although we normally don’t play gospel we make an exception today. Roosevelt was considered the “poor man’s friend” and the lyrical evidence suggests he was viewed “as a benevolent and powerful patron or ‘bossman’” while Truman was seen as much more fallible and “unresponsive to the economic plight of black people as well as their growing demands for equal rights.” Kennedy’s reputation, particularly in the early years, was rather ambivalent but his death, as the lyrical evidence makes clear, “virtually eradicated any criticism of his international or political policies and left him an unadulterated hero.” These last quotes come from scholar Gudio Van Rijn who has written the books Roosevelt Blues, The Truman & Eisenhower Blues and Kennedy’s Blues which analyze lyrics of blues and gospel songs that deal with topical issues. In addition each book has an accompanying CD, which is where many of today’s songs come from. Several of the Kennedy songs come from the album Can’t Keep From Crying: Topical Blues on the Death of President Kennedy on the Testament label.

I guess you can say I wear my sympathies my sleeve with the opening numbers; Champion Jack Dupree’s “God Bless Our New President” and Bobo Jenkins’ “Democrat Blues.” “God Bless Our New President” was cut only a few days after Truman was sworn in following the death of FDR. The flip side was “F.D.R. Blues.” The record was advertised in Billboard as a “new sensational timely blues record.” In “Democrat Blues” cut in 1952 Jenkins is clearly not happy about Dwight Eisenhower who was the first Republican in the White House since 1933. If Jenkins was still with us he would clearly be a happy man.

Can't Keep From CryingA running thread throughout today’s show is some remarkable songs on the death of President Kennedy. In the wake of John Kennedy’s assassination, Pete Welding recorded over a dozen acoustic blues tributes to the late president for the compilation Can’t Keep from Crying: Topical Blues on the Death of President Kennedy in late 1963 and early 1964. Several other songs come form Kennedy’s Blues. Not surprisingly Kennedy’s assassination provoked an outpouring of memorial songs where “the deceased president emerges as a near-saint.” As Rijn notes, “the blues and gospel singers’ president was in heaven now. Like Christ he had died for our sins.” Indeed Kennedy’s death is often compared to the crucifixion of Christ a theme hammered home in several gospel songs. Among the moving performances are Otis Spann’s impassioned “Sad Day In Texas”, his voice choked with emotion, Jim and Fannie Brewer’s simply but deeply moving “I Want To Know Why” and Perry Tillis’ “Kennedy Moan.” There are several strong gospel performances including Ronda Mitchell & Mrs. Lovell magnificent “J.F. Kennedy’s Reservation”, The Southern Bell Singers’ soaring “The Tragedy Of Kennedy” and the Dixie Nightinglaes’ haunting “Assassination.”

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president of the United States, thousands of black Americans, traditionally Republican, deserted the party of Lincoln and became Democrats. Roosevelt was immensely popular among blacks as evidenced in songs like Otis Jackson’s two-part “Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt” and Big Joe Wiilliams’ moving “His Spirit Lives On.” While were practically no blues lyrics critical of Roosevelt, Truman was criticized explicitly early on. Expectations were high for post-war prosperity and Truman’s inability to stem inflation made him ripe for criticism. It wasn’t long for the sentiment expressed in Champion Jack Dupree’s “God Bless Our New President” cut in April 1945 (Truman became President in January that year) became more pointed in songs like J.B. Lenoir’s “Eisenhower Blues” and the “positively revolutionary” variation “Everybody Wants To Know:”

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

Roy C: Open Letter To The PresidentWhile Rijn has yet to write his book on Nixon (I have no doubt he will) there were a number of songs about Nixon and as you would imagine they were not very flattering. Watergate is a topic taken up by Howlin’ Wolf on “Watergate Blues” on his final album The Back Door Wolf while Big Joe is back with his “Watergate Blues.” Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown addresses Nixon directly in “Please Mr. Nixon” to “Don’t cut off your welfare line.” Other songs that directly addressed the president were several songs that came along at the same time including Roy C’s “Open Letter To The President” and his more explicit “Impeach The President, King Solomon’s “Please Mr President” the Angels Of Joy’s gorgeous plea “Mr President.”

Today’s show also features a trio of fantasy songs inspired by Big Bill Broonzy’s “Just A Dream.” The idea of a black man as a president was the stuff of fantasy as Big Bill relates:

Dreamed I was in the White House, sittin’ in the president’s chair.
I dreamed he’s shaking my hand, said “Bill, I’m glad you’re here”
But that was just a dream. What a dream I had on my mind
And when I woke up, not a chair could I find

Some fifteen years later Johnny Shines recorded his “Livin’ In The White House:”

Now I’m livin’ in the White House, just trying to help old Ike along (2x)
And tryin’ to make an admendment, for things Harry left undone

I want to live in paradise, make servants out of kins and queens (2x)
Now, don’t shake me, please, darling, this is one time I wanna finish my dream

Percy Mayfield: I Don't Want To Be PresidentThen there’s Louisiana’s Red surreal, hilarious “Red’s Dream” where he goes “to the U.N. and set the whole nation right”, threatens Castro with a “Georgia shave” (slit his throat) and is finally summoned to the White House by the President where he plans to install some “soul brothers” in the senate like Ray Charles, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley and Big Maybelle! Then of course there’s Louis Jordan’s “Jordan For President.” After announcing that he is ready to move “… from the phonograph record to the ‘Congressional Record’”, Jordan promises to help listeners “… get straight on all the candidates” and “… make the proper selection in the coming election.” Jordan’s hoping you’ll vote for the swing ticket: “For an administration that’ll move you, groove you, and keep you fit” and “… to walk on the sunny side of the street with the candidate with the beat … vote for Jordan for President!” Jordan’s electoral promises: “Every American will get his portion – after I get mine” and “… we’ll all serve – time!.” I Don’t Want To Be President” by the ever philosophical Percy Mayfield takes a Nixon era slant:

Now just suppose I had a girlfriend and called her, and she lived way across the lake
Why Congress would know the whole conversation because, you see, they’d have it on tape

Then they put me on the television to tell the whole world my private life
Hell I wouldn’t mind if people knowing but what about my wife

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