Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes:

For more than 50 years Sunnyland Slim rumbled the ivories around the Windy City, playing with virtually every local luminary imaginable and backing the great majority in the studio at one time or another. He was born Albert Luandrew in Mississippi and got his start playing pump organ. After entertaining at juke joints and movie houses in the Delta, he made Memphis his homebase during the late ’20s, playing along Beale Street and hanging out with the likes of Little Brother Montgomery and Ma Rainey. He adopted his name from the title of one of his best-known songs, “Sunnyland Train.” Slim moved to Chicago in 1939 and set up shop as an in-demand piano man, playing for a spell with John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson before making his debut in 1947. If it hadn’t been for the helpful Sunnyland, Muddy Waters may not have found his way onto Chess; it was at the pianist’s 1947 session for Aristocrat that the Chess brothers first met Waters. Aristocrat was but one of the many labels that Sunnyland recorded for between 1948 and 1956: Hytone, Opera, Chance, Tempo-Tone, Mercury, Apollo, JOB, Regal, Vee-Jay (unissued), Blue Lake, Club 51, and Cobra all cut dates on Slim, whose vocals thundered with the same resonant authority as his 88s. In addition, his distinctive playing enlivened hundreds of sessions by other artists during the same time frame, backing artists such as Muddy Waters, Robert Lockwood, Little Walter, Johnny Shines, Memphis Minnie, St. Louis Jimmy, John Brim and many others.

Sunnyland first surfaced on record with Jump Jackson for Specialty on September 26, 1946 singing “Night Life Blues” during a ten title session.  Sunnyland made official his debut for the small Chicago label H-Tone, cutting six sides fro the label backed by Lonnie Johnson. Later in the year he cut two two-song sessions for Aristocrat labeled Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Water and labeled Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Waters Combo. Sunnyland played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters. The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce “Johnson Machine Gun.” One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn’t about to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business. When Sunnyland had finished that day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, “Little Anna Mae” and “Gypsy Woman,” that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78. Sunnyland  cut one other session in 1947;  In December he eight songs for Victor under the name Doctor Clayton’s Buddy, after the popular and recently deceased Doctor Clayton.

Circa December 1947 Sunnyland backed Muddy Waters again on a four-song session for Aristocrat. In May 1948 Sunnyland backed Little Walter at his second recording date, backing Walter on “Blues Baby b/w I Want My Baby” for the Tempo-Tone label with Muddy Waters featured on the latter track. He backed Memphis Minnie circa 1949/1950 for a four-song session for Regal playing alongside Jimmy Rogers and Ernest “Big” Crawford, both who played with Muddy Waters in the early years. From that session we spin “Kidman Blues.” Sunnyland also worked with St. Louis Jimmy on three session in 1948 and 1949 and we play “Trying To Change My Ways” from that date.

Sunnyland backed Robert Lockwood on several sessions; one for J.O.B. in March 1951, a second session for Mercury in November and again for J.O.B. in 1955. Lockwood in turn backed Sunnyland on sessions for J.O.B.  and Mercury in 1951 and again for J.O.B. in 1954 plus some sessions in 1960. Lockwood and Sunnyland made a potent team and among their collaborations we hear “Down Home Child”, “Low Down Sunnyland Train”, “Glory For Man”, “I’m Gonna Dig Myself a Hole” and “Pearly B.”

In 1951 and 1952 Sunnyland backed Leroy Foster on four songs for J.O.B. with the 1951 date listed as Baby Face and Sunnyland Trio. Sunnyland also backed J.B. Lenoir on two sessions in 1952 and 1953 for the J.O.B. label. Also at that 1953 J.O.B. Sunnyland and J.B. backed Johnny Shines on two numbers including the superb topical blues “Livin’ In The White House.”

We spin several tracks form the 1960′s; In 1960 Sunnyland traveled to Englewood Cliffs, NJ to cut a session that was released on Bluesville as the LP Slim’s Shout. From that album we play his “Devil Is A Busy Man” a song he cut several times including at his 1947 but that record seems to have disappeared. The session features King Curtis on sax. Fuel 2000 released a live date (Live ’63) with guitarist J.B. Lenoir Sunnyland almost 33 years after the original session took place at Nina’s Lounge, a small club on the near west side of Chicago of which we play another Sunnyland favorite, “It’s You Baby.” Sunnyland played the AFBF in 1964, 1980 and 1981 and we play his seminal “Everytime I Get To Drinking” backed by Hubert Sumlin.

Sunnyland continued to record steadily in the 70′s and 80′s, cutting albums for Bluesway (Plays The Ragtime Blues is an excellent date but unfortunatley out-of-print), Earwig and for his own label, Airway Records (some of this material has been gathered on two fine collections on Earwig: She’s Got A Thing Goin’ On and Be Careful How You Vote). Notable records from the 1970′s include Sad And Lonesome a fine date for Jewel featuring Walter Horton and Hubert Sumlin, the solo date Travelin’ which includes some fascinating monlogues and the 1977 session Smile On My Face sporting excellent guitar work from Lacy Gibson. There are loads of reissues of Sunnyland’s early material with notable ones including Sunnyland And His Pals a 4-CD set on JSP that spans 1947 to 1955 including many seminal sessions backing other artists, Sunnyland Special: The Cobra & J.O.B. Recordings 1949-1956 and three chronological volumes on the classics label (1947-1948, 1949-1951 and 1952-1955)). Sunnyland Slim finally died of kidney failure in 1995.

Show Notes:

We have a wide ranging mix on today’s program spanning the years 1925 to 1978. We feature many artists from the 1920′s and 30′s including several artists like Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Eugene Powell, Victoria Spivey and Robert Wilkins who bridge both the pre-war and post-war eras. We spotlight three from Lonnie Johnson. Unlike many blues artists who recorded in the 1920′s and were later rediscovered, Lonnie was only out of the music business for a relatively short spell; he was not musically active and made no recordings between 1954 and 1959. He came back strong in the 1960′s through the assistance of Chris Albertson who got Lonnie signed to Bluesville, resulting in a number of strong recordings and an active touring schedule. Featured today are “I’m Not Rough” one of six sides Lonnie recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1927 and 1929. From the 1961 Bluesville album, Another Night To Cry, we spin “Fine Booze and Heavy Dues” and from 1963 “Lonnie’s Traveling Light” from the LP Spivey Blues Parade. The latter record is a grab bag of previously unreleased numbers recorded for the Spivey label and put together as a blues revue. Other artists include Sippie Wallace, Sonny Boy Williamson and Walter Horton among others.

Among the other artists who recorded in both the pre-war and post-war eras we spin tracks by  Son House and Mississippi John Hurt. We hear Son on the magnificent “Pearline” which like “Empire State Express” and “Louise McGhee” are newer songs. Hurt’s wonderful “Richland Woman Blues” is from a 1965 Oberlin College concert which has been issued in various configurations and sequences by several labels under different titles and with different cover art over.

Victoria Spivey, Otis Spann and Samuel Lawhorn

Victoria Spivey made her last pre-war blues in 1937 and reemerged in the early 1960′s. Shortly before she formed her own Spivey label in 1961, Spivey made a fine duo album, Woman Blues!, with  Lonnie Johnson whom she had last recorded with back in 1929. Today’s two tracks come from her Spivey LP’s; “Diving Mama” finds her teamed up with Otis Spann and comes from the album The Muddy Waters Blues Band: They Done It Again! Vol. 2 while “Inter-Mission State” finds her partnered with Walter Horton and comes from the album Spivey’s Blues Parade.

Less well known than the above artists is Eugene Powell who also recorded in the pre-war and post-war eras. In 1936, Eugene Powell, along with Mississippi Matilda, Willie Harris and some of the Chatmon family traveled to New Orleans to record for the Bluebird label. Setting up at the St. Charles Hotel, Powell cut six sides during these sessions under the moniker Sonny Boy Nelson. From that session we spin “Pony Blues.” In the 1970′s Powell began playing festivals and recording again. He died in 1998.

Among the other fine early blues performances are some excellent piano blues. Charlie McFadden was an expressive  St. Louis singer who made some superb sides between 1929 and 1937 backed by St. Louis pianists like Roosevelt Sykes (heard on our selection, “Gambler’s Blues”), Eddie Miller and “Pine Top” Sparks.
The exciting barrelhouse pianist Louise Johnson cut four songs for Paramount at the legendary 1930 session that also included sides by Charlie Patton, Willie Brown and Son House. You can hear Patton, Son House and Willie Brown shouting encouragement in the background. Turner Parrish cut eight sides between 1929 and 1933 including the the rollicking instrumental “The Fives”, a song also recorded by Hersal Thomas, Cripple Clarence Lofton and Jimmy Yancey.

Also worth mentioning is the mysterious Kid Cole of whom we play his “Niagra Fall Blues” which coincidentally makes no reference at all to the famous landmark. Kid Cole was a Cincinnati blues artist who cut four sides for Vocalion in 1928. According to Steven C. Tracy’s Going To Cincinnati, Cole most likely also recorded as Bob Coleman, cutting three sides under that name in 1929 and two sides with the Cincinnati Jug Band the same year. It’s also been suggested that he recorded under the moniker Sweet Papa Tadpole for a six song 1930 session with Tampa Red and the same year as Walter Cole for Gennett.

Also on tap are some fine Chicago blues including sides by Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Eddie Boyd and Sunnyland Slim. Muddy’s “Forty Days And Forty Nights”comes from the new release, Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium – San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966. This excelelnt set features the great George “Harmonica” Smith who played with Muddy for only a short stint. From the out-of-print LP Blues Southside Chicago we spin Eddie Boyd’s “Where You Belong” a session supervised by Willie Dixon. Mike Leadbitter discusses the aim of the record in his liner notes: “This album was recorded In Chicago’s Southside by Willie Dixon with one aim in mind-to provide the English enthusiast with blues played as they are played in the clubs, without gimmicks and without interfering A & R men. This album is not intended to be commercial in any way and by using top artists and top session men an LP has been produced that doesn’t sound as cold as studio recordings usually do.”

Show Notes:

John Lomax

In June 1932, they arrived at the offices of the Macmillan publishing company in New York. Here Lomax proposed his idea for an anthology of American ballads and folksongs, with a special emphasis on the contributions of African Americans. It was accepted. In preparation he traveled to Washington to review the holdings in the Archive of American Folk Song of the Library of Congress. Lomax found the recorded holdings of the Archive woefully inadequate for his purposes. He therefore made an arrangement with the Library whereby it would provide recording equipment, obtained for it by Lomax through private grants, in exchange for which he would travel the country making field recordings to be deposited in the Archive. John Lomax was paid a salary of one dollar per year for this work (which included fund raising for the Library) and was expected to support himself entirely through writing books and giving lectures.Thus began a ten-year relationship with the Library of Congress that would involve not only John but the entire Lomax family, including his second wife, Ruby Terrill Lomax, whom he married in 1934.

In July they acquired a state-of-the-art, 315-pound acetate phonograph disk recorder. Installing it in the trunk of his Ford sedan, Lomax soon used it to record, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a twelve-string guitar player by the name of Huddie Ledbetter, better known as “Lead Belly,” whom they considered one of their most significant finds. During the next year and a half, father and son continued to make disc recordings of musicians throughout the South.

Prison Compound No. 1, Angola, LA. Leadbelly in foreground.jpg

Through a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, Lomax was able to set out in June 1933 on the first recording expedition under the Library’s auspices, with Alan Lomax (then eighteen years old) in tow. In their successful grant application they wrote, that prisoners, “Thrown on their own resources for entertainment . . . still sing, especially the long-term prisoners who have been confined for years and who have not yet been influenced by jazz and the radio, the distinctive old-time Negro melodies.” They toured Texas prison farms recording work songs, reels, ballads, and blues from prisoners. They also recorded music from many others not in prison.

From 1936 to 1942 Alan Lomax was Assistant in Charge of the Archive of Folk Song of the Library of Congress to which he and his father and numerous collaborators contributed more than ten thousand field recordings. During his lifetime, he collected folk music from the United States, Haiti, the Caribbean, Ireland, Great Britain, Spain, and Italy, assembling a treasure trove of American and international culture. Lomax was the first to record such legendary musicians as Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield, and David “Honeyboy” Edwards, as well as an enormous number of other significant traditional musicians. He also recorded eight hours of music and spoken recollection with Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton in 1938, and four hours of the same format with Woody Guthrie in 1940.

Although John Lomax would partially retire in 1940, he continued to collect folk music for the remainder of his life and published his autobiography, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, in 1947. By the time of his death in 1948, Lomax had aided in the collection of over 10,000 folk songs for the Library of Congress.

Blind Willie McTell, Georgia Hotel Room, 1940

From the time he left his position as head of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1942 through the end of his long and productive career as an internationally known folklorist, author, radio broadcaster, filmmaker, concert and record producer, and television host, Alan Lomax amassed one of the most important collections of ethnographic material in the world. After he left the Library of Congress, Alan Lomax continued his work to document, analyze, and present traditional music, dance, and narrative through projects of various kinds throughout the world. With his father and on his own he published many books, including American Ballads and Folk Songs (1934) and Our Singing Country (1941). He received many honors and awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle award for his book The Land Where the Blues Began, and a “Living Legend” award from the Library of Congress. According to folklorist Roger Abrahams, he is “the person most responsible for the great explosion of interest in American folksong throughout the mid-twentieth century.”

Lomax traveled through Stovall’s Plantation in August of 1941 when he came acrass McKinley Morganfield, Latter to be know as Muddy Waters. Lomax recorded some two-dozen sides by Morganfield including a rendition of “I Be’s Troubled,” which became his first big seller when he recut it a few years later for the Chess brothers’ Aristocrat logo as “I Can’t Be Satisfied.” Lomax returned the next summer to record him again. Lomax knocked on Son House’s door in 1941 to record him for the Library of Congress on a tip from Muddy Waters. House rounded up Willie Brown, Fiddlin’ Joe Martin and Leroy Williams for the session. They cut six numbers that day and next summer in July, House recorded, unaccompanied, ten more songs for Lomax.

Alan Lomax

Alan Lomax returned to Parchman Farm in 1947-48 and made some remarkable recordings, armed with state-of-the-art technology, a cassette machine. These sides were originally issued as the LP Negro Prison Songs and reissued on CD as Prison Songs Vol. 1: Murderous Home by Rounder. Lomax gathered the prisons best lead signers for these recordings, all simply known by their nicknames: men like Bama, 22, Alex, Bull, Dobie Red, and Tangle Eye.

In 1959 and 1960, Alan Lomax revisited the American South to record traditional music in newly developed stereo sound. He recorded Delta blues, fife-and-drum ensembles, Sacred Harp singers, Ozark and Appalachian ballad singers, and prison work gangs. English folksinger Shirley Collins assisted Alan Lomax on the 1959 trip, and his daughter, Anna, accompanied him on the 1960 trip. The endeavor resulted in a seven-album series issued on Altantic Records in 1960, reissued on CD as Sounds of the South, and in a twelve-volume series on Prestige International, reissued in 1997 on Rounder Records as the Southern Journey series of the Alan Lomax Collection.

The advent of new technologies opened up new worlds for Lomax, and in the 1970s and 1980s he made a series of journeys back to the South to videotape traditional musical performances for the PBS series American Patchwork, completed and broadcast in 1990. Throughout the 90s and into the twenty-first century, Rounder records steadily worked toward reissuing a 100-CD series showcasing Lomax’ most legendary field recordings. Alan Lomax continued his work lecturing, writing, and working with the Association for Cultural Equity until his death at the age of 87 on the morning of July 19, 2002.

Show Notes:

[The first four paragraphs are taken from my Earl Hooker entry in the Encyclopedia Of The Blues (Routledge, 2006)]

Among his peers, Earl Hooker is widely considered the greatest guitarist of his generation. His wild performances attracted a loyal following wherever he went as he entertained the crowds by playing behind his back, picking the guitar with his feet or teeth or doing flips on stage without missing a note. Hooker always had a predilection for the latest electric guitar technology becoming famous for his double-neck guitars and even making the wah-wah pedal work in a blues context. In addition to blues he had incorporated Country and Western music in his repertoire early on. Hooker was the archetype of the rambling bluesman having spent most of his life on the road. Along the way he cut singles for a host of tiny labels that did little to get the word out. The result was that he remained little known outside the insular blues world until the late 60′s.

Born in Mississippi, Hooker arrived in Chicago as a child. As a youngster he began playing music in the streets with future blues artists Bo Diddley and Louis Myers. He met Robert Nighthawk in Chicago in the early 40′s and it was Nighthawk who became his primary influence, teaching him the rudiments of his remarkable slide technique. Hooker would eventually surpass his mentor, developing an entirely new language for the slide guitar. Hooker frequently ran away from home, often heading down south to play music. During these trips he reunited with Nighthawk, played with Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson and others. He formed the Roadmasters in the early 50′s and with constantly changing personnel played all over the country for the next twenty years.

Hooker’s initial recordings were in 1952 for King with Johnny O’Neal, cutting sides the following year for Rockin’ and Sun. By the early 50′s he was back in Chicago cutting singles for Argo, C.J., and Bea & Baby before joining with producer Mel London (owner of Chief and Age) in 1959. For the next four years, he recorded both as sideman and leader for the producer, backing Junior Wells, Bobby Saxton, Lillian Offitt, Ricky Allen, Big Moose Walker and A.C. Reed plus cutting notable instrumentals like “Blue Guitar” and “Blues in D-Natural.” He also contributed slide work to Muddy Waters’ 1962 Chess waxing “You Shook Me”. After Age folded Hooker recorded sporadically between 1964 and 1968 for tiny outfits like Cuca, Jim-Ko, Duplex and again for C.J.

He finally drew increased attention during the late ’60s starting with “Two Bugs & a Roach,” his first full-length album, for Arhoolie in 1968. In 1969 he hooked up with *ABC-BluesWay churning out several albums for the label in addition to playing on records of Bluesway artists like Andrew Odom, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, Charles Brown, his cousin John Lee Hooker and others. In late 1969, Hooker traveled to Europe to play in the *American Folk Blues Festival. By this time, he was quite ill with advancing tuberculosis, a condition he battled his entire life, and after his return was admitted to a Chicago sanitarium where he passed away in April 21, 1970.

Today’s show spotlights recordings spanning 1953 through 1969 featuring records Hooker cut under his own name, with a slew of journeyman singers like Little Sam Davis, Johnny O’Neal, Andrew Odom and others backing artists such as Ricky Allen, A.C. Reed, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Charles Brown to name a few. No matter the setting Hooker’s brilliantly inventive guitar always makes its presence known and like the best session men he elevates every recording he appears on. We also play a number of Hooker’s dazzling instrumentals. Hooker was never confident about his vocal abilities but he was a fine singer as several of today’s tracks prove.

From the 1950′s we spin a tracks Hooker cut for King, Rockin’, States, C.J. and Profile (he also cut sides for Argo and Vee-Jay during this period). Hooker’s first sides were cut for King on November 26, 1952 where he backed singer Johnny O’Neal on four numbers (two unissued) plus four instrumentals under his own name. From those sessions we play uptempo “Johnny Feels The Blues” with O’Neal sounding quite a bit like Roy Brown.  Hooker next landed at on the tiny Rockin’ label in 1953, a Miami, FL based label run by Henry Stone who also ran the Glory label which issued country music. There Hooker backed singer/harmonica bluesman Little Sammy Davis on four fine numbers. Six titles were cut under Hooker’s name but only “Sweet Angel” and “On The Hook” were released with the others sitting in the can for decades. Hooker found his way to Sun the same year where he waxed ten sides (one featuring vocals from Boyd Gilmore, one with vocals from Pinetop Perkins). All these sides were unissued at the time and surface on decades later. in 1957 Hooker did some session work for States including the excellent “Look Me Straight In The Eye” featuring vocals by Arbee Stidham. Hooker bounced over to the Chicago based C.J. label in 1959 run by Carl Jones. From those sessions we play “Yeah Yeah”, issued as Earl Hooker & His Road Masters a band that included pianist Johnny “Big Moose” Walker who would become a long time partner of Hooker’s. Hooker takes the vocals and turns in a superb vocal performance in addition to plenty of guitar fireworks. also in 1959 Hooker teamed up with Juniro Wells and producer Mel London. London formed the Chief label in 1957 and Hooker cut prolifically for London on Chief and its subsidiary imprints like Profile, Age and Mel-Lon through 1964. Cut in 1959 and released in 1960 on Profile, the infectious “Little By Little”, with Junior Wells on the vocals, became a hit staying on the R&B charts for three weeks and climbing to 23.

For the next four years Hooker recorded both as sideman and leader for the London, backing Junior Wells, Bobby Saxton, Lillian Offitt, Ricky Allen, Big Moose Walker and A.C. Reed plus cutting several notable instrumentals. Among the more striking instrumentals cut during this period are ”Blues In D Natural”, “Universal Rock “, “Blue Guitar” and “The Leading Brand.” As Sebastian Danchin wrote in his superlative biography Earl hooker – Blues Master: “The period between 1959 and 1963 was a productive one, both in terms of quality and quantity. Through Mel London, Hooker was involved in over a dozen recording sessions, and his playing was featured on some forty titles and twenty-five singles, a dozen of which were released under his own name, the rest being ascribed to Junior Wells, A.C. Reed, Lillian Offitt, and Ricky Allen.” In 1960 Hooker cut a couple of sides for the Bea & Baby label of which we spin the rocking “Trying To Make A Living” featuring vocals by Bobby Saxton. In 1962 Hooker was involved in some recording for Chess and its Checker subsidary. One single was issued for Chess, “Tanya” b/w “Put Your Shoes On Willie”, and we play the former, a slide driven version of the Jimmy Liggins song. Hooker also laid down some instrumental tracks that were dubbed later with Muddy Waters’ vocals resulting in “You Shook Me”, “Little Brown Bird”, “You Need Love” plus three unissued tracks.

Between 1964 and 1967 Hooker cut several sessions for the tiny Cuca label, many of which were unreleased. Jim Kirchstein’s Cuca label was based out of Sauk City, Illinois and issued a variety of ethnic music as well as jazz, gospel and R&B. Kirchstein initially issued 45′s but always had the intention of releasing a whole album on Hooker which finally came to light in 1968 under the title The Genius of Earl Hooker. Hooker’s Cuca output was mostly instrumental guitar showcases although vocalists like Muddy Water Jr., Frank “Crying Shame” Clark and A.C. Reed were employed. From those sessions we play the swinging “Swear To Tell The Truth” featuring a fine vocal from Hooker (the song was first cut for Age in 1960 with Harold Tidwell on vocals), the instrumentals “The Foxtrot” and “Something You Got” plus “You Took All My Love “boasting a terrific vocal from Frank “Crying Shame” Clark.  Although unlisted, the sax player on “Something You Got” is J.J. Jackson who moved to Utica, NY in the 1960′s. In the 1990′s he worked with Rochester bluesman Steve Grills and his band the Roadmasters. In addition to Hooker, Jackson also worked with John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Maybelle, the Buddy Johnson Orchestra and Lee Cooper. Jackson died in 1998. ithe Cuca LP The Genius of Earl Hooker has been reissued in several forms including a vinyl reproduction on Sundazed in 2006, Do You Remember The Great Earl Hooker (Bluesway, 1973), There’s A Fungus Amung Us on both Catfish and Red Lightnin’ in 1999 and the Cuca collection Earl Hooker: Play Your Guitar Mr. Hooker! issued on Black Magic in 1985 and reissued under the same title for Black Top in 1993.

Hooker finally drew increased attention during the late 1960′s starting with Two Bugs & a Roach, his first full-length album for Arhoolie in 1968. Label owner Chris Strachwitz was looking to record some Chicago blues and asked the advice of Buddy Guy on who he should record. According to Strachwitz, Guy said “If you ever ask a Chicago bluesman about who is the best guitar player in town, they will admit it’s Earl Hooker.” Hooker’s crack band for the session included Pinetop Perkins, Andrew Odom, Freddy Roulette, Carey Bell and Louis Myers. Hooker cut another album for Arhoolie in 1969. Hooker And Steve featured organist Steve Miller who had a band called the Prophets who had sometimes shared the bill with Hooker when Hooker worked the clubs in Waterloo, Iowa which was Miller’s hometown.

In 1969 Hooker hooked up with ABC-BluesWay playing on records of Bluesway artists like Andrew Odum, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, Charles Brown, his cousin John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Hooker also cut the album Sweet Black Angel in 1969 a mostly instrumental outing produced by Ike Turner. From that session we play the lone vocal, sung by Hooker, a wah wah soaked version of “Sweet Home Chicago” finding Hooker in superb voice. Although Ike Turner is credited as the pianist I’ve talked to Ernest Lane (Lane played piano on some of Hooker’s 1950′s recordings for Sun) who tells me he was the pianist on this session and I have no reason to doubt him. Hooker’s lone Bluesway album under his own name, Don’t Have To Worry, has unfortunately not be issued on CD although some tracks appear on the Bluesway collection Simply The Best issued in 1999. From Don’t Have To Worry we play the rocking “You Got To Lose” featuring a good vocal from Hooker and some wild wah wah guitar. We wrap up the show with Hooker playing behind Bluesway artists Charles Brown and longtime buddies Andrew Odom and Johnny “Big Moose” Walker. Odom’s first release under his own name, Farther On Down The Road, was recorded in 1969 but not released until several years later. While sporting mostly blues standards, Odom’s debut is a terrific outing featuring marvelous rapport between Hooker and Odom but unfortunately the album, like much of the Bluesway catalog, has yet to be issued on CD. Big Moose Walker also made his full length debut for the label with Rambling Woman a fine outing marred by Otis Hale’s electric sax but featuring superb playing from Hooker as evidenced on today’s selection, “The Sky Is Crying.” Rambling Woman has also never been issued on CD although some tracks appear on Simply The Best.

In late 1969, Hooker traveled to Europe to play in the American Folk Blues Festival. Four tracks from his October, 3rd appearance at the Royal Albert Hall have been issued. We wrap our show with “Going Up And Down” among the last songs ever recorded by Hooker. By this time, he was quite ill with advancing tuberculosis, a condition he battled his entire life, and after his return was admitted to a Chicago sanitarium where he passed away in April 21, 1970.

There were several tracks that had to be trimmed due to time limitations. I’ve included the omitted songs below.

The Hucklebuck [Sun, 1953] (MP3)

Square Dance Rock w/ Magic Sam [Chief, 1960] (MP3)

Rocking Wild [Chief, 1961] (MP3)

Bright Sounds [Age, 1962] (MP3)

That Man [Age, 1962] (MP3)

Off The Hook [Two Bugs And A Roach, 1968] (MP3)

The Moon Is Rising [Hooker And Steve, 1969] (MP3)

I Feel Good [Sweet Black Angel, 1969] (MP3)

If You Miss ‘Im…I Got ‘Im… [John Lee Hooker: If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im..., 1969] (MP3)

Drifting Blues [Charles Brown: Legend!, 1969] (MP3)

Show Notes:

With the release of the movie Cadillac Records, based on Chess Records, I though I would do a show about Chess’ early years when they were operating as Aristocrat Records. The bulk of the information in today’s show notes comes from The Red Saunders Research Foundation’s exhaustive look into the operations of the label.

The company was founded by Charles and Evelyn Aron. From June through December 1947, talent scout Sammy Goldberg helped to point the label toward rhythm and blues; he brought Jump Jackson, Tom Archia, Clarence Samuels, Andrew Tibbs, and Sunnyland Slim to the label.  Initially, their partners were Fred and Mildred Brount and Art Spiegel, none of whom took a leadership role in the business. By September 1947, Leonard Chess, the proprietor of a neighborhood bar and after-hours joint called the Macomba Lounge, had invested in the company and become involved in the sales end of Aristocrat’s operations. Leonard Chess’s name was first associated with the company in an item that appeared in Billboard on October 11, 1947; he was identified as a new addition to “the sales staff.” By then he was already wholesaling Aristocrat product out of the trunk of his Buick.

Over time, Leonard Chess increased his share in the firm by buying the Brounts out. As he became more involved in the record business, he increasingly left the day-to-day operation of the Macomba to his brother Phil. After the Arons separated in 1948, Leonard Chess and Evelyn Aron ran the firm. In December 1949, Evelyn Aron married Art Sheridan and left to form American Distributing. The Chess brothers bought out her remaining share and became the sole owners; only at this point did Phil Chess become involved in the record company’s operations. On June 3, 1950, the brothers changed the name of the company to Chess. Aristocrat thus survived in its original form a little over three years. For a small, undercapitalized company it was quite prolific. It appears that 264 titles were recorded by Aristocrat for release, and another 28 tracks recorded by others were purchased and released during the lifetime of the label, for a total of 292.

Today’s show is obviously geared to Aristocrat’s blues output although the label issued a broad scope of musical styles. As the Red Saunders website notes: “The most-recorded musician during 1947 was Lee Monti, who led a polka band with two accordions; the second and third-most recorded artists were jazz tenor saxophonist Tom Archia and uptown blues singer Andrew Tibbs. In the early going, the company also recorded the piano trios of Prince Cooper, Duke Groner, and Jimmie Bell, ballad singer Danny Knight and crooner Jerry Abbott, a gospel group called the Seven Melody Men; it even tried out Country and Western guitarist Dick Hiorns. When Muddy Waters scored a hit with “I Can’t Be Satisfied” in June 1948, the label’s orientation began to shift… The dual emphasis on jazz (Gene Ammons) and down-home blues (Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk, The Blues Rockers) wasn’t fully established until the first half of 1950, after the Chess brothers had bought out Evelyn Aron’s remaining share of the company.”

Aristocrat has been well served over the years by blues reissues. Everything Muddy Waters cut for the label, along with most of Robert Nighthawk, can be found on the 1997 2-CD set, The Aristocrat of the Blues which is where most of today’s tracks come from. The label’s other holdings, particularly jazz and R&B, have never gotten comparable treatment.Below is some background on today’s artists.

Sax man Tom Archia performed mostly in jazz and swing bands. He cut some R&B sides for Aristocrat in 1947-48 as well as backing blues singers Andrew Tibbs and Jo Jo Adams. Jo Jo Adams was among the most flamboyant singers of Chicago’s South Side who sang an urbane style of blues that prevailed in the 1940′s. He also danced, told dirty jokes, and showed off his wardrobe of loudly colored formal wear with extra-long coattails. More often than not he doubled as MC at the clubs he played. Archia’s sides are collected on Tom Archia 1947-1948 on the Classics label.

In the late ’40s, drummer Armand “Jump” Jackson worked as a bandleader on sessions for labels such as Columbia, Specialty, and Aristocrat; his band backed up vocalists such as St. Louis Jimmy, Roosevelt Sykes, Sunnyland Slim, and Baby Doo Caston. He also drummed on at least a dozen classic blues albums, backing artists like John Lee Hooker and Robert Nighthawk. In 1959 he founded La Salle Records and began putting out his own sessions as well as sides by Eddie Boyd, Eddy Clearwater, Little Mack Simmons, and his old playing partner pianist Slim In 1962, Jackson was chosen as the drummer for the first American Folk Blues Festival tour of Europe.

The Dozier Boys were a long-lived vocal/instrumental group. They originated on the near North Side of Chicago around 1946 and disbanded in 1970. They made a number of appearances on television, and they recorded for several different labels between 1948 and 1964. Willie Dixon introduced them to Leonard Chess and made their first sides for Aristocrat in 1948.

The Four Blazes were founded in 1940 and became the Five when they added Ernie Harper, a piano player from Pittsburgh, in 1945. The group made their recording debut in 1947 for Aristocrat.

Andrew Tibbs got his start singing in church choirs. When he surreptitiously began singing blues in clubs, he used his middle name and his mother’s maiden name, becoming “Andrew Tibbs.” He was singing at Jimmy’s Palm Garden when Sammy Goldberg saw him at the club and signed him to Aristocrat; Leonard Chess saw commercial potential in recording Tibbs, and decided to invest in the company. Tibbs’ debut session has always been said to be the first one that Leonard Chess attended. Tibbs continued to be the company’s top seller until well into 1949. Tibbs’ output is available on Andrew Tibbs 1947-1951 on the Classics label.

Sunnyland Slim moved to Chicago in 1939 and set up shop as an in-demand piano man, playing for a spell with John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson before waxing eight sides for RCA Victor.  If it hadn’t been for Sunnyland, Muddy Waters may not have found his way onto Chess; it was at the Sunnyland’s 1947 session for Aristocrat that the Chess brothers made Water’s acquaintance. Aristocrat was but one of a myriad of labels that Sunnyland recorded for between 1948 and 1956, cutting sides for Hytone, Opera, Chance, Tempo-Tone, Mercury,  Apollo JOB, Regal, Vee-Jay, Blue Lake, Club 51, and Cobra. An excellent selection of Sunnyland’s early sides can be found on the JSP box set Sunnyland Slim And His Pals: The Classic Sides 1947-1953.

Clarence Samuels was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana andbegan his career singing in his father’s band. In 1943, he moved to New Orleans, and began singing in local bands. By 1947, he was the manager and house singer at the Down Beat club. At this time, Sammy Goldberg, was working as a talent scout for Aristocrat. He discovered Samuels at the Down Beat, and lured him to Chicago, where Samuels began performing at the Macomba Lounge and made his first recordings for Aristocrat.

Forrest Sykes worked steadily in Chicago from 1947 through 1952. Before that, he seems to have enjoyed a brief tenure as an added attraction in Lionel Hampton’s band. He cut five sides for Aristocrat in Oct. 1947, two were unissued including the track we played.

Muddy Waters was renowned for his blues-playing prowess across the Delta, but that was about it until 1943, when he left for the bright lights of Chicago. Sunnyland Slim played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters. The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce “Johnson Machine Gun.” One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn’t about to let such a golden opportunity slip through his talented fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business. When Sunnyland had finished that auspicious day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, “Little Anna Mae” and “Gypsy Woman,” that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78. “I Feel Like Going Home” became his first national R&B hit in 1948.

When Robert Nighthawk stepped into the Aristocrat studios on November 10, 1948 it had been about eight years since he recorded under his own name.  Once in Chicago he resumed his acquaintance with Muddy Waters who he had know down south. Muddy arranged for his recording session with Aristocrat. “I put him on the label” Waters stated.30 Waters further explained: “Well. I taken him to my company, you know and…I helped him get on a record. Yeah, I taken him around to Chess, and then Chess heard him play, and he liked it.” He cut three sessions for Aristocrat through early 1950. “Annie Lee Blues” cracked the R&B charts on December 31, 1949 reaching the number 13 spot and staying on the charts for one week.

Blues harpist Forest City Joe was heavily influenced by John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson.Joe was remembered as a “great harp player” by Muddy Waters. Joe was raised in the area around Hughes and West Memphis, AR, and even as a boy played the local juke joints in the area. He hoboed his way through the state working roadhouses and juke joints during the 1940s. Beginning in 1947, he also began working the Chicago area, and a year later had his one and only session for the Chess brothers’ Aristocrat label. He made a final session for Atlantic Records in 1959, passing away in 1960.

Leroy Foster was a charter member of the Headhunters, a band that included Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers. He switched to rhythm guitar to accompany Waters on several of his 1948-49 Aristocrat 78s, notably “You’re Gonna Miss Me (When I’m Dead and Gone),” “Mean Red Spider,” and “Screamin’ and Cryin’,” as well as Johnny Jones’s rolling “Big Town Playboy.” Foster also recorded for Aristocrat as a front man: “Locked Out Boogie” and “Shady Grove Blues” were done at a 1948 date that produced six Muddy masters. All of Foster’s recordings can be found on Leroy Foster 1948-1952 on the Classic label.

Johnny Jones established himself as one of the greatest piano players on the Chicago blues scene. Jones was influenced greatly by pianist Big Maceo and followed him into Tampa Red’s band in 1947 after Maceo suffered a stroke. Johnny Jones’s talents were soon in demand as a sideman — in addition to playing behind Tampa Red for RCA Victor from 1949 to 1953, he backed Muddy Waters on his 1949 classic “Screamin’ and Cryin’” and later appeared on sides by Howlin’ Wolf. He’s best know for baking Elmore James on sessions between 1952-56. Jimmy Rogers, and Leroy Foster backed Jones on his 1949 Aristocrat label classic “Big Town Playboy.” In all he cut only eight sides before passing at the age of 40 in 1964.

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.