Big Road Blues

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:

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:

In Houston, African Americans settled mostly in three segregated wards: the Third, Fourth, and Fifth. It was in the Third Ward where guitarist Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins accompanied his cousin Texas Alexander in the late 1920’s, and where Hopkins returned by himself in the 1940’s to play on Dowling Street. In Houston there were fewer opportunities for recording than in Dallas until after World War II, when several independent labels were started. The earliest to record blues was Gold Star, founded by Bill Quinn in 1946 as a hillbilly label to record Harry Choates. In 1947 Quinn decided to enter the “race” market by recording Lightnin’ Hopkins. By the early 1950’s, competition among independent record labels in Houston was intense. Macy’s, Freedom, and Peacock (as well as Bob Shad’s New York-based Sittin-In-With label) were all involved in recording local and regional blues musicians such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Gatemouth Brown, Goree Carter, Lester Williams, Peppermint Harris and Big Walter Price. Of the Houston-based independent labels, Peacock emerged as the most prominent. Houston businessman Don Robey founded Peacock Records in 1949. Robey expanded his recording interests by acquiring the Memphis label Duke Records. Through this acquisition Robey secured the rights to the stable of musicians who were then under contract to Duke. During the 1950s, Robey’s Duke-Peacock sound rose to national prominence, but by the mid-1960s, his business started to wane. Concurrent with the growth of Peacock Records, a new generation of Houston-bred rhythm-and-blues musicians began their careers, but were not recorded by Don Robey. These musicians included Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Joe Hughes, Clarence Green and Pete Mayes. Playing at the Club Matinee, Shady’s Playhouse, the Eldorado Ballroom, and other nightspots around Houston, these musicians emulated the music of T-Bone Walker and eventually developed their own distinctive performance styles.

Today’s show covers much ground and naturally two hours isn’t long enough to devote to the vibrant Houston blues scene of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Future shows will take a more in-depth look at Houston labels like Duke-Peacock, Freedom, Macy’s, Sittin’ In With and Gold Star.

Hopkins cut some 50 sides for the Gold Star label between 1947 and 1950. Producer Bill Quinn opened Gold Star Studios in October 1941 in Houston. Originally, Quinn had called it Quinn Recording and focused primarily on country music artists, but, by 1950, he had rechristened it Gold Star Studios. In 1948, Melvin Jackson, better known as “Lil’ Son” Jackson, became one of many blues singers to record for Gold Star. In addition to L.C. Williams, Wilson “Thunder” Smith, Leroy Ervin, and Perry Cain, the most famous of which was Lightnin’ Hopkins. Hopkisn also cut around two dozen sides for the Sittin’ In With label and its Jax subsidary in 1951.

By the time he was in his early twenties, Peppermint Harris then known as Harrison Nelson, Jr. was lucky enough to have found a mentor and friend on the Houston blues front in the form of Lightnin’ Hopkins. When Harris was deemed ready, Lightnin’ accompanied him to Houston’s Gold Star Records. Nothing came of that trip, but Harris eventually recorded his debut 78 for the company in 1948 (as Peppermint Nelson).B ob Shad’s Sittin’ in With label was the vehicle that supplied Harris’ early work to the masses, including his first major hit, “Raining in My Heart,” in 1950. Sittin’ in With was founded in 1948 by Bob Shad and was operated in NYC. The label recorded a number of Houston bluesmen in addition to Harris including Lightnin’ Hopkins, Goree Carter and Elmore Nixon. Jade and Jax were subsidiaries of the label and also issued blues and R&B.

Among T-Bone’s legion of disciples was Houston’s Goree Carter, whose big break came when he signed to Houston’s Freedom Records circa 1949. For his his first couple of side he was billed as “Little T-Bone.” Freedom issued plenty of Carter records over the next few years, and he later recorded for Imperial/Bayou, Sittin’ in With, Coral, Jade, and Modern without denting the national charts. Eventually, he left music behind altogether. Eddie’s and Freedom were two intertwined labels; Eddie’s was founded in 1947 in Houston while Freedom was founded the next year and distributed Eddie’s releases. Artists on the labels included Little Willie Littlefield, L.C. Williams, Goree Carter, Big Joe Turner, Joe Houston among others.

Texas Johnny Brown began his professional career as an original member of the great Amos Milburn band known as the Aladdin Chickenshackers. Brown’s picking is killer on early Aladdin recordings by both Milburn as well as Ruth Brown’s first Atlantic sides. Atlantic allowed Brown to make a few recordings of his own in 1949. He didn’t cut his first full-length record until 1998.

Lester Williams grew up infatuated with the sound of T-Bone Walker, whose style he emulated; after serving in World War II, he formed his own combo, and in 1949 signed on with the Houston-based Macy’s Records. Macy’s was founded by Macy and Charles Henry and was active from 1949 through 195, releasing records by Lester Williams, Smokey Hogg, Hubert Robinson, Clarence Garlow and others. Williams’ debut single “Winter Time Blues” became a regional hit, although subsequent efforts were less successful. Williams moved to Specialty records and scored his biggest hit in 1952 with “I Can’t Lose with the Stuff I Use.” Williams’ follow-ups failed to catch on, however, and by 1954 he was regularly performing on Houston station KLVL and touring throughout the South. He later recorded on Duke before one final date for Imperial in 1956. In the years to follow he remained a staple of the Houston club circuit, touring Europe prior to his death on November 13, 1990.

Clarence Garlow is best known for his 1950 hit “Bon Ton Roula” (French for “Let the Good Times Roll”), a rhythm & blues-laced zydeco song that helped introduce the Lousiana music form to a national audience. Garlow was born in Louisiana but raised in nearby Beaumont, Texas. In 1949 he put together a band, began playing jukes and dances in the Houston area, and signed a recording contract with Macy’s Records. After Macy’s demise, Garlow moved from one label to the next but never could repeat his former success.

Elmore Nixon was a Houston pianist was acted as a sideman for labels like Gold Star, Peacock, Mercury, Savoy and Imperial between 1949-1955. In the 1960’s he backed Lightnin’ Hopkins and Clifton Chenier on record. He cut close to two-dozen sides under his own name for labels like Sittin’ In With, Peacock, Mercury, Imperial and Savoy.

In 1947, Gatemouth Brown’s impromptu fill-in for an ailing T-Bone Walker at Houston entrepreneur Don Robey’s Bronze Peacock nightclub convinced Robey to assume control of Brown’s career. After two singles for Aladdin stiffed, Robey inaugurated his own Peacock label in 1949 to showcase Gatemouth on record. Gate stayed with Peacock through 1960. Assisted by business partner Evelyn Johnson, Peacock’s roster grew with both blues and gospel artists. By the end of 1952 they had released singles by over fifty different artists. It was this year that Robey acquired Duke Records.

James ‘Wide Mouth’ Brown was Gatemouth Brown older brother. He cut his only record, “A Weary Silent Night” b/w “Boogie Woogie Nighthawk”, in 1952 issued on the Jax label.

Big Walter Price was born in Gonzales, Texas in 1914, pianist Big Walter started he music career in 1954, recording for labels like T-N-T, Peacock, Goldband and others.

Slide guitar blues with an Elmore James flavor played on an eight-string table (non-pedal) steel guitar was the trademarked sound of Houston blues legend Hop Wilson. Strictly a local phenomenon, Wilson recorded fitfully and hated touring. After his discharge from the Army, he decided to pursue a serious career as a blues musician, performing with Ivory Semien’s group in the late ’50s. Wilson and Semien recorded a number of sides for Goldband Records in 1957. Hop Wilson didn’t lead his own sessions until 1960, when he signed with the Ivory record label. Wilson only recorded for the label for two years — his final sessions were in 1961. After 1961, Wilson concentrated on playing local Houston clubs and bars. He continued to perform in Houston until his death in 1975.

Teddy Reynolds, blues pianist, songwriter, and singer, was born in Houston on July 12, 1931. He debuted in 1950 for the Sittin’ In With label and cut sides for Mercury in 1958. Reynolds’s did his most prolific and enduring studio work as a regular session player at Duke and Peacock Records. Starting in 1958 and lasting into the mid-1960s, he played piano or organ on classic sides by Bobby Bland and Junior Parker, with whom he toured constantly in a popular twin-bill revue for almost three years.

Clarence Green was a versatile guitarist and a stalwart of the Houston scene who fronted a number of popular bands, the most famous being the Rhythmaires, between the early 1950s and his death.He started out around 1951 or 1952 in a group that called itself Blues For Two. Throughout the next decade the band’s personnel changed often; some of the more well-known members, at various times, included fellow guitarists Johnny Copeland and Joe Hughes.Green also did regular session work as a guitarist at various studios, the most notable being Duke Records, where he backed artists such as Bobby Bland, Joe Hinton, and Junior Parker. he cut his own sides for labels such as C & P, All Boy, Aquarius, Bright Star, Lynn, Pope, and Golden Eagle.

Houston was homebase to a remarkable cadre of blues guitarists during the 1950’s among whom was Joe Hughes. He crossed paths with johnny Copeland’s circa 1953 when the two shared vocal and guitar duties in a combo called the Dukes of Rhythm. Hughes served as bandleader at a local blues joint known as Shady’s Playhouse from 1958 through 1963, cutting a few scattered singles of his own in his spare time. In 1963, Hughes hit the road with the Upsetters, switching to the employ of Bobby “Blue” Bland in 1965. He also recorded behind the Bland for Duke and Al “TNT” Braggs from 1967 to 1969.

Albert Collins started out taking keyboard lessons but by the time he was 18 years old, he switched to guitar, and hung out and heard his heroes, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins in Houston-area nightclubs. Collins began soon began performing in these same clubs. He led a ten-piece band, the Rhythm Rockers, and cut his first single in 1958 for the Houston-based Kangaroo label, “The Freeze.” The single was followed by a slew of other instrumental singles. All of these singles brought Collins a regional following. After recording “De-Frost” b/w “Albert’s Alley” for Hall-Way Records of Beaumont, TX, he hit it big in 1962 with “Frosty,” a million-selling single. He recorded for other small Texas labels in the 1960’s, including Great Scott, Brylen and TFC.

Johnny Copeland’s first gig was with his friend Joe “Guitar” Hughes. Soon after, Hughes “took sick” for a week and the young Copeland discovered he could be a front man and deliver vocals as well as anyone else around Houston at that time. Copeland and Hughes fell under the spell of T-Bone Walker, whom Copeland first saw perform when he was 13 years old. As a teenager he played at locales such as Shady’s Playhouse — Houston’s leading blues club, host to most of the city’s best bluesmen during the 1950s — and the Eldorado Ballroom. Copeland and Hughes subsequently formed The Dukes of Rhythm, which became the house band at the Shady’s Playhouse. After that, he spent time playing on tour with Albert Collins during the 1950’s. He began recording in 1958 for Mercury, and moved between various labels during the 1960s, including All Boy and Golden Eagle in Houston, where he had regional successes with “Please Let Me Know” and “Down on Bending Knees,” and later for Wand and Atlantic in New York.

Pete Mayes played guitar with greats like Junior Parker and Bill Doggett.  He has fronted his own band, the Houserockers, for 40 years. Mayes owned and maintained the historic Double Bayou Dancehall, which once served as a regular venue for Amos Milburn, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Joe Turner, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and scores of others.  It was there that Mayes, then just 16 years old, first heard T-Bone Walker who became a major influence. During the next 20 years, he often worked with Walker and made the acquaintance of many other bluesmen who would later come to fame, most prominently Joe Hughes.  Mayes’ discography is slim with just three full-length albums and cut just a handful of singles in the 1960’s.

Juke Boy Bonner caught a break in 1947 in Houston, winning a talent contest that led to a spot on a local radio outlet. He journeyed to Oakland in 1956, cutting his debut single for Bob Geddins’s Irma imprint before jumping to Goldband Recordsin 1960. He cut his best work during the late ’60s for Arhoolie Records, accompanying himself on both guitar and racked harmonica as he weaved extremely personal tales of his rough life in Houston. A few European tours ensued, but they didn’t really lead to much. Toward the end of his life, he toiled in a chicken processing plant to make ends meet. Bonner died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1978.