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:

John Cephas, Photo by Tom Pich for National Endowment of the Arts

A somber note hangs over today’s show as we pay tribute to the recently departed John Cephas and Snooks Eaglin. John Cephas, best known as the guitarist and singer with the duo Cephas & Wiggins died March 4th. He was 78. Both Cephas and Wiggins were born in Washington, D.C., although Wiggins was a quarter century younger than his partner; they met at a jam session in 1977, and both performed as regular members of Big Chief Ellis’ band prior to Ellis’ death. The duo had been recording since the early 80’s, cutting records for Flying Fish, Rounder and most recently Alligator. The tracks featured today were the first by Cephas, cut in the mid-70’s by Pete Lowry but never released at the time. Lowry has given me permission to play these cuts which are not available anywhere else. Lowry recorded Cephas & Wiggins extensively in 1980 and recorded Cephas in-depth in 1976.

Snooks Eaglin passed away on February 18th. In true New Orleans fashion he was given a full jazz funeral send off. I first encountered Snooks via his terrific Black Top Records of the late 1980’s and 90’s. After the label’s demise Snooks only recorded one more album, The Way It Is, in 2001 which happens to be one of my favorites. Fans of Snooks’ later electric records may be surprised that his earliest records (1958-1959) which are all acoustic. From that period we spin the charming “Country Boy Down In New Orleans” from the wonderful album of the same name on Arhoolie. We also play the soulful “By The Water” cut for Imperial in 1960 and “I Get The Blues When It Rains” from 1971’s The Sonet Blues Story.

We do a bit of compare and contrast today by playing two versions of the classic “How Blue Can You Get?”, one by Louis Jordan and the other by B.B. King.  Johnny Moore’s Three Blazer’s cut the original version in 1949 which we played on the program a couple of weeks back. It was covered in 1951 by Louis Jordan which is where B.B. King first heard the song. King began using it in his live act at recorded it on his classic Live At The Regal album from 1963.

There’s plenty vintage blues from the 1920’s and 30’s including a trio of sides from Atlanta artists Peg Leg Howell, Sloppy Henry and Barbecue Bob.  Like Memphis, Atlanta was a staging post for musicians on their way to all points. It’s not surprising then that the first country blues musician, Ed Andrews, was recorded there in 1924. The company that recorded him, Okeh, was one of many to send their engineers to Southern cities to record local talent. Companies like Victor, Columbia, Vocalion and Brunswick made at least yearly visits until the depression. Between 1927-1930 Atlanta was visited seventeen times by the record companies. Among the bluesmen to record in Atalanta in the 1920’s, the first to arrive in the city was Joshua Barnes Powell, known as Peg Leg because of a shooting accident in 1916. We also hear Peg Leg in the company of singer Sloppy Henry. Henry cut sixteen between 1924 and 1929 for the Okeh label. Within a year or so of Howell’s arrival in Atlanta, Robert Hicks came to the city. He learned guitar, as did his older brother Charlie, and their friend Curley Weaver from the latter’s mother Savannah Weaver. Hicks earned his nickname from his day job as the chef of a barbecue restaurant and Columbia photographed him for their publicity material in his work apron.  As Barbecue Bob he became the most heavily recorded Atlanta bluesman of the 1920’s with his records selling steadily for Columbia until his untimely death in 1931.

We also feature some fine blues ladies including Susie Hawthorne, one half of the popular Butterbeans & Susie, Lucille Bogan and Bessie Smith. Butterbeans and Susie were a comedy duo that began touring with the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) and later moved to vaudeville before signing with Okeh Records. They cut close to 70 sides for the label between 1924 and 1930. Our track, “He Likes It Slow”, from 1926 features Louis Armstrong on cornet. From the same year we play Bessie Smith’s “Them ‘Has Been’ Blues.” This cut comes form the the eight volume series on the Frog label that collects all of Bessie’s recordings.  Sound quality on this series is outstanding, noticeably better then Columbia’s series, which is interesting since Columbia had the actual masters to work with. The Frog series is a testament to the skills of engineer John R.T. Davies and label owner David French, who commissioned collectors for the best available originals. Sadly Davies and French both passed before the completion of the series. From Lucille Bogan we spin her classic “Shave ‘Em Dry.” This of course is the  clean version. The unreleased version is extremely explicit and if aired would surely be the end of my broadcasting career!

Butterbeans & Susie

We close out our show with a stunning version of “Prodigal Son” by Robert Wilkins recorded live at Newport in 1964.  During the 1920’s and 1930’s, Tim Wilkins was one of the most popular blues artists associated with Beale Street. He left the blues world to become an ordained minister. When the Rolling Stones recorded Wilkins’ “Prodigal Son” in the early ’60s (originally titled “That’s No Way To Get Along”), blues researchers found Wilkins at home in Memphis, ministering to the congregation at the Lane Avenue Church of God in Christ and performing gospel songs at street corner revivals. He returned to recording with the album Memphis Gospel Singer in 1964, a classic record that yet to make it to CD. He performed at several festivals including Newport in 1964 and the Memphis Country Blues Festival in 1968. He passed in 1987.

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:

I’ve been trying to get a handle on my record collection in the last couple of weeks which seems to have escaped from my record room to take over the house. I still haven’t tamed my collection but did stumble upon some interesting records that are featured on today’s program. Among those are the following LP’s which are not available on CD: A Basket Of Blues (Spivey), James Brewer (Philo) and Indianapolis Jump (Flyright). A Basket of Blues is the the first album to be issued on Victoria Spivey’s Spivey record label and features sides by Lucille Hegamin, Hannah Sylvester, Victoria Spivey backed by a fine band featuring sax man Buddy Tate. A classic blues singer from the 1920’s, Lucille Hegamin survived long enough to be recorded again in the 1960’s. After performing in Seattle for a long period, Hegamin became one of the first blues singers to record in Nov. 1920, shortly after moving to New York. In addition to performing at clubs, Hegamin appeared in several Broadway shows in the 1920’s. She eventually left music, becoming a nurse in 1938. In the 1960’s she emerged, appearing at a few charity benefits before retiring from music again. In all, Lucille Hegamin recorded 68 selections between1920-26, two songs in 1932 and appeared on part of the1961 Bluesville album Songs We Taught Your Mother. She died in 1970. James Brewer was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, moved to Chicago in the 1940’s where he spent the latter part of his life busking and performing both blues and religious songs at blues and folk festivals, on Chicago’s Maxwell Street and other venues. He was recorded by Swedish Radio in 1964, cut sides for the Heritage label and Testament plus cut the full-length albums Jim Brewer for Philo and Tough Luck for Earwig. Shirley Griffith learned first hand from Tommy Johnson as a teenager in Mississippi. Griffith missed his opportunity to record as a young man but recorded three superb albums: Indiana Ave. Blues (1964, with partner J.T. Adams), Saturday Blues (1965) and Mississippi Blues (1973), all of which are out of print.

Also while trying to organize my collection I stumbled upon a pile of CD’s on the Classics label which I evidently had plans to listen to at some point before they got buried. The Classics label is a French label that specializes in jazz and blues. Their Classics R&B series focuses on chronological resissues of post-war blues – essentially a post-war version of what the Document label does for pre-war blues. At this point the label probably has a couple of hundred releases out. The label provides a valuable service to collectors by resurrecting the output of many forgotten blues artists. Some are forgotten for a reason, others deserve a better fate but over all most don’t benefit from the chronological approach. To be fair these records were never intended to be listened to in this way, instead listeners back in the day bought the records one 78 at a time.

From the Classics catalog we spin records today by J.T. Brown, Andrew Tibbs, Tom Archia, King Perry and Jo Jo Adams. 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. After Aristocrat he cut sides for a variety of labels up until 1963. Sax man Tom Archia performed mostly in jazz and swing bands. He cut some R&B sides for Aristcrat 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. Between 1946 and 1953 he cut sides for Hy-Tone, Aristocrat, Aladdin, Chance and Parrot. Mississippi-born John T. Brown was a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels down south before arriving in the Chicago. By 1945, Brown was recording behind pianist Roosevelt Sykes and singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden, later backing Eddie Boyd and Washboard Sam for RCA Victor. He debuted on wax as a bandleader in 1950 on the Harlem label, subsequently cutting sessions in 1951 and 1952 for Chicago’s United logo as well as JOB. Brown also backed artists like Elmore James and pianist Little Johnny He issued sides on Meteor and a final 1956 date for United that laid unissued at the time. In January of 1969, he was part of Fleetwood Mac’s Blues Jam at Chess album, even singing a tune for the project, but he died before the close of that year.  King Perry played violin as a child, but switched to alto sax when he wished to join a local band. In 1945 he went to Los Angles, appearing in a show with Dorothy Donegan and Nat King Cole; while there he made his first recordings as a leader. He led a band called the Pied Pipers through the middle of the 1950’s, making many records and touring across the United States multiple times. He recorded for Melodisc, United Artists, Excelsior, De Luxe, Specialty, Dot, RPM, Lucky, Unique, Look, and Hollywood during this period. After 1954 Perry went into a hiatus from music, but returned to play after moving to Bakersfield in 1967. In the 1970s he played as a one-man band with organ, saxophone, and percussion. Around this time he also released a number of comedy albums for his own label, Octive.

Lots of piano blues on deck including sides by Sammy Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, Dr. Hepcat, Little Brother Montgomery, Cow Cow Davenport and Sunnyland Slim. Sammy Brown cut two issued sides for Gennett in 1927 possibly backed by pianist Cripple Clarence Lofton or his own piano. Charlie McFadden waxed two-dozen sides for a variety of labels between 1929-1937 backed by pianist Roosevelt Sykes on most. Lavada Durst Known as more colorfully as Dr. Hepcat was the first black disc jockey in Texas on Austin‘s KVET. He published The Jives of Dr.Hepcat based on his outlandish radio patter. As a piano player he was influenced by Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, and locally by Robert Shaw. He cut early records on Peacock, Uptown and later recordings on Documentary Arts. Cow Cow Davenport is remembered most for his famous song “Cow Cow Blues” which is one of the earliest recorded examples of the Boogie-Woogie. Davenport’s early career revolved around carnivals and vaudeville. He toured TOBA with an act called Davenport and Company with Blues singer Dora Carr and they recorded together in 1925 and 1926. Davenport briefly teamed up with Blues singer Ivy Smith in 1928 and worked as a talent scout for Brunswick and Vocalion records in the late 1920’s and played rent parties in Chicago. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1930 and toured the vaudeville circuit and recorded with Sam Price. In 1938 he suffered a stroke that left his right hand somewhat paralyzed and affected his piano playing for the rest of his life, but he remained active as a vocalist until he regained enough strength in his hand to play again. He died in 1955. Hound head Henry was a singer who cut eight issued sides in 1928 all backed by pianist Cow Cow Davenport and proves himself an expressive singer on “My Sweet Silver Dollar Mama.”

As usual a good dose of pre-war blues including sides by Tom Bell, Blind Boy Fuller, Memphis Minnie, JT Funny Papa Smith and Clifford Gibson. Gibson cut ten sides (four have either never been found or were never issued) in June 1929, four sides in November 1929, eight sides in December 1929 and two sides in 1931. In addition he did some session work and lasted long enough to wax a few scattered post-war sides in the 1950’s and 60’s. Funny Papa Smith who cut twenty issued sides between 1930 and 1931. He was a superb singer/guitarist and a marvelous lyricist. Tom Bell recorded eight sides for John Lomax and the Library of Congress in 1937 and 1940. Speaking of Lomax we jump to 1959 and a recording made of Boy Blue by Alan Lomax. Blue’s real name was Roland Hayes. “Joe Lee’s Rock” and a reading of John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen” are part of a treasure trove of recordings he made in the deep South in 1959. “By nine o’clock the stereo machine was sitting on the bar,” Lomax recalled. “Forrest City Joe and his two-piece orchestra, Boy Blue and his two accompanists, along with their girlfriends and other connoisseurs of the blues, were lapping up the liquor and the music. No New York technician would have approved of the acoustics. Between takes the place was a bedlam. …The crowd danced during all the playbacks.”

Babe Stovall

Also worth mentioning are sides by two very different artists; Blu Lu Barker and Babe Stovall. Singer Blue Lu Barker was born, raised, and buried in New Orleans. In both the 1930’s and 40’s she was one of the more popular blues performers, often appearing alongside artists such as Cab Calloway and Jelly Roll Morton. Barker’s most famous recordings were done in 1938. The early Barker material features her husband Danny on banjo and guitar and the couple would continue performing together until his death. Her career continued after that, all the way up to a last recording taped live in 1998 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Born in 1907 in Tylertown, MS, Babe Stovall was the youngest of 11 children, most of them musicians. Stovall learned guitar when he was around eight years old, and was soon playing breakdowns, frolics, and parties in the area, even meeting and learning “Big Road Blues” from Tommy Johnson. In 1964 he moved to New Orleans, where he was “discovered” working as a street singer in the French Quarter. He recorded an LP for Verve in 1964, simply titled Babe Stovall, and did further sessions in 1966 and with Bob West in 1968 (which form the basis of The Old Ace, (released on Arcola in 2003 and the only collection currently available on CD), and became active on the folk and blues college circuit. He died in 1974.

Related Articles: (Word Docs)

-The Jives of Dr. Hepcat by Mike Rowe (Blues Unlimited no. 129, 1978)

-The Piano Blues of Dr Hepcat by Alan Govenar (Liner Notes, 1994)

-Lucille Hegamin – Blues & Views by Derrick Stewart-Baxter (Jazz Journal, 1970)