Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

While the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, does not have its own blues style, it is notable for a large degree of blues activity since the 1920's. The major African American community where blues was performed in the 1920's was the West End, where individual blues performers, jug bands, and larger units played on streets such as Court, Cutter, George, or Sixth, or at joints and clubs such as Mom’s, the Bucket of Blood, or, later, the Cotton Club. The patriarch of the scene was Sam Jones, ‘‘Stovepipe No.1,’’ a songster who recorded between 1924 and 1930. Then there was Bob Coleman and Walter Coleman, who were likely brothers, who recorded under various pseudonyms—Kid Cole, Sweet Papa Tadpole, Walter Cole, and Kid Coley among them, as well as with the Cincinnati Jug Band—between the years 1928 and 1936. Cincinnati was also the birthplace of Mamie Smith and hosted performers such as Walter Davis, Jesse James, Clara Burston, and Leroy Carr. Other longtime residents who have been on the scene since the 1920's and 1930s', such as James Mays, Pigmeat Jarrett, and Big Joe Duskin, were ‘‘rediscovered’’ in the 1970s and have had successful performance and/or recording careers. Our focus today will be on the pre-war era.None of these artists were major blues stars in terms of record sales or influence but they left behind an impressive body of work sprinkled with more than a few blues classics.  All the information for today's show comes from Steve Tracy's superb book, Going to Cincinnati: A History of the Blues in the Queen City.

Based on the recorded evidence from the 1920's and 1930's, Cincinnati had a variety of distinctive performers that reflected a diversity of performance, and this recorded evidence is verified by contemporary accounts of an active street and speakeasy scene during that period. Blues activity seemed to be especially spirited in the West End, an African American community with its share of bars and brothels attracting a clientele eager for entertainment both indoors and out. Additionally,musicians "on every street corner" according to pianist Pigmeat Jarrctt and harmonica player James Mays, provided a raucous soundtrack for daily community activities and conversations, emphasizing the, music's practical and aesthetic uses and value.

Mamie Smith notched her place in American music as the first black female singer to record a vocal blues. That record was "Crazy Blues" (recorded August 10, 1920), which sold a million copies in its first six months and made record labels aware of the huge potential market for "race records"; thus paving the way for Bessie Smith and others. mith toured as a dancer with Tutt-Whitney's Smart Set Company in her early teens, and sang in Harlem clubs before World War I. Soon thereafter, Smith began touring and recording with a band called the Jazz Hounds, which featured such jazz notables as Coleman Hawkins, Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn, and more, and she toured with the bands of Andy Kirk and Fats Pichon in the 1930s. She also appeared in several films.

Sam Jones is remembered by elderly Cincinnati residents as a wanderer whose distinctive look (a stovepipe hat) and sound (one man band guitarist, harmonica and kazoo player blowing through a stovepipe to achieve a unique sound) made him a popular street performer. He cut sessions in 1924 and in 1927 with guitarist David Crockett. “Court Street Blues” refers to a street in the city's West end where Stovepipe reportedly performed. “Bed Slats” was recorded later by Cincinnati artists Bob Coleman and King David's Jug band. On December 11, 1930 Stovepipe with David Crockett went into the studios with a group who called themselves King David's Jug Band. They cut six sides for the Okeh label.

The moniker Kid Cole masks the identity of a singer/guitarist who recorded under seven names during his career. At his first session he was accompanied by Sam Jones on harmonica. He recorded another session under the same moniker in 1931. His "Sixth Street Moan"is a reference to a street in the city's West End and and is also mentioned in two songs recorded by Stovepipe Pipe No. 1. "Hey Hey Mama" also mentions the city by name:

And it's when I die lay a deck of cards on my grave (3x)
And it's no more browns in Cincinnati that I crave

On June 13 and 15, 1931 a Kid Coley recorded four songs for Victor in Louisville, Kentucky. "He had the high pitch and quavery voice of Kid Cole, but his voice was somewhat huskier and older-sounding (more than would be explained by the three years that separated the two recording sessions) than Cole's, though this may be due to a more dramatic theatrical approach to the lyrics… …Coley does not sound much like Kid Cole" but "combined with the vocal sound and the similarity of the name, a tentative case can be made that Kid Coley either was or knew Kid Cole/Bob Coleman." The three songs from the first session are accompanied by piano and possibly Clifford Hayes of the Louisville Jug Band. One of the songs, "Clair and Pearley Blues", has been suggested by Paul Oliver as being based on the murder in Cincinnati of Pearl Bryan by her lover Scott Jackson and his accomplice Alonzo Walling in 1896.

The Cincinnati Jug Band recorded only one session in January 1929, yielding two songs.  They accompanied Bob Coleman on two others. “Newport Blues” refers t a city across the Ohio river from Cincinnati that had a reputation as a wide open town in terms of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution. Their other song, “George Street Stomp”, refers to a central street in Cincinnati's red light district, a street that in the 20's and 30's that housed a number of Cincinnati blues figures. Pigmeat Jarrett has verified that Kid Cole and Bob Coleman were the same person and Patfoot Charlie Collins, leader of the Cincinnati Jug Band, recalled his name as Bob Cole, not Coleman. After the Cincinnati Jug Band recorded, Coleman cut two sides under his own name, "Tear It Down b/w Cincinnati Underworld Woman." Paramount ran an advertisement for the record with a photo of Coleman. In June he cut one more song, "Sing Song Blues."

Around July 29, 1930 at the Vocalion studios in Chicago, Tampa Red and possibly his regular partner Georgia Tom backed a singer who called himself Sweet Papa Tadpole on six sides. It's likely this artists was the same person as Bob Coleman who also recorded as Kid Cole. As Steve Tracy notes: "Tadpole's two-part 'Have You Ever Been Worried In Mind', a sixteen-bar AAAB blues like Kid Cole's 'Hey Hey Mama Blues' and Bob Coleman's 'Sing Sing Blues', features the characteristic light, high-pitched singing we've come to expect from Bob Coleman, though the guitarist is replaced by the smooth and expert slide guitar of Tampa Red… …The Bob Coleman who emerges from the Tadpole session is less folksy than the man of the Kid Cole session, a bit smoother and more urbane than the man of the Bob Coleman session with the Cincinnati Jug Band, but unmistakably the same person."

Bob Coleman cut four sides were cut as Walter Cole on September 4, 1930, two were unreleased, "all of which bore a striking resemblance to the sound of Sweet Papa Tadpole incarnation of our man Bob." The backing on these sides was possibly Sam Soward on piano and James Cole on violin. As to "why the name changes?", Tracy observes, "possibly there was a fearon Coleman's part that he was breaking a contract-every time he changed recording companies, from Vocalion to Paramount to Vocalion to Gennett, he changed his name.

“Some of the most spectacular recordings made by a Cincinnati artist are yet by another artist named Coleman, this one Walter Coleman. His February 6, 1936 recordings feature high powered, Piedmont influenced guitar duets, of the first rank; intricately intertwined guitar parts fairly bursting from the grooves during solos and providing wonderfully solid support for Coleman's light, high pitched, effervescent vocals.” His “'I'm Going To Cincinnati" gives many references to local landmarks and people. Most likely Walter Cole and Walter Coleman are the same person although there may have "been two separate people who recorded under the variety of Cole/Coley/Coleman/Tadpole names… “"I'm Going To Cincinnati' is undoubtedly the most fascinating of all Cincinnati blues recordings…" but "it can rank as a bona fide classic of recorded blues."

 Now I'm going to Cincinnati, I'm going to spread the news
The fanfoot in Chicago sure don't wear no shoes
Refrain:
Because I'm going to Cincinnati, the times is good
I'm going to Cincinnati where they eat fried food
And I'm going to Cincinnati, boys, where the bottle is good

Now when you come to Cincinnati don't get too full
You're liable to meet the cop they call Stargel Bull
Refrain:
Now when you come to Cincinnati stop on Sixth and Main
That's where the good hustlin women get the good cocaine

Walter Coleman cut three more sides in June (two were unissued) backed by pianist Jesse Coleman and an unknown jug player.

It was once believed that Jesse James was a convict, brought to the studio under guard to make his four recordings in 1936. This "information" was originally given to Paul Oliver by Sammy Price in 1960 who was a member of Decca's A&R staff in the 30's. This romantic idea probably came from the lyrics of "Lonesome Day Blues." James was probably Cincinnati-based, as he accompanied titles by Walter Coleman on the same date as his own session, June 3, 1936. James was a rough, two-fisted barrelhouse pianist, with a hoarse, declamatory vocal delivery, equally suited to the anguished "Lonesome Day Blues", a robust version of "Casey Jones" as "Southern Casey Jones", "Highway 61" and the ribald "Sweet Patuni", which was issued much later on a bootleg party single. There's conflicting information regarding James; Karl Gert zur Heide collected information that James lived in Memphis in the postwar years and worked and even broadcast out of Little Rock, Arkansas while Pigmeat Jarrett claims he stayed in Cincinnati on Fourth Street, moving to Kentucky around 1955.

We spin a trio of songs by artists not from Cincinnati , but connected to the city: "M&O Blues" comes from Walter Davis' first session recorded in Cincinnati at the Stinton Hotel and spin "Cincinnati Southern Blues" with singer Ivy  Smith and pianist Cow Cow Davenport (the song refers to the Cincinnati Southern railroad which ran from Cincinnati to Chattanooga). We also hear “George Street Blues”by Leroy Carr, who according to Pigmeat Jarret, visited Cincinnati, playing at Babe Baker's club at sixth and Mound. The song refers to the city's tenderloin district.

Show Notes:

Today's show is the first installment spotlighting great recording sessions. Today we select two sessions conducted by the Victor (issued on Bluebird) label roughly a year-and-a-half apart, one in Chicago and one in New Orleans. In the pre-war era the record companies used mobile recording units to visit southern cities and capture the music of regional performers. For example, between 1927-1930 Atlanta was visited seventeen times, Memphis eleven times, Dallas eight times, New Orleans seven times and so on. During and after the Depression field trips dropped off precipitously. We play recordings today from remarkable field sessions cut by Louisiana and Mississippi artists on October 15-16, 1936 at the St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans. Dozens of titles were cut by Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, Bo Carter, Eugene Powell (as Sonny Boy Nelson), his wife Matilda Powell (as Mississippi Matilda), Walter Vincson, Little Brother Montgomery, Annie Turner and Tommy Griffin. The other session we spotlight was conducted in Chicago on May 5, 1937 resulting in two-dozen sides by Sonny Boy Williamson I and Robert Lee McCoy (Robert Nighthawk) who were making their recording debuts, plus sides by Big Joe Williams and Walter Davis.

Henry Townsend recalled driving Sonny Boy Williamson I, Robert Nighthawk, Walter Davis and Big Joe Williams to Aurora, Illinois, in his 1930 A Model Ford for their 1937 sessions: "I transferred them to Aurora, Illinois. There was about eight or nine of us …we stacked them in the car like sardines." This led to a marathon recording session resulting in six songs by Nighthawk (as Robert Lee McCoy), six by Sonny Boy Williamson I, four by Big Joe Williams and eight sides by Walter Davis. It was Sonny Boy's songs, especially, "Good Morning Little School Girl", "Bluebird Blues" and "Sugar Mama Blues" which were the biggest hits. Sonny Boy would go on to cut more than 120 sides in all for RCA from 1937 to 1947.

Robert Nighthawk cut six sides at this session all of which were released at the time. The popularity of the song "Prowling Night-Hawk" was the basis for his changing his surname in the early 40's. At the time of these recordings he was going by Robert Lee McCoy.

Walter Davis was among the most prolific blues performers to emerge from the pre-war St. Louis scene, cutting over 150 sides between 1930 and 1952. Davis enjoyed a fair amount of success before a stroke prompted him to move from music to the ministry during the early '50s.

Over two days on October 15-16, 1936 Bluebird conducted sessions at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans. Little Brother Montgomery cut eighteen sides plus backed singer Annie Turner on her four numbers (two were unissued), Sonny Boy Nelson (Eugene Powell) cut six sides under his own name as well as backing Robert Hill, who cut ten sides, and his wife Mississippi Matilda on her three sides. In addition Bo Carter cut ten sides, the Chatman brothers (Lonnie and Sam) cut twelve sides, Tommy Griffin cut a dozen sides and Walter Vincson  (as Walter Jacobs) cut two sides. As John Godrich and Howard Rye wrote in Recording The Blues: "The New Orleans session in 1936 was Victor's last substantial race field recording; in subsequent years they recorded a fair number of gospel quartets in he field, but only one or two unimportant blues singers."

Eugene Powell was born in Utica, Mississippi, December 23, 1908. He started playing the guitar at age eight. His mother ran a juke house so he grew up around music. He took the name "Sonny Boy Nelson" after his step father. His early experiences around Hollandale were with Robert Nighthawk, Robert Hill, and the great blues instrumentalist Richard "Hacksaw" Harney. In 1936 Eugene and wife "Mississippi Matilda" along with Willie "Brother" Harris traveled with the Chatmon Brothers to New Orleans to record for the Bluebird label. Bo Carter acted as agent for Nelson and Hill and received a fifth of the royalties for setting the session up.

In the 1930's Matilda Powell married musician Eugene Powell. She recorded four songs at the 1936 session, one of them, "Peel Your Banana",  went unissued. In 1952, Matilda separated from Eugene, and moved to Chicago taking their one son and five daughters with her.

Interviews with Eugene Powell by Brett Bonner and Robert Eagle elicited that Robert  Hill was from Sumrall, Mississippi, near Hattiesburg, and that in Hollandale he worked with guitarist Will Hadley. Paul Oliver noted that his harmonica playing was reminiscent of Jazz Gillum.

In late 1930, Little Brother Montgomery made his debut backing Minnie Hicks and on two songs, Irene Scruggs on four and recorded “No Special Rider blues” and "Vicksburg Blues" for Paramount. He cut four more sides for Bluebird in 1935. His next recording opportunity was in October 1936 in New Orleans where he waxed a remarkable eighteen  song session. As Chris Smith writes he was "adept at blues, jazz, stride, boogie and pop which he synthesized into a personal style that ranged easily from the bopping earthiness of "Frisco Hi-Ball" to the pearl-stringing elegance of "Shreveport Farewell." His high voice and bleating vibrato are unmistakable, especially on his signature piece, "Vicksburg Blues", a polyrhythmic showcase for his acute but never pedantic timing. It's also an example of Brother's poetry of geography; many of his songs, and even the titles of his instrumentals, are rich evocations of places he knew and the railroads that carried him between them."

Nothing is known of fifteen year-old Annie Turner who cut four sides (two unissued) at this session backed by Little Brother on piano and Walter Vincson on guitar. As Chris Smith wrote: "…Turner projects a smoldering sensuality, triumphing over her low volume dicey pitch with help from Montgomery and Vincson's wonderfully attentive accompaniment."

Working in various configurations, Walter Vincson and Lonnie, Bo, and Sam Chatmon performed and recorded as the Mississippi Sheiks, a name inspired by a popular 1921 Rudolph Valentino film, The Sheik. A propulsive fiddler, Lonnie managed the band, while Bo, a strong, confident singer and gifted guitarist, became its biggest star. Bo made his recording debut in 1928, backing Alec Johnson. Carter soon was recording as a solo artist and became one of the dominant blues recording acts of the 1930's, recording over 100 sides. He also played with and managed the family group, the Mississippi Sheiks, and several other acts in the area. Bo Carter specialized in double entendre songs, recording dozens of risqué songs like "Banana in Your Fruit Basket," "Pin in Your Cushion", "Your Biscuits Are Big Enough for Me", "The Ins And Outs Of My Girl", the latter two featured today. Carter's brothers, Lonnie and Sam, recorded as the Chatman Brothers, cutting twelve sides at this same session.

Walter Vinson rarely worked as a solo act, seemingly much more at home in duets and trios; towards that end, during the 1920's he worked with Charlie McCoy, Rubin Lacy and Son Spand before forming the Mississippi Sheiks. He cut two songs at this 1936 sessions in the company of pianist Harry Chatman. The year before pianist Harry Chatman cut ten songs under his won name across three sessions, two in New Orleans and a final one in Jackson, Mississippi.

Show Notes:

Read Liner Notes

Today's show is a companion to the guitar duets show we aired a couple of weeks back. This time we spotlight some great piano/guitar duets from the 20's through the 40's. The style was popularized by the huge success of pianist Leroy Carr and his guitarist Scrapper Blackwell who's recordings were immensely popular and influential. The duo recorded hundreds of sides between 1928 and 1935. Many artists patterned themselves after the duo including recording artists Bill Gaither, Bumble Bee Slim, Frank "Springback” James all of whom we feature today. There were a number of excellent guitar/piano teams, most relatively short-lived such as Big Bill Broonzy with mysterious pianist Black Bob, Tampa Red with pianist Georgia Tom in the late 20's and 30's and with pianist Big Maceo in the 40's, and the lengthy partnership of Walter Davis and guitarist Henry Townsend. For the majority of today's selections I've chosen sides where both the pianist and guitarist play on equal terms.

Between 1928 and 1935 Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell cut a remarkably consistent body of work of hundreds of sides, notable for the impeccable guitar/piano interplay. Teamed with the exemplary guitarist Scrapper Blackwell in Indianapolis, Leroy Carr became one of the biggest blues stars of his day, composing and recording almost 200 sides during his short lifetime. Carr met guitarist Scrapper Blackwell in Indianapolis in 1928 and the duo began performing together. Shortly afterward they were recording for Vocalion, releasing “How Long How Long Blues” before the year was finished. The song was an instant, surprise hit. For the next seven years, Carr and Blackwell would record a number of classic songs for Vocalion, including “Midnight Hour Blues,” “Blues Before Sunrise,” “Hurry Down Sunshine,” “When The Sun Goes Down,” and many others. Blackwell did some moonlighting away from Carr, cutting his own sides and backing other artists. We also feature him cutting loose on "Gee, But It's Hard" as he backs pianist Georgia Tom.

One disciple of Carr was guitarist Bill Gaither who cut well over a hundred sides for Decca and OKeh between 1931 and 1941. Gaither was close to the blues pianist Leroy Carr, and following Carr’s death in 1935, he recorded under the moniker Leroy’s Buddy for a time. A fine guitarist who possessed a warm, expressive voice, Gaither was also at times a gifted and inventive lyricist. He was often partnered with pianist George “Honey” Hill, and the duo patterned themselves after Carr and his guitarist, Scrapper Blackwell. Our selection, the bouncy "Pins And Needles", is fine showcase for their well honed interplay.

Read Liner Notes

Amos Easton, known professionally as Bumble Bee Slim, was another artist who molded himself after Leroy Carr. While he played guitar on his first session in 1931, afterwards he stuck to vocals, often employing a shifting piano/guitar backing that included pianists such as Myrtle Jones, Jimmie Gordon, Horance Malcolm and Black Bob and guitarists such as Willie Bee James, Big Bill Broonzy, Carl Martin, Casey Bill Weldon and Bill Gaither. "This Old Life I'm Living" is one of my favorite numbers by Easton sporting immaculate lap steel from Casey Bill Weldon and piano from Myrtle Jenkins.

Chicago blues pianist Frank "Springback" James made records with four different companies during the 1930's, playing and singing in a style that revealed a strong Leroy Carr influence. He cut 18 sides between 1934 and 1938. He often worked with guitarist Willie B. James. Despite being a prolific session guitarist, nothing is known of James who backed artists such as Bumble Bee Slim, Merline Johnson, Curtis Jones, Tampa Red, John Henry Barbee and others. We hear James today backing Curtis Jones on "Drinking And Thinking Blues" (he appears on several of Jones' 30's sessions), backing Red Nelson on "Long Ago Blues" with pianist Charles Avery and playing behind Charlie West on "Hobo Blues" along with pianist Black Bob.

There were a number of notable guitar/piano teams, some relatively long lasting, others more fleeting; among them we spotlight recordings by Walter Davis and Henry Townsend, Big Bill Broonzy and Black Bob, Big Maceo and Tampa Red, Walter Roland and Sonny Scott, Mack Rhinehart and Brownie Stubblefield and Charlie Spand and Blind Blake. Walter Davis and Henry Townsend played on numerous sessions together from the 1930's through the 1950's. Today we we feature the uncharacteristically uptempo "Sloppy Drunk Again."

Very little is known about Black Bob Hudson, except that he was a blues pianist who was active from the 1920's and 1930's. While he didn't cut any sides under his own name he backed a staggering number of renowned artists such as Big Bill Broonzy, Bumble Bee Slim, Jazz Gillum, Lil Johnson, Washboard Sam, Casey Bill Weldon, Tampa Red and many others. Broonzy and Bob cut dozens of sides together between 1934 and 1937.

Blues writer Chris Smith wrote the following about Big Maceo: “On both slow blues and boogies, Big Maceo played powerful, sometimes challengingly chromatic bass figures and anvil-sparkling right-hand flourishes and solos. He could be a jovial singer, but more typical were husky, plaintive, fatalistic accounts of trouble with women and the law.  …His playing and Tampa Red’s amplified guitar foreshadow the sound of postwar Chicago.” His short career spanned the years 1941 through 1950, where he recorded just over three dozen sides as well as backing partner Tampa Red on eighteen sides and providing session work behind Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jazz Gillum and John & Grace Brim.

Walter Roland recorded over ninety issued sides for ARC as a soloist and accompanist. Roland partnered Lucille Bogan when they recorded for the ARC labels between 1933 and 1935, in the course of which, he recorded in his own right. He recorded several sides with guitarist Sonny Scott including our selection, the rollicking instrumental "Railroad Stomp."

Mack Rhinehart and Brownie Stubblefield were a piano/guitar team that cut a dozen sides in 1936 and 1937. Rhinehart also recorded solo as Blind Mack in 1935 but only two of his ten sides were ever released.  According to Blues & Gospel Records some twenty-two sides by the duo remain unissued. Nothing is known about the duo although noted researcher David Evans called Rhinehart "a major artist" with "an outstanding recorded legacy."

*The superb "West Side Blues" by Willie Harris and Charles Avery provides today's show title with the spoken aside probably by Coletha Simpson. Harris along with pianist James Williams backs Simpson on "Lonesome Lonesome Blues" which is also featured today.

I've been an admirer of Robert Nighthawk for a long time and many years ago devoted a website to him at a time when I couldn't find that much information on him on the web. The site has grown over the years and includes just about every scrap of information on the man. Over the years I managed to interview several people who knew Nighthawk, including his daughter, his son, drummer Sam Carr, his ex-wife, his one time pianist Ernest Lane plus others. Several years back I had the opportunity to write the booklet for the CD compilation, Prowlin' Wth The Nighthawk, on the Document label. Today's show spans his entire career, from the 1930's when he went by the name Robert Lee McCoy, to the brilliant postwar sides he cut as Robert Nighthawk plus sides accompanying blues greats like Sonny Boy Williamson I, Speckled Red, Big Joe Wiilliams, Houston Stackhouse and others. Along the way we'll also hear interviews with those who knew Nighthawk plus part of a recorded interview with Nighthawk himself. The below notes come from my Nighthawk website and the liner notes from the Document collection.

Ernest Lane, Robert Nighthawk and Nighthawk's wife Hazel McCollum circa late 1940's

Robert Nighthawk was one of the blues premier slide guitarists playing with a subtle elegance and a fluid, crystal clear style that was instantly recognizable. Nighthawk influenced a generation of artists including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Earl Hooker and supposedly Elmore James. In many ways Nighthawk was the archetype of the classic bluesman spending his entire adult life rambling all over the South with frequent trips to the North playing a never ending string of one nighters punctuated by sporadic recording dates. Nighthawk's recording dates brought him only limited success but he remained popular in the South his entire life. It seems that every blues musician of consequence who emerged from the delta from the 30's through the 60's recalls running across Nighthawk. For all his visibility Nighthawk remains a shadowy figure; for one he never stayed in Chicago long enough to establish himself, he was interviewed only briefly and unlike many artists didn't appreciably benefit from the blues boom of the 1960's. Above all it was his ceaseless wandering that likely stopped him from achieving greater fame.

Pianist Walter Davis, who had been recording since 1930, was responsible for getting Nighthawk signed to the Bluebird label. Henry Townsend provided the transportation that transferred them to Aurora, Illinois. The musicians entered the studios on May 5, 1937 for a marathon recording session. Nighthawk cut six sides with backing by Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams. The May 5th sessions were also Sonny Boy Williamson's first and Nighthawk and Joe Williams backed him on this legendary session that produced such enduring classics as "Good Morning Little School Girl", "Blue Bird Blues" and "Sugar Mama". In addition Big Joe Williams recorded eight sides under his own name with Nighthawk and Sonny Boy backing him and Nighthawk also backed Walter Davis on an eight-song session. All in all, Nighthawk would back Sonny Boy on 23 sides at three sessions, two sessions in 1937 and one session in 1938.

Nighthawk (known as Robert Lee McCoy during this period) recorded for Bluebird and Decca between 1937 and 1940 both under his own name and as an accompanist. This was Nighthawk's busiest period on record, recording 22 sides for Bluebird in 1937 and 4 sides for Decca in 1940 and many sides as a session musician backing up such artists as Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Williams, Sleepy John Estes and many others. Nighthawk recorded three lengthy sessions at Bluebird's Aurora Illinois studios. All three Bluebird sessions find Nighthawk with different accompanists with the exception of Sonny Boy Williamson who plays harmonica on every session.

Nighthawk had developed a distinctive single string style that is heard to good effect on these sides. He also plays some bottleneck most notably on the opening passages of "G-Man", "Don't Mistreat Your Woman" and "Prowling Night-Hawk." It was this latter song popularity that was the basis for his changing his surname in the early 40's. On June 5, 1940 he stepped into the studio again this time recording four sides for Decca as "Peetie's Boy." The name "Peetie's Boy" likely coming from his association with Peetie Wheatstraw.These represent Nighthawk's last pre-war sessions and produced the beautiful "Friars Point Blues" featuring his finest slide work to date and only a few steps removed from the magnificent slide work he would be famous for in later years.

When Nighthawk stepped into the Aristocrat studios on November 10, 1948 it had been eight years since he last recorded under his own name. In the intervening years his sound had undergone a transformation when he amplified his guitar in the early 1940's and mastered his brilliant slide technique. In 1948, with the help of Muddy Waters, Nighthawk began recording for Aristocrat later to become Chess. "I put him on the label" Waters stated. "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." His session on July 12, 1949 was possibly his best. He waxed five sides that included "Black Angel Blues (Sweet Black Angel)" (based on Lucille Bogan's "Black Angel Blues" from 1930 and covered by Tampa Red in 1934 with the same title) and "Annie Lee Blues (Anna Lee)" based on Tampa Red's "Anna Lou Blues" from 1940. The pairing became a double-sided hit.

In 1951 Nighthawk signed on with United Records. United was founded in 1951 by A&R man Lew Simpkins and his financial partner Leonard Allen. United recorded him on their very first day of sessions and two of United's first five releases were by "Robert Nighthawk & His Nighthawks Band." Robert Nighthawk's complete recordings for the United label are collected on Bricks in My Pillow on the Delmark label. Nighthawk recorded two sessions for United, one on July 12, 1951 and one on October 25, 1952 for its subsidiary States.

While these recordings are more stylistically diverse than his Chess sides they also contained fewer originals. Most of these songs had been in his repertoire for years. Nighthawk originally recorded "Take It Easy Baby" back in 1937 for Bluebird, "The Moon is Rising" was a staple of his King Biscuit shows and was a remake of Ivory Joe Hunter's 1945 hit "Blues At Sunrise" while "Nighthawk Boogie" was his theme song on the broadcasts. "You Missed A Good Man" was another song Nighthawk likely picked up from Tampa Red who recorded it in 1935.

After a long absence Nighthawk returned to Chicago in 1964 and recorded several times including a blistering set taped live on Maxwell St. in conjunction with the filming of Mike Shea's 1964 documentary And This is Free. Maxwell St. was at the heart of Chicago's black ghetto and was a bustling open air market. Nighthawk really stretches out on some of his old classics including the stunning medley of his two biggest hits "Anna Lee/Sweet Black Angel" as well as a storming reprise of his "Take it Easy Baby. " Nighthawk shows off his wide repertoire playing Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush", Dr. Clayton's "Cheating and Lying Blues" and Percy Mayfield's "I Need Love So Bad." In 1999 the 2-CD set And This Is Maxwell Street was released in Japan on the P-Vine label and issued in 2000 in the US by Rooster Records with an additional CD containing a 44 minute interview of Nighthawk conducted by Mike Bloomfield. The set contains all the original unedited recordings made in conjunction with the film. In addition to Nighthawk there are fine performances by Johnny Young, Big John Wrencher, Blind Arvella Gray, Carey Bell, Big Mojo Elem, James Brewer, Carrie Robinson and Little Arthur King. Nighthawk present on 22 of the 30 selections. In addition to playing some of these sides on today's program, we also hear an interview snippet from Gordon Quinn who was the sound engineer on the documentary.

Robert Nighthawk Live On Maxwell Street

Pete Welding had formed Testament Records in the early 1960's as one of the handful of pioneering labels started by blues enthusiasts. He recorded Nighthawk with his partners Johnny Young and John Wrencher on October 14, 1964 cutting seven sides. In 1964 Nighthawk was recorded at a concert at the University of Chicago with Little Walter and Johnny Young. The song Testament sides and some of the concert selection can be found on the CD Masters of Modern Blues Vol. 4 – Robert Nighthawk/Houston Stackhouse. Hightone Records, which has been reissuing the Testament catalog, has come out with Down Home Slide and Down Home Harp which contain four previously unreleased live Nighthawk tracks from this same concert. Welding said of this session that it "resonates in my mind as perhaps the single finest one I was ever privileged to do…This is my favorite Testament session."

In 1964 Nighthawk recorded for Willie Dixon to interest UK promoters with touring lesser-known Chicago artists. These sides were issued on UK Decca in 1966 and issued on the album Blues Southside Chicago album which has not been issued on CD. Nighthawk cut two songs for this session: "Merry Christmas" and "Lula Mae." Today we spin the latter number which was a song originally recorded by Tampa Red in 1944.

Nighthawk credits Houston Stackhouse with teaching him guitar: "I started guitar in 1931…. Guy lived down in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, he, name a Houston Stackhouse, he learned me to play." Stackhouse emphasized: "I learned him how to play guitar, back in the 30's. I'd say, You ain't gon' eat nothin’ till you get these notes right…He done got bad with it then when he come back from Chicago." In 1967 George Mitchell recorded Nighthawk's last sides playing in Houston Stackhouse's combo, mostly playing bass due to declining health. The music harks back to Nighthawk and Stackhouse's early delta days. Tommy Johnson's influence looms large with five of his songs being covered. In a way Nighthawk's life had come full circle; he was once again playing with Stackhouse who taught how to play guitar, Stackhouse in turn learned directly from Tommy Johnson and here were the two old friends performing the songs of Johnson together one final time. Nghthawk died less than two months after these recordings on Nov. 5 1967 of congestive heart failure at the Helena hospital. He was buried in Helena's Magnolia cemetery. "He loved Helena,said Sam Carr, "that's the reason I buried him there."

Related Articles (word docs):

-Prowling With The Nighthawk Liner Notes Pt. 1 * Liner Notes Pt. 2

-A Note On Robert Nighthawk by Don Kent (Blues Unlimited no. 42)

Show Notes:

On today’s show we spin multiple tracks by several performers including opening with a trio by Cripple Clarence Lofton plus twin spins of Georgia Tom and Jack Kelly. I’ve long been a fan of Lofton, a hugely entertaining boogie-woogie pianist. In fact when I was asked to contribute to the Encyclopedia of the Blues I chose Lofton as one of the entries to write. As William Russell famously wrote, Lofton was “ a three-ring circus” who would enliven a performance with dancing, whistling, finger snaps and drumming on the body of the piano. As Peter Silvester wrote in A Left Hand Like God: “What he lacked in discipline, however, he more than made up for with vivacity and exuberance.” Of his recordings we play his rowdy “Brown Skin Girls” complete with whistling, scat singing and Big Bill Broonzy’s bouncy fretwork and the rollicking instrumental “House Rent Struggle.”  “Sweetest Thing Born” sports a fine vocal from Red Nelson who cut three other superb numbers with Lofton including the masterpiece “Crying Mother Blues” which we played a few weeks back. Lofton’s politically incorrect nickname stemmed from a congenital lameness in his leg that made him walk with a pronounced limp. Born in Tennessee he lived most of his life in Chicago becoming a fixture on the Chicago nightlife scene. He owned his own nightclub called the Big Apple where he ran his own boogie school teaching youngsters the art form. Between 1935 and 1943 he cut close to forty sides for Vocalion, Swaggie, Solo Art and Session. Lofton remained on the scene cutting sides for the Gennett, Vocalion, Solo Art, Riverside, Session and Pax labels. He stayed around Chicago until his death in 1957 from a blood clot in the brain.

Jack Kelly was born in Mississippi but spent his life playing in the streets of Memphis with musicians such as Frank Stokes, Will Batts and Walter Horton among others. In 1933 he cut 14 sides with his South Memphis Jug Band. Kelly cut another session in 1939 and a final one in 1952 for the Sun label with Walter Horton credited as by Jackie Boy & Little Walter. “Country Woman” has a wonderful world-weary vocal from Will Batts and a gentle drive propelled by the guitars of Kelly and Dane Sane while “World Wandering Blues” is sung powerfully in Kelly’s gruff voice backed by Batts’ ragged, wailing violin as he boasts:

I am in this world, wandering from town to town (2x)
Well if I find my baby, I’m gonna run her just like she was a hound
Well if you play the violin, I will do the howlin’ (2x)
Well, be late at night, these women will start to prowlin’

Georgia Tom Dorsey arrived in Chicago in 1916 where he went to music college and worked as a band pianist for Ma Rainey among others. In 1928 he began recording under his own name and as a session pianist. His duet with Tampa Red that year on “It’s Tight Like That” was a massive hit and provided the men with several years of lucrative recording work. In 1930 he founded his own gospel publishing company and left blues altogether in 1932 devoting himself to gospel which he did for almost a half century. During his blues playing days most of his work was confined to hokum and novelty items with Tampa Red and groups like the Hokum Boys and the Famous Hokum Boys. On slower blues he was often quite exceptional as on a fine eight-song session with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell recorded in early 1930. From that session we showcase the wistful “Mississippi Bottom Blues” and the touching “Gee, But It's Hard” with outstanding contributions from Blackwell, particularly on the latter number.

As usual we play several fine pianists including Montana Taylor, Frank “Springback” James and Speckled Red. Montana Taylor is best remembered for his instrumentals although he proved himself a fine singer on his rediscovery in 1946. From that date we hear his poignant “I Can’t Sleep” cut for the Circle label. There’s also a live recording of this song from a This Is Jazz broadcast from the same year. All of Taylor’s sides can be found on Document’s Montana Taylor & 'Freddy' Shayne 1929-1946.

Pianist Frank James cut 18 sides at five sessions between 1934 through and 1937. Nothing definite is known about him other than he was clearly influenced by the popular Leroy Carr. He delivers a moving performance on “Will My Bad Luck Ever Change?.”  Speckled Red got his start playing in rent parties, brothels and clubs in Detroit in the early 20’s. In 1928 he joined the Red Rose Minstrel Show, which included Jim Jackson. He played with Jackson and Tampa Red in Memphis in 1929-30 and it was there in 1929 that he made his recording debut for Brunswick.  He scored a hit with “The Dirty Dozen”, the first recorded version of the song. He recorded next for Bluebird in 1938. He began recording again at the beginning of the blues revival with sessions in 1956-57 for Tone and Delmark. He made further recordings for Folkways and Storyville among others. He passed in 1973. “Speckled Red's Blues” comes from a 1930 session and showcases his powerhouse vocals, and rollicking, exciting piano technique.

A few weeks back we paid tribute on our program to the influential singer Doctor Clatyon. Clayton’s influence can be heard on covers of his songs by B.B. King and Smoky Hogg. King’s “Hold That Train” comes from the album My Kind Of Blues, which King called his favorite at one point. King greatly admired Clayton and covered several of his songs. Andrew Hogg was born in Texas and in the 30’s and ran with guitarist the Black Ace playing for dances in small East Texas towns. In 1937 he waxed a solitary 78 and wouldn’t record again until 1947. Hogg only scored two R&B hits but was a consistent seller who cut hundreds of records for numerous labels through the late 50’s. He passed in 1960. Our selection, “I Declare”, is a remake of Clayton’s “I Need My Baby” which B.B. King also covered under the title “Walking Doctor Bill.” In 1951 Hogg also recorded a version of “Walking Doctor Bill.”. He also covered Clayton’s “Angels In Harlem” as “Angels In Houston.”

There’s several great guitarists featured today including T-Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson. In a 1947 Record Exchanger article, T-Bone noted his favorite blues singers and had this to say about Johnson: “Wonderful blues singer. Don’t ever leave him out. Sharpest cat in the world, wore a silk shirt blowing in the wind in the winter nice head of hair, and a twenty-dollar gold piece made into a stickpin.” From 1952 we hear T-Bone in prime form on “I Miss You Baby.” We jump up to 1956 and hear T-Bone backing guitarist/vocalist R.S. Rankin on “You Don't Know What You’re Doin “ for Atlantic. As for Lonnie we turn to 1937 to hear his gorgeous instrumental “Got the Blues for the West End.”

Also worth noting are a pair of superb tracks by early woman blues singers Clara Smith and Trixie Smith. Although overshadowed by Bessie Smith, Clara Smith was a magnificent and popular singer who cut over 120 sides between 1923 and 1929. She died of heart disease in 1935 at the age of 41.”It's Tight Like That” is knockout, rousing version of this oft-covered number sung with gusto and some great trombone form Charlie Green. Trixie Smith moved to New York when she was 1920 and won a blues-singing contest in 1922. She cut close to 50 sides between 1922 and 1939 including the popular hit “Freight Train Blues.” After a 1926 she didn’t record again until 1938, returning in fine fashion as we hear on her remake of “Trixie’s Blues” featuring a marvelous guitar solo by Teddy Bunn. She passed a few years later in 1943.