Sun 10 Jan 2010

Big Road Blues Show 1/10/10: Violin, Sing The Blues For Me – String Band Blues

Posted by Jeff under Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Alabama Sheiks Travelin' Railroad Man Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Andrew & Jim Baxter K. C. Railroad Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Bo Carter East Jackson Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Bo Carter Tellin' You ‘Bout It Bo Carter Vol. 2 1931-1934
Frank Stokes Right Now Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Frank Stokes I'm Going Away Blues Best Of Frank Stokes
Jack Kelly World Wandering Blues Memphis Shakedown
Mobile Strugglers Memphis Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Peg Leg Howell New Jelly Roll Blues Atlanta Blues
Peg Leg Howell Beaver Slide Rag Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Johnson Boys Violin Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Tom Nelson Blue Coat Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Tommie Bradley & James Cole Adam And Eve Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Alec Johnson Sister Maude Mule Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Charlie McCoy Your Valves Need Grinding Charlie McCoy 1928-1932
Joe McCoy Look Who's Coming Down The Road Charlie & Joe McCoy Vol. 1
Henry Williams & Eddie Anthony Lonesome Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Henry Williams & Eddie Anthony Georgia Crawl Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Mississippi Sheiks Bed Spring Poker Mississippi Sheiks Vol. 3 1931
Mississippi Sheiks Bootlegger's Blues Mississippi Sheiks Vol. 1 1930
Big Joe Williams Worried Man Blues Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
State Street Boys Rustlin' Man Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Kansas City Blues Stompers String Band Blues Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Peetie Wheatstraw Throw Me In The Alley Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Tennessee Chocolate Drops Knox County Stomp Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Sloppy Henry Long Tall, Disconnected Mama Atlanta Blues
Macon Ed & Tampa Joe Wringing That Thing Peg Leg Howell Vol. 2 1928-1930
Macon Ed & Tampa Joe Worrying Blues Peg Leg Howell Vol. 2 1928-1930
Henry "Son" Sims Tell Me Man Blues Violin, Sing The Blues For Me
Charlie Patton Runnin' Wild Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Mississippi Sheiks Lazy Lazy River Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!
Texas Alexander Frost Texas Tornado Blues Texas Alexander Vol. 3
Wilson Jones (Stavin' Chain) Can't Put My Shoes On Field Recordings Vol. 16 1934-1940

Show Notes:

It was Lonnie Johnson who gave the title to today’s program when exclaimed, “Violin, sing the blues for me!” during a recording session for Okeh Records in 1928, released under the name the Johnson Boys. The title was also used for a collection of violin blues on the Old Hat label which we feature extensively on today’s show. We also feature a number of tracks from Old Hat’s companion CD, Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow! The violin once played a significant role in the early history of recorded blues. As collector Marshall Wyatt points out, “the violin once held center stage in the rich pageant of vernacular music that evolved in the American South… and the fiddle held sway as the dominant folk instrument of both races until the dawn of the 20th century.” Today, outside of a few exceptions, African-American music has mostly abandoned the violin to white country fiddlers. Many black musicians active during the 1920s and ’30s came from a string-band tradition rooted in the 19th century, an era predating the blues when fiddles and banjos were the predominant instruments, and guitars a rarity. Black fiddlers and string bands were still common in the South throughout the 1920s, were not entirely ignored by the record industry, but were they were certainly under-represented. Some black string bands incorporated blues into their repertoires in order to keep abreast of trends. As the record business began to rebound in the mid-1930s, musical trends became rapidly modernized due to the spreading influence of mass media, and black fiddlers found even fewer recording opportunities. Below you will find some background on some of today’s featured artists.

Bo Carter, who played guitar and violin, was one of the most popular bluesmen of the ’30’s, cutting over a hundred sides between 1928 and 1940. He also worked with his brothers, Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, in the popular Mississippi Sheiks band. The Mississippi Sheiks were one of the most popular string bands of the late ’20s and early ’30s with a repertoire that drew upon all facets of black and white rural music: blues, pop music, hokum, white country and traditional songs. Their rendition of “Sitting on Top of the World” has become an enduring standard. The group consisted of guitarist Walter Vinson and fiddler Lonnie Chatmon, with frequent appearances by guitarists Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon, who were also busy with their own solo careers.In addition to featuring several tracks by Bo Carter and Mississippi Sheiks, we also hear the Sheiks backing Texas Alexander on the topical “Frost Texas Tornado Blues.” On April 9th 1934 the group backed Alexander on eight numbers.

Beginning in 1926, Peg Leg Howell performed a number of guitar blues for Columbia Records in Atlanta, but he also joined with his “Gang” to record rollicking stomps and rags, led by Eddie Anthony’s wailing fiddle. Our selection, both sides of a 78, “New Jelly Roll Blues” b/w “Beaver Slide Rag” were recorded on April 8, 1927 and advertised in the Chicago Defender. He arrived in the city in 1923 and was recorded by Columbia in November 1926. Howell’s first session featured him solo and are certainly appealing but it’s the rough, exciting stringband music he recorded with His Gang that really grabs attention. The gang consisted of Henry Williams on guitar and the infectious alley fiddle of Eddie Anthony. The duo backed Howell on two dozen sides. Williams apparently died in jail in January 1930 while serving time for vagrancy and Anthony passed in 1934, after which Howell gave up music. Henry Williams & Eddie Anthony cut one 78 together in 1928, the stupendous “Lonesome Blues” b/w/ “Georgia Crawl.” Singer Sloppy Henry cut sixteen sides between 1924 and 1929. At a 1928 session he was backed by Peg Leg Howell and Eddie Anthony, heard to good effect on the colorfully titled “Long Tall, Disconnected Mama” in which Anthony exclaims “I got good chicken and this vio-leen.” Eddie Anthony also recorded as Macon Ed with the mysterious Tampa Joe, cutting eight sides in 1930.

Will Batts was a fine fiddler based in Memphis who worked with Frank Stokes and Jack Kelly. Frank Stokes and partner Dan Sane recorded as The Beale Street Shieks, a Memphis answer to the musical Chatmon family string band, the Mississippi Shieks. Stokes was already playing the streets of Memphis by the turn of the century, about the same time the blues began to flourish. A medicine show and house party favorite, Stokes was remembered as a consummate entertainer who drew on songs from the 19th and 20th centuries. Solo or with Sane and sometimes fiddler Will Batts, Stokes recorded 38 sides for Paramount and Victor. Jack Kelly is believed to be from North Mississippi but spent most of his life in Memphis where he sang on the streets and worked with musicians like Frank Stokes, Dan Sane, Will Batts and later Little Buddy Doyle and Walter Horton. In 1933 he cut 14 sides by the South Memphis Jug Band which included Will Batts on violin, Dan Sane on guitar and D.M. Higgs on jug. He cut ten more sides in 1939 with Batts, and Little Son Joe. Kelly’s last known sides were made in 1952 with Walter Horton for the Sun.

Both Lonnie Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy are best remembered for their guitar playing but both also played violin and luckily recorded with the instrument. By the time Lonnie Johnson recorded his “Violin Blues”, he was already one of the most prolific and influential musicians in blues. Johnson himself led a long and illustrious career as a guitarist, and is primarily remembered for his dazzling guitar work. But it was the violin that first captured his imagination, and his early career in New Orleans was spent honing his skills as a fiddler, first in his father’s string band, then as a young professional performing on excursion boats along the Mississippi. Johnson signed with Okeh in 1925, and played violin on nearly two-dozen early recordings. The State Street Boys were a studio group who cut eight sides in 1935. The group consisted of Big Bill Broonzy (who plays violin on our selection “Rustlin’ Man” plus four others), Jazz Gillum, Carl Martin and others. Martin was also a member of the The Tennessee Chocolate Drops, a group consisting of Howard Armstrong, Ted Bogan and Carl Martin.

Charlie McCoy ranked among the great blues accompanists of his era and his accomplished mandolin and guitar work can be heard on numerous recordings in a wide variety of settings from the late 1920’s through the early 40’s. His brother Joe McCoy was well known for his association with his wife Memphis Minnie where he played the part of Kansas Joe. Between 1929 and 1934 (they divorced in early 1935) they cut around one hundred sides together. After Joe and Minnie separated Joe occupied himself in small bands, singing with the Harlem Hamfats, working as a songwriter and working with his brother Charlie. Charlie McCoy’s “Your Valves Need Grinding” features the violin of Bo Carter while Joe McCoy’s “Look Who’s Coming Down The Road”, a version of Tommy Johnson’s “Maggie Campbell”, features a rousing unknown violinist.

Andrew & Jim Baxter

We play several fine, little known, rural string bands on today’s program. The fiddle-guitar duo known as the Alabama Sheiks cut two records for Victor, which were released in 1931, a time when industry sales were crippled by the Great Depression. Another duo was the father and son team Andrew and Jim Baxter, of Calhoun, Georgia. The duo cut sides for Victor between 1927-29, and even waxed one tune with a white string band, The Georgia Yellow Hammers. Rural string band the Mobile Strugglers got started just as the major record companies began to lose interest in string bands. The group featured two fiddlers, Charles Jones and James Fields, and included guitarist Paul Johnson, banjo picker Lee Warren and Wesley Williams on double bass. The Mobile Strugglers recorded seven songs for the American Music label in 1949. Wilson Jones, who wnet by the moniker Stavin’ Chain, led a fine stingband judging by the group’s six recordings. The group was recorded in Louisiana by John Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1934.

You don’t expect to hear the violin in the context of Delta blues but there are some recorded example. At his second recording session on Oct. 31, 1935 Big Joe Williams was backed by fiddle player Chasey Collins. Collins in turn was backed by Williams on two numbers. Delta bluesman Henry “Son” Sims is best known as the fiddler who played with Charley Patton. Although he led a rural string band called the Mississippi Corn Shuckers for several years, the first recording that Sims did was with Patton, who asked him to come along to Wisconsin for a 1929 Paramount session. Sims also recorded under his own name on two separate occasions; during the Patton session when he cut four songs, including our selection “Tell Me Man Blues,” and several years later with guitarist and singer McKinley Morganfield, (who later became known as Muddy Waters).

Our survey of blues violin players end about mid-century when that kind of music on commercial records became virtually extinct. Eventually, a few black fiddle players returned to the studio, most often for small specialist labels. Among those include Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown who first recorded on fiddle in 1959 for the Peacock label in Houston, Butch Cage of Mississippi who worked with Willie Thomas and recorded extensively by folklorist Harry Oster, L.C. Robinson who made records for Bluesway and Arhoolie in the 1970’s and Howard Armstrong who renewed his career in the 1970s playing mandolin and fiddle with old pals Carl Martin and Ted Bogan on albums for Rounder and Flying Fish.

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Thu 7 Jan 2010

I’m Gonna Take It Easy

Posted by Jeff under Program Note
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As Gabriel Brown sang, I’m Gonna Take It Easy this week and take a break from the show. Big Road Blues will still air this week with Mike Kincaid taking over the reins. For those who tune in early you may have heard Mike on his great show Foreground Music which airs 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Since this week’s program was already put together Mike will be doing the show devoted to stringband blues, a fascinating look at the violin in blues spanning the 1920’s through the 1940’s.

Gabriel Brown – I’m Gonna Take It Easy

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Tue 5 Jan 2010

Big Road Blues Show 1/3/10: Mix Show

Posted by Jeff under Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Joe Callicott Up The Country Presenting The Country Blues
Sam Chatmon Stoop Down Baby Field Recordings From Hollandale 1976-1982
Teddy Bunn I've Come A Long Ways Baby Blind Roosevelt Graves 1929-1936
Amos Milburn After Midnight Complete Aladdin Recordings
Roosevelt Sykes Fine And Brown Rainin' In My Heart
Tony Hollis I'll Get A Break Chicago Blues Vol. 1 1939-1951
Lonnie Johnson Lines On My Face Losing Game
Smokey Hogg It’s Rainin' Here Midnight Blues
Tarheel Slim Somebody Changed The Lock Lonesome Slide Guitar Blues
Virginia Liston Night Latch Key Blues Virginia Liston Vol. 2 1924-1926
Clara Smith Low Land Moan Clara Smith Vol. 6 1930-1932
Hattie Hart Papa's Got Your Bath Water On I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 1
Arthur 'Guitar' Kelly How Can I Stay When All I Have Is Gone Swamp Blues
Whispering Smith Looking The World Over Swamp Blues
Henry Gray Lucky Lucky Man More Louisiana Swamp Blues
Johnny "Guitar" Watson Someone Cares For Me Hot Just Like TNT
Little Miss Janice Scarred Knees West Coast Guitar Killers 1951-1965 Vol. 1
Mississippi Sheiks He Calls That Religion Blues Images Vol. 3
Kokomo Arnold Policy Wheel Blues Kokomo Arnold Vol. 2 1935-1936
Louis Lasky How You Want Your Rollin' Done Times Ain't Like The Used To Be Vol. 1
Ray Agee Deep Trouble Ray Agee - West Coast Blues Vol. 1
Ray Agee Tough Competition Ray Agee - West Coast Blues Vol. 3
Schoolboy Cleve Beautiful, Beautiful Love Going Down To Louisiana
Jimmy Anderson Draft Board Blues More Louisiana Swamp Blues
Edith North Johnson & Henry Brown Nickel's Worth of Liver Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways
Henry Brown Henry Brown Blues Conversation With The Blues
Bukka White Fixin' To Die Blues The Complete Bukka White
Tommy McClennan Deep Sea Blues Before The Blues Vol. 2
Robert Petway Catfish Blues Catfish Blues - Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 1936-1942
Furry Lewis Judge Boushay Blues Memphis Swamp Jam
Fred McDowell Keep your Lamp Trimmed And Burning Memphis Swamp Jam
Bukka White Sad Day Memphis Swamp Jam

Show Notes:

Sam Chatmon: Field Recordings Vrom HollandaleWe span a good chunk of blues history today, spinning tracks from 1924 through 1976.  On tap on today’s program are a number of fine country blues recordings from the 1960’s and 70’s, a couple of album spotlights and twin spins by pianist Henry Brown and singer Ray Agee. From the blues revival era we open with tracks by Joe Callicott and Sam Chatmon who’s careers bridged the pre-war and post-war blues eras. A product of the Chatmon family that included not only Lonnie of the famous Mississippi Sheiks but also the prolific Bo Carter and several other blues-playing brothers, Sam Chatmon survived to began performing and recording again in the ’60s. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, he recorded for a variety of labels, as well as playing clubs and blues and folk festivals across America. Chatmon was an active performer and recording artist until his death in 1983. Today’s track, “Stoop Down Baby”,  comes from  the collection, Field Recordings From Hollandale 1976-1982 which has recently been issued on the Mbirafon label. Some of these recordings were issued on the Albatros label in the 80’s. It’s interesting to hear Chatmon cover Chick Willis’ “Stoop Down Baby”, a relatively recent hit, it shows that he was still keeping his ears open to new material and the the song itself perfectly fits his repertoire which is built on many such ribald songs.

Joe Callicott waxed a lone 78 in Memphis in 1929, Fare Thee Well Blues b/w Traveling Mama Blues, and a year later played second guitar on Garfield Akers’ “Cottonfield Blues Parts 1 & 2.” It was the indefatigable field recorder George Mitchell who found him in Nesbit, Mississippi off Highway 51 not far from Hernando and short distance from Brights were Akers was supposedly born. Callicott’s “comeback” was about as short as his first recording career, lasting from the summer of 1967 through the summer of 1968; he recorded nineteen sides for Mitchell either late August or early September, four sides at the 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival and seventeen sides for Blue Horizon in 1968. As Paul Oliver wrote: “A wider recognition came almost too late but Joe appeared at the 1968 Memphis Blues Festival and was looking forward to a European trip. Back at his home, with the birds whistling and witnessed by his wife and their bellcow, he recorded his last testament; he died early in 1969 and with him went the last echoes of Mississippi country music of the earliest phase of the blues.”

From 1969 we spin a trio of cuts from the album Memphis Swap Jam. Released to commemorate the 1969 Memphis Blues Festival, the album features 20 songs by the event’s most notable performers. Although the tracks date from the same period as the festival, they were recorded at Ardent Recording Studio and Royal Recording Studio in Memphis. Chris Strachwitz produced this two-LP set, and it marks one of the few occasions (if not only) when he worked in this capacity for a company other than his own Arhoolie Records. Artists like Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Fred McDowell and Sleepy John Estes had been recorded extensively during the blues revival but still sound quite inspired on these performances. Memphis Swamp Jam A nice companion CD to this is The 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival With Bukka White a terrific double CD of live and studio recording by Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Joe Callicott and Robert Wilkins.

We also spotlight another great 2-LP set, Swamp Blues, which has since been reissued on CD by Ace Records. Swamp Blues is a collection of Baton Rogue artists, most of whom had recorded for the legendary Excello label. At this point the label was owned by Nashboro who had a licensing agreement with the British Blue Horizon label owned by Mike Vernon. Blue Horizon already had albums out by Lightnin’ Slim and Lonesome Sundown and was eager to get involved with this project which was issued under the Excello imprint. It was Baton Rogue blues fan Terry Pattison who got the project off the ground. Pattison was in touch with the folks at the great, now defunct, Blues Unlimited magazine and they in turn got in touch with Vernon. An attempt was made to get Lazy Lester and Lightnin’ Slim on board but to no avail. Still it was an impressive roster featuring ex-Howlin’ Wolf pianist Henry Gray, Whispering Smith, Silas Hogan, Clarence Edwards and Arthur “Guitar” Kelly.

As for our twin spins today we play two cuts by pianist Henry Brown, one in a supporting role and one solo number. Henry Brown learned to play the piano from the “professors” of the notorious Deep Morgan section of St. Louis. Brown worked clubs such as the Blue Flame Club, the 9-0-5 Club, Jim’s Place and Katy Red’s, from the twenties into the 30’s. He recorded for Brunswick with Ike Rogers and Mary Johnson in 1929, for Paramount in ‘29 and ‘30. He served in the army in the early 40’s, then formed his own quartet to work occasional local gigs in St. Louis area from the 50’s, and worked the Becky Thatcher riverboat in 1965. In addition to his pre-war recordings, he was recorded by Paul Oliver in 1960, by Sam Charters with Edith Johnson in 1961 and by Adelphi in 1969. Our cuts feature the rollicking (mostly) instrumental “Henry Brown Blues” which was recorded by Paul Oliver and comes from the companion CD to Oliver’s book Conversation With The Blues. “Nickel’s Worth of Liver” features the vocal of Edith North Johnson, a song she first cut in 1929, that time backed by Roosevelt Sykes. Johnson cut 18  sides in 1928 and 1929, including a session with Charley Patton in Grafton, WI, for Paramount Records, although it is doubtful Patton actually appeared on any of her songs. She Ray Agee: West Coast Blues Legend Vol. 1made her home in St. Louis, where she ran a fleet of taxis during World War II and owned a popular diner. Sam Charters recorded her with Henry Brown in 1961 for his anthology called The Blues in St. Louis Vol. 2 for Folkways Records. Born January 2, 1903, in St. Louis, she died there on February 28, 1988.

We also feature two cuts by the neglected singer Ray Agee. Agee is known primarily for his tough 1963 remake of the blues standard “Tin Pan Alley” for the tiny Sahara logo. Agee recorded for a slew of labels both large and small during the 1950’s and 60’s without much in the way of national recognition outside his Los Angeles home base. After moving to L.A. with his family, he apprenticed with his brothers in a gospel quartet before striking out in the R&B field with a 1952 single for Aladdin Records. Agee slowly slipped away from the music business in the early ’70s. Reportedly, he died around 1990. Thankfully the Famous Groove label has issued all of Agee’s 50’s and 60’s recordings across three CD’s.

Also worth mentioning are tracks by Lonnie Johnson, Little Janice, and Tony Hollis. I never get tired of Lonnie Johnson who’s guitar skills are rightly praised, yet he was also a moving singer and a superb composer. A case in point is his gorgeous “Lines On My Face”, a bit of blues poetry from his 1960 album Losing Game:

Heartaches have caused, these deep lines in my face (2x)
When you’ve been disappointed in love, your heart has no restin’ place

Each line in my face tells a story, the tears tells you the reason why
Deep lines in my face tells a story, teardrops tell you the reason why
When you been hurt in love, it shows on you face until the day you die

If I could take my poor heart and wash it, wash all these aches and pains away (2x)
But I guess I’m so in love, I hope she’ll come back to me some day

My poor heart could talk, there’s so much it could tell (2x)
When the one you love disappoints you in life, life is a livin’ hell

Tony Hollis’ small output belies his influence. Hollis  played around Clarksdale, MS in the 20’s and 30’s which is where he met John Lee Hooker, providing him with his first guitar and was a major influence on Hooker’s style. In 1941 Hollis waxed seven sides for Okeh including the influential “Crawlin’ King Snake” and the first recorded version of “Cross Cut Saw Blues.”Another song from that session, “Traveling Man Blues”, waslater made famous by Hooker as “When My First Wife Quit Me.” He cut one more session in 1951 with Sunnyland Slim. Our selection, “I’ll Get A Break”, which was based on Tampa Red’s 1934 version and comes from that latter session. The song was cut by Hollis at his first session using the title “Big Time Woman.”

Little Miss Janice is a mystery. What little is known about her is that she came from Texas, she played guitar and she had a knack for songwriting as she proves on her tough “Scarred Knees.” After this recording for Proverb, she went on to cut for Paul Gayten’s Pzazz label. Johnny Adams covered “Scarred Knees” on his first LP for Rounder and Esther Phillips cut a stunning version on her 1972 album From A Whsiper To A Scream.

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Sun 27 Dec 2009

Big Road Blues Show 12/27/09: Midnight On Central Avenue – More West Coast Blues

Posted by Jeff under 1940's Blues, 1950's Blues, Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Cecil Gant Blues In L.A. Cecil Gant Vol. 2 1945
Cecil Gant Train Time Blues Cecil Gant Vol. 3 1945-1946
Cecil Gant Midnight On Central Avenue Cecil Gant Vol. 3 1945-1946
Gene Phillips Snuff Dripping Mama Swingin' The Blues
Gene Phillips My Baby's Mistreatin' Me Swingin' The Blues
Gene Phillips Big Fat Mama Swingin' The Blues
Big Joe Turner Central Avenue Blues Classic Hits 1938-1952
Pete Johnson Central Avenue Drag Pete johnson 1947- 1949
Jimmy Witherspoon Don't Ever Move A Woman In Your House Urban Blues Singing Legend
Pear Traylor Jive I Like More Mellow Cats and Kittens
Helen Humes The Laziest Gal In Town Even More Mellow Cats 'n' Kittens
Mickey Champion I'm A Woman Rock 'n' Rhythm and Blues
Cecil Gant Another Day, Another Dollar Cecil Gant Vol. 4 1946-1949
Cecil Gant Nashville Jumps Cecil Gant Vol. 3 1945-1946
Cecil Gant Owl Stew Cecil Gant Vol. 7 1950-1951
Gene Phillips Slippin' And Slidin' Swingin' The Blues
Gene Phillips I Wonder What the Poor Folks Are Doin' Swingin' The Blues
Gene Phillips Crying Won't Help You None Swingin' The Blues
Johnny Moore's Three Blazers Los Angeles Blues Los Angeles Blues
Three Bits Of Rhythm Drop A Nickel In The Slot Even More Mellow Cats 'n' Kittens
Felix Gross Cuttin' Out Yet More Mellow Cats & Kittens
Pee Wee Crayton Central Avenue The Modern Legacy Vol. 1
Crown Prince Waterford L.A. Blues 1946-1950
Little Willie Littlefield Hello Cats Mellow Cats 'n' Kittens
Brother Woodman Watts Central Rocks! - The Central Avenue Scene
Cecil Gant Playin' Myself The Blues Cecil Gant Vol. 7 1950-1951
Cecil Gant It Ain't Gonna Be Like That Cecil Gant Vol. 7 1950-1951
Cecil Gant Rock Little Baby Cecil Gant Vol. 7 1950-1951
Gene Phillips Gene's Guitar Blues Swingin' The Blues
Gene Phillips Just A Dream (On My Mind) Drinkin' And Stinkin'
Gene Phillips Rock Bottom Drinkin' And Stinkin'
Sherman Booker Cool Daddy's Blues Cool Daddy: Central Avenue Scene Vol. 3
Big Duke Henderson Hard Luck, Women And Strife Blues For Dootsie

Show Notes:

The West Coast had a thriving blues and jazz scene in the 1940’s and 50’s with most of the activity centering around the Los Angeles, Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco Bay areas. The Black population swelled in the 1940s, due to large manpower needs to work in the U.S. defense industry during World War II. These new arrivals needed entertainment, of course, and the local jazz and blues club scene heated up quickly. From approximately 1920 to 1955, Central Avenue was the heart of the African-American community in Los Angeles. Like New York City’s 125th Street or Memphis’s Beale Street or Chicago’s South Side, Central Avenue was one of the world capitols of nightlife, of jazz, rhythm & blues, of black culture and society.

There were several strains of blues that rose to prominence including a moody, after hours brand of piano blues popularized by the inimitable Charles Brown who himself was influenced by Nat King Cole. Brown’s influence was profound, setting the stage for fellow pianists like Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon, Little Willie Littlefield, Ivory Joe Hunter, Cecil Gant and Roy Hawkins. T-Bone Walker’s influence was to guitar as Brown was to piano. Much of T-Bone’s material had an after hours, jazzy jump blues feel, an influence that would characterize T-Bone disciples like Pee Wee Cratyon, Lafayette Thomas, Gatemouth Brown, Goree Carter, Pete “Guitar” Lewis, Ulysses James and others. There was also a more swinging, jazzy jump blues as performed by artists like Roy Milton, Joe and Jimmy Liggins, Johnny Otis and others.

Straight To Watts Even More Mellow Cats 'N' Kittens

Los Angeles in the 1940’s became a huge center for rhythm and blues recording. There was a host of labels recording blues and R&B in Los Angeles in the 1940s including Specialty, Imperial, Aladdin, and the umbrella of labels run by the Bihari brothers RPM/Modern/Kent/Flair/Crown were the most notable. Bob Geddins was a key player who operated numerous small labels like Down Town, Big Town, Irma, and others. The first breakout rhythm and blues single, “I Wonder,” was recorded by Private Cecil Gant in a simple basement studio and released in 1944 on Gilt Edge Records, a short-lived L.A. indie. When “I Wonder” went to the top of Billboard’s race charts, a number of labels sprang up to capitalize on the smooth, cool, Leroy Carr-derived L.A. blues style Gant had popularized.

I’ve done several programs devoted to West Coast blues and today’s show is mostly an excuse to spotlight two exceptional West Coast artists,  Cecil Gant and Gene Phillips who I haven’t featured much on prior shows. Today’s program leans towards the jazzy jump blues side of things, giving you a taste of some of the sounds of Central Avenue during the 1940’s and early 50’s.  The buk of those recordings are draw from several excellent Ace Records reissues documenting the Central Avenue scene including: Mellow Cats ‘N’ Kittens (four volumes) and The Central Avenue Scene (three volumes ).

Cecil Gant, who went by the moniker the G.I. Sing-Sation, was an army private who allegedly got his first break while performing for a war bond rally in 1944. He scored a massive hit the same year with “I Wonder” the first release on the new Gilt-Edge label. The record’s huge success prompted others to form record companies devoted to black music. Gant was a first rate ballad singer in the vein of Nat King Cole and Charles Brown but he was also a superb bluesman who could lay down some storming boogie-woogie. Gant recorded prolifically for the L.A. labels Gilt-Edge and 4 Star and in Nashville, which was probably his hometown, for Bullet, Dot and Decca, meanwhile playing in nightclubs throughout the country. Between 1944 and 1951 he waxed over 150 sides before his untimely death in 1951 at the age of 38. The Blue Moon label has provided an invaluable service by issuing all of Gant’s recordings across seven CD’s.

Cecil Gant Vol. 2 Cecil Gant Vol. 3

Gene Phillips was one of the early stars of Modern Records. Phillips was a West Coast session musician who appeared on a myriad of jump blues waxings during the late ’40s and early ’50s before fading from view even before the dawn of rock & roll. In the early 40s he sang and played guitar, was a jump blues specialist and led his own band, the Rhythm Aces. The T-Bone Walker-influenced Phillips recorded extensively for the Modern label from 1947 through 1951.  Phillips’s bandmates were among the royalty of the L.A. scene: trumpeter Jake Porter, saxists Marshall Royal, Maxwell Davis, and Jack McVea, and pianist Lloyd Glenn were frequently on hand. Phillips was a much in demand session guitarist backing stars such as Calvin Boze, Lloyd Glenn, Wynonie Harris, Joe Liggins, Percy Mayfield and many others. Jake Porter of Combo Records, also a well-respected session player,  had this to say about these marvelous Phillips sessions for Modern, “I guess music-wise and musician-wise he had the best musicians on his sessions, and Modern Records’ boss Jules Bihari just loved the stuff. He never rushed time. One thing about Jules I got to say his love was to sit up in the control booth and watch a record being made. He was fascinated. It was just like he was in a trance.” Phillips recordings have been collected by the Ace label on two CD’s:  Swingin’ The Blues and Drinkin’ And Stinkin’.

The Los Angles scene boasted a number of the premier blues shouters including Wynonie Harris,  Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Witherspoon. Big Joe Turner ventured out to the West Coast during the war years, building quite a following while ensconced on the L.A. circuit. Few West Coast indie labels of the late ’40s didn’t boast at least one or two Turner titles in their catalogs with Turner cutting sides for RPM, Down Beat, Swing Time and MGM mostly backed by long time pianist Pete Johnson. Jimmy WitherSpoon didn’t pursue music professionally until after his WWII stint in the Merchant Marines. When the war was at an end he had the opportunity to join the small band of Kansas City musician Jay McShann working on the West coast during the mid forties. He replaced Walter Brown with McShann and made his very first records with the band for the new Philo label in Los Angeles in 1945. Further records with McShann on the Mercury, Supreme and Downbeat labels followed in the late forties and he eventually signed to the Modern label.

gene-phillips gene-phillips2

One strain of blues that rose to prominence in L.A. was a moody, after hours brand of piano blues popularized by the inimitable Charles Brown who himself was influenced by Nat King Cole. Brown’s influence was profound, setting the stage for fellow pianists like Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon, Little Willie Littlefield, Ivory Joe Hunter and Roy Hawkins.Brown came up in Johnny Moore’s combo. Moore and his younger brother Oscar grew up in Texas and then Phoenix, Arizona, where they both started playing guitar and formed their own string band. In the mid 1930s they relocated to Los Angeles, where Oscar Moore joined the King Cole Trio. Johnny joined and formed several groups, before forming The Three Blazers with two fellow Texans, bassist Eddie Williams and pianist and singer Charles Brown. After the Cole Trio moved from Atlas Records to Capitol in 1943, Oscar suggested to Atlas boss Robert Scherman that he replace them with his brother Johnny’s group. Scherman agreed to record the Blazers if Oscar would play with them, and the recordings were released as by “Oscar Moore with The Three Blazers”. In 1946, they had success with “Driftin’ Blues”, sung by Charles Brown. The group followed up the success of “Driftin’ Blues” with a number of other big R&B. In 1948, frustrated by his lack of recognition and financial reward, Charles Brown left the group for a successful solo career.

Influenced by Albert Ammons, Charles Brown, and Amos Milburn, Little Willie Littlefield made his debut 78 in 1948 for Houston-based Eddie’s Records while still in his teens. After a few sides for Eddie’s and Freedom, he moved over to the Los Angeles based Modern logo in 1949. There he immediately hit paydirt with two major R&B hits, “It’s Midnight” and “Farewell.” Littlefield proved a sensation upon moving to L.A. during his Modern tenure, playing at area clubs and touring with a band that included saxist Maxwell Davis. At Littlefield’s first L.A. session for King’s Federal subsidiary in 1952, he cut “K.C. Loving” (with Davis on sax),which became a big hit for Wilbert Harrison a few years later as “Kansas City.”

The towering figure of West Coast blues was Texas born guitarist T-Bone Walker. Walker was a key figure in the electrification and urbanization of the blues, probably doing more to popularize the use of electric guitar in the form than anyone else. Among his legion of followers was fellow Texan, Pee Wee Crayton. Crayton was from Texas but relocated to Los Angeles in 1935. He signed with the L.A.-based Modern logo in 1948, quickly hitting big with the instrumental “Blues After Hours” which topped the R&B charts in late 1948. “Texas Hop” trailed hit shortly thereafter, followed by “I Love You So.” After recording prolifically at Modern to no further commercial avail, Crayton moved on to Aladdin and, in 1954, Imperial. From there, Crayton cut sides fort Vee-Jay, Jamie, Guyden, and Smash during the early ’60s, Crayton largely faded from view until Vanguard unleashed his LP, Things I Used to Do, in 1971. After that, Pee Wee Crayton’s profile was raised somewhat; he toured and made a few more albums prior to his passing in 1985.

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Sun 20 Dec 2009

Big Road Blues Show 12/20/09: Christmas Blues – Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus

Posted by Jeff under Christmas Blues, Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Frankie Jaxon Christ Was Born On... Blues, Blues Christmas
Titus Turner Christmas Morning Blues Blues, Blues Christmas
Roy Milton New Year's Resolution Blues, Blues Christmas
Mickey Champion Gonna Have A Merry Xmas Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Jimmy Butler Trim Your Tree Blues, Blues Christmas
Big Joe Turner Christmas Date Boogie Blues, Blues Christmas
Leroy Carr Christmas In Jail Blues, Blues Christmas
Rev. A.W. Nix How Will You Spend Christmas Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Lowell Fulson Lonesome Christmas (part 1) Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Hop Wilson Merry Christmas Darling Steel Guitar Flash
Charles Brown New Merry Christmas Baby Legend!
Harman Ray Xmas Blues Blues, Blues Christmas
Champion Jack Dupree Santa Clause Blues Champion Jack Dupree: Early Cuts
Clyde Lasley Santa Claus Home Drunk Bea & Baby Records Vol. 2
Lonnie Johnson Happy New Year Darling Blues, Blues Christmas
Robert Nighthawk Merry Christmas Blues Masters Vol. 4
Cecil Gant Hello Santa Claus Blues, Blues Christmas
Jimmy Witherspoon How I Hate To See Xmas... Blues, Blues Christmas
Larry Darnell Christmas Blues Blues, Blues Christmas
Butterbeans & Susie Papa Ain't No Santa Claus Blues, Blues Christmas
Mary Harris No Christmas Blues Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Julia Lee Christmas Spirits Kansas City Star
Bukka White Christmas Eve Blues Miss. Delta Blues Jam in Memphis Vol. 2
Goree Carter Christmas Time The Complete Recordings Vol. 1
Lightnin' Hopkins Merry Christmas Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Smokey Hogg My Christmas Baby Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2
Felix Gross Love For Christmas Blues, Blues Christmas
Harry Crafton Bring That Cadillac Back Blues, Blues Christmas
Johnny Otis Happy New Year Baby Blues, Blues Christmas
J.B. Summers I Want A Present For Christmas Blues, Blues Christmas
Sonny Parker Boogie Woogie Santa Claus Blues, Blues Christmas
Freddie King Christmas Tears Very Best of Freddy King, Vol. 1
Albert King Christmas Comes But Once... It's Christmas Time Again

Show Notes:

xmasblues2-sm bluesxmas-sm

I’ve been doing a Christmas blues show for something like the past dozen years and was always frustrated with the lack of a really good collection of early blues Christmas songs. Luckily in 2005 I hooked up with the Document label to put together a 2-CD, 52 track collection of blues and gospel songs from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. The result was Blues, Blues Christmas and. Last  year Document contacted me about writing the notes to a sequel, Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2, another 2-CD set although I did not compile the tracks for this one (I did make a couple of suggestions which were included). I’m happy to say that this has been released a few weeks back and it also appears that Blues, Blues Christmas is now back in stock and has been remastered.

Santa Claus Crave

The idea of Christmas themed blues and gospel numbers stretches back to the very dawn of the recorded genres. “Hooray for Christmas” exclaims Bessie Smith to kick off her soon to be classic “At The Christmas Ball”, which inaugurated the Christmas blues tradition when it was recorded in November 1925 for Columbia. A year later, circa December 1926, the gospel Christmas tradition was launched when the Elkins-Payne Jubilee Singers recorded “Silent Night, Holy Night” for Paramount Records. After these recordings it was off to the races with numerous Christmas blues numbers recorded by singers of all stripes, a pace that continued as blues evolved into R&B and then rock and roll. For some reason there’s far fewer gospel Christmas songs although there were plenty of Christmas sermons in the 1920’s and 1930’s when recorded sermons rivalled blues in popularity among black audiences. Going hand in hand with Christmas is quite a number of New Year’s songs, a good vehicle for juxtaposing the problems of the past year with the glimmer of hope that that the upcoming year will bring better fortune. Whether these artists sung these numbers as part of their regular repertoire is unclear but it’s almost certainly the case that many of these songs were recorded at the prompting of the record companies. Like any business they were always looking for a new angle or gimmick to sell records and advertised these boldly, often with full-page ads, in black newspapers like the Chicago Defender.

Christmas Eve Blues 78

Santa Claus Blues: The 1920’s & 30’s

The earliest Christmas blues songs that I tracked down date from 1925. On Oct. 8 of that year Eva Taylor featured with Clarence Williams’ Trio cut “Santa Claus Blues” for the Okeh label and recut the tune again on Oct. 16 with a slightly larger band, the Clarence Williams’ Blue Five. Both versions feature Louis Armstrong on cornet. The song is more pop than blues however. On November 18th Bessie Smith cut At The Christmas Ball [Lyrics] for Columbia. She recut the song again Dec. 9 but this version remained unissued. Many blues artists from the 20’s cut Christmas songs including: Elzadie Robinson “The Santa Claus Crave” (1927), Victoria Spivey “Christmas Mornin’ Blues” (1927), Blind Lemon Jefferson “Christmas Eve Blues” (1928), Bertha Chippie Hill “Christmas Man Blues” (1928), Blind Blake “Lonesome Christmas Blues” (1929), Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers w/ Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jaxon “Christ Was Born On Christmas Morn” (1929)

Paramount Christmas

Among Paramount’s biggest blues stars of the 1920’s were Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake who made their debuts for the label several months apart – Jefferson in December 1925 or January 1926 and Blake around August of 1926. Paramount ramped up their blues and gospel recordings considerably in 1927 and a new Jefferson and Blake record appeared every month. Paramount resorted to several novel promotions for their big artists; In 1924 Ma Rainey’s sixth release was labeled “Ma Rainey’s Mystery Record” with prizes given to the best title while Charlie Patton’s “Screamin’ And Hollerin’ The Blues” was listed as by The Masked Marvel with a corresponding advert that bore a drawing of a blindfolded singer – looking nothing like Patton – and the clue that he was an exclusive Paramount artist. Similarly, so successful was Jefferson, that a special yellow and white label was produced for Paramount 12650, “Piney Woods Money Mama” b/w ‘Low Down Mojo Blues” which bore his picture and the wording “Blind Lemon Jefferson’s Birthday Record.” In a similar vein Christmas records can be seen as just another promotional tool with ads for these records appearing annually in black newspapers every holiday season. Befitting his stardom, Lemon’s lone holiday record “Christmas Eve Blues” b/w “Happy New Year Blues”, was given a full-page advertisement in the December 12th, 1928 edition of the Chicago Defender. In Paramount’s 1928 late fall Dealers’ Supplement the label advertised scores of “CHRISTMAS, SPIRITUAL AND SERMON RECORDS THAT ARE DEPENDABLE SALES PRODUCERS” and warned that they “SHOULD BE IN YOUR STOCKS NOW.” Blind Blake received the large sized treatment in the 1929 edition of the paper for his “Lonesome Christmas Blues,” (also sharing the page was Leroy Carr’s “Christmas In Jail – Ain’t That A Pain?”) his only Christmas record. The flip was “Third Degree Blues” – apparently Blake only had enough holiday spirit for one side!

The trend continued with more frequency in the 30’s. Here are a few notable songs: Butterbeans & Susie “Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus” (1930), Charlie Jordan “Santa Claus Blues” ["Christmas Christmas, how glad I am you are here/ Well I ain’t had a chicken dinner for this whole round year/Shiny bones and naked bones gleaming from around my plate/ …So pass me that chicken, the turkey, duck and the goose/Well all you birds gonna be one legged when I turn you-a-loose"] (1931) and “Christmas “Christmas Blues” (1935), Death May Be Your christmas Present AdKansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom “Christmas Morning Blues” (1934) [Lyrics], Verdi Lee “Christmas “Tree Blues” (1935), Tampa Red “Christmas And New Years Blues” (1934), Peetie Wheatstraw “Santa Claus Blues” (1935), Bumble Bee Slim’s “Christmas And No Santa Claus and “Santa Claus Bring Me A New Woman” (1936), Black Ace “Christmas Time Blues (Beggin’ Santa Claus)” (1937), Casey Bill Weldon “Christmas Time Blues” (1937), Bo Carter “Santa Claus” (1938), Walter Davis “Santa Claus” (1935), Sonny Boy Williamson I “Christmas Morning Blues” (1938).

Mary Harris, who cut two sides for Decca at an October 31, 1935 session is most certainly Verdi Lee who cut sides on the exact same date, also in the company of fellow St. Louis musicians Peetie Wheatstraw and Charlie Jordan. It was a holiday themed session with the group cutting “Christmas Tree Blues”, “No Christmas Blues”, “Happy New Year Blues”, “Christmas Christmas Blues” and “Santa Claus Blues” (the latter two with vocals by Jordan and Wheatstraw respectively). Paul Oliver noted that “it would be pleasant to think that each singer was inspired by the others to create a blues on the same subject but at this date, with Christmas two months away, it is more likely that it was a deliberate promotional device by [producer] Mayo Williams.”

Merry Christmas Baby: The 40’s & 50’s

In the 40’s there of course was more blues Christmas songs but there was a new music brewing called R&B. Evolving out of jump blues in the late ’40s, R&B laid the groundwork for rock & roll. The era’s biggest Christmas song was undoubtedly the immortal “Merry Christmas, Baby” cut by Charles Brown & The Blazers in 1947. This perennial classic has been covered numerous times including versions by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Lena Horne , Lou Rawls, Booker T. & the MG’s, Otis Redding, James Brown and countless others. Charles Brown’s smooth ballad style has become synonymous with Christmas ever since remaking “Merry Christmas, Baby” many times, cutting many other Christmas songs and full length albums including 1961’s Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs and Cool Christmas Blues in 1994.

Gatemouth Moore Ad

Notable blues and R&B songs from this period include: Champion Jack Dupree’s “Santa Claus Blues” (1945), Gatemouth Moore “Christmas Blues” (1946) [recut in 1977 as "Gate's Christmas Blues"], Little Willie Littlefield “Merry Xmas” (1949), Mabel Scott “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” (1947), Harman Ray Xmas Blues ["Hold it, hold it man/Don’t play me no jingle bells the way I feel this Christmas/Only kind of bells I want to have anything to do with is some of them mission bells/Man, play me the blues long, loud and lowdown"] (1947), Boll Weavil “Christmas Time Blues” (1947), Big Joe Turner “Christmas Date Boogie “(1948), Thelma Cooper “I Need A Man (For Xmas)” (1948), Smokey Hogg “I Want My Baby For Christmas” (1949), Amos Milburn “Let’s Make Christmas Merry Baby” (1949), Harry Crafton “

Bring That Cadillac Back” ["I let you eat my turkey on Christmas morn/When I looked around you and my Cadillac was gone"] (1949), Felix Gross “Love For Christmas” ["You can have your turkey and your dressing/Sweet cakes and apple pie/Blue Champagne and Rock & Rye/Everything that money can buy"] (1949), J.B. Summers “I Want a Present For Christmas” ["Santa Claus, Santa Claus/Hear my plea/Open up your bag and give a fine brown baby to me/ …You can stop by my chimney/Drop her in the chute/ Leave your reindeer outside/Come in and get my loot"] (1949).

One other song from this era is the downright odd “Junior’s a Jap Girl’s Christmas for His Santa Claus” (1942) a Library of Congress recording by Willie Blackwell that defies categorization. Oher non-R&B Christmas songs from the 40’s include a few by Leadbelly such as “Christmas Is A-Coming” [Lyrics], “The Christmas Song”, “On A Christmas Day”, Sylvestor Cotton “Christmas Blues” (1948), Washboard Pete [aka Ralph Willis] “Christmas Blues” (1948), Alex Seward & Louis Hayes “Christmas Time Blues” (1948), Walter Davis “Santa Claus” (1949).

Santa Claus There was a time you could hit the charts with an instrumental as pianist Lloyd Glenn well knew, scoring big with “Old Time Shuffle Blues” which hit #3 on the R&B charts in 1950 and “Chica Boo” which hit #1 in 1951. He seemed to have a knack for being on hit records, accompanying T-Bone Walker on his 1947 hit “Call It Stormy Monday”, and in 1949 he joined Swing Time Records as A&R man, recording a number of hits with Lowell Fulson, including “Everyday I Have The Blues” and the #1 R&B hit “Blue Shadows”. In sunny Los Angeles on April 1951 he waxed the shuffling “(Christmas) Sleigh Ride.” Glenn’s distinctive piano work can also be found on a five-song session Jesse Thomas waxed for Swingtime also in April 1951 which included “Xmas Celebration.” Glenn was also present when Lowell Fulson cut his classic two-parter, “Lonesome Christmas Pt. 1 & 2 “in 1951.

The 50’s produced many more Christmas gems including: Lowell Fulson’s oft covered “”Lonesome Christmas” (1950), Cecil Gant It’s Christmas Time Again (1950), Roy Milton “Christmas Time Blues” (1950), Johnny Otis & Little Esther Phillips “Far Away Blues” [also known as "Faraway Christmas Blues"] (1950), Jimmy Liggins “I Want My Baby For Christmas” (1950), The Nic Nacs with Mickey Champion “Gonna Have A Merry Xmas” (1950), Larry Darnell “Christmas Blues” (1950), Sonny Parker with Lionel Hampton “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” (1950), Lloyd Glenn “Sleigh Ride” (1951), Sugar Chile Robinson “Christmas Boogie” b/w “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1950), Titus Turner “Christmas Morning” (1952), Lightning Hopkins “Merry Christmas” (1953), Chuck Berry “Run, Rudolph, Run” (1958) and “Merry Christmas Baby” (1958), John Lee Hooker “Blues for Christmas” (1959).

Please Come Home For Christmas Baby: The 60’s To The Present

The 60’s, less so in the 70’s, produced a number of strong Christmas blues songs including at least one blues classic, Little Johnny Taylor’s “Please Come Home For Christmas” (1969) which has become an oft covered holiday classic. Other notable 60’s songs include: Sonny Boy Williamson II “Santa Claus” (1960), Lightnin’ Hopkins “Santa” (1960) and “Heavy Snow” (1962), Black Ace “Santa Claus Blues” (1960), B.B. King “Christmas Celebration” (1960), Hop Wilson “Merry Christmas, Darling” (1961), Robert Nighthawk “Merry Christmas Baby” (1964), Lowell Fulson “I Wanna Spend Christmas With You” (1967), Louis Jordan “Santa Claus, Santa Claus” (1968), Charles Brown “New Merry Christmas Baby” (1969) featuring Earl Hooker, Bukka White “Christmas Eve Blues” (1969). In the 70’s: Jimmy Reed “Christmas Present Blues” (1970), Lee Jackson “The Christmas Song” (1971), Clyde Lasley “Santa Came Home Drunk (1971), Albert King “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” (1974) and “Christmas Comes But Once A Year” (1974), Eddie C. Campbell “Santa’s Messin’ with the Kid” (1977).

Santa Claus DrunkThere seems to be a dearth of quality Christmas songs in the 70’s and 80’s. By the late 80’s the rise of the CD caused the demise of the 45 record which was one of the main vehicles for putting out holiday songs. However in lieu of the 45 labels began releasing Christmas themed compilations and there have been a number of very good collections. Some of the best include: Austin Rhythm and Blues Christmas (1989) from the Antone’s label [reissued on Epic in 1986 and Sony in 2001], Alligator Records Christmas Collection (1992), Ichiban Blues At Christmas Vol. 1-4 (1991-97) [Best of Ichiban Blues at Christmas was issued 2002], Bullseye Blues Christmas (1995), Stony Plain’s Christmas Blues (2000), Blue Christmas (2000) from the Dialtone label, Blue Xmas (2001) on Evidence. A number of artists issued Christmas themed records including Charles Brown, Huey “Piano’ Smith, Johnny Adams, B.B. King and Etta James. Also with the dominance of the CD age labels went back into their vaults to put together compilations of classic Christmas blues. Many of the songs listed earlier in this article can be found on these collections and the best of these will be listed below.

Let Me Hang My Stocking On Your Christmas Tree

Christmas blues as sexual metaphor? Of course! The blues has always been loaded with double entendres and Christmas blues offers plenty of examples: Roosevelt Sykes “Let Me Hang My Stocking In Your Christmas Tree” (1937), Jimmy Butler Trim Your Tree ["I’m gonna bring along my hatchet/My beautiful Christmas balls/I’ll sprinkle my snow up on your tree and hang my mistletoe on your wall"] (1955), Clarence Carter “Back Door Santa” (1968), “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” by Albert King (1974) and Sir Mack Rice (1982), Rufus Thomas “I’ll Be Your Santa, Baby” (1982) and Sonny Rhodes the same year, Chick Willis “(All I Want for Christmas Is To) Lay Around and Love On You” (1991).

Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus

Those who listen to the blues know it’s not all doom and gloom. The blues are laced with humor and that comes across in many blues Christmas songs: Butterbeans & Susie “Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus” (1930) [Lyrics], Big Jack Johnson “Rudolph Got Drunk Last Night” (1990), Clyde Lasley “Santa Claus Home Drunk”, Billy Ray Charles “I Been Double Crossed By Santa Claus”, Louis Armstrong “Zat You Santa Claus.”

Empty Stocking Blues

Not everyone enjoys the holidays and many people suffer from the Christmas blues. If you want to wallow in your depression here’s an appropriate blues soundtrack: Leroy Carr “Christmas In Jail – Ain’t That A Pain?” (1929), Jimmy Witherspoon “Christmas Blues” [alternately titled "How I Hate To See Christmas Come Around"] (1947), Jimmy Grissom “Christmas Brings Me Down” (1948), Floyd Dixon “Empty Stocking Blues” (1950), “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues” ["Unless you come home to me/I'll be drunk all day Christmas Day"]” (1951), Lowell Fulson’s two-part “Lonesome Christmas” (1951), Freddie King’s classic two sided 45 “Christmas Tears” b/w “I Hear Jingle Bells” (1961), Jerry McCain & B.B. Coleman “Sad, Sad Christmas” (1992).

Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?

Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?

Recorded sermons were among the most popular and best selling of the “race records”in the 1920’s and 1930’s. These records provided a fascinating look into the views and concerns of black America at a time when very few outlets existed for black expression. Rev. J.M. Gates was the most popular and prolific of them all, waxing some two hundred titles between 1926 and 1941, which accounted for a staggering quarter of all sermons recorded during this period. It’s not surprising that Gates cut more Christmas sermons than anyone including: “You May Be Alive Or You May Be Dead, Christmas Day” (1927), “Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?” (1927), “Where Will you Be Christmas Day” (1927), “Did You Spend Christmas Day In Jail?” (1929), “Will Hell Be Your Santa Claus” (1939) and “Gettin’ Ready For Christmas Day” (1941) which was his last recorded sermon. Rev. A.W. Nix also had a special affinity for the holidays as evidenced in recordings like “Death Might Be Your Christmas Gift” (1927), “Begin A New Life On Christmas Day – Part 1 & 2″ (1928), “That Little Thing May Kill You Yet (Christmas Sermon)” (1929) and “How Will You Spend Christmas?” (1930). Also notable is Rev. Edward Clayborn’s “The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas” (1928) and Rev. Emmett Dickinson’s “Christmas – What Does It Mean To You” (1930).

Happy New Year Darling

While there’s far more Christmas songs, New Year has inspired a number of noteworthy songs: Blind Lemon Jefferson “Happy New Year Blues” (1928), Mary Harris with Peetie Wheatstraw “Happy New Year Blues” (1935), Smokey Hogg “New Years Eve Blues” (1947), Lonnie Johnson “Happy New Year, Darling” ["It seems a long time since I been fightin' the Japs 'cross the deep blue sea/Yes, that's why I'm so glad darlin', to have a li'l wife still waitin' for me/It's so great to have you darlin', to have a li'l wife like you/My three brothers couldn't make it but they say happy new year to you"] (1947), Johnny Otis “Happy New Year, Baby” (1947), Lil’ Son Jackson “New Year’s Resolution” (1950), Roy Milton New Year’s Resolution Blues ["I’m gonna deal them from the bottom/Ain’t going to play it fair at all/Please believe me pretty baby/I’m going to have myself a ball/Going to give up my apartment, and you know they’re hard to find/ I don’t want no last year’s memories running through my weary mind"] (1950), Lightnin’ Hopkins “Happy New Year” (1953), Charles Brown “Bringing In A Brand New Year” (1993), Lil Ed and Dave Weld “New Year’s Resolution” (1996).

Notable Christmas Blues Compilations

Blues, Blues Christmas (Document): Comprehensive 2-CD collection of jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and gospel recordings dedicated to the season. Collects 52 numbers spanning from 1925 to 1955 including tracks by Bessie Smith, Leroy Carr, Rev. J.M. Gates, Butterbeans & Susie, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Milton, Larry Darnell, Cecil Gant, Lightnin’ Hopkins and many, many others.

Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2 (Document): Comprehensive 2-CD collection of jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and gospel recordings dedicated to the season. Collects 44 numbers spanning from 1925 to 1955 including tracks byBlind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Jesse Thomas, Cecil Gant, Fats Waller, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Lil Son Jackson, Lightnin’ Hopkins and many, many others.

Where Will You Be Christmas Day? (Dust To Digital): Fine collection rare early Christmas gems by Leroy Carr, Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Butterbeans and Susie, Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Kansas City Kitty, Bessie Smith and many others.

Soul Christmas (Atlantic): This 1991 reissue includes eight of the original 11 tracks included on the Atco 1968 release with 11 more tracks added from the Atlantic vaults. An essential set that includes Otis Redding’s “White Christmas” and “Merry Christmas, Baby”, Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa”, Joe Tex’s “I’ll Make Every Day Christmas (For My Woman)” and others.

Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics (Rhino): A killer 18-song compilation. Includes hard to find tracks by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Hop Wilson, Big Jack Johnson and other gems.

It’s Christmas Time Again (Stax): A great collection of funky blues and soul from the Stax catalog. Standout tracks include “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” with versions by Mack Rice and Albert King plus Rufus Thomas’ “I’ll Be Your Santa Baby’” and Little Johnny Taylor’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”

Merry Christmas, Baby (Paula): Some real gems on here although some can be found on other compilations. Includes fine songs like Johnny And Jon’s “Christmas in Vietnam”, Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”, Lowell Fulson’s “Lonesome Christmas” parts 1 & 2 plus songs by Big Joe Williams, Sugar Boy Crawford, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Reed and others.

Jingle Blues (Platinum): Entertaining collection from the House of Blues. Includes a wide variety of styles by artists such as Bessie Smith, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Witherspoon, B.B. King, Amos Milburn and others.

James Brown’s Funky Christmas (Polygram): What would Christmas be without this funky collection? This 17-track compilation includes selections cut between 1966-1970. Highlights include “Go Power at Christmas Time”, “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” and “Hey America” (It’s Christmas Time).

Christmas Blues (Savoy): Fine Christmas blues from the vaults of Savoy like Gatemouth Moore’s “Christmas Blues”, Jimmy Butler’s rocking “Trim Your Tree”, the country blues of Ralph Willis’ “Christmas Blues” and several other vintage tunes.

Rhythm & Blues Christmas (Hollywood): Budget priced collection that includes Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby,” Freddie King’s “Christmas Tears/I Hear Jingle Bells”, Mabel Scott’s “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” and others.

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Sun 13 Dec 2009

Big Road Blues Show 12/13/09: I’m Your Boogie Man – Blue Moon Records Pt. 1

Posted by Jeff under 1940's Blues, 1950's Blues, Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Sonny Parker Jealous Blues Sonny Parker 1948-1953
Cousin Joe Baby, You Don't Know It All Cousin Joe 1945-1946 Vol. 1
Eddie Chamblee Every Shut Eye Eddie Chamblee 1947-52
Tiny Grimes & J.B. Summers Hey Mr. J.B. Tiny Grimes 1950-1954 Vol. 5
Tiny Grimes Frankie And Johnny (Boogie) Tiny Grimes 1950-1954 Vol. 4
Max "Blues" Bailey Coming Home Blues Obscure Blues Shouters Vol. 1
Rubberlegs Williams That's The Blues Obscure Blues Shouters Vol. 2
Calvin Boze Angel City Blues Calvin Boze 1945-1952
Cecil Gant Playin' Myself The Blues Cecil Gant 1950-1951
Cecil Gant Nashville Jumps Cecil Gant 1950-1951
Eddie Mack Seven Days Blues Eddie Mack 1949-1951
Lester Williams Dowling Street Hop Goree Carter 1950-1954
Goree Carter I'm Your Boogie Man Goree Carter 1950-1954
Felix Gross Worried About You Baby Felix Gross 1947-1855
Arbee Stidham Meet Me Halfway Arbee Stidham Vol. 2 1951-1957
Jimmy "Baby Face" Lewis Gettin' Old Jimmy "Baby Face" Lewis 1947-1955
Sonny Thompson Gum Shoe Sonny Thompson Vol. 3 1951-1952
Lulu Reed Last Night Sonny Thompson Vol. 3 1951-1952
Sonny Thompson Things Ain't What They Used to Be Sonny Thompson Vol. 4 1952-1954
Monte Easter Midnight Rider Monte Easter Vol. 2 1952-1960
Geeshie Smith T-Town Jump Swinging Small Combos Kansas City Style Vol. 2
Crown Prince Waterford Move Your Hand Baby Swingin' Small Combos Kansas City Style Vol.2
Myra Taylor I'm In My Sins This Morning Kansas City Jumps Vol. 3
Ella Mae Morse Early In The Morning Kansas City Jumps Vol. 3
Betty Hall Jones That Early Morning Boogie Betty hall Jones 1947-1954
Jesse Price I'm The Drummer Man Swingin' Small Combos Kansas City Style Vol. 1
Clyde Bernhardt It's Been A Long Time Baby Clyde Bernhardt 1945 -1953 Vol.2
Paul Williams Rockin’ Chair Blues Paul Williams 1949-1952 Vol. 2
Jack McVea Naggin' Woman Jack McVea 1944-1952 Vol. 1
Jack McVea Two Timin' Baby Boogie Jack McVea 1944-1952 Vol. 1
Walter 'Sandman' Howard Willow Tree Blues Obscure Blues Shouters Vol. 2

Show Notes:

Today’s spotlight is on the Blue Moon label, a Spanish label that for the last five years or so has been reissuing some amazing recordings of jump blues and R&B from the mid-40’s to the mid-50’s. Blue Moon can been seen as a sort sister label to Document records; where Document issues the complete recorded work in chronological order of every blues artist from the pre-war era, Blue Moon has been reissuing the chronological recordings of some great jump blues pioneers from the immediate post-war era. Much of this music has been unavailable on CD and spotlights a fascinating era when jump blues was merging into R&B and eventually morphing into rock and roll. The  label has done an invaluable service by issuing the chronological recordings of neglected pioneers like Sonny Thompson, Cecil Gant, Tiny Grimes, Goree Carter, Paul Williams, Jack McVea and many others. The music on today’s program is a mix of jump blues and R&B. Jump Blues refers to an uptempo, jazz-tinged style of blues that first came to prominence in the mid- to late ’40s. Usually featuring a vocalist in front of a large, horn-driven orchestra or medium sized combo with multiple horns, the style usually features a driving rhythm, shouted vocals, and honking tenor saxophone solos. Billboard magazine first used the term “Rhythm and Blues” as the title for its black music charts in 1949, replacing “race music.” R&B evolved out of jump blues in the late ’40s, laying the groundwork for rock & roll. R&B kept the tempo and the drive of jump blues, but its instrumentation was sparer and the emphasis was on the song, not improvisation. It was blues chord changes played with an insistent backbeat.

Crown Prince Waterford/Geechie Smith Kansas City Jumps 3

I can’t possibly write about every artist in the Blue Moon catalog but I thought I’d give some background on a few including Cecil Gant, Sonny Thompson, Tiny Grimes, Jack McVea plus several of the blues vocalists like Sonny Parker, Crown Prince Waterford, Cousin Joe and others. Also I’ll give some background on the Kansas City and L.A. blues scenes of the 1940’s where much of today’s music emanated from.

While the big bands declined nationally, a number of small groups thrived in Kansas City. Myra Taylor, Walter Page and other musicians cast off from the decline of the big bands returned to Kansas City. Taylor’s early recording can be found on Blue Moon’s Kansas City Jumps Vol. 3. Julia Lee, the Jimmy Keith band, the Four Tons of Rhythm, the Jesse Price band, Dwight “Gatemouth” Moore, Geechie Smith, Tommy Douglas’s band, Oliver Todd’s Hottentots and a number of other small ensembles found steady work in the clubs at 18th and Vine, downtown and those “out in the county” that thrived in the post-war period. Geeshie Smith is featured on the CD Swingin’ Small Combos Kansas City Style Vol.2. Vernon “Geechie” Smith was a trumpeter/vocalist from the Tulsa, Oklahoma. He played early on with Ernie Fields Orchestra. He was a KC stalwart, spent many years in Kansas City and played in countless KC styled bands. He moved to L.A. where he joined Joe Lutcher’s band. After recording under his own name for the Bihari Brother’ Modern subsidiary Colonial in 1950 and for the obscure Kicks label in 1954, he drifted into obscurity. An influential drummer who was best known for supporting major performers, Jesse Price appeared in many settings through the years. His recordings are featured on the CD  Swingin’ Small Combos Kansas City Style – Vol.1:  The Complete Jesse Price 1946-1957. After moving to Kansas City in 1934, Price became an important fixture, playing with George E. Lee, Thamon Hayes, Count Basie’s orchestra (1936) prior to Jo Jones, touring with Ida Cox and later working with Harlan Leonard (1939-41). Price moved to Los Angeles in 1941, playing with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong (1943), Stan Kenton (1944), Basie (1944), Benny Carter, Slim Gaillard (1949) and (in Kansas City) Jay McShann, among many others. He was less active in the 1960s and ’70s but led a band at the Monterey Jazz Festival as late as 1971. Price recorded 23 selections as a leader from 1946-48 (mostly for Capitol). During the 1950’s Jay McShann, Ben Webster, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lucky Enois and other nationally established musicians returned to Kansas City and revitalized the local scene.

Cecil Gant Vol. 3 Jack McVea Vol. 4

Los Angeles, in the 1940’s, became a huge center for rhythm and blues recording. T-Bone Walker had settled in Los Angeles. On any given night in the late 1940’s you could drive south on Los Angeles’ Central Avenue and hear the music of such jazz and jump titans as Buddy Collette, Charles Mingus, Wynonie Harris, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Liggins and Johnny Otis. These sounds would waft from such venues as the Lincoln Theater, the Club Alabam, the Down Beat, and Jack’s Basket Room (which featured fried chicken and biscuits by the basket). When you got all the way out to Watts, you could check out Little Harlem and The Barrelhouse. The first breakout rhythm and blues single, “I Wonder,” was recorded by Private Cecil Gant in a simple basement studio and released in 1944 on Gilt Edge Records, a short-lived L.A. indie. When “I Wonder” went to the top of Billboard’s race charts, a number of labels sprang up to capitalize on the smooth, cool, Leroy Carr-derived L.A. blues style Gant had popularized. As Mike Rowe wrote: “Unlike New York and Chicago there had been no blues or any kind of recording industry pre-war …The music as well as the industry was starting from scratch. …It was very often of Do-It yourself triumphing over the most adverse conditions.” The Black population swelled in the 1940’s, due to large manpower needs to work in the U.S. defense industry during World War II. These new arrivals needed entertainment, of course, and the local jazz and blues club scene heated up quickly. There was a host of labels recording blues and R&B in Los Angeles in the 1940s including Specialty, Imperial, Aladdin, and the umbrella of labels run by the Bihari brothers RPM/Modern/Kent/Flair/Crown were the most notable. Bob Geddins was a key player who operated numerous small labels like Down Town, Big Town, Irma, and others. May of these sides were leased to larger outfits like Chess, Specialty, Modern and others.

Sonny Thompson Vol. 5 Tiny Grimes Vol. 4

Cecil Gant, who went by the moniker the G.I. Sing-Sation, was an army private who allegedly got his first break while performing for a war bond rally in 1944. He scored a massive hit the same year with “I Wonder” the first release on the new Gilt-Edge label. The record’s huge success prompted others to form record companies devoted to black music. Gant was a first rate ballad singer in the vein of Nat King Cole and Charles Brown but he was also a superb bluesman who could lay down some storming boogie-woogie. Gant recorded prolifically for the L.A. labels Gilt-Edge and 4 Star and in Nashville, which was probably his hometown, for Bullet, Dot and Decca, meanwhile playing in nightclubs throughout the country. Between 1944 and 1951 he waxed over 150 sides before his untimely death in 1951 at the age of 38. The Blue Moon label has provided an invaluable service by issuing all of Gant’s recordings across seven CD’s.

Bandleader and pianist Sonny Thompson was among the most prolific R&B instrumentalists of the late ’40s and early ’50s. Thompson began recording for Sultan in 1946, then did several sessions for Miracle, King, Federal, and Deluxe, while also backing vocalist Lula Reed from 1951 to 1961. Thompson scored two number one R&B hits for Miracle in 1948: “Long Gone,” Pts. 1 & 2, and “Late Freight.” He landed another Top Ten and two more Top 20 singles for Miracle in 1949, and then had three Top Ten hits for King in 1952. The biggest was “I’ll Drown In My Tears,” sung by his wife Lula Reed, which reached number five. My Tears,” which reached number five. Reed was a fine singer who passed away last summer with barley a mention in the media. In the 1960’s Thompson arranged and played on the classic Freddie King sides for King. Thompson’s recordings have been collected across five CD’s spanning from 1946-1955.

Arbee Stidham Vol. 2 Eddie Mack

Blue Moon has issued all of Jack McVea’s recordings between 19944-1952 over four CD’s. McVea played baritone saxophone in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1942. He led one of the West Coast’s earliest R&B combos and backed up important artists such as T-Bone Walker and Wynonie Harris. McVea’s own “Open The Door, Richard!” created one of the biggest crazes ever to come out of black music in the pre-Rock’n'Roll era. He blew tenor sax alongside Illinois Jacquet at the first ‘Jazz At The Philharmonic’ in 1944, and he jammed and recorded with Slim Gaillard and Charlie Parker.

Another important series is Blue Moon’s reissue of  all of Tiny Grimes recordings between 1944-1954 on five CD’s. Tiny Grimes was one of the earliest jazz electric guitarists to be influenced by Charlie Christian, and he developed his own swinging style. In 1938, he started playing electric guitar, and two years later he was playing in the Cats and the Fiddle. During 1943-1944, Grimes was part of a classic Art Tatum Trio, which also included Slam Stewart. In September 1944, he led his first record date, using Charlie Parker. He also recorded for Blue Note in 1946, and then put together an R&B-oriented group, “the Rockin’ Highlanders,” that featured the tenor of Red Prysock during 1948-1952. Although maintaining a fairly low profile, Tiny Grimes was active up until his death in 1989.

Cousin Joe Vol. 3 Betty Hall Jones

Today’s program also spotlights several fine blues vocalists including Sonny Parker, Cousin Joe, Eddie Mack, Arbee Stidham, Crown Prince Waterford and Betty Hall Jones.  Sonny Parker began singing and dancing as a protégé of Butterbeans and Susie. He joined Lionel Hampton’s band in 1949 and was touring France in 1955 when he suffered an onstage stroke. He never recovered and passed in 1957 at the age of 32. Between 1948 and 1954 he cut some three dozen sides.

Blue Moon has issued all of Cousin Joe’s recordings on three CD’s spanning 1945-55. Joe was 12 when his family moved New Orleans. Joe took up guitar and ukulele, and made a living playing on the Riverboats in the 30’s. By 1941, he’d moved to St. Louis to play in Sidney Bechet’s band, before heading to New York three years later. This was Joe’s most fruitful recording period cutting sides for a myriad of labels including King, Gotham, Philo, Savoy and Decca.

Eddie Mack was part of the Brooklyn blues scene in the late 40’s and early 50’s but his subsequent career is a mystery. He fronted various groups by Cootie Williams & His Orchestra (he replaced Eddie Vinson), Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra and others. He cut some two-dozen sides between 1947-1952.

The Arkansas-born, Chicago-based singer-guitarist Arbee Stidham hit the top of Billboard’s “race” chart in 1948 with his recording of “My Heart Belongs to You” and recorded prolifically over the next two decades for a variety of labels. He retired from music in 1974.

Charles “Crown Prince” Waterford was from Jonesboro, Arkansas. He sang with Leslie Sheffield’s Rhythmaires and Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy before beginning his career as “The Crown Prince of the Blues” in Chicago in the 1940s. Waterford shouted the blues in the then very popular manner and continued his recording career for labels like Hy-Tone, Aladdin and Capitol. In 1949, he joined the King stable. In the 1950’s he recorded for small companies and later dedicated his life to the Church and became known as Reverend Charles Waterford.

Blues vocalist, stand-up pianist and occasionally organist, Betty Hall Jones worked with Bus Moten’s band and Addie Williams in Kansas City. Returning to California, she performed as a single artist before joining drummer/vocalist Roy Milton’s band in L.A. in 1937. She almost certainly recorded on piano behind Alton Redd for the Black & White label in 1945, and accompanied Luke Jones on the Atlas recording sessions, and possibly with Red Mack for the same label in 1946 and 1947. In the same year she recorded with King Porter for Imperial label (the tremendous “That Early Morning Boogie” that we just heard) and under her own name for Atomic, Capitol and under Luke Jones’ name for Modern. She recalled cutting unissued titles behind Ray Charles for Capitol. In the 1950’s she recorded for Dootone and Combo.

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Sun 6 Dec 2009

Big Road Blues Show 12/6/09: Mix Show

Posted by Jeff under Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Bertha Henderson & Will Ezell Black Bordered Letter Will Ezell 1927-1931
Will Ezell & Blind Roosevelt Graves Just Can't Stay Here Will Ezell 1927-1931
Blind Roosevelt Graves & Will Ezell Crazy 'Bout My Baby Blind Roosevelt Graves 1929-1936
Tommy Ridgley I Live My Life Crescent City Bounce
Roy Brown Hard Luck Blues Good Rocking Tonight: The Best Of Roy Brown
Little Sonny Jones Going Back To The Country Crescent City Bounce
Papa Harvey Hull & Long 'Cleve' Reed Original Stack O'Lee Blues The Songster Tradition 1927-1935
Lucious Curtis Train Blues Mississippi Blues 1940-42
Tricky Sam Stavin' Chain Texas Field Recordings 1934-1939
Lonnie Coleman Old Rock Island Blues Sinners & Saints 1926-1931
Joe Johnson Alimonia Blues Legendary Jay Miller Sessions Vol. 2
Mr. Calhoun They Call Me Mr. Calhoun Legendary Jay Miller Sessions Vol. 3
Lightnin' Slim Trip To Chicago Legendary Jay Miller Sessions Vol. 12
Leroy Washington Prison Blues Legendary Jay Miller Sessions Vol. 3
Papa Charlie Jackson I'm Looking For A Woman Who Papa Charlie Jackson Vol. 2 1926-1928
Papa Charlie Jackson Up The Way Bound Papa Charlie Jackson Vol. 2 1926-1928
Papa Charlie Jackson Lexington Kentucky Blues Papa Charlie Jackson Vol. 2 1926-1928
Charlie Pickett Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon Ultimated Rude Blues Collection
Son Bonds & Hammie Nixon Trouble Trouble Blues Trains On The Highway
Walter Brown W.B. Blues Mercury Blues & Rhythm Story 1945-1955
Geeshie Smith The Kaycee Kid Swinging Small Combos Kansas City Style Vol. 2
Pearl Traylor Around The Clock Blues Part 1 Yet More Mellow Cats & Kittens
Mooch Richardson Helena Blues A Richer Tradition
Lonnie Johnson & Clara Smith What Makes You Act Like That Lonnie Johnson Vol. 6 1930-1931
Scrapper Blackwell Blues Before Sunrise Mr. Scrapper's Blues
Robert Curtis Smith Council Spur Blues Clarksdale Blues
Lillie Mae Wise Like That Atlanta Blues
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe She Put Me Outdoors Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe Vol. 2 1929-1930
Rosetta Howard Too Many Drivers Rosetta Howard 1939-1947
Fred McMullen & Curley Weaver Poor Stranger Blues Georgia Blues 1928-1933
Sleepy John Estes I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Mississippi Sheiks The New Stop and Listen Blues Mississippi Sheiks Vol. 3 1931
Mance Lipscomb Farewell Blues Captain, Captain: The Texas Songster
Eddie Lee Jones Yonder Go That Old Black Dog Yonder Go That Old Black Dog

Show Notes:

An eclectic variety of blues on today’s mix show spanning from 1926 through the 1960’s. We have several spotlights on tap including sets of music featuring Will Ezell, Papa Charlie Jackson, Lonnie Johnson plus recordings from the Bluesville label and the vaults of famed producer Jay Miller. Born in Texas, pianist Ezell played in the jukes around Shreveport before moving to Detroit and Chicago. He was a frequent accompanist for Paramount Records and even took Paramount’s star, Blind Lemon Jefferson’s body back to Texas for burial.  Ezell cut sixteen sides for the label between 1927 and 1929 and backed artists such as Lucille Bogan, Elzadie Robinson, Bertha Henderson, Blind Roosevelt Graves and others. Henderson was powerful singer who delivers a moving performance on the evocative  “Black Bordered Letter” sporting some pungent cornet from Dave Nelson. The record was advertised in the Chicago Defender on September 3, 1927. Ezell and Graves team up on Ezell’s bouncy “Just Can’t Stay Here” and Graves’  exuberant “Crazy ‘Bout My Baby” both from a September 30, 1929 session and both featuring a lively cornet player. Graves was from Mississippi and according to bluesman Ishmon Bracy, was a street and juke-joint musician. His brother played tambourine with him and sang harmony. The duo cut some 20 sides, a mix of gospel and blues, for Paramount and ARC at sessions in 1929 and 1936.

Papa Charlie Jackson
From Paramount’s Book of the Blues 1927

We spin a trio of sides from the neglected Papa Charlie Jackson. Supposedly born in New Orleans in 1885, Jackson moved to Chicago in 1924, when Paramount’s J. Mayo Williams saw him singing in the street and recruited him for the label. Jackson, who played guitar and banjo, went on to be the first self-accompanied male blues singer, a best-seller on record and was the first to cut several blues standards . Between 1924 and 1934 he cut around 70 sides. Jackson cut some superb material but seems to get overlooked perhaps because he doesn’t fit the preconceived idea of what a blues artist should be; for one he usually played the banjo and secondly much of his material is vaudeville slanted, aimed at amusement and dancing. Throughout his body of work, however, there’s plenty of fine playing and some fascinating songs. “I’m Looking For A Woman Who Knows How To Treat Me Right” is a bluesy number with a vaudeville feel and some driving banjo playing,  “Lexington Kentucky Blues” is a terrific straight blues with a reference to the famous racehorse Man o‘ War while “Up The Way Bound” shows off his ample guitar skills.

We did a whole show devoted to Lonnie Johnson a couple of weeks back and hear two more by Johnson including a duet with Clara Smith and in a supporting role behind Mooch Richardson. Much is made of the duets Johnson did with Victoria Spivey, rightly so, yet less has been said about the fine duets he did wit Smith in 1930. “What Makes You Act Like That” is a wonderful, playful number with both artists voices contrasting beautifully and as usual Johnson lays down some stunning guitar work. Johnson backed  singer Mooch Richardson on seven numbers in 1928 (four were never released) including our selection “Helena Blues.”

Bluesville Records, a subsidiary of Prestige, was launched in 1960 to document the Robert Curtis Smith: Clarksdale Bluesgrowing interest in blues that would lead to the rediscoveries of many artists who recorded in the 20’s and 30’s as well as many who never previously had the opportunity to record.  Two of the best albums cut for the label were Scrapper Blackwell’s Mr. Scrapper’s Blues cut in 1961 and Robert Curtis Smith’s Clarksdale Blues cut the following year. Mr. Scrapper’s Blues has thankfully been issued on CD which is not the case with Clarksdale Blues which has become highly collectible. A chance meeting with Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, at the Big 6 Barber Shop in Clarksdale led to this album. In the liner notes Mack McCormick wrote: “Robert Curtis Smith is a hard working farm laborer in upper Mississippi. He supports a wife and eight children by driving a tractor ($3 a day top) during the farming season, by hunting rabbits in the winter. He has a borrowed guitar with which he sings of women he has loved, lost, discarded, or found worthy of erotic praise. …The status quo in his world is to sap the strength and exploit the weakness of Negroes. It is a far more vicious crime than the occasional lynching since the end result is the massive weakening of a strong people. Ideas of inferiority are fed to him hand-in-hand with conditions that patently are inferior. Badly deprived of constitutional privilege and the minimum wage, and lacking the know-how to correct his situation, Smith’s way of life is astonishingly out of step with modern times.” Our selection, “Council Spur Blues”, is Smith’s bitter indictment against that way of life:

You ask for money, he’ll give you all up to the store (2x)
Then if you eat that up before the week is out, man, you don’t get no more

You think that’s bad, working for 30 cents an hour (2x)
You just stick around awhile and let me tell you about Mr. Roy Flowers

Mr. Roy Flowers don’t pay but two dollars a day (2x)
Yes, and once you are there, he dare you to leave away

Mr. Roy Flowers – in the winter time he’s got a habit (2x)
When you go to him for food, he’ll tell you to catch some rabbit

A few other tracks by Curtis appear on various anthologies. Smith disappeared from the blues world not long after these recordings but 30 years later he was rediscovered living in Chicago. He had given up blues in the passing years, but he continued to play in church and was recorded performing gospel numbers in 1990.

Lightnin' Slim: Trip To ChicagoAlso featured today are recordings by Lightnin’ Slim, Leroy Washington, Mr. Calhoun and Joe Johnson from the vaults of J.D. Miller. Miller operated a small studio and record label (Feature) out in Crowley, Louisiana. He had been recording some regional Cajun and Country music in the early fifties when he first heard Lightnin’ Slim at WXOK in Baton Rouge. Miller has said that Lightnin’s music “did something to me”, and, with the help of disc jockey Diggy-Doo, he recorded Lightnin’s “Bad Luck” in the Spring of 1954. There was no way J.D. could keep up with the demand for the record, and he decided to travel to Nashville for a record convention in 1955. Miller met with Ernie Young and worked out a deal that would lease the material he was recording back in Crowley to Excello Records for release and distribution. Soon Miller’s studio became ground zero for ‘the sound known as “swamp-blues” issuing records by Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, Silas Hogan, Lonesome Sundown and others. Many recordings were never released and in the 70’s the Flyright label, with the assistance of Miller, began a series called the The Legendary Jay Miller Sessions that ran to over fifty volumes. These recordings come from those LP’s. In February I’ll be doing whole show devoted to these recordings.

Also in February I’m doing a show on Brownsville Blues spotlighting recordings by Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, Charlie Pickett and Son Bonds. Today we give you a little taste of that show with tracks by Bonds and Pickett. An associate of Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, Bonds played very much in the same rural Brownsville style that the Estes-Nixon team popularized in the ’20s and ’30s. The music to one of Bonds’ songs, “Back and Side Blues” (1934), became a standard blues melody when John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson from nearby Jackson, TN, used it in his classic “Good Morning, (Little) School Girl” (1937). According to Nixon, Bonds was shot to death, while sitting on his front porch, by a nearsighted neighbor who mistook him for another man. Bonds backed Sleepy John Estes at two sessions in 1941 while guitarist Charlie Pickett backed Estes at two sessions in 1937 and one in 1938. At that same 1937 session Pickett waxed four sides of his own including our track, the salacious “Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon.”

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Sun 29 Nov 2009

Big Road Blues Show 11/29/09: Down The Dirt Road Blues – Charlie Patton & Pals

Posted by Jeff under Delta Blues, Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Charley Patton Down The Dirt Road Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton A Spoonful Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
HC Speir On Patton And Brown Chasin' That Devil Music
Charley Patton Pony Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Big Joe Williams My Grey Pony Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Willie Brown Future Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Tommy Johnson Bye Bye Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Tommy Johnson Maggie Campbell Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Bukka White Rememberance Of Charlie Patton Legacy Of The Blues Vol. 1
Bukka White Sic 'Em Dogs On Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Howlin Wolf Interview Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Howlin Wolf Pony Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Willie Brown M&O Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Bird Nest Bound Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Some Summer Day Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Son House My Black Mama Part I Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Son House Preachin' the Blues Part I Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Green River Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Jim Lee Part 1 Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Louise Johnson All Night Long Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Louise Johnson On The Wall Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Prayer Of Death Part 1 Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton High Water Everywhere Part I Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Runnin' Wild Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Son House Walkin' Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Son House Dry Spell Blues Part I Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Tom Rushen Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Mississippi Boweavil Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton Shake It And Break It Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Charley Patton High Sheriff Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Bertha Lee Mind Reader Blues Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Son House Jinx Blues Pt. 1 Legends Of Country Blues

Show Notes:

Down The Dirt Road Blues

“In the best-known photograph of Charley Patton a youngish man faces posterity with a straight but somewhat apprehensive gaze. Some of what lay ahead he might have predicted: a hard life, early death, obscurity. What was not on the cards was that some 30 years later he would begin to be described as one of the most singular musicians of the 20th century, a voice of the blues like no other, a teller of stories from a time and place that for his new listeners were as unimaginable  as the dark side of the moon. His sometimes strangled utterances, already half choked by the surface noise of old discs, gradually revealed themselves to be passages from an oral history of black Mississippi in the 1910s and ’20s: its dirt roads and rivers, drinking places and jails, the pest ravaged cottonfields of “Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues”, the drought of “Dry Well Blues”, the flooded bottomlands of “High Water Everywhere” and, turning from natural disasters to man-made ones, the layoff of railroad workers in “Mean Black Moan.” These reports, and the many other types of songs he recorded, from blue-ballads like “Frankie And Albert” and rags like “Shake It And Break It” to hymns and transformed popular songs, are delivered in a voice as tough as steel, to guitar melodies as densely springy as ryegrass. It is extraordinary music, not always easy to understand, but so full of incident that it quickly becomes totally absorbing.”

That above portrait of Patton was written by Tony Russell and I think serves as a superb  capsule of what makes Patton’s music so compelling. Today’s program spotlights Patton and those artists he worked with and influenced. The rest of the show notes are primarily drawn from David Evans’ essay in the 7-CD box set Screamin’ And Hollerin’ The Blues: The Worlds of Charlie Patton which is also where the bulk of the music comes from.

Born in 1891, Patton was older than the other Delta musicians who recorded during the golden age of the 1920s and 1930s, and he seems to have developed many of the themes that are now considered basic to the Delta blues repertoire. His trademark guitar arrangements were adopted by Tommy Johnson, Son House, and Willie Brown, as well as younger players like Howlin’ Wolf, Roebuck “Pop” Staples, all of whom hung around him in order to master the pieces he had turned into local hits. He apparently gave formal lessons to some of them, using teaching as a secondary source of income in the weekdays between juke joint performances.

Masked Marvel Ad
Paramount promoted Charley Patton’s second release (12805) with a contest. The initial pressing run of 10,000 copies was issued under the pseudonym “The Masked Marvel,” and customers were encouraged to guess the actual artist’s identity on cards like the one above. Winners could pick a free record of their choice. The contest was formally announced in the Chicago Defender on September 7th.

Around the age of fourteen Patton obtained his first instrument given to him by his father. He first played with members of the Chatmon family and probably other local musicians around Bolton and Edwards, MS. The Chatmons were an important musical family, and a younger set of Chatmon brothers would later become the famous band and recording unit, the Mississippi Sheiks. Patton’s sister stated that he didn’t really learn to pick a guitar until he moved to Dockery’s Plantation. There he came under the influence of older,most importantly a man named Henry Sloan. Sloan was born in January 1870, in Mississippi, and  moved to Dockery’s about the same time as the Pattons, between 1901 and 1904. Charley received some direct instruction, observed and imitated the playing of the older men, and played behind Sloan’s field hollers. Evidently at some point he surpassed them in ability and reputation, probably by 1910, as he was influencing other musicians like Willie Brown at that time.

Paramount recorded some of the greatest blues performances of the era and full credit should go to talent scouts like Henry C. Spier, a music store owner from Jackson, Mississippi. Speir scoured the south for talent and was responsible for getting Son House, Skip James and Charlie Patton on record. Paramount asked Gennett to record 14 tunes by Patton at their Richmond, Indiana studio in June 1929. “Pony Blues” b/w “Banty Rooster Blues” was the first issued. The coupling was a hit and Paramount labeled his second release, “Screamin’ And Hollerin’ The Blues”, as by The Masked Marvel. The advert bore a drawing of a blindfolded singer and the clue that this was an exclusive paramount artists. Anyone guessing his identity would get a free Paramount record of their choice.  In all, Patton recorded 38 numbers for Paramount in 1929, some issued the following year, with two gospel songs issued under the pseudonym Elder J.J. Hadley.

Patton’s basic blues themes–the “Spanish tuning” arrangement he recorded first as “Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues,” and that Willie Brown recorded as “Future Blues,” Son House recorded as “Jinx Blues,” and Tommy Johnson recorded “Maggie Campbell” when recorded by Willie Brown, Son House, and Tommy Johnson respectively, or the basic blues in E he called “Pony Blues,” which was reshaped by Brown into “M&O Blues” and Johnson into “Bye and Bye Blues.”

High Water Everywher Pt. 1 78One of Patton’s many admirers was Howlin’ Wolf who said:  “I didn’t start to fooling with guitar until about 1928, however, and I started on account of on the plantation—Young and Mara’s plantation, where our family was living—there was a guy at that time playing the guitar. He was called Charlie Patton. It was he who got me interested. … It was he who started me off to playing. He showed me things on the guitar, because after we got through picking cotton at night, we’d go and hang around him, listen to him play. He took a liking to me, and I asked him would he teach me, and at night, after I’d get off work, I’d go and hang around.”

Another Patton admirer was Bukka White who recorded the spoken “Remembrance of Charlie Patton” in 1963 in which he had this to say: “Always wanted to be like old Charlie Patton. Long ago when I was a kid, I hear him an play those numbers about:  ‘I’ll hitch up my buggy and saddle my black mare’ an I used to pick cotton an come around in Clarksdale after them cafes, eatin’ cheese an cracker. None of the other boys they didn’t have an idea what I was thinkin’.  I say, I wants to come to be a great man like Charlie Patton, but I didn’t want to get killed he did, the way he got killed, the way he had to go. …And so goes on down and got me old piece a-guitar. And I always wanted to play about ‘Hitch up my buggy, saddle up my black mare I wanna find my baby in this great big world, somewhere.’ …And so Charlie Patton used to sing that song about ‘Hitch up my buggy and saddle up my black mare and I hear, would just knock me off my feet. I was bare-feeted, little bare-feeted boy, too. And I like it so well after I growed up, the first record I put out when I was comin’ up about ‘Downtown women sickin’ them dogs on me’. ["Sic 'Em Dogs On", 1939] I was one that kind-a compare with it. Ah, I think I made a pretty good hit on that!”

In 1930, Arthur Laibley who had produced Charley Patton’s last session for Paramount, stopped in Lula to arrange another session with Patton. Patton told Laibley about Son House and about two other musicians Willie Brown and Louise Johnson, setting the stage for one of the blues most legendary recording sessions. The group headed to the Paramount studios in Grafton, WI, where House recorded six songs at the session: three of which were long enough to fill both sides of a 78: “Dry Spell Blues,” “Preachin’ The Blues,” and “My Black Mama.” On today’s program we spotlight several sides from this remarkable session.

Louise Johnson was barrelhouse pianist and girlfriend of Patton’s who went to Grafton to make records with Patton Brown and House. She cut four sides at that session, her Charlie Patton - 34 Bluessole recorded legacy. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Willie Brown played with Charley Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson, mostly playing second guitar. Little is known for certain of the man whom Robert Johnson called “my friend-boy, Willie Brown” (“Cross Road Blues”). Brown is heard with Patton on the Paramount sessions of 1930 and cut”M & O Blues and” and “Future Blues” at that date.  In 1941 Alan Lomax recorded Brown with Son House, Fiddlin’ Joe Martin and Leroy Williams. Brown played second guitar on three performances by the whole band, and recorded one solo, “Make Me A Pallet On The Floor.” Brown died in Tunica, Mississippi in 1952 at the age of 52. Despite the disappointing sales of his Paramount records, for Son House the Grafton experience marked the beginning of a long musical friendship with Willie Brown. For much of the 30’s House reverted to his former pattern of preaching and then going back to the blues, usually at the prompting of Brown. In 1934 Charley Patton died and with his death, House became the biggest star in the Delta. He and Brown played all over the Delta as well as Arkansas and Tennessee for the rest of the 1930’s.

Remembered by history as a blues musician, Patton had grown up in the pre-blues era, and he played the full range of music required of a popular rural entertainer. Even though his recording career was sparked by the blues craze, only about half of his roughly fifty records can reasonably be considered part of that then-modern genre. The others are a mix of gospel and religious music like “Runnin’ Wild Blues” and “Prayer Of Death.” Charley not only performed and recorded religious songs but for most of his life wrestled with what he thought was a calling to be a preacher.

Patton had a gift for personal narrative, and seems to have enjoyed documenting events that touched his own experience, and which would have been particularly interesting to his local audience. For example, he wrung wry humor from two of his own run-ins with local lawmen, in “Tom Rushen Blues” and “High Sheriff Blues.” Recorded five years apart, these were essentially two variations on a single musical theme. “Tom Rushen Blues was actually a reworking of Ma Rainey’s “Booze and Blues” cut in 1924.

Patton’s death certificate indicates that the onset of his fatal heart trouble occurred on January 27, 1934. In early April he gave his last performance. It was a dance for whites, probably not too far from Holly Ridge. He had been suffering from bronchitis, perhaps from a winter or spring cold. Bertha Lee stated that he returned home hoarse and unable to talk or get his breath properly. He was visited by a doctor on Tuesday, April 17, and again on Friday, April 20. Many relatives and fellow blues singers and friends visited him during this final illness. His sister said that an attempt was made to take him to a hospital, but his car was bogged in mud from the spring rains. The end came on the morning of Saturday, April 28, 1934, and he was buried the following day at Longswitch Cemetery, less than a mile from his last home at Holly Ridge. He was 43.

Related Documents:

“Blues In The Round” (PDF)
Ed Komara’s account and analysis of the famous 1930 Grafton recording session of Charley Patton, Son House, Willie Brown and Louise Johnson.

“Howlin’ Wolf: “I Sing For The People” (PDF)
1967 interview with Pete Welding where Wolf talks about the influence of Charlie Patton.

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Tue 24 Nov 2009

Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2 Now Out!

Posted by Jeff under Blues News, Christmas Blues
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OK, shameless plug time. Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 2, a sequel to my 2005 release is now out on the Document label and features more  jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and gospel recordings dedicated to the season. With lively Boogie-woogie and R & B, reflective blues and the odd cautionary sermon thrown in for good moral measure, this double CD covers all the bases. The 2-CD set collects 44 numbers spanning from the 1920’s through the 1950’s, many of which have not been anthologized before. Artists include Blind Lemon Jefferson, Rev. A.W. Nix, Blind Blake, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Smokey Hogg, Fats Waller, Jesse Thomas, Gatemouth Moore, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chuck Berry and many, many others. You can read my notes by visiting the writing page. It also appears that the elusive Blues, Blues Christmas is now back in stock and has been remastered. For some reason this one was extremely hard to come by when it first came out. This one sports an eleven page booklet written by myself and I also compiled all the tracks.  The CD collects 52 numbers spanning from 1925 to 1955, many of which have not been anthologized before. Artists include Bessie Smith, Leroy Carr, Rev. J.M. Gates, Butterbeans & Susie, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Milton, Larry Darnell, Cecil Gant, Lightnin’ Hopkins and many, many others. Just a heads up that I’m not selling these so buy them where available at your favorite store.

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Sun 22 Nov 2009

Big Road Blues Show 11/22/09: Goin’ Up To The Country – Field Recordings The 1960’s & 70’s Pt. 1

Posted by Jeff under Field Recordings, Playlists
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ARTIST SONG ALBUM
Yank Rachel & Shirley Griffith Peach Orchard Mama Art of Field Recording Vol. I
J. T. Adams Red River Art of Field Recording Vol. I
Sam Chatmon I Have To Paint My Face I Have To Paint My Face
Robert Curtis Smith Stella Ruth I Have To Paint My Face
Butch Cage & Willie Thomas Forty Four Blues I Have To Paint My Face
Little Brother Montgomery Talking/Vicksburg Blues Conversation With The Blues
Otis Spann Talking/People Call Me Lucky Conversation With The Blues
Johnny Young & Arthur Spires 21 Below Blues Roots: The Mississippi Blues Vol. 1
Jim Brewer Big Road Blues Blues Roots: The Mississippi Blues Vol. 1
Boogie Bill Webb Dooleyville Blues Goin' Up The Country
Arzo Youngblood Four Women Blues Goin' Up The Country
Babe Stovall Worried Blues The Old Ace
Roosevelt Holts Big Fat Mama Blues South Mississippi Blues
Esau Weary You Don’t Have To Go South Mississippi Blues
Houston Stackhouse Bye Bye Blues Big Road Blues
Lum Guffin Jack Of Diamonds Walking Victrola
Dewey Corley Last Night On The Road - Country Blues 1969-1974
Lattie Murrell Spoonful On The Road - Country Blues 1969-1974
Elster Anderson Black And Tan Unreleased
George Higgs Skinny Woman Blues 2 Unreleased
Lewis "Rabbit" Muse Jailhouse Blues Western Piedmont Blues
Turner Foddrell Slow Drag Western Piedmont Blues
John Tinsley Red River Blues Western Piedmont Blues
Joe Savage Joe's Prison Camp Holler Living Country Blues
James Son Thomas Standing At The Crossroads Living Country Blues
Joe Callicott Country Blues George Mitchell Collection Vol. 1 - 45
Cliff Scott Long Wavy Hair George Mitchell Collection Vol. 1 - 45
Jimmy Lee Williams Have You Ever Seen Peaches George Mitchell Collection Vol. 1 - 45
Johnny Johnson & Group I'm In The Bottom Wake Up Dead Man

Show Notes:

I suppose it sounds rather romantic spending your time roaming around the south with a tape recorder recording blues but for all the rewards and exciting discoveries it’s a stressful enterprise, not to mention a precarious way to make a living. These days hardly anyone one does it anymore and the sad fact is that blues has largely disappeared as integral part of African-American rural communities; most of the old timers have passed on and few of the younger generation are interested in blues, particularly traditional blues. Much has been written about John and Alan Lomax who scoured the south and beyond making landmark recordings for the Library of Congress from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Less well known are those that followed in the Lomax’s footsteps; there was folklorists and researchers such as David Evans, Sam Charters, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Frederic Ramsey, Art Rosenbaum, Pete Welding, Chris Strachwitz , Bruce Bastin, Bengt Olsson, Dick Spottswood, Kip Lornell, Glenn Hinson, Tim Duffy, Siegfried A. Christmann and Axel Küstner. Some were hunting for the famous names who made records in the 1920’s and 1930’s, others were seeking to fill in biographical blanks regarding some of the older musicians coveted by collectors and then there were those who were seeking to document the blues tradition as it still existed in rural communities, men like George Mitchell and I Have To Pain My FacePeter B. Lowry. This was a very different undertaking than 1960’s blues revival which sought out and put back on the circuit such legendary artists of the past as Son House, Skip James, Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt. The field recordings made during this era were a sort of a parallel undercurrent to the more famous artists. What they recorded in the rural communities of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960’s was a still thriving, if largely undocumented, blues culture. The bulk of theses recordings were issued on small specialist labels and many have yet to be reissued on CD. Today’s program is the first of a multi-part series on some of these remarkable recordings.

The earliest tracks come from 1960 and were made by Paul Oliver and Chris Strachwitz and come from the albums Conversations With The Blues, a companion to Oliver’s landmark book, and I Have To Paint My Face which was issued on Strachwitz’s Arhoolie label. The recordings on I Have To Paint My Face were made by Chris Strachwitz in the Summer of 1960, the same year he formed his now legendary Arhoolie record label. That summer Strachwitz and blues scholar Paul Oliver and his wife made a trip through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas to interview and record older blues artists for a series of programs sponsored by the BBC. Among those recorded were Sam Chatmon, K.C. Douglas, Big Joe Williams, Butch Cage & Willie Thomas, Robert Curtis Smith and others. Conversations With The Blues is a series of interviews, in the artists own words, compiled from interviews with over sixty blues singers. The interviews stem from a trip Oliver made to the United States between June and Goin' Up The CountrySeptember 1960.

Today’s program features a number of recordings made by David Evans. It was Evans’ investigation into Tommy Johnson in the late 1960’s that we owe a good deal of what we know about Johnson and it was through Evans’ field recordings that Johnson’s influence comes into sharper focus. Evans recorded many men who learned directly from Johnson including Roosevelt Holts, Boogie Bill Webb, Arzo Youngblood, Isaac Youngblood, Bubba Brown, Babe Stovall, Houston Stackhouse and Tommy’s brother Mager Johnson. Long out of print are several important collections of Evans’ field recordings that gather artists influenced by Johnson. Most importantly is The Legacy of Tommy Johnson (1972), the companion LP to Evans’ Tommy Johnson biography featuring all songs that were in Johnson’s repertoire and all of which were learned by the artists from Johnson himself. Today’s show spotlights selections from South Mississippi Blues and Goin’ Up The Country. David Evans began making field recordings in 1965 when he spent about five weeks taping blues artists in Mississippi and Louisiana. The collection Goin’ Up The Country released on Decca in 1968 collects some of the best performances he recorded. The album was reissued in 1976 on Rounder and Rounder also released South Mississippi Blues in 1973, another collection of field recordings from the same period. in addition we play a cut by Houston Stackhouse with his partner Carey Mason that stem from recordings Evans made in Crystal Springs, MS in 1967.

Bengt Olsson first came to the United States in 1964, first to Chicago and then to Memphis were he made some recordings. Olsson was back in 1971, where he made recordings in Memphis and Alabama. Olsson recorded several talented artists including Lum Guffin (his album Walking Victrola was issued on Flyright), Lattie Murrell and Perry Tillis among others. Some of Olsson’s recordings appear on the CD On The Road – Country Blues 1969-1974.

slp1804Pete Welding was one of the premiere documentarians of the 1960’s blues revival. Welding began recording and interviewing artists in the late 50’s and he began writing a column in Downbeat Magazine in 1959 called “Blues And Folk.” He moved to Chicago in 1962 where he formed his Testament Records label as an outlet for his fieldwork . Other of his recordings appeared on Storyville, Prestige, Blue Note and Milestone. We spotlight some of Weldings’ recordings from the album Blues Roots: The Mississippi Blues Vol. 1 recorded by circa 1964/1965.

Between 1969 and 1980 Pete Lowery amassed hundreds of photographs, thousands of selections of recordings, music and interviews in his travels through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. He formed the Trix label as an outlet to release his recordings. Lowry set up the Trix Records label in 1972 starting with a series of 45’s with LP’s being released by 1973. It lasted about a decade as an active label dealing mainly with Piedmont blues artists from the Southeastern states. In addition to the seventeen issued Trix albums there is sufficient material for another 40 to 50 CD’s. Many of the artists who had albums released were recorded extensively by Lowry and in most cases there is enough material in the can for follow-up records. In fact Lowry’s unreleased recordings far exceed the released recordings. Today’s program features some unreleased tracks that Lowry was kind of enough to send me.

Living Country Blues USAIn 1980 two young German blues enthusiasts, Axel Küstner and Siegfried Christmann, came to America with the idea to document the remaining country blues tradition. With their station wagon and portable recording equipment they hit the dusty road spending a couple of months documenting blues, gospel, field hollers and work songs throughout the South. As the notes proclaim: “Traveling 10,000 miles by car in 2 1/2 months, they used 180,000 feet of tape and took hundreds of photographs to document various aspects of Country Blues, as well as work songs, fife and drum band music, field hollers and rural Gospel music, performed by 35 artists, some of whom appear on record for the first time.” From October 1st through November 30th the duo rolled through Washington, DC, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia, New Orleans and of course Mississippi. These remarkable recordings were first issued across 12 LP’s titled Living Country Blues USA plus one double set on the German L+R label between 1980 and 1981. They have since been reissued on CD.

From the early 1960’s to the early 1980’s George Mitchell roamed all over the south recording blues in small rural communities where the music still thrived. Many of these recordings have appeared on specialist labels like Southland, Revival, Flyright, Arhoolie and Rounder but are long out of print now. Several years ago the Fat Possum label acquired the Mitchell archive and has been reissuing the recordings.

DTD-08-Cover-ArtArt Rosenbaum is a painter, muralist, and illustrator, as well as a collector and performer of traditional American folk music. His field recordings have been collected on two 4-CD box sets on the Dust-To-Digital label called the Art Of Field Recording. Rosenbaum was also involved in producing several albums for Bluesville in the early 60’s including records by Indianapolis artists Scrapper Blackwell, Pete Franklin, Shirley Griffith, J.T.Adams and Brooks Berry. I’ll be spotlighting Rosenbaum’s blues recordings as well as interviewing him at the end of January.

The Blue Ridge Institute for Appalachian Studies at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia, released a series of eight LPs in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the group title Virginia Traditions. Each album featured an aspect of traditional Virginia folk music, setting old 78s and field recordings alongside more recent field material. From that series we spotlight three tracks for the album Western Peidmont Blues.

We close the show with Johnny Johnson & Group perfroming “I’m In The Bottom” from the album Wake Up Dead Man. “Making it in hell”,  Bruce Jackson says, is the spirit behind the songs that comprise the album and book  Wake Up Dead Man is a collection of prison worksongs taped by Bruce Jackson in 1965 and 1966 in Texas prisons. Research was done at three primary institutions; the Ramsey unit (Camps 1 and 2), Ellis, and Wynne. Allowed complete freedom in these facilities, Bruce Jackson talked with, interviewed, and recorded inmates over time to collect information for this book.

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