| ARTIST | SONG | ALBUM |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Nighthawk | Return Mail Blues | Prowling With The Nighthawk |
| Muddy Waters | Down South Blues | The Complete Chess Recordings |
| St. Louis Jimmy | So Nice And Kind | The Aristocrat Of The Blues |
| Leroy Foster | Locked Out Boogie | The Aristocrat Of The Blues |
| Vera Ward Hall | Another Man Done Gone | Library of Congress |
| Alex | Prison Blues | Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 1947–1959 |
| C. B. Cook with four singers below and six other men | Rosie | Library of Congress |
| Roy Hawkins | It's Too Late To Change | Going Downtown |
| Jimmy Wilson | Mistake In Life | Bob Geddin's Cava-Tone Records Story 1946-1949 |
| Pee Wee Crayton | Central Avenue Blues | Sure Fire Hits On Central Avenue |
| Roy Milton | Hop, Skip & Jump | Roy Milton & His Solid Senders |
| Frankie Lee Sims | Single Man Blues | Down Behind the Rise |
| Jesse James | Forgive Me Blues | Down Home Blue Classics 1943-1953: Texas |
| John Lee Hooker | Drifting From Door To Door | The Classic Early Years 1948-1951 |
| Jesse Thomas | D Double Due Love You | Down Behind the Rise |
| Rosita (Chicken) Lockhart | Mean Mean Woman Blues | Down Home Blues: New York, Cincinnati & the Northeastern States |
| Blue Lu Barker | What Did You Do To Me | Blue Lu Barker 1946-1949 |
| Viviane Green | Bowlegged Blues | I'm A Bad, Bad Girl |
| Snooky Pryor | Telephone Blues | Gonna Pitch a Boogie Woogie |
| Floyd Jones | Stockyard Blues | Floyd Jones 1948-1953 |
| Johnny Young | My Baby Walked Out On Me | Downhome Blues Classics: Chicago |
| Eddie Boyd | Chicago Is Just That Way | Chicago Is Just That Way |
| Goldrush | All My Money Is Gone | Jaxyson Records Story 1948-1949 |
| Hank Kilroy | Harlem Woman | Juke Joints Vol. 3 |
| Thunder Smith | West Coast Blues | Lightnin' Special Vol. 2 |
| T.J. Fowler | Red Hot Blues | Ham Hocks And Cornbread |
| Wynonie Harris | I Feel That Old Age Coming On | Rockin' The Blues |
| Roy Brown | Roy Brown's Boogie | Roy Brown 1947-1949 |
| Sherman Williams | Weepin' Willow Blues | Sherman Williams 1947-1951 |
| Lonnie Johnson | I Know It's Love | Lonnie Johnson 1948-49 |
| Brownie McGhee | Brownie's New Worried Life Blues | New York Blues 1946-1948 |
| Mabel Scott | Just Give Me A Man | Mabel Scott 1938-1950 |
| Piney Brown | Mourning Blues | The R&B Years 1949 |
| Lowell Fulson | River Blues, Pt. 1 | Lowell Fulson 1946-47 |
| Lil' Son Jackson | Roberta Blues | Lightnin' Special Vol. 2 |
| Smokey Hogg | Suitcase Blues (Aka Low Down Blues) | Deep Ellum Rambler |
| L.C. Williams | Hole in the Wall | Lightnin' Special Vol. 2 |
| Lightnin' Hopkins | Tim Moore's Farm | All the Classic Sides |
| Walter Mitchell | Pet Milk Blues | Detroit Ghetto Blues |
| K.C. Douglas | Mercury Boogie | The Bob Geddins Blues Legacy |
| Leroy Dallas | Jump Little Children Jump | Ralph Willis Vol. 2 1951-1953 |
Show Notes
Today’s show is the twenty-second installment of an ongoing series of programs built around a particular year. The first year we spotlighted was 1927 which was the beginning of a blues boom that would last until 1930. The Depression had a shattering effect on the pockets of black record buyers and sales of blues records plummeted in the years 1931 through 1933. After a strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942, recording had resumed in 1945 and was up considerably from the previous years and continued it’s upswing in 1946 and into 1947. The year 1948 saw many of the older stars like Tampa Red, Big Maceo, Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy recording less, or not at all. The Chicago blues that would become so popular, saw important artists record such as Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk and the debuts of Floyd Jones, Snooky Pryor and Leroy Foster. There was a mix of uptown blues by T.J. Fowler, Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown and some decidedly down-home blues from popular artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker and lesser knowns such as Thunder Smith, Goldrush and Jesse James. The west coast was well represented with recordings by Pee Wee Crayton, Roy Milton, Roy Hawkins, Jimmy Liggins and others. Boogie Woogie saw it’s popularity waning but with and handful of songs by big names Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons to fine boogie-woogie lades like Camille Howard, Hadda Brooks and others. Very little field recording was done outside a handful of recordings by John Lomax.
1948 saw some key records for artists that would mold the sound of post-war Chicago blues, picking up the mantle from the older generation of Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie. Muddy Waters had made his Chicago debut in 1946 backing James Clark and James “Sweet Lucy” Carter. In 1948 he put out classics like “Down South Blues”, “I Can’t Be Satisfied”, “I Feel Like Going Home” and backing artists heard today including Baby Face Leroy and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. In 1948 Robert Nighthawk was back in Chicago and resumed his acquaintance with Muddy Waters who arranged for his recording session with Aristocrat. “I put him on the label” Waters stated.” Foster made his debut for Aristocrat at the end of 1948 with “Locked Out Boogie” b/w “Shady Grove Blues” with the record billed as Leroy Foster and Muddy Waters.
Snooky Pryor got the idea of amplifying his harmonica while serving in the military during World War II, and in 1945 began performing at the Maxwell Street market with portable PA system he purchased at a store at 504 South State. In the late 40’s he cut a batch of great sides for small Chicago labels such as Marvel, Swingmaster and JOB. We hear Pryor back Johnny Young on “My Baby Walked Out On Me.”
Jump blues was big during this period and we hear from blues shouters like Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown. During the 1942–44 musicians’ strike, Harris was unable to pursue a recording career, relying instead on personal appearances. Performing almost continuously, in late 1943 he appeared at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. He was spotted by Lucky Millinder, who asked him to join his band on tour. Harris joined on March 24, 1944 and made his debut with the band a few months later. In July 1945, Harris signed with Philo and went on to record sessions for other labels, including Apollo, Bullet and Aladdin. His greatest success came when he signed for Syd Nathan’s King label, where he enjoyed a series of hits on the U.S. R&B chart in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These included a 1948 cover of Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight.”
Roy Brown was a fan of blues singer Wynonie Harris. When Harris appeared in town, Brown tried but failed to interest him in listening to “Good Rockin’ Tonight”. Brown then approached another blues singer, Cecil Gant, who was performing at another club in town. Brown introduced his song, and Gant had him sing it over the telephone to the president of De Luxe Records, Jules Braun, reportedly at 4:00 in the morning. Brown was signed to a recording contract immediately. It was released in 1948 and reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart. Ironically, Harris recorded a cover version of the song, and his version rose to the top of the Billboard R&B chart later in 1948.
There was plenty of fine down-home blues recorded in 1948 from artists such as Frankie Lee Sims, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Jesse Thomas, Goldrush and Thunder Smith among others. On his discharge from the Army, Sims decided to be a musician and made his way to Dallas. There, he made the acquaintance of T-Bone Walker and Smokey Hogg. He was playing with Smokey Hogg at the Empire Room when Blue Bonnet owner Herb Rippa saw their performance and offered each man a contract. In the event, Sims had two singles issued on Blue Bonnet but Hogg’s single was leased to Bullet in Nashville. The following year Sims backed Lightnin’ Hopkins on a handful of Gold Star sides. It wasn’t until March 1953 that Sims recorded for the Specialty label as a leader.
Lola Ann Cullum was instrumental in giving Lightning Hopkins and Thunder Smith their first opportunity as recording artists for Aladdin Records. She took them to California christened Smith ‘Thunder’ for the loudness of his playing and Hopkins ‘Lightning’ for his proficiency as a guitarist. In her mind, Smith would be the star but turned out otherwise. Smith plays piano behind Hopkins on his first two sessions for Aladdin in 1946 and 1947, never achieving the success that Hopkins did. Hopkins backed Smith on a four-song session for Aladdin in 1946 with Smith cutting one session apiece in 1947 for Gold Star and in 1948 for Down Town.
L.C. Williams was another associate of Lightnin’ Hopkins. He was a singer/tap dancer who also occasionally drummed behind Lightnin’ Hopkins. He arrived in Houston in 1945 and was one of the
many characters who hung around in Lightning’s orbit sitting on stoops drinking beer and wine, shooting the breeze with passers-by. He made his first record in 1947 for with Hopkins on piano and guitar. Hopkins plays guitar on a four-song session for Gold Star in 1948 with Williams making some final sides for Eddie’s and Freedom between 1948-1950. He died in Houston of TB in 1960.
After nearly 15 years since his first visit with his father in 1933, Alan Lomax returned to the Mississippi State Penitentiary, better known as Parchman Farm. Instead of toting their earlier cumbersome disc-cutting machine, he was equipped with a state-of-the-art reel-to-reel tape deck. The blk of the recordings were made in 1947 but these sides were captured in 1948. Hall was first recorded by folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt in 1937. John Lomax became aware of Hall as a result of Tartt’s recordings and then recorded her for the Library of Congress. Alan Lomax also sought her out and made recordings of her in the late 1940s and 1950s. She first recorded “Another Man Done Gone” in 1940
While many of the old stars were fading, Lonnie Johnson had renewed success when he signed with King in 1947, staying with them through 1952. This resulted in close to seventy issued sides. By 1947 he had switched to electric guitar, was incorporating more ballads into his repertoire while the music was in transition from blues to R&B. The prior year he had a massive hit with “Tomorrow Night.”
Several years back I devoted a show to sax men Buster Bennett & Sax Mallard. Do to a programming conflict that show was cut short. This time out we revisit that show, greatly expanding it over the course of three shows and add another Chicago horn man, King Kolax to the mix.
A 1939 Washboard Sam session marks the first time that Buster’s voice is heard on a record; besides his contribution to the dialogue, on “Block and Tackle” (the title commemorates a variety of moonshine whiskey) and participates in the ensemble vocal on “We Gonna Do Some Rug Cuttin’.”Bennet is featured on several sessions by Big Bill in 1938, 1939, 1942. A 1945 session with Big Bill was the last session work Buster would before starting a recording career under his own name which began the same year.
Like so many Swing musicians, Mallard had to contend with changing popular tastes as the war ended and the Big Bands wound down. When he returned to Chicago, after a stint in the navy, and picked up studio work, it was for the Melrose combine, and the music was urban blues or R&B. It appears that his ticket to the studios was his membership in Armand “Jump” Jackson’s combo. In the studios Mallard took over a role that had belonged to Buster Bennett before the war. He became an extremely active participant in blues recordings for Victor and Columbia through the end of 1947. His skills as a clarinetist and arranger and his extremely reliable work habits him repeat calls for session work. Mallard was well enough liked by some of these blues artists (notably Big Bill Broonzy and Roosevelt Sykes) to pick up work with them after Victor and Columbia had retreated from blues recording and they had moved to other labels. Mallard backed Tampa on a four-song session on September 16, 1946. On “New Bad Luck Blues” Tampa Red calls out Sax Mallard’s name during his clarinet solo.
Today’s show is the twenty first installment of an 
Chris Smith Writes: “It’s easy to hear why Harmon Ray was known as Peetie Wheatstraw’s Buddy…. He could also sing like Charles Brown – a bit – and he covers Brown’s ‘Trouble Blues’ at this 1949 session. Elsewhere, though, it’s Wheatstraw all the way; Ray doesn’t bother to change ‘They call me Peetie’ in ‘Working Man’, for instance, and the title of Tony Russell’s article about him, ‘The Deputy High Sheriff From Hell’ is a fair assessment of his status. …The most interesting performance here is certainly ‘President Blues’, one of the few blues tributes to the Man from Missouri. I have a suspicion that its lavish praise may be intended ironically, though; ‘he’s gonna do more for us than Lincoln, and Lincoln set us free,’ indeed!’”
that wouldn’t change retired or disappeared, and left as few traces as when they arrived.” According to Blues a Regional Experience, Call died in 1969.