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Big Road Blues Show 4/7/24: I’m Goin’ Back To the Border, Where I’m Better Known – Origins of Classic Blues Songs Pt. 5

April 7, 2024April 14, 2024 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Tommy Johnson	Big Road Blues	Canned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues
Mississippi Sheiks	Stop And Listen Blues	The Essential
Mattie Delaney	Down The Big Road Blues	I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 1
Willie Lofton	Dark Road Blues	Blues Images Vol. 12
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup	Dirt Road Blues	A Music Man Like Nobody Ever Saw
Big Maceo Merriweather	Big Road Blues	The Victor/Bluebird Recordings 1945-1947
John Dudley	Big Road Blues	Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 1947–1959
Shirley Griffith	Big Road Blues	Saturday Blues
Jimmy Brewer	Big Road Blues	Blues Roots: The Mississippi Blues Vol. 1
Mager Johnson	Big Road Blues	Goin' Up The Country
Houston Stackhouse	Big Road Blues	Masters Of Delta Blues Vol. 4
Blind Bobby Baker aka Bobby Leecan	Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out	Suitcase Breakdown
Bessie Smith	Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out	The Complete Recordings
Pinetop Smith	Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out	Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano Vol. 1
Josh White	Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out	Josh White Josh White Vol. 6 1944-1945
Scrapper Blackwell	Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out	The Frog Blues Annual No. 5
Charlie Segar	Key To The Highway	Blues From The Vocalion Vaults
Jazz Gillum	Key To The Highway	When The Sun Goes Down
Big Bill Broonzy	Key To The Highway	When The Sun Goes Down
John Lee Hooker	Key To The Highway	Documenting The Sensation Recordings 1948-52
Little Walter	Key To The Highway	The Chess Years 1952-63
Blind Connie Williams	Key To The Highway	Philadelphia Street Singer
Blind Lemon Jefferson	Corinna Blues	Best Of
Ma Rainey	See See Rider Blues	Mother of the Blues
Leadbelly	C.C. Rider	American Epic: Lead Belly
Jelly Roll Morton	C.C. Rider	Library Of Congress Recordings
Bea Booze	See See Rider Blues	Sammy Price And The Blues Singers Vol. 2
Lonnie Johnson	See See Rider	American Folk Blues Festival 1963
Otis Spann	See See Rider	Otis Spann's Chicago Blues
Babe Stovall & Herb Quinn	See See Rider	South Mississippi Blues
Papa Charlie Jackson	All I Want Is a Spoonful	Why Do You Moan When You Can Shake That Thing
Luke Jordan	Cocaine Blues	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Charley Patton	A Spoonful Blues	The Best Of
Charley Jordan	Just A Spoonful	The Essential
David 'Honeyboy' Edwards	Just a Spoonful	Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues
Howlin' Wolf	Spoonful	The Complete Recordings 1951-1969
Lottie Murrell	Spoonful	Living Country Blues USA Vol. 10
Mississippi John Hurt	Coffee Blues	Memorial Anthology
Archie Edwards	Lovin Spoonful	Living Country Blues USA Vol. 6

Show Notes:

Back in 2014 we did two shows tracing the origins and evolution of several classic blues songs and revisited the theme with two more shows in 2020. Today’s program is a belated sequel to those shows. Today we trace the history of “Big Road Blues”, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”, “Spoonful”, “Key To the Highway” and “See See Rider.”

Big Road Blues” was one of the most influential recordings of early Mississippi blues, a song many bluesmen learned either from the record or from seeing Crystal Springs blues legend Tommy Johnson in person. He recorded the song at his first session on February 3, 1928 in Memphis with Charlie McCoy on second guitar. “I ain’t goin’ down that big road by myself” became a classic blues line, sometimes changed to ‘dark road’ or even ‘road of love’ by other singers. Mississippi Sheiks used the guitar part for their great “Stop and Listen” when they recorded it on Feb. 17, 1930 and a few days later Mattie Delaney recorded her version, “Down the Big Road Blues.” Next was Willie Lotfon who titled it “Dark Road Blues”, in 1945 it was covered by Arthur Crudup (“Dirt Road Blues”) and Big Maceo. In the 60s it was covered by Shirley Griffith and K.C. Douglas, who learned directly from Johnson, as well as versions by Jimmy Brewer, Houston Stackhouse among others.

After some recording in 1964, Robert Nighthawk would only record once more for a session in August of 1967 and another session the middle of the following month. The music harks back to Nighthawk and Stackhouse’s early delta days and the music is beautifully played. Tommy Johnson’s influence looms large with five of his songs being covered. In a way Nighthawk’s life had come circle: He was once again playing with Stackhouse who taught how to play guitar (Johnson’s “Big Road Blues”, “Cool Water Blues” and Big Fat Mama were the first songs he taught Nighthawk) Stackhouse in turn learned directly from Tommy Johnson and here were the two old friends performing the songs of Johnson together one final time.

Dark Road Blues / Dirt Road Blues

“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” was written by pianist Jimmie Cox in 1923. The lyrics in the popular 1929 recording by Bessie Smith are told from the point of view of somebody who was once wealthy during the Prohibition era and reflect on the fleeting nature of material wealth and the friendships that come and go with it. Although “Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out” was copyrighted in 1923, the first known publication did not appear until a recording of 1927. Blues and jazz musician Bobby Leecan, who recorded with various ensembles such as the South Street Trio, Dixie Jazzers Washboard Band, and Fats Waller’s Six Hot Babies, recorded “Nobody Needs You When You’re Down and Out” under the name “Blind Bobby Baker and his guitar”, with his vocal and guitar. His version, recorded in New York around June 1927, is credited on the record label to Bobby Leecan and has completely different lyrics from the popular 1929 version. The second known recording of the song was on January 11, 1929, by an obscure vocal quartet, the Aunt Jemima Novelty Four and four days later, influential boogie-woogie pianist Pinetop Smith recorded “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” in Chicago, crediting himself as the author.

The song was so identified with Bessie Smith that no one recorded the song again until a generation later. Josh White covered it in 1945, Leadbelly recorded it at his last sessions, Billie & De De Pierce cut a version in 1961, Grey Ghost recorded it in 1965 along with many others. In 1949, Bessie’s travelling companion, Ruby Smith recorded a version of the song. There is also a private recording made by Scrapper Blackwell from the same year that has surfaced and he recorded a version for Bluesville. A version by Nina Simone reached number 23 in the Billboard R&B chart as well as number 93 in the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960.

Chicago Defender Dec 5, 1925 — Chicago Defender, Dec. 5, 1925

Blues pianist Charlie Segar first recorded “Key to the Highway” in 1940. Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy followed with recordings in 1940 and 1941, using an arrangement that has become the standard. Broonzy explained the song’s development: “Some of the verses he [Charlie Segar] was singing it in the South the same time as I sung it in the South. And practically all of blues is just a little change from the way that they was sung when I was a kid … You take one song and make fifty out of it … just change it a little bit.” Segar’s lyrics are nearly the same as those recorded by Broonzy and Gillum. Segar’s original “Key to the Highway” was performed as a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues. When Jazz Gillum recorded it later that year with Broonzy on guitar, he used an eight-bar blues arrangement. In two different interviews, Gillum gave conflicting stories about who wrote the song: in one, he claimed sole authorship, in another he identified Broonzy as the author. According to Broonzy, he used an original melody which was based on childhood songs. Shortly after Broonzy’s death in 1958, Little Walter recorded “Key to the Highway” as an apparent tribute to him. The song was a hit, spending fourteen weeks in the Billboard R&B chart where it reached number six in 1958.

“See See Rider”, also known as “C.C. Rider”, “See See Rider Blues” or “Easy Rider” was first recorded by Ma Rainey on October 16, 1924, for Paramount Records in New York. Lead Belly and Blind Lemon Jefferson performed the song in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area between 1912 and 1917. The song is possibly connected to the Shelton Brooks composition “I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone” (1913) that was inspired by the mysterious 1907 disappearance of the 28-year-old jockey Jimmy Lee, “The Black Demon”, a well-known black rider who won every race on the card at Churchill Downs. Gates Thomas collected a version of “C.C. Rider” in the 1920s in south Texas. In 1926 Blind Lemon recorded “Corinna Blues” with the opening line: “See see rider, you see what you done done/Made me love you, now your train has come.”

In 1943, a version by Wee Bea Booze reached number one on Billboard magazine’s Harlem Hit Parade. Later rock-oriented versions were recorded by Chuck Willis (as “C.C. Rider”, a number one R&B hit and a number 12 pop hit in 1957) and LaVern Baker (number nine R&B and number 34 pop in 1963).

“Spoonful” is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of “Spoonful” in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream.A version with a different chord progression was recorded in 1966 by Mississippi John Hurt as “Coffee Blues.” Others who recorded versions include Jimmy Witherspoon and Koko Taylor. “Spoonful” can be seen as a metaphor for sex or drugs but Howlin’ Wolf’s version seems to say it could be anything that elicits strong cravings or addiction:

It could be a spoonful of diamond
It could be a spoonful of gold
Just a little spoon of your precious love
Satisfy my soul

Men lies about little
Some of ’em cries about little
Some of ’em dies about littles
Everything fight about a spoonful
That spoon, that spoon, that sp-

Dixon’s “Spoonful” is loosely based on “A Spoonful Blues”, a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton. Earlier related songs include “All I Want Is a Spoonful” by Papa Charlie Jackson (1925) and “Cocaine Blues” by Luke Jordan (1927).

Big Road Blues Show 3/24/24: Blues Is a Feeling – Multi-Instrumentalists

March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Bertha Henderson w/ Blind Blake	Let Your Love Come Down	Paramount Jazz
Ed Bell w/ Clifford Gibson	Tooten Out	Ed Bell 1927-1930
Peetie Wheatstraw	Police Station Blues	The Essential
Leadbelly	Eagle Rock Rag (Hot Piano Rag)	Leadbelly Vol. 4 1944
Lonnie Johnson	She Don't Know Who She Wants	Down On The Levee: The Piano Blues of St. Louis Vol. 2
Lonnie Johnson	Blues Is Only A Ghost	Lonnie Johnson Vol. 6 1930-1931
Scrapper Blackwell	Morning Mail Blues	Scrapper Blackwell Vol. 2 1934-1958
Scrapper Blackwell	Blues That Make Me	Scrapper Blackwell Vol. 2 1934-1958
Tampa Red	Stormy Sea Blues	The Bluebird Recordings: 1936-1938
Mildred White w/ Pete Franklin	Kind Hearted Woman	Down Home Blues: Chicago
Pete Franklin w/ Tampa Red	Down Behind the Rise	Down Behind the Rise
Skip James	22-20 Blues	Blues Images Vol. 1
Skip James	If You Haven't Any Hay Get On Down The Road	Juke Joint Saturday Night
Walter Roland & Sonny Scott	Guitar Stomp	Walter Roland Vol. 1 1933
Walter Roland & Sonny Scott	Railroad Stomp	Walter Roland Vol. 1 1933
Pine Bluff Pete	Uncle Sam Blues	Bloodstains on the Wall
Forrest City Joe	Red Cross Store	Downhome Blues 1959
Lightnin' Hopkins	You're Own Fault Baby	Long Way From Texas
Henry Townsend	Cairo's My Baby's Home	Tired Of Bein’ Mistreated
Henry Townsend	Bad Luck Dice	Mule
Roosevelt Sykes	A Woman is in Demand	The Honeydripper's Duke's Mixture
Richard Hacksaw Harney	Can Can	The Memphis Blues Again Vol. 2
Sleepy John Estes/Yank Rachell/Hammie Nixon	Government Money	Newport Blues
Willie Guy Rainey	Willie's Jump	Nothing But The Blues
Scrapper Blackwell & Brooks Berry	Blues Is a Feeling	My Heart Struck Sorrow
Scrapper Blackwell	Little Girl Blues	Mr. Scrapper's Blues
Pete Franklin	My Old Lonesome Blues	Guitar Pete´s Blues
Pete Franklin	Lowdown Dirty Ways	Indianapolis Jump
Pete Franklin	The Fives	Indianapolis Jump
Bukka White	Drunk Man Blues	Mississippi Blues
Bukka White	Sugar Hill	Sky Songs
James “Guitar Slim” Stephens	War Service Blues	Greensboro Rounder
James “Guitar Slim” Stephens	Lula's Back In Town	Living Country Blues USA - Introduction

Show Notes:

Pete Franklin & Scrapper Blackwell in Indianapolis, 1960,
photo by Duncan Schiedt

Today’s show spotlights several artists who were proficient both on guitar and piano and recorded on both instruments. A number of today’s artists are linked, including Scrapper Blackwell, Pete Franklin and Tampa Red. The team of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell were highly influential, influencing both pianists and guitarists alike. Pete Franklin, whose mother was good friend with Leroy Carr (he roomed at their house shortly before he passed in 1935) was influenced on guitar by the work of Scrapper, whilst on the piano his style was similar to Carr. Both Scrapper and Franklin were captured playing piano on a number of fine recordings. Tampa Red proved himself a capable pianist, first recording on piano in the mid-30s and backed Franklin on piano on some 1949 recordings. Skip James, Bukka White, Lonnie Johnson, Hacksaw Harney and Henry Townsend were known for their guitar playing but all recorded captivating sides on piano. Other artists heard today include Clifford Gibson, Blind Blake, Leadbelly, Lightnin’ Hopkins, James “Guitar Slim” Stephens among others. We also hear from pianists Walter Roland and Peetie Wheatstraw, the only pianists today featured on guitar and harmonica blower Forrest City Joe who also played piano.

Brooks Berry & Scrapper Blackwell c.1960
photo by Art Rosenbaum

From the 20s-40s we spin a grab bag of artists who recorded on multiple instruments. Guitarists Blind Blake and Clifford Gibson backed other artists on piano, recording under their own names strictly as guitarists. Peetie Wheatstraw was a proficient guitarist as heard on “Police Station Blues” which forms the basis for Robert Johnson’s “Terraplane Blues.” Leadbelly recorded a few piano solos including “Eagle Rock Rag”, “The Eagle Rocks”, and “Big Fat Woman” which are all essentially the same piece, featuring some singing and a lot of scat. Lonnie Johnson played piano, guitar, violin and today we hear him playing piano on two numbers from 1930 and 1931. Then there’s Skip James who recorded quite a bit on both instruments. James grew up at the Woodbine Plantation in Bentonia, Mississippi and as a youth learned to play both guitar and piano. In his teens James began working on construction and logging projects across the mid-South, and sharpened his piano skills playing at work camp barrelhouses. James traveled to Grafton, Wisconsin, for his historic 1931 session for Paramount Records, which included thirteen songs on guitar and five on piano. He was sent to Paramount by talent scout H.C. Speir who was impressed by James’ audition.

Recording agent Ralph Lembo of Itta Bena arranged for Bukka White to record his first blues and gospel songs in 1930 in Memphis. Victor only saw fit to release four of the 14 songs Bukka White recorded that day. In 1937 White recorded a minor hit, “Shake ‘Em On Down,” in Chicago, but that year he was also sentenced for a shooting incident to Parchman Penitentiary, where John Lomax of the Library of Congress recorded him. After his release White recorded twelve of his best-known songs at a Chicago session in 1940. Among the songs he recorded on that occasion were “Parchman Farm Blues”, “Good Gin Blues,” “Bukka’s Jitterbug Swing,” “Aberdeen, Mississippi Blues,” and “Fixin’ to Die Blues,” all classic numbers. Two California-based blues enthusiasts, John Fahey and Ed Denson tracked Bukka down and he resumed his recording career for labels like Takoma and Arhoolie. He recorded his first piano pieces for those labels.

Scrapper Blackwell was a self-taught guitarist, building his first guitar out of a cigar box, wood and wire and also learned to play the piano. Blackwell and Carr teamed up in 1928 and t a remarkably consistent body of work of hundreds of sides notable for the impeccable guitar/piano interplay, Carr’s profoundly expressive, melancholy vocals and some terrific songs. Blackwell actually made his solo recording debut three day prior to his debut with Carr, on June 16, 1928, cutting “Kokomo Blues b/w Penal Farm Blues.” Blackwell’s last recording session with Carr was in February 1935, for Bluebird Records. The session ended bitterly, as both musicians left the studio mid-session and on bad terms, stemming from payment disputes. Two months later Blackwell received a phone call informing him of Carr’s death due to heavy drinking and nephritis. Blackwell soon recorded a tribute to his musical partner “My Old Pal Blues” and then shortly retired from the music industry. Blackwell returned to music in the late 1950’s and in 1962 cut the magnificent Mr. Scrapper’s Blues and teamed with Brooks Berry, resulting in the marvelous My Heart Struck Sorrow. Scrapper plays piano on both records.

My Heart Struck Sorrow was the lone album by singer Brooks Berry. As producer Art Rosenbaum wrote: “Brooks met Scrapper shortly after she moved to Indianapolis and thus began a long though at times stormy friendship that was to end suddenly some fifteen months after the last of the present recordings were made. On October 6, 1962. Scrapper was shot to death in a back alley near his home. Brooks has been, during the four years I have known her, reluctant to sing blues without her friend’s sensitive guitar or piano playing behind her; and she will sing less and less now that he is gone.” Some additional sides by Berry and Blackwell appear on the collection Scrapper Blackwell with Brooks Berry 1959 – 1960 on Document which were recorded live at 144 Gallery in Indianapolis in 1959.

If You Haven't Any Hay Get On Down The Road Edward Lamonte Franklin was born in Indianapolis on January 16, 1927. Despite being billed as Guitar Pete Franklin, he was equally adept on the piano. His guitar work was influenced by the work of Scrapper Blackwell, whilst on the piano his style was similar to his mother’s one time lodger, Leroy Carr. Pete was only eight but remembered the hours Carr spent at the piano in their living room. He started playing guitar at eleven by watching and listening to the guitarists who would stop by the house, not only Scrapper Blackwell but also Jesse Ellery who played on Champion Jack Dupree’s first sessions and the last by Bill Gaither. After getting discharged from the army, Franklin headed to Chicago where his first recording took place in 1947, when he accompanied St. Louis Jimmy Oden on guitar for the latter’s single, “Coming Up Fast”. Franklin’s own work started in 1949 with his single release, “Casey Brown Blues b/w Down Behind The Rise.” Two other sides from that session, “Mr. Charley” and “Naptown Blues” were not issued at the time. Franklin also made recordings backing Jazz Gillum, John Brim and Sunnyland Slim. In 1963, Bluesville Records released The Blues of Pete Franklin: Guitar Pete’s Blues, which was recorded on July 12, 1961, in Indianapolis. A few other sides appeared on the Flyright album Indianapolis Jump. Franklin died in Indiana, in July 1975 from heart disease, aged 47. Regarding his style John Brim offered the following: “Yeah, he’d play his style-and Jesse Ellery’s. Play his style and ideas that he put a little more in it than Scrapper did.”

Tampa Red accompanies Franklin on piano as he sings and plays guitar on three tracks from 1949. At the same session Tampa also played piano behind Mildred White with Franklin again on guitar. Tampa’s piano playing encompasses the sound of another major figure of the Chicago blues scene, Big Maceo Merriweather. Tampa first recorded on piano back in 1936 on “Stormy Sea Blues” which we feature today.

Eagle Rock Rag Pianist Walter Roland recorded over ninety issued sides for ARC as a soloist and accompanist. Roland partnered Lucille Bogan when they recorded for the ARC labels between 1933 and 1935. In 1933, he was recorded at New York City for the American Record Company, and he had apparently traveled to the session with Lucille Bogan and guitarist Sonny Scott. With Scott, he switched to guitar and the duo knocked out two remarkable guitar pieces.

Henry Townsend recorded in every decade from the 1920s through the 2000s. By the late 1920s he had begun touring and recording with the pianist Walter Davis and plays on numerous records by him through the early 50s. During this time period, he also learned to play the piano. He backed other artists in the 30s including the Sparks Brothers, Big Joe Williams, and Roosevelt Sykes. His recording was sparse in the 40s and 50s. Articulate and self-aware, with an excellent memory, Townsend gave many invaluable interviews to blues enthusiasts and scholars. Paul Oliver recorded him in 1960 and quoted him extensively in his 1967 work Conversations with the Blues. In the 60s he recorded for Bluesville and Adelphi and continued to record for labels like Nighthawk, where he cut Mule in 1980, one of his finest, as well as Arcola, APO, Wolf and others. He also appeared in films such as Blues Like Showers of Rain and The Devil’s Music. In 1999 his autobiography, A Blues Life was published. Townsend died on September 24, 2006, at the age of 96.

Other artists featured today include Pine Bluff Pete, Forrest City, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Roosevelt Sykes, Richard Hacksaw Harney, James “Guitar Slim” Stephens. Art Rupe remembered “Pine Bluff Pete” as a “very black man” who had been running errands during the session. Rupe said “when it was felt the other singers couldn’t perform effectively any more because of alcohol, fatigue, or both, Pine Bluff Pete asked to record. He looked like he could use the recording fee, and everybody was feeling good, so we recorded him. We never actually intended to release the records, so we paid him outright, not even getting his full name.” The name “Pine Bluff Pete” was given to him by Barry Hansen who discovered the tape in the Specialty vaults.

In his The Land Where the Blues Began, Alan Lomax told about meeting Forrest City Joe one September afternoon in Hughes, a small town in Arkansas cotton country, about eighty miles south of Memphis: “Joe was sitting on the front gallery of a tavern, identified in the shaky lettering of a sign, ‘The Old Whiskey Store.’ He was playing the guitar for a group of loungers. …I listened a while, bought him a drink, and we agreed to round up musicians for a recording session that evening. …By nine o’clock that evening Pugh had rounded up his band, Boy Blue and His Two (when backing him they became Forrest City Joe’s Three Aces), and Lomax had set up his recording machine on the bar at Charley Houlin’s juke joint.” Sadly, Joe was killed in a car crash not long after.

While living within the Delta, Richard Hacksaw Harney formed a guitar playing duo with another of his brothers, Maylon. They became known by their family nicknames of Can and Pet. In December 1927, they recorded for Columbia Records, backing vocalist and button accordion player Walter Rhodes, as well as blues singer, Pearl Dickson. Pet and Can’s musical career came to an abrupt halt shortly afterwards when Maylon was stabbed to death in a juke joint. Following his brother’s murder, Harney claimed he attempted to learn to play both parts. Primarily though his income came from his daytime work as a piano tuner and repairman, based in and around Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded an album for Adelphi and began playing again at workshops and music festivals such as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

James “Guitar Slim” Stephens began playing pump organ when he was only five years old, singing spirituals he learned from his parents and reels he heard from his older brother pick on the banjo. Within a few years, Slim was playing piano. When he was thirteen, Green began picking guitar, playing songs he heard at local “fling-dings,” house parties, and churches. A few years later he joined the John Henry Davis Medicine Show, playing music to draw crowds to hear the show master’s pitch; this took him throughout the southeastern Piedmont. In 1953 he arrived in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he lived for the remainder of his life playing both guitar and piano–singing the blues at house parties and spirituals at church. Green as first recorded in the early 70’s by Kip Lornell who recorded him on several occasions in 1974 and 1975. His first LP, Greensboro Rounder, was issued in 1979 by the British Flyright label and are comprised of these recordings. Green also appears several anthologies and his final recordings were made in 1980 by Siegfried Christmann and Axel Küstner for the Living Country Blues USA series of albums.

Big Road Blues Show 9/3/23: Just A Good Woman Through With The Blues – Metal Masters Pt. 2

September 3, 2023September 8, 2023 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Charlie McFadden	People People	Blues Box 1
Blind Willie McTell	Ticket Agent Blues	Blues Box 1
Charlie McCoy	Baltimore Blues	Blues Box 1
Walter Coleman	I'm Going to Cincinnati	Blues Box 1
Sweet Georgia Brown	The Long Down Lonely Blues	Blues Box 2
Bea Booze	See See Rider Blues	Blues Box 2
Blue Lu Barker	Cannon Ball	Blues Box 2
Little Brother Montgomery	Vicksburg Blues, No.	Grinder Man Blues
Memphis Slim	Shelby County Blues	The Bluebird Recordings 1940-1941
Willie "Long Time" Smith	Homeless Blues	Roots 'n' Blues: the Retrospective 1925-1950
Tommy Johnson	Canned Heat Blues	Canned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues
Ishman Bracey	Saturday Blues	Canned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues
Furry Lewis	Kassie Jones Part 1	Canned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup	I'm Gonna Dig Myself A Hole	That's All Right Mama
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup	Too Much Competition	That's All Right Mama
Leadbelly & Golden Gate Quartet	Alabama Bound	Alabama Bound
Robert Lee McCoy	Every Day And Night	The Bluebird Recordings 1937-38
Jazz Gillium	Gillum's Windy Blues	The Bluebird Recordings 1934-1938
Sonny Boy Williamson	Jackson Blues	He's A Jelly Roll Baker
Sonny Boy Williamson	You Give An Account	The Bluebird Recordings 1938
Blind Willie Johnson	If I Had My Way I'd Tear The Building Down	Roots N' Blues: News & The Blues - Telling It Like It Is
The Mississippi Sheiks	Bootlegger's Blues	Roots N' Blues: Booze & The Blues
Frank Edwards	We Got to Get Together	Roots 'n' Blues: the Retrospective 1925-1950
Muddy Waters	Burying Ground Blues	Roots 'n' Blues: the Retrospective 1925-1950
Washboard Sam	River Hip Mama	Rockin' My Blues Away
Washboard Sam	Flying Crow Blues	Rockin' My Blues Away
Curtis Jones	Levee Side Blues	Blue 88s: Unreleased Piano Blues Gems 1938-1942
Roosevelt Sykes	Floating Power Blues	Blue 88s: Unreleased Piano Blues Gems 1938-1942
Trixie Butler	Just A Good Woman Through With The Blues	When The Sun Goes Down
Sippie Wallace	I'm A Mighty Tight Woman	When The Sun Goes Down
Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah	If You Want Me Baby	When The Sun Goes Down
Robert Johnson	Come On In My Kitchen (Alternate)	The Centennial Collection
Robert Lockwood Jr	Little Boy Blue	When The Sun Goes Down
Washboard Sam	Bucket's Got A Hole In It	When The Sun Goes Down
Oscar 'Buddy Woods	Don't sell it (Don't give it away)	The Slide Guitar Vol. 1: Bottles, Knives & Steel
James "Yank" Rachel	Hobo Blues	When The Sun Goes Down
Barbecue Bob	Blind Pig Blues	Roots 'n' Blues: the Retrospective 1925-1950
Tampa Red	When Things Go Wrong With You	When The Sun Goes Down

Show Notes:

Blues Box 2 Over the years on this show, I’ve always tried to play the best sounding reissues of the music, particularly with the pre-war material. I think one barrier of people getting into the early blues is often poor sound quality. The best sound quality is directly from the metal master. As John Tefteller explained to me: “Anything taken from a metal master and properly transferred will be the best possible sound. Problem is that so few original metal master exist that there will be few opportunities to hear music made from them. When working with 78s, rather than masters, there are obstacles to overcome that make it very difficult to match the sound of an original master. …To understand this a bit more you need to know that the recordings were initially made in wax, they were then electroplated to create a metal mother or master from which the 78’s were stamped.”

One of the heroes of remastering from the metal parts is Larry Cohn who was responsible for finding and issuing many unissued gems during his stint at Sony and CBS Records. Asking him about unissued sides he said: “As far as I know, none of these items were ever pressed as 78’s and we got them from the original source, usually metal parts. I am the one who did the research and found what metal parts existed for unreleased material. …Doing this within the confines of a major corporation was an unbelievable task and involved some ‘shady’ work on my part. But then, if I didn’t do it, no one else would, simply because no one cared. It took me 1 1/2 years to talk them into the Roots ‘N’ Blues Series & Robert Johnson [Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings]. …There remain countless unreleased items, of which the metal parts are still there and unfortunately, they are destined to languish. A sad state of affairs but we Americans couldn’t care less about preservation and the like.” His greatest achievement at Sony, he told me, was the 4-CD Roots n’ Blues: The Retrospective (1925-1950), which reflects his broad tastes and incredibly deep knowledge of the archives—45 of the 100+ tracks were previously unreleased. In 2017 Larry issued Blue 88s: Unreleased Piano Blues Gems 1938-1942 on his Hi Horse Records record label. Cohn unearthed fifteen never released piano blues songs from the late 30s-early 40s, along with two previously released sides.

Roots N' Blues: Retrospective 1925-1950 The idea for today’s show and next week’s sequel, is to try a play reissues drawn from these metal masters. We draw mostly on the major labels who issued some fantastic sounding reissues in the 90s and early 2000s. There were several series during this period including Sony’s Roots N’ Blues, RCA Heritage Series, Bluebird Blues & Heritage Series and When the Sun Goes Down. In addition, we spotlight two German box sets that were issued in the mid-70s that were all sourced from the metal masters. I will mention briefly, because it’s certainly no my area of expertise, that various digital post-processing was done to these records using NoNoise or CEDAR. This was not always to the benefit of the recordings giving them an artificial quality. Over these course shows we hear some all-time classic numbers as well as lesser knowns, all in terrific sound. We certainly have enough material for more installments of this theme which we may get to down the road.

Blues Box 1 and Blues Box 2 were 4-LP sets issued in Germany on the MCA Coral label compiled by Robert Hertwig who also wrote the notes. MCA Coral was a budget label created by MCA Records in 1973. “In Blues Box 1 the liner notes state: “When we selected these 64 Blues tracks we did not know how they sounded because none of them was around on commercial reissues. And the few 78s are in the hands of few collectors. We just passed through Godrich & Dixon’s Book of Blues & Gospel Records and pulled out this and that title. We were quite surprised to learn that so many titles are existent in the archives of MCA Records.”

We play several tracks from the RCA Heritage Series and the Bluebird Blues & Heritage Series. Here’s the blurb for the RCA Heritage Series: which ran from 1988 through 1992. “In recent years there has been a marked resurgence of interest in the rich bounty of American music prior to the beginning of the rock era-in particular, the country and blues music that has been at the root of so much of our modern popular music. The purpose of the RCA HERITAGE SERIES is to once again make available to audiences (in many instances, for the first time in better than fifty years) classic recordings by some of the most important and influential country and blues artists of all time-recordings that provide an exciting and panoramic view of a significant portion of the great tapestry that is America’s musical heritage.” And for the Bluebird Blues & Heritage Series: “In presenting the Bluebird Blues & Heritage Series, every effort was made to locate and utilize the original metal parts for the nest possible straight transfers to the digital medium. Once transferred, the material was then re-mastered and assembled using state-of-the-art digital systems. However, in many instances the original metal parts no longer existed, in which case the best available test-pressings, lacquers and /or commercially released 78s were utilized to complete this collection.” The series ran from 1995 through 1997.

Canned Heat Blues he Bluebird Blues & Heritage Series issued several collections listed as the The Bluebird Recordings and we hear several selections today by Sonny Boy Williamson (The Bluebird Recordings 1937-1938 & The Bluebird Recordings 1938), Tommy McClennan (The Bluebird Recordings 1939-1942), Big Maceo Merriweather (The Bluebird Recordings 1941-1942 & The Bluebird Recordings 1945-1947) and Jazz Gillum (The Bluebird Recordings 1934-1938). There were several interesting various artist collections we feature including Four Women Blues: Masters of The Delta Blues, Better Boot That Thing (Great Women Blues Singers of the 1920’s), Wild About My Lovin’: Beale Street Blues 1928-1930 and Canned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues.

Going back prior to these reissues was a series of gatefold double LP’s RCA put out between 1975-1977 including wonderful sets by Tampa Red, Big Maceo and Little Brother Montgomery. These had excellent notes by Mike Rowe and Jim O’Neal and excellent sound. It doesn’t mention in the notes the source of the records but possibly a mix of metal masters and 78s.

We spin a couple alternate tracks today by Robert Johnson who’s records were first gathered on the 1961 album King of the Delta Blues Singers. For this release recordings were taken from available metal masters at Columbia’s Bridgeport factory and from the following collectors: John Hammond, Bernard Klatzko, Henry B. Backey, Robert Stendahl and Peter Whelan.

Robert John Masters — Click to Read Notes

As mastering engineer Seth Winner noted regarding The Centennial Collection/The Complete Recordings: “A question was brought up concerning the sound of the unpublished sides sounding better than the issued ones. There is a simple reason for this: The published sides were pressed from stampers. This metal part is the third plating from the original lacquer masters cut at the session. The unpublished sides were pressed from the first metal part plated from the original lacquer master. Hence, the metal parts used for the issued sides were two plating generations away from the original metal part, and may have been slightly worn from stamper fatigue cause by use. The unissued takes were seldom if ever plated past the first electroplated part from the lacquer masters and were used to make a limited amount of test pressings for audition purposes.”

Big Road Blues Show 11/27/22: Mix Show

November 27, 2022November 30, 2022 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Clifford Gibson	Don't Put That Thing on Me (Test)	Frog Blues & Jazz No. 6
Lonnie Johnson	Fussin' & Frettin'	Frog Blues & Jazz No. 6
Sam Morgan's Jazz Band	Short Dress Gal	Frog Blues & Jazz No. 6
Houston Stackhouse	Pony Blues	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Boogie Bill Webb	Take Your Time	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Isaac Youngblood	Big Road Blues	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Dossie Terry	Sad Sad Affair	Harlem Heavies
Dossie Terry	When I Hit the Number	RCA-Victor Jump 'n' Jive Vol. 4
Tommy McClennan	Cotton Patch Blues	Bluebird Recordings 1939-1942
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup	Standing at My Window	A Music Man Like Nobody Ever Saw
Peetie Wheatstraw	What More Can a Man Do	The Essential
Leadbelly	Good Morning Blues	Leadbelly Vol. 5 1944-1946
Arzo Youngblood	Big Road Blues	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Mager Johnson	Travelling Man Blues	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Robert Johnson	So Soon I’ll Be at Home	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Mott Willis	Pick and Shovel Blues	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Scrapper Blackwell	Down South Blues	The virtuoso Guitar Of Scrapper Blackwell
Jesse Thomas	Zetter Blues	Jesse Thomas 1948- 1958
Lester Williams	My Home Ain't Here	I Can't Lose With The Stuff I Use
Lonnie Clark	Down In Tennessees	Down In Black Bottom
Rudy Foster	Black Gal Makes Thunder	Juke Joint Saturday Night
Charlie Spand	Moanin' The Blues	The Piano Blues Vol. 1: Paramount 1929-30
Raymond Barrow	Walking Blues	Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here
Charley Patton	Pony Blues	The Best Of
Big Joe Williams	My Grey Pony	Blues Images Vol. 16
Howlin' Wolf	Saddle My Pony	Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters
Little Brother Montgomery	Up the Country	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Furry Lewis	See That My Grave Is Kept Clean	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Lovey Williams	Train I Ride	Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8: Big Road Blues
Unknown Artist	Angola Bound	Angola Prisoners' Blues
Hogman Maxey	Fast Life Woman	Angola Prisoners' Blues
Joe Callicott	France Chance	Ain't A Gonna Lie To You
Jessie Mae Hemphill	Loving in the Moonlight	She-Wolf
Joe Linthecome	Humming Blues	Hokum, Blues & Rags 1929-1930s
Pigmeat Terry	Moaning the Blues	American Primitive Vol. II
Memphis Jug Band	K.C. Moan	American Epic: The Best Of Memphis Jug Band
Alfred Lewis	Friday Moan Blues	American Primitive Vol. II
Richard Lewis & Wilbert Gilliam	Long Freight Train Blues	Two White Horses Standin' In Line: Library Of Congress 1939 Field Recordings From Texas
Willy Flowers	Po' Laz'us	Boot That Thing: 1935 Field Recordings from Florida

Show Notes:

Frog Blues & Jazz Annual We span the 30s through the 70s with several sets devoted to two notable new reissue collections. In addition we spin two from underrated blues singer Dossie Terry, spin some superb rare piano blues, hear from several fine guitarists of the 30s & 40s, hear set revolving around the “Pony Blues”, some down-home blues, a set devoted to some unique singers and much more.

We open the show we several tracks from the CD included with the latest and last issue of the Frog Blues & Jazz Annual. This issue is 224 pages with more than 340 rare photographs and vintage advertising. We hear a test pressing of Clifford Gibson’s classic “Don’t Put That Thing on Me”, an unissued test by Lonnie Johnson and a great mix of blues and jazz on Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band’s “Short Dress Gal.” Included on the CD are two unissued field recordings by Pete Lowry that I was planning to play but changed my mind. From what I hear, Frog’s right to issue these is a bit murky so I will leave these off until I get more information. The annual has new research, features and articles by such notable authors and aficionados as David Butters, David Evans, Brian Goggin, Chris Smith, Paul Swinton, Alex van der Tuuk, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Jerry Zolten and many others.

The 42 albums that make up the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series released by Saydisc Records between Nov 1982 and June 1988 have now been reissued. Most of the recordings were of 20s & 30s blues and some include some latter-day field recordings by David Evans, Karl Gert zur Heide and Bill Ferris. Now for the first time these have been issued on CD as 7 sets each of 6CDs and which include Paul Oliver’s original notes. Before we dive into the important part of these reissues I’ll add something that I wrote on the Real Blues Forum: Outside of some material, I don’t understand the point of this reissue series as the bulk of the recordings have already been reissued countless times. The Document catalog has the complete works of all these artists and in the case of artists like Skip James, Leroy Carr, Frank Stokes, Blind Blake, Memphis Jug Band, these sides have been reissued in far better sound. From what I can tell the Matchbox reissues have not been remastered and the original records weren’t the best sound quality.

Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, Vol. 8 Big Road Blues

That being said, the field recordings are worth acquiring. Recordings by David Evans, Karl Gert zur Heide and Bill Ferris appear on Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 8 Big Road Blues. Here you will find the long-out-of-print album The Legacy of Tommy Johnson issued in 1972 on Saydisc Matchbox as a companion LP to Evans’ book Tommy Johnson. It was David Evans investigation into 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. As Evans wrote: “…Versions of Johnson’s songs derive exclusively from personal contact, though many of the artists undoubtedly heard Johnson’s records at one time or other.” 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. Also included in this collection are Evans’ recordings that were was originally supposed to be issued in 1972 as Matchbox SDM225 to accompany a book titled Big Road Blues in the Blues Paperback (Studio Vista) series edited by Paul Oliver and Tony Russell. Evans submitted the manuscript, but the book publisher went out of business before publication, and the album was scrapped. Evans then wrote a greatly expanded version of the book as his UCLA doctoral dissertation (1976). A revised version of this was published as Big Road Blues: Tradition and Creativity in the Folk Blues (University of California Press, 1982). The album idea was revived and was supposed to be issued on Advent, but Advent went out of business. Many transcribed examples in the book refer to this non-existent Advent album. All tracks were recorded between 1966 and 1971. I’ve had David on the show a few times and he will return in the upcoming months to discuss his new book, Going Up the Country: Adventures in Blues Fieldwork in the 1960s.

The other valuable material is field recordings by Bill Ferris from the Blues from The Delta album, recorded during Summer of 1968. Included are tracks by Son Thomas, Lovey Williams Lee Kizart and Scott Dunbar. The Little Brother Montgomery recordings are also nice to have and come from the album Home Again recorded in 1972 at Little Brother’s home in Chicago. There’s also a nice Furry Lewis set taped by Karl Gert zur Heide in 1968 at Furry’s home, originally released as Furry Lewis in Memphis.

We hear some other fine field recordings today by Hogman Maxey, Richard Lewis & Wilbert Gilliam and Willy Flowers. Maxey was recorded as a prisoner in Angola State Penitentiary by Harry Oster in 1959. Lewis & Gilliam are heard on “Long Freight Train Blues” recorded at State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, nicknamed “The Walls” on May 11, 1939. Booker T. Sapps was recorded and photographed in Belle Glade, Florida in 1935 accompanying harmonica player Roger Matthews with Willy Flowers [real name Jesse Flowers] on guitar. Flowers cut a couple of numbers under his own name at this session. These field recordings were conducted by Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle for the Library of Congress.

Not related to the above set is a recording featured today by Jessie Mae Hemphill whom Evans recorded. Hemphill began playing the guitar at the age of seven. She also played drums in local fife-and-drum bands, beginning with the band led by her paternal grandfather, Sid Hemphill, in which she played snare drum and bass drum. Aside from sitting in at Memphis bars a few times in the 1950s, most of her playing was done in family and informal settings, such as picnics with fife-and-drum music, until she was recorded in 1979. Her first recordings were field recordings made by the blues researcher George Mitchell in 1967 and David Evans in 1973, but they were not released. In 1978, Evans began teaching at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). The school founded the High Water Recording Company in 1979 to promote interest in the regional music of the South. Evans made the first high-quality field recordings of Hemphill in that year and soon after produced her first sessions for High Water.

We spin two from blues belter Dossie Terry who continuously recorded between 1945 and 1959 but is mostly an unknown. He recorded under the nickname Georgia Boy, indicating he was from this Southern State. His music is generally first rate R&B with great backing musicians like Rene Hall, Budd Johnson or Kenny Burrell. He cut some two-dozen sides between 1945 and 1959 for labels like Chicago, RCA Victor, King, X-tra and others.

Black Gal Makes Thunder

There is a second edition just published of King of the Delta Blues: The Life and Music of Charlie Patton. The original was published in a very small quantity in 1988 by authors Gayle Dean Wardlow and Stephen Calt (he passed in 2010). The book has substantially been revised and rewritten for the better with the assistance of blues researcher Edward Komara. I’ll be interviewing Ed and Gayle and featuring that discussion shortly on a two-part show devoted to Patton and those he worked with and in his orbit. Today we spin songs revolving around “Pony Blues.” Patton recorded the song in June 1929 during his first session. The song was also the first song to be released by Patton on Paramount label. This was Patton’s biggest hit and signature song. In 1934 he updated the song as “Stone Pony.”

We play some incredibly rare piano records today. Lonnie Clark only left behind two recordings that were made in 1929 for Paramount backed by an unknown mandolin player. Rudy Foster cut one 78 for Paramount in 1930. Raymond Barrow left behind just one song for Paramount in 1929; the other side of his 78 was by another artist. Spand recorded twenty-five songs for Paramount Records between June 1929 and September 1931. After a gap in his recording career, in June 1940 Spand recorded what were to be his final eight tracks, for Okeh Records.

We hear from some unique singers today on some very rare records by Joe Linthecome, Pigmeat Terry and Alfred Lewis. Linthecome plays ukulele and the “mouth trumpet.” He cut one record for Gennett in 1929: “Humming Blues b/w Pretty Mamma Blues.” Lewis was a harmonica player who recorded three titles (“Easy Rider’s blues” was unissued) for Vocalion in Chicago in 1930: “Friday Moan Blues b/w Mississippi Swamp Moan.” I first heard this on the album Harmonica Blues on Yazoo which has my favorite cover done by Robert Crumb.