Big Road Blues - Part 132

Big Road Blues Show 6/2/13: I’m Trying To Make London My Home – European Blues Pt. I

June 2, 2013March 20, 2016 Jeff 2 Comments

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Big Bill Broonzy	On Folk Songs/Going Down the Road Feeling Bad	Amsterdam Live Concerts
Sammy Price	Frenchy's Blues	Blues & Boogie Woogie from Texas
Little Brother Montgomery	Railroad Blues	The Piano Blues: Unissued Recordings Vol. 1
Champion Jack Dupree	London Special	New Orleans Barrelhouse
Louisiana Red	Bring It On Home	Live At Montreux
Dr. Isaiah Ross	Hobo Blues	Live At Montreux
Big Mama Thornton	Good Girl In London	In Europe
Juke Boy Bonner	Runnin' Shoes	American Folk Blues Festival '69
Memphis Slim & Roosevelt Sykes	Introducing The Grinder Man And The Honeydripper	Double-Barreled Boogie
Memphis Slim	Mr. Sykes Blues	Double-Barreled Boogie
Blind John Davis	When I Lost My Baby	Alive 'Live' And Well
Sonny Boy Williamson II	I'm Trying To Make London My Home	Sony Boy Williamson in Europe
Lonnie Johnson & Otis Spann	Jelly Jelly	Blues Masters
Sonny Terry with Brownie McGhee	I'm Afraid of Fire	Wizard of the Harmonica
Lightnin' Slim & Whispering Smith	Texas Flood	American Blues Legends 73'
Eddie Burns	Bury Me Back In The USA	American Blues Legends 75'
Professor Longhair	Hey Now	Live In London
Katie Webster	Kate's Worried Blues	Texas Boogie Queen
Willie Mabon	Why Did It Happen To Me	Cold Chilly Woman
Muddy Waters	Hoochie Coochie Man	Chris Barber Presents: Lost & Found Vol.2
Howlin' Wolf	Going Down Slow	Rockin' The Blues: Live in Germany 1964
John Jackson	Early Morning Blues	Live In Europe
Mississippi Fred McDowell	What's The Matter With Papa's Little Angel Child	In London Vol. II

Show Notes:

Today’s program is the first of a three part feature on blues artists recorded in Europe spanning the late 40’s through the 70’s. Outside of Lonnie Johnson and Alberta Hunter, the blues hadn’t reached European shores prior to the 1940’s The late 40’s saw a few artists such as Leadbelly and Sammy Price hit Europe, with Price being the first to record. Josh White recorded the first guitar blues outside the U.S. The biggest impact, however, was Big Bill Broonzy’s arrival in 1951 and subsequent tours through 1957. By 1958 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Muddy Waters had come to England. 1960 saw Jack Dupree, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Little Brother Montgomery and Speckled Red appear in England. Dupree and Slim would both settle in Europe. Europe would become a haven for blues pianists with Curtis Jones, Eddie Boyd and Little Willie Littlefield all settling there. 1962 saw the inaugural American Folk Blues Festival which featured the absolute cream of the blues scene and toured almost annually until 1972. During the 70’s blues artists continued to tour Europe and there were package tours such as The American Blues Legends Tour which ran in 1973, 74, 75 and 79 and major concerts like the Montreux Jazz Festival which always had a blues component. Other artists also recorded in Europe like Blind John Davis, Professor Longhair, Lightnin’ Slim and Louisiana Red who settled in Germany. Our mufti-part look at European blues is by no means comprehensive or chronological but does, I think, provide an entertaining and wide survey of excellent recordings made across the pond by people who truly appreciated a music that was too often neglected in its own country.

A still from the Big Bill Broonzy film Low Light & Blue Smoke, Brussels, 1956.

We open our series of European blues shows fittingly with monologue and song by Big Bill Broonzy. As Paul Vernon Wrote: “Regarded at the time as the first ‘genuine’ blues singer to visit Europe, between 1951 and his final 1957 tour, Big Bill returned every year except 1954, played concerts in London, Nottingham, Brighton and Edinburgh; in Paris and elsewhere in France; in Brussels, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Milan and Madrid, appeared on French radio, British and Italian television, was filmed in Brussels had many European-made records issued aimed at his new European audience. Press coverage was significant and he was viewed as “the last great blues singer” by the fans who took him completely at his word. That he cannily tailored his style to what he accurately believed to be European expectations is now thoroughly understood and accepted, but for all his “folksiness” he was, of course, a genuine bluesman and a wonderful guitarist. His career, in danger of imploding in the U.S., changed course in Europe and in doing so changed the course of Blues history. ” Big Bill’s European success lit the long fuse that would lead to the explosion in the early 1960’s.”

Broonzy (described in adverts as “last of the country bluesmen”) spent time in Europe, especially France, in the early 1950s, and, as Guido van Rijn reveals, established especially strong connections in the Netherlands where he had a long-term relationship that produced a son. He first toured the United Kingdom in 1951 following a stint organized by the Hot Club de France in Paris. The two concerts that Broonzy played at Kingsway Hall, Holborn, in September of 1951 were aggressively promoted by the blues evangelists; during the months of August and September the jazz press featured articles about the blues in general, and Broonzy in particular. His appearances were emceed by Alan Lomax, who not only introduced the singer but also drew him into discussions about the songs and their social import, making the audience feel “as if they had wandered more or less by accident into one of those fabulous jazz parties of which the books are full.”34 The critical response was unanimously positive.

As Paul Oliver noted: “A profound influence on many of his contemporary singers and musicians, Big Bill was exceptional in every respect. I was honored to draw a number of illustrations for his autobiography, Big Bill Blues, edited by Yannick Bruynogue and published in 1955. He showed little sign of decline during his frequent visits in the 1950s, but he died of throat cancer in 1958. I learned a lot from Big Bill; if our collecting and research had enabled us to take the measure of the blues in its diversity and distribution, it was Broonzy who gave an insight of its depth.”

Lonnie Donegan, the Glasgow-born banjo player with Chris Barber’s jazz band began to play guitar and sing versions of American folk and blues songs during the band’s intermission. One of these songs, “Rock Island Line,” originally recorded by Leadbelly, was so popular it was released as a record in 1956, sold three million copies, and became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The skiffle craze was launched. The popularity of this music encouraged Chris Barber to bring over blues artists to the United Kingdom. In 1958 Barber brought Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry to England, including an appearance on British television. That year also witnessed Muddy Water’s first controversial British appearance in Leeds, again engineered by Barber. Within an emerging fan-base that valued the acoustic guitar as the premier blues instrument, Muddy’s amplification startled and dismayed many, but it also riveted others. As Waters said, “They thought I was Big Bill Broonzy…” Waters would return in 1962 and as Paul Oliver wrote: “Muddy made a typical error when he sang at the Leeds festival, in playing his electric guitar to an audience that couldn’t take one from a blues singer. He made another one this time—in playing a bright new Spanish box when he ought to have played electric guitar.” “Back at his London hotel after the concert,” Val Wilmer reported, “he sat shaking his head in disbelief … Just what did they want, these [British] white folks?”

Blues pianists were particularly taken with Europe and warmly welcomed, with many becoming exiles. In February 1948 blues pianist Sam Price sat down in a Paris studio and cut six boogie solos, thus becoming the first blues musician to record outside the U.S. Pianist Blind John Davis toured Europe with Broonzy in 1952. In later years Davis toured and recorded frequently in Europe, where he enjoyed a higher profile than in his homeland. He recorded several albums in Europe including Alive And Well, Stomping On A Saturday Night and Live In Hamburg all recorded in Germany and The Incomparable recorded in the Netherlands. The precedent set by Price and Davis blossomed in 1960, a great year for piano fans, Jack Dupree, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Little Brother Montgomery and Speckled Red all appeared in England. Researcher Francis Wilford-Smith had, since 1960, invited many of them to his Sussex home and with their consent, recorded them in performance in his living room. Though much remains currently unissued, there are excellent full-length albums from this period of Champion Jack Dupree and Little Brother Montgomery.

Memphis Slim first appeared outside the United States in 1960, touring with Willie Dixon, with whom he returned to Europe in 1962 as a featured artist in the first American Folk Festival. In 1962 he moved permanently to Paris and he became the most prominent blues artist in Europe for nearly three decades. He appeared on television in numerous European countries, acted in several French films and wrote the score for another, and performed regularly in Paris, throughout Europe, and on return visits to the United States. His status was recognized by France, which awarded him the title of Commander of Arts and Letters, and by the U.S. Senate, which in1978 named him Ambassador-at-Large of Good Will. By the time of his death in Paris in 1988, he had recorded for nearly forty different blues record labels. Our selection by Slim comes from the album Double-Barreled Boogie recorded in 1970 as Slim and Roosevelt Sykes gathered in a recording studio in Paris and reminisce about the old days, talk about the origin of some of their songs, and joke a bit.

Willie Mabon settled in Paris in 1972. He toured and recorded in Europe as part of promoter Jim Simpson’s American Blues Legends tour, recording The Comeback for Simpson’s Big Bear Records label, and a 1977 album on Ornament Records. He also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In April 1985, after a long illness, Mabon died in Paris. Our selection, “Why Did it Happen To Me”, comes from the album Cold Chilly Woman recorded in Bordeaux, France in 1972.

Sonny Boy Williamson in Britain during the American Folk Blues Festival

The American Folk Blues Festival (AFBF) was an annual event that featured the cream of American blues musicians barnstorming their way across Europe throughout the 60’s. The impact of these annual tours had a profound impact on those that were in attendance. Future stars such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page any many others were in the audience and were directly influenced by what they saw. The rise of blues based bands like the The Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and Animals can be directly attributed to the AFBF. The festival, founded by Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau in 1962, featured performances by luminaries like John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, and Willie Dixon and drew sellout crowds and rave reviews. Many of the artists found they were far more popular in Britain than in the United States, where audiences for the blues were diminishing. Several emigrated, and others seized the new commercial opportunities presented by the British blues boom by recording extensively for the European market and touring the blues club circuit with bands comprised of their young devotees.

In 1963 Sonny Boy Williamson was headed to Europe for the first time, as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. He loved Europe and stayed behind in Britain when the tour headed home. He started working the teenage beat club circuit, touring and recording with the Yardbirds and Eric Burdon’s band, whom he always referred to as “de Mammimals.” Sonny Boy was truly appreciative of all the attention, and contemplated moving to Europe permanently but went back to the States and made some final recordings for Chess. He returned to England in 1964 and one of his final recordings, with Jimmy Page on guitar, was entitled “I’m Trying to Make London My Home.”

In 1964, Howlin’ Wolf toured eastern and western Europe with the American Blues Festival. In 1970 he recorded The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions in England with Eric Clapton, members of the Rolling Stones, and other British rock stars. It was his best-selling album, reaching #79 on the pop charts.

In 1965 Fred McDowell toured Europe with The American Folk Blues Festival, together with Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Roosevelt Sykes and others. In 1969 came a second tour of Europe. In Britain he recorded his first solo album using electric guitar – Mississippi Fred McDowell in London (Volumes I and II on Sire and Transatlantic).

It was Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie records who was instrumental in getting Big Mama Thornton booked on the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival. In London she recorded an album with members of the tour; Buddy Guy (guitar), Fred Below (drums), Eddie Boyd (keyboards), Jimmy Lee Robinson (bass), and Walter Horton (harmonica), except for three songs which Fred McDowell provided acoustic slide guitar. The album was subsequently issued on the Arhoolie label.

Dr. Ross first hit Europe in 1965 for the American Folk Blues Festival. While in London he recorded what would be the first LP on Blue Horizon Records. In 1972 he recorded for Ornament Records during a German tour and performed at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival with a subsequent album released of the performance. The Harmonica Boss was recorded in London in 1972 and in 1974 he recorded Jivin’ The Blues also in London. Europe loved Ross and gave him work and recording opportunities; he was never as popular at home.

Juke Bonner cut three sessions for Goldband Records in Lake Charles in 1960, billed as Juke Boy Bonner — The One Man Trio. Some of these sides found their way to a European release on a Storyville album and attracted attention from European blues enthusiasts. But the breaks didn’t come Juke Boy’s way until 1967, when sterling work primarily by editors of Blues Unlimited magazine led to recording opportunities for the small Flyright label and for an eventual European tour. Passport difficulties prevented him from joining the 1968 American Folk Blues Festival Tour but was on the tour in 1969 where he cut the album Things Ain’t Right for Liberty. Throughout the early and mid-seventies his popularity grew and he continued to tour Europe as well as playing dates in Houston, however he couldn’t match his European popularity at home. The frustration and bitterness are reflected in the comments made by a longtime friend to the Houston Chronicle: “He used to say he could go to Europe and earn $1000 dollars but he couldn’t make $50 in his hometown.” He died in 1978. The week of his death the Houston Chronicle ran the headline: “Weldon ‘Juke Boy’ Bonner, well known in Europe, dies alone in his hometown.”

In the wake of the success of the AFBF, there were other package tours and festivals. There was the American Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan formed in 1964 (Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Blind Gary Davis, Cousin Joe, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann) and The American Blues Legends tour which was run by promoter Jim Simpson who operated the Big Bear label. Simpson released albums of the tour for the years 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1979.There was also festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival which launched in 1967 in Switzerland and always had strong blues representation.

Big Road Blues Show 5/26/13: Mix Show

May 26, 2013March 20, 2016 Jeff 1 Comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Elzadie Robinson	St Louis Cyclone Blues	The Great Race Record Labels Vol. 1
Texas Alexander	Frost Texas Tornado Blues	Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down: The Best Of The Mississippi Sheiks
John Lee Hooker	No Friend Around	The Complete John Lee Hooker Vol. 3
John Lee Hooker	No Mortgage On My Soul	The Complete John Lee Hooker Vol. 3
Jealous James Stanchell	Anything From A Foot Race To A Resting Place	Treasury of Field Recordings Vol. 2
Lightnin' Hopkins	The Foot Race	Autobiography in Blues
Big Moose Walker	Footrace	Ramblin' Woman
Jimmy Reed	There'll Be A Day	The Vee-Jay Years
Bobo Jenkins	I'm So Glad Trouble Don't Last Always	The Life Of
Sammy Lawhorn	Home of the Blues	Rockin' Rhythm 'n' Blues From Memphis
The 5 Royales	I Got To Know	Rockin' Rhythm 'n' Blues From Memphis
Sylvester Palmer	Mean Blues	Down In Black Bottom
Hound Head Henry	My Silver Dollar Mama	Cow Cow Davenport: The Essential
Lightnin' Hokins	The Twister	The Complete Prestige Recordings
Big Bill Broonzy	Texas Tornado Blues	The War & Postwar Years 1940-1951
Curtis Jones	Decoration Day Blues	Curtis Jones Vol. 1 1937-1938
Sonny Boy Williamson I	Decoration Blues	The Original Sonny Boy Williamson
Dan Picket	Decoration Day	Shake That Thing
Howlin' Wolf	Decoration Day	Sun Records The Blues Years 1950-1958
J & J Deuces	Sweet Woman Blues	Stompin' Vol 18
Otis Hinton	Walking Downhill	Stompin' Vol 18
Long Tall Lester	Working Man	Juicy Harmonica Vol. 1
Butterbeans & Susie	Bow Legged Papa	Vaudeville Blues 1919-1941
Sister Morgan	Hurry Down, Sunshine, and See What Tomorrow Brings	Too Late, Too Late 1927-1964
Alma Henderson	I've Got A Mama Down In New Orleans	Vocal Blues And Jazz Vol. 4
B.B. King	Worry Worry	Live At The Regal
Ironing Board Sam	I've Been Used	Double Bang
Johnny Fuller	Tin Pan Alley Blues	Fuller's Blues
Johnny Fuller	Bad Luck Overtook Me	Fuller's Blues
Lonnie Johnson	St Louis Cyclone Blues	Broadcasting The Blues
Gospel Travelers	God's Chariot Pt. 1	Get Right With God Vol. 2

Show Notes:

An eclectic mix show lined up for this Memorial Day Weekend. On deck today are a few Memorial Day songs (Decoration Day), a few tornado songs, twin spins of John Lee Hooker and Johnny Fuller as well, some interesting pre-war and post-war blues obscurities and lots more.

Like many folks I was transfixed by the news coverage of the devastating tornado in Oklahoma. It got me to thinking of some blues songs that have been recorded about tornadoes over the years. There was the St. Louis Cyclone which hit five months after the flooding of the Mississippi river. The 1927 flood provoked an outpouring of songs by both whites and African-Americans. Lonnie Johnson’s “St. Louis Cyclone Blues” was recorded in New York City just four days after the catastrophe. On September 29th a cyclone struck St. Louis, killing 84 people in five minutes and causing one million dollars in damage. The impact of this disaster was minimal in relation to the Mississippi flood and this is reflected in the fact that only four songs were released about the subject. In addition to Johnson there was a sermon by Rev. J.M. Gates titled “God’s Wrath In The St. Louis Cyclone”, Elzadie Robinson’s “St. Louis Cyclone Blues” (a shorter version of Johnson’s song) featuring the exceptional Bob Call on piano and “Tornado Groan” by Luella Miller. On April 9th 1934 Texas Alexander was backed by the Mississippi Sheiks on eight numbers. From this session comes “Frost Texas Tornado Blues”. Most sources rate this as an F4 tornado which destroyed the tiny town of Frost, Texas on May 6, 1930 leaving 41 dead. The Houston Chronicle wrote: “Bright sunshine today brought out in bold relief such a picture of death and ruin in the little town of Frost as has never been seen in this part of the state. There was no room in the little cemetery for the dead. The cemetery was covered with debris from the houses of the living. In three minutes Tuesday afternoon a black swirling monster swept out of the southwest and completely demolished a town which has been 43 years in the building, took the lives of 23 and injured a hundred more.” Lightnin’ Hopkins cut “Mean Old Twister” in 1946 and today we play a version he cut in 1964 live at Swarthmore college. Hopkins’ version draws from the imagery of Lonnie Johnson’s song. We close the show with a gospel number that I couldn’t resist playing by the Gospel Travelers called God’s Chariot. This is a remarkable two-part song cut in Memphis in 1952 complete with sound effects.

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. It was declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first blues song that I could find that references Decoration Day was singer Martha Copeland’s “On Decoration Day” cut in 1926. Next was Curtis Jones who cut “Decoration Day Blues” at his very first session which was not issued at the time, then Sonny Boy’s version, “Decoration Day Blues” was cut five months later and cut again in 1940 as “Decoration Day Blues No. 2”. Sonny Boy II covered the original Sonny Boy’s version in 1963 and Howlin’ Wolf covered it in 1952. Other version were recorded by John Lee Hooker, Dan Pickett, Bobo Jenkins, Dr. Ross, Sunnyland Slim, Bukka White and others.

We spin a trio of songs today revolving around a strange song, “Anything From A Foot Race To A Resting Place”, recorded by the obscure Jealous James Stanchell. In Treasury of Field Recordings Vol. 2 Mack McCormick writes about this song: “The song is Jealous James own composition, well known around Houston and Kansas City from his own singing, but not previously recorded or published. The recording came about one afternoon when Lightnin’ Hopkins was scheduled to make some tapes but, as usual, found himself without an acoustical guitar. He went out and found Jealous James inviting him and his guitar to come along. After finishing “Corrine Corrina” …Lightnin’ turned things over to Jealous James who sang several of his own songs, including this. Lightnin’ was so delighted with it that he promptly recorded a boogie which he dubbed “The Footrace Is On” which takes its inspiration from Jealous James’ song.” I have no idea where Big Moose Walker picked up the song but he obviously liked the number as he cut versions in 1960, 1961,1967 and 1969. Our version comes from the Bluesway album Rambling Woman.

The many record labels that came out of Memphis, Tennessee have mostly been well documented over the years. There has been one glaring omission and that is the Home Of The Blues record label that existed from 1960 through to 1962. In that short time the company issued approximately forty singles. The label grew out of Ruben Cherry’s Home Of The Blues record store on Beale Street. Most of the recordings were made at Royal Studios and Willie Mitchell joined the label as house musician and producer. He recorded three singles for the label under his own name. Big names who recorded for the label included Roy Brown and the ‘5’ Royales, both after their lengthy stints at King Records, and Larry Birdsong. Today’s featured tracks come off a brand new 32 song survey of the label called Rockin’ Rhythm ‘n’ Blues From Memphis.

We always spin tracks from out-of-print albums and today we spotlight a great Johnny Fuller album that someone asked me about awhile back but took some digging in my collection to find it. Fuller was a West Coast bluesman who left behind a fine batch of 1950’s recordings. He was equally at home with low down blues, gospel, R&B, and rock & roll. Fuller was born in Edwards, Mississippi and moved to Vallejo, California with his family at a young age. Fuller made his debut with two gospel numbers for the Jaxyson label in 1948. His blues recording career began in 1954 with sides issued on Flair and Kent and would record prolifically for several labels through 1962. Fuller’s two biggest hits, “All Night Long” and the original version of “The Haunted House,” improbably found him in the late ’50s on rock & roll package shows, touring with the likes of Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon. He was essentially retired from music in the 60’s and worked as a garage mechanic. We feature his excellent, and only full-length album, Fuller’s Blues (Bluesmaker Records 1974) with a crack band that included Phillip Walker. Unfortunately the album has not been issued on CD. Fuller passed in 1985.

Read Liner Notes

We play some interesting, if obscure, material from the pre-war and postwar eras. From the pre-war era we hear from some fine singers including Alma Henderson, Sister Morgan and Hound Head Henry. Henderson is only mentioned in the pre-war blues bible (Blues & Gospel Records 1902-1943) as being of little blues interest. I like her “annoying talking-singing style”, as Steve Tracy labels her in the notes to Vocal, Blues & Jazz 1921-1930. Of the four tracks on this set, two feature the guitar of Lonnie Johnson while the other two, including our selection, feature the great Eddie Lang on guitar. Of Henry I couldn’t say it better than writer Mike Rowe: “The buffoonish Henry was one of the, mercifully, few specialists in vocal effects; laughing, crying, imitating trains, steamboats, hounds, crowing roosters, Henry’s repertoire of sounds was wide indeed (listen to his W C. Fields for instance!). When he performs (almost) straight he makes a passable blues singer – “Silver Dollar Mama” is about his best and boasts a fine Davenport accompaniment too.” As for Sister Morgan I know nothing outside of delivering a fine performance on “Hurry Down, Sunshine, and See What Tomorrow Brings” backed by Will Shade on guitar. She cut two sides for Victor in 1927 both unissued at the time.

From the post-war era some fine down-home blues from some equally obscure artists. Otis Hinton is believed to have possibly been from Shreveport, LA. He made four recordings for Apollo Records in New York City in the early 50’s that were never issued. It wasn’t until he recorded for the small Timely label in NYC that he had a record issued in 1953. “Walking Downhill” is a killer and one wishes he recorded more. Nothing seems to be known about Lester Foster, who made two recordings in the 1950’s for the Duke label as Long Tall Lester. Our featured track, “Working Man”, is a knockout.

Big Road Blues Show 5/19/13: Keep A-Knockin’ An You Can’t Get In – Little Recorded But Great

May 19, 2013November 7, 2021 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Evil Woman Blues	Juke Joint Saturday Night
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Keep A-Knockin' an You Can't Get In	Piano Blues: The Essential
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Gang Of Brown Skin Women	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Hey! Lawdy Mama – The France Blues	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Two Little Tommies Blues	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Wesley Wallace	Fanny Lee Blues	Down On The Levee: The Piano Blues of St. Louis
Wesley Wallace	No. 29	Down On The Levee: The Piano Blues of St. Louis
Willie Harris	West Side Blues	Down In Black Bottom
Willie Harris	What Makes A Tomcat Blue?	Uptown Blues: A Decade Of Guitar -Piano Duets
Joe Dean	Mexico Blues	Down In Black Bottom
Joe Dean	I'm So Glad I'm 21 Years Old Today	Shake Your Wicked Knees
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	My Lovin' Blues	Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano Vol. 2 1928-1930
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Weary-Heart Blues	Broke, Black And Blue
Charlie Pickett	Crazy 'bout My Black Gal	Son Bonds & Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Charlie Pickett	Trembling Blues	Son Bonds & Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Don't You Leave Me Here	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Mama You Don't Know How	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed	Original Stack O'Lee Blues	Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice
Tom Dickson	Labor Blues	Blues Images Vol. 8
Tom Dickson	Death Bell Blues	Memphis Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-34
Willie Harris	Lonesome Midnight Dream	A Richer Tradition
Willie Harris	Never Drive a Stranger from Your Door	A Richer Tradition
Margaret Thornton	Texas Bound Blues	Barrelhouse Mamas
Margaret Thornton	Jockey Blues	Barrelhouse Mamas
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Frisco Bound Blues	Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano Vol. 2 1928-1930
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Forty-Four Blues	Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano Vol. 2 1928-1930
Charlie Pickett	Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon	Son Bonds & Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Charlie Pickett	Down The Highway	Son Bonds & Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Corinne, Corinna	Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano Vol. 2 1928-1930
James 'Boodle It' Wiggins	Gotta Shave 'Em Dry	Juke Joint Saturday Night
Bob Call	31 Blues	Down In Black Bottom
Tom Dickson	Happy Blues	Country Blues: The Essential
Tom Dickson	Worry Blues	The Great Race Record Labels Vol. 3
Jim Thompkins	Bedside Blues	A Richer Tradition

Show Notes:

Today’s program spotlights several outstanding blues artists who recorded very little and who we know very little about. All the artists featured today recorded from one to eight titles and all left behind barley a trace of biographical information. We hear several fine pianists including Joe Dean, Wesley Wallace as well as Bob Call, Blind Leroy Garnett and Charlie Spand who back big voiced singer James Wiggins, In addition we spin the recorded output of guitarists Willie Harris, Charlie Pickett, Tom Dickson, Jim Thompkins plus all the sides by The Down Home Boys (Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed) and singer Margaret Thornton.

Virtually nothing is known about singer James ‘Boodle It’ Wiggins who cut eight sides at three sessions for the Paramount label between 1928 and 1929. Paramount placed two ads in the Chicago Defender on November 30, 1928 (Keep A-Knockin’ An You Can’t Get In b/w Evil Woman Blues) and January 25, 1930 (“Weary Heart Blues b/w My Lovin’ Blues”). There were also two sessions on Nov. 13 and 14th 1928 that resulted in six unissued sides. Wiggins is believed to have been located in Dallas by Paramount scout R.L. Ashford who ran a music store and shoe shine parlor there. Big Bill Broonzy told Paul Oliver that Wiggins came from Louisiana. Broonzy related the following story to Oliver which appears in Screening The Blues: “Upon a return trip back home to Bogalusa in 1929, a white woman took offense when he failed to step aside for her on a public street. A local mob lynched him immediately and also shot him four times. Wiggins was a man of great strength and was actually still alive when his rope was cut down from the tree. While he survived the ordeal, he never sang about the incident.”

At his first session Wiggins cut “Keep A-Knockin’ An You Can’t Get In” which gives our show it’s title and has an interesting history. In his autobiography Born With The Blues Perry Bradford claims to be composer of the song but the first recorded version would seem to be that by Wiggins. In November 1928 Tampa Red’s Hokum Jug Band cut “You Can’t Come In,” which singer-pianist Bert Mays had cut for Vocalion a month earlier and which evolved into Little Richard’s 1957’s rock ‘n’ roll classic “Keep A Knockin.” Singer and kazoo player James “Boodle It” Wiggins had recorded essentially the same song with pianist Bob Call for Paramount in February under the title “Keep A Knockin’ An You Can’t Get In” but with a somewhat different melody. Clarence Williams recorded a similar but slower song, “I’m Busy and You Can’t Come In,” twice in September 1928, first with Eva Taylor singing and then as an instrumental. Sylvester Weaver had recorded a solo guitar piece titled “I’m Busy And You Can’t Come In” in 1924, but it bears little resemblance to the tune Williams played. Bert May’s record seems to have been the first to marry the melody of “Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” to the lyrics of “You Can’t Come In” (the same melody is also used for “Midnight Special”). Accompanying himself on slide guitar, Kokomo Arnold recorded “Busy Bootin'” his adaptation of Wiggins’s “Keep A Knockin’ An You Can’t Get In”in April 1935, with Black Bob Hudson on piano and Big Bill Broonzy on guitar. Hudson’s introduction is based on the one Bob Call used with Wiggins, but on the second verse, Johnson sings “Kinda busy and you can’t come in,” indicating a familiarity with Eva Taylor’s song, which Alura Mack had covered in 1929.

Writer Mike Rowe wrote: “ln a pioneering article (read full article below) in Blues Unlimited magazine (A Handful of Keys: Boodle It One Time?) Bob Hall and Richard Noblett analyzed Wiggins’ recordings and cast doubts on the accepted identifications of the pianists. They accept Leroy Garnett’s presence on ‘My Lovin” and ‘Weary Heart’ but doubt he plays on ‘Forty Four Blues.’ Similarly they agree Bob Call as pianist on ‘Evil Woman’ but not necessarily ‘Keep A-Knockin’.’ For Wiggins’s last coupling ‘Corinne Corinna’ and ‘Gotta Shave ‘Em Dry‘ Charlie Spand had been suggested but no firm conclusions were drawn. Bob Call, identified on two unissued Wiggins sessions, raises other questions; can the pianist of ’31 Blues’ be the same Bob Call after a gap of eighteen years crops up as a band pianist on records by Arbee Stidham, Big Bill, Jazz Gillum, Robert Nighthawk and who under his own name made a couple of jump blues? It would seem so. Call was known to have gone to school to learn to read music, presumably to expand his musical potential, and moreover the age seems right; his photograph from 1958 shows a man well into his fifties. Bob Call was shrewd enough to realize a change in style was necessary – those that wouldn’t change retired or disappeared, and left as few traces as when they arrived.”

In March/April 1927, the Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana, made its first, of several, field trips to Chicago. The hundred-odd sides seem to have been made primarily for issue on J. Mayo Williams’ short-lived Black Patti label. Many also appeared on Gennett and other labels, usually under pseudonyms. Among the sides recorded were some by Papa Harvey Hull and Long ‘Cleve’ Reed and the Down Home Boys also known as ‘Sunny Boy And His Pals, a Gennet pseudonym. It’s unclear where the group was from. It’s been suggested that they were natives of northern Mississippi, a region that is as musically different from the Delta as it is geographically.Writer Chris Smith surmised the group might be from South Memphis around Tate and Panola counties where Garfield Akers, Joe Callicott and Frank Stokes developed their two-guitar sound. Their recorded legacy is the epitome of the songster sound, featuring a coon song (“Gang of Brown Skin Women,” a retitled version of “I’ve Got a Gal for Ev’ry Day in the Week”), a bad man ballad (“Original Stack O’Lee Blues”) and material that probably dates from circa 1900, including “Don’t You Leave Me Here” (an “Alabama Bound” variant), “Mama You Don’t Know How,” “Hey! Lawdy Mama – The France Blues” and “Two Little Tommies Blues.” The last two numbers are noteworthy for the artists’ fantastic harmony singing, a characteristic much more prevalent in proto-blues material than in blues. All six of these sides are magnificent, and it’s a shame that the Down Home Boys never recorded again after 1927. It’s been suggested that Big Boy Cleveland, who recorded for Gennett shortly after Hull and Reed, was actually Long Cleve(land) Reed. A drawing of Papa Harvey Hull and Long ‘Cleve’ Reed appeared in a Black Patti advertisement published May 21, 1927.

Willie Harris cut five sides at three sessions in 1929 and 1930 for Brunswick. One of those sides was unissued. At his May 28th 1929 session he also backed singer Coletha Simpson on “ Lonesome Lonesome Blues.” Harris may also have backed Sonny Boy Nelson, Mississippi Matilda and Robert Hill at a 1936 session for Bluebird. Harris is not the same artist as William Harris who cut fourteen issued sides at four sessions for Gannet in 1927 and 1928 or Blind Willie Harris who cut one 78 in 1928.

Little is known about Charlie Pickett, who was from Brownsville, TN. Sheldon Harris reported that he was Estes cousin. Hammie Nixon had him performing in a group with Estes, Nixon, and others on the streets of Chicago in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Nixon told Kip Lornell in 1975, “He started preaching in St. Louis, been living in St. Louis for a couple of years. I think he’s preaching in Los Angeles now.” Of the song “Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon”,Nixon said, “I will never forget the first time he started playing that song, how he sung a something like, ‘When I got home, another nigger kicking in my stall.’ The bossman told him ‘don’t say that no more!'” He cut four sides for Decca in 1937 backed by Hammie Nixon and Lee Brown. Pickett also played guitar behind Estes on 19 numbers at sessions in 1937 and 1938. He or Estes may have played guitar behind pianist Lee Green at a 1937 session.

Blues pianist Wesley Wallace left behind only one 78, “Fanny Lee Blues” b/w “No. 29,” recorded for Paramount in Grafton, WI, in February of 1930. Not much is known about his life, other than the fact that he probably lived just outside of St. Louis, in Alton, MO, and that he may originally have come from Arkansas. Wallace also backed Robert Peeples, Bessie Mae Smith on record and has been suggested as the pianist behind Sylvester Palmer although this has been disputed by Henry Townsend who knew him well. Palmer cut a lone four-song session on November 15, 1929 in Chicago for Columbia. He traveled to the Windy City with Henry Townsend: “Sylvester and I went to Chicago to record for Columbia. Sylvester Palmer had his own particular style on piano, and it was a very strange style. The one number that I think sold better was ‘Do It Sloppy’ I haven’t heard anyone come close to playing that particular style; it has a ring more towards Cow Cow Davenport than anyone I know.” …I’ve heard it said that the piano player Wesley Wallace and Sylvester Palmer were one and the same person. Forget it – it’s not true. At Sylvester’s session I was sitting I was sitting right in the studio with him, and at my session he was right in the studio with me, and there was no other person involved.” As for Wallace, Townsend had the following to say: “Wesley Wallace had beautiful coordination with what he was doing, very timely. The introduction he plays to “Fanny Lee Blues” was a typical sound of this city, that beat. ”

Joe Dean recorded one great 78 in 1930: “I’m So Glad I’m Twenty-One Years Old Today b/w Mexico Bound Blues” for Paramount, who dubbed him ‘‘Joe Dean from Bowling Green.’’ Dean was born in St. Louis on April 25, 1908. Raised by his widowed mother, Dean began by playing house parties and small clubs. Dean worked in a steel mill, playing intermittently, until the 1950’s. He remained musically active on a part-time basis into the 1960’s. He eventually became the Rev. Joe Dean and died on June 24 1981. He was interviewed by Mike Rowe for Blues Unlimited magazine in 1977 (Blues Unlimited no. 127 Nov/Dec 1977, p. 4-9.).

Tom Dickson cut six sides in Memphis in 1928 for the Okeh label. Nothing is known of him except that Joe Callicott said that he played in the Memphis area.

Margaret Thornton cut one lone record for the short-lived Black Patti label in 1927, “Texas Bound Blues b/w Jockey Blues.” Thornton was a wonderful singer backed by the fine barrelhouse playing of the equally obscure Blind James Beck.

Jim Thompkins (credited in the Brunswick ledger as Peg Leg Jim Thompkins) cut two songs, “Bedside Blues” and “Down Fall Blues”, the latter never issued. When issued on 78 the flipside of “Bedside Blues” was “We Got To Get That Thing Fixed” by Speckled Red.

–A Handful of Keys: Boodle It One Time? by Bob Hall and Richard Noblett (Blues Unlimited no. 114, Jul/Aug 1975, p. 14–15) [PDF]

Big Road Blues Show 5/12/13: Good Scuffler Blues – Sideman Blues Part II

May 12, 2013March 20, 2016 Jeff 1 Comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Mary Johnson w/ Tampa Red	Death Cell Blues	Twenty First. St. Stomp: The Piano Blues Of St. Louis
James Stump Johnson w/ Tampa Red	Jones Law Blues	The Piano Blues Vol. 2 - Brunswick 1928-30
Texas Alexander w/ Lonnie Johnson	Long Lonesome Day	Texas Alexander Vol. 1
Mooch Richardson w/ Lonnie Johnson	Helena Blues	A Richer Tradition: Country Blues and String Band Music 1923-1942
Peetie Wheatstraw w/ Lonnie Johnson	Truckin' Thru Traffic	Peetie Wheatstraw Vol. 5
Lil Green w/ Big Bill Broonzy	Just Rockin'	Lil Green -1940-1941
Charlie Spand w/ Big Bill Broonzy	Rock And Rye	Roots N' Blues: Booze & The Blues
Cripple Clarence Lofton w/ Big Bill Broonzy	Brownskin Girls	The Piano Blues Vol. 9: Lofton/Noble 1935-1936
Bumble Bee Slim w/ Casey Bill Weldon	This Old Life I'm Living	Bumble Bee Slim Vol. 5 1935-1936
Memphis Minnie w/ Casey Bill Weldon	When The Sun Goes Down	Four Woman Blues
Leroy Henderson w/ Casey Bill Weldon	Good Scuffler Blues	Charley Jordan Vol.3 1935-1937
Dorothy Baker w/ Roosevelt Sykes	Steady Grinding Blues	Barrelhouse Mamas
Teddy Darby w/ Roosevelt Sykes	The Girl I Left Behind	Blind Teddy Darby 1929-1937
Napoleon Fletcher w/ Roosevelt Sykes – She Showed It All	Grass Cutter BluesShe Showed It All	Roosevelt Sykes: The Essential
Alice Moore w/ Kokomo Arnold	Grass Cutter Blues	Kokomo Arnold Vol. 3 1936-1937
Roosevelt Sykes w/ Kokomo Arnold	The Honey Dripper	Roosevelt Sykes Vol. 4 1934-1936
Peetie Wheatstraw w/ Kokomo Arnold	Working On The Project	Broadcasting the Blues
Robert Lee McCoy w/ Sonny Boy Williamson I	Tough Luck	Prowling With The Nighthawk
Yank Rachel w/ Sonny Boy Williamson I	I'm Wild And Crazy As Can Be	Yank Rachell Vol. 1 1934-1941
Ma Rainey w/ Tampa Red	Black Eye Blues	Mother of the Blues
Victoria Spivey w/ Tampa Red	Don't Trust Nobody Blues	Victoria Spivey Vol. 3 1929-1936
Bessie Mae Smith w/ Lonnie Johnson	My Daddy's Coffin Blues	St. Louis Bessie & Alice Moore Vol. 1 1927-1929
Victoria Spivey w/ Lonnie Johnson	Dope Head Blues	Blues Images Vol. 4
Georgia White w/ Lonnie Johnson	Alley Boogie	Georgia White Vol. 3 1937-1939
Mary Johnson w/ Roosevelt Sykes	Rattlesnake Blues	Mary Johnson 1929-1936
Charlie McFadden w/ Roosevelt Sykes	Gambler's Blues	Charlie ''Specks'' McFadden 1929-1937
Washboard Sam w/ Big Bill Broonzy	Life Is Just A Book	Washboard Sam Vol. 6 1941-1942
Washboard Sam w/ Big Bill Broonzy	My Feet Jumped Salty	Rockin' My Blues Away
Big Joe Williams w/ Sonny Boy Williamson I	Please Don't Go	Big Joe Williams Vol. 1 1935-1941
Speckled Red w/ Sonny Boy Williamson I	You Got To Fix It	Speckled Red 1929-1938
Big Bill Broonzy w/ Papa Charlie Jackson	At The Break of Day	All The Classic Sides 1928-1937
Lucille Bogan w/ Papa Charlie Jackson	Jim Tampa Blues	Lucille Bogan Vol. 1 1923-1929
Big Boy Teddy Edwards w/ Papa Charlie Jackson & Big Bill Broonzy	Louise	Big Boy Teddy Edwards 1930-1936
Washboard Sam w/ Big Bill Broonzy & Roosevelt Sykes	River Hip Mama	Rockin' My Blues Away

Show Notes:

Tampa Red

A few months back I did a show called “Sideman Blues” where we shined the light on some superb session musicians who backed blues artists in the pre-war era. On today’s sequel to that show we focus on some of the stars of the pre-war blues era who were also active session artists. Artists featured today include some of the era’s big names such as Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Roosevelt Sykes, Kokomo Arnold, Sonny Boy Williamson I and others who were also very active backing others on record. Bluesmen such as Big Bill, Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson and Roosevelt Sykes in particular, backed dozens of artists, both well known and obscure on record. Many of these artists also acted in the role as talent scouts for the labels.

During his heyday in the 1920’s and 30’s, Tampa Red was billed as “The Guitar Wizard,” and his stunning slide work on steel National or electric guitar shows why he earned the title. His 25 year recording career produced hundreds of sides: hokum, pop, and jive, but mostly blues (including classic compositions “Anna Lou Blues,” “Black Angel Blues,” “Crying Won’t Help You,” “It Hurts Me Too,” and “Love Her with a Feeling”). Jim O’Neal neatly summed up Tampa’s place in blues history when he wrote the following in 1975: “Few figures have been as important in blues history as Tampa Red; yet no bluesman of such stature has been so ignored by today’s blues audience. As a composer, recording artist, musical trendsetter and one of the premier urban blues guitarists of his day, Tampa Red remained popular with black record buyers for more than 20 years and exerted considerable influence on many post-World War II blues stars who earned greater acclaim for playing Tampa’s songs than Tampa himself often did.”

Tampa was a very busy session guitarist mainly in the early years of his career, circa 1928-1929. Among those he backed include Big Maceo, Lucille Bogan, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Lil Johnson, Frankie Jaxon, Victoria Spivey, Romeo Nelson, Ma Rainey, Mary Johnson and many others. Tampa’s work behind underrated singer Mary Johnson has always been among my favorites. Johnson cut six sides at two sessions in 1930. The April 8, 1930 was outstanding do in large part to the shimmering slide guitar of Tampa and the excellent piano of the under recorded Judson Brown. The two work beautifully behind Johnson on the mournful “Three Months Ago Blues” with Tampa shinning on “Dawn Of Day Blues” and the magnificent “Death Cell Blues.”

Lonnie Johnson was a true musical innovator who’s remarkable recording career spanned from the 1920’s through the 1960’s. During that time his musical diversity was amazing: he played piano, guitar, violin, he recorded solo, he accompanied down home country blues singers like Texas Alexander, he played with Louis Armtrong’s Hot Fives, recorded with Duke Ellington, duetted with Victoria Spivey and cut a series of instrumental duets with the white jazzman Eddie Lang that set a standard of musicianship that remains unsurpassed by blues guitarists. In Johnson’s single-string style lie the basic precedents of such jazz greats as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, while being a prime influence on bluesman as diverse as Robert Johnson, Tampa Red and B.B. King. Thus Johnson enjoys the rare distinction of having influenced musicians in both the jazz and blues fields. Like Tampa, Johnson backed dozens of artists on record including Texas Alexander, Jimmie Gordon, Merline Johnson, Alice Moore, Victoria Spivey, Peetie Wheatstraw, Johnnie Temple and a host of others.

Big Bill Broonzy

As Bob Riesman wrote in his biography of Big Bill Broonzy: “…Bill’s recording career took off in this era, and his prodigious output was nearly unmatched among blues musicians. From 1934 until 1942, when the combination of a musicians’ union ban and the diversion of shellac to the war effort halted virtually all recording for two years, Bill averaged better than thirteen double-sided 78 rpm records each year as a featured artist. In addition, he played on an average of forty-eight sides each year as a sideman. In other words, for nearly a decade, he averaged one new Big Bill record a month, and he appeared on two more as a studio guitarist. …As ‘Big Bill,’ he was one of the most productive and popular artists in the business, with a name that was familiar to his audiences and reinforced by his easily recognized singing style. At the same time, he became the first-call studio guitarist for dozens of recording sessions that Lester Melrose organized for several record companies, particularly Bluebird. In that capacity, he was an integral part of the distinctive sound of numerous musicians, including some of the most popular artists of the era. Two artists whose careers were interwoven with Bill’s were Washboard Sam and Jazz Gillum. Bill played guitar on a most every one of the more than 150 recordings that Sam made over a period of twenty years, as well as on many of the sides that Gillum recorded.”

Broonzy’s 40’s work with Washboard Sam really hit a high point with Big Bill laying down some lengthy, swinging amplified guitar on featured tracks like “Life Is Just A Book”, “My Feet Jumped Salty” and “River Hip Mama.” Washboard Sam recorded hundreds of records between 1935 and 1949 for the bluebird label, usually with backing by guitarist Big Bill. In 1932, Sam moved to Chicago, initially he played for tips, but soon he began performing regularly with Broonzy. Within a few years, Sam was supporting Broonzy on the guitarist’s Bluebird recordings. Soon, he was supporting a number of different musicians on their recording sessions, including pianist Memphis Slim, bassist Ransom Knowling, and a handful of saxophone players, who all recorded for Bluebird. In 1935, Sam began recording for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records. Throughout the rest of the ’30s and the ’40s, Sam was one of the most popular Chicago bluesmen, selling plenty of records and playing to packed audiences in the Chicago clubs.

Broonzy was also prominent on the recordings of Lil Green who’s “Just Rockin'” we feature today. Her professional career was launched around 1940, when the manager of a Chicago club hired her on the spot after a group of her friends had arranged for a bandleader to call her up from the audience to sing.By May 1940 Green had come to the attention of Lester Melrose, who brought her into the studio to record on the Bluebird label. He assigned a trio of musicians to back her, including Big Bill, Simeon Henry on piano, and New Orleans veteran Ransom Knowling on bass. That session produced her first hit, “Romance in the Dark.” As Broonzy noted in his autobiography: “I played for Lil Green for two years as her guitar player. I wrote some songs for her, like “My Mellow Man” and “Country Boy,” “Give Your Mama One More Smile” and some more that I fixed up for her.

Roosevelt Sykes

In 1929 Roosevelt Sykes met Jesse Johnson, the owner of the Deluxe Record Shop in St. Louis. Sykes, who at the time performed at an East St. Louis club for one dollar a night, quickly accepted Johnson’s invitation to a recording session in New York. In the early 1930s, Sykes moved to Chicago. During the Depression years, he recorded for several labels under various pseudonyms. For the Victor label, he recorded as Willie Kelly on the classic 1930 side “32-20 Blues.” Two years later, he cut his popular number “Highway 61 Blues” for Champion, the subsidiary label of Gennett Records. During the 1930’s, Sykes served as a back-up pianist for more than thirty singers including Mary Johnson and James “St. Louis Jimmy” Oden. Through the recruiting efforts of Mayo “Ink” Williams, Sykes signed with Decca Records in 1934. His 1936 Decca side “Driving Wheel Blues” emerged as a blues classic. Sykes settled in Chicago in 1941 and, within a short time, became a house musician for the Victor/Bluebird label. Although the label marketed him as the successor to Fats Waller, who recorded on the same label and died in 1943, Sykes found success as the creator of his own style and remained active as a session man.

Sonny Boy Williamson was already a harp virtuoso in his teens. He learned from Hammie Nixon and Noah Lewis and ran with Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell before settling in Chicago in 1934. Sonny Boy signed to Bluebird in 1937. Henry Townsend recalled driving Sonny Boy, Robert Nighthawk, Walter Davis and Big Joe Williams to Aurora, Illinois, in his 1930 A Model Ford for their 1937 sessions: “I transferred them to Aurora, Illinois. There was about eight or nine of us …we stacked them in the car like sardines.” This led to a marathon recording session resulting in six songs by Nighthawk (as Robert Lee McCoy), six by Sonny Boy Williamson I, four by Big Joe Williams and eight sides by Walter Davis. It was Sonny Boy’s songs, especially, “Good Morning Little School Girl”, “Bluebird Blues” and “Sugar Mama Blues” which were the biggest hits. Sonny Boy recorded prolifically for Victor both as a leader and behind others in the vast Melrose stable (including Robert Lee McCoy and Big Joe Williams, who in turn played on some of Williamson’s sides). Sonny Boy cut more than 120 sides in all for RCA from 1937 to 1947

Kokomo Arnold was born in Georgia, and began his musical career in Buffalo, New York in the early 1920’s. During prohibition, Kokomo Arnold worked primarily as a bootlegger, and performing music was a only sideline to him. Nonetheless he worked out a distinctive style of bottleneck slide guitar and blues singing that set him apart from his contemporaries. In the late 1920’s, Arnold settled for a short time in Mississippi, making his first recordings in May 1930 for Victor in Memphis under the name of “Gitfiddle Jim.” Arnold moved to Chicago in order to be near to where the action was as a bootlegger, but the repeal of the Volstead Act put him out of business, so he turned instead to music as a full-time vocation. From his first Decca session of September 10, 1934 until he finally called it quits after his session of May 12, 1938, Kokomo Arnold made 88 sides.Arnold also did session work backing Peetie Wheatstraw, Roosvelt Sykes, Alice Moore, Mary Johnson and others.

Papa Charlie Jackson

“Papa” Charlie Jackson was a six-string banjo player who was one of the earliest and most successful of the solo blues singer/instrumentalists. Jackson settled in Chicago on the famed Maxwell Street around 1920 where he began earning a living by playing on street corners and at house parties. In 1924 he cut his first solo sides “Papa’s Lawdy Blues” and “Airy Man Blues” for the Paramount label. During this period Jackson also became a sideman with many of the hot groups in and around Chicago. He also recorded with Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, Bumble Bee Slim, Big Bill Broonzy and others before his subsequent death around 1938.

Despite several busy years in the recording studio and a couple of medium-sized hits (“Somebody Changed The Lock On My Door” and “We Gonna Move (To The Outskirts of Town)”), very little is known about Casey Bill Weldon. It was assumed he was the Will Weldon who played with the Memphis Jug Band but that remains in dispute. Between 1927 and 1935 he cut just over 60 sides for Victor, Bluebird and Vocalion. He was also an active session guitarist, appearing on records by Teddy Darby, Bumble Bee Slim, Memphis Minnie, Peetie Wheatsraw and others.