tag:coblues.org,2005:/blogs/big-road-blues?p=3Big Road Blues2018-10-17T05:12:20-06:00Colorado Blues Societyfalsetag:coblues.org,2005:Post/36306602015-03-29T15:07:33-06:002023-12-10T10:03:27-07:00Big Road Blues Show 3/29/15: Deep South Piano – Little Brother Montgomery Revisited
<table id="tablepress-367" class="tablepress tablepress-id-367">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Louisiana Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery 1930-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Out West Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery 1930-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Walking Basses/Dud Low Joe/FirstVicksburg Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Conversation With The Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">The 44 (Vicksburg) Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Storyville)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Hesitatin' Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Storyville)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Bob Martin Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Storyville)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">I Keep Drinking</td>
<td class="column-3">American Folk Blues Festival '66</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Something Keeps Worrying Me </td>
<td class="column-3">Tasty Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Michigan Water Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Chicago: The Living Legends</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Adam Cato</td>
<td class="column-2">Old Barrelhouse Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Agram)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Dudlow Joe </td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Agram)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">West Texas Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery 1930-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Crescent City Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery 1930-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">I Don't Feel Welcome Here (Stingaree Blues)</td>
<td class="column-3">Farro Street Jive</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">L&N Boogie </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Mama, You Don't Mean No Good </td>
<td class="column-3">I Blueskvarter Vol. 2</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Interview</td>
<td class="column-3">I Blueskvarter Vol. 2</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Pleadin' Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Talkin' Boogie</td>
<td class="column-3">Atlantic Blues: Piano</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Cow Cow Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Irene Scruggs </td>
<td class="column-2">Must Get Mine in Front </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Annie Turner</td>
<td class="column-2">Workkhouse Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Farish Street Jive</td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery 1930-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery</td>
<td class="column-2"> Loomis Gibson Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Agram)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Roosevelt Sykes</td>
<td class="column-2">The Way I Feel Bues</td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Agram)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Woman That I Love</td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">A&B Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Little Brother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">No Special Rider Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Piano Orgy</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Cooney Vaughn's Tremblin' Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano (Storyville)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery </td>
<td class="column-2">Up The Country Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Bajez Copper Station</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/10556372_10205399538777953_4137545117647775641_n1.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/10556372_10205399538777953_4137545117647775641_n1.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Deep South Piano" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a><a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/montgfrm.htm" target="_blank">Little Brother Montgomery</a> ranks among the greatest blues pianists of the 20th century who had unusually long and prolific career. Montgomery's biographer, Karl Gert zur Heide, called Montgomery "probably the greatest all-round piano player of his time in the Deep South." He was born in 1906, passed away in the early 1980's and began his recording career in 1930. Like his contemporary, Roosevelt Sykes, both men chose to record their versions of “44 blues” at their debut sessions; Sykes cutting it first in 1929 as "Forty- Four Blues" and following year by Montgomery as “Vicksburg Blues.” Montgomery recorded steadily through the decades although never became a star like his contemporary, Sykes who cut hundreds of commercial sides for the black record buying public. Montgomery was recorded much more sparingly, cutting some two-dozen sides in the 30's, without a doubt his greatest recordings, barely recorded in the 40's and 50's but saw ample recording opportunities starting with the blues revival of the 1960's and continuing through the 1970's.</p>
<p>This is our <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/2652" target="_blank">second show</a> devoted to Montgomery, with the first also spotlighting Roosevelt Sykes. Today's show was inspired by the recent 3-CD set on the <a href="http://www.agramblues.nl/deepsouthpiano.htm" target="_blank">Agram</a> label, <em>Deep South Piano: The Music of Little Brother Montgomery, his Family, Friends and Peers</em>. These recordings stem from a trip to the United States by Karl Gert zur Heide in 1968 and 1972 to seek out piano blues players. During that trip he recorded Sunnyland Slim, Little Brother Montgomery, Sweet Williams, Lafayette Leake, Roosevelt Sykes and others. This collection serves as a belated companion to Heide's long-out-of-print book, <em>Deep South Piano: The Story of Little Brother Montgomery</em> which came out in 1970 (I recently tracked down a copy of this fascinating book). Today's show is inspired by another album I've been listening to quite a bit lately, also titled <em>Deep South Piano</em> and cut for the Storyville label in 1972. The more I listen to this record the more I feel this is one of his finest; perfectly recorded, the album finds Montgomery at his peak and in a nostalgic mood as he remembers those piano men who influenced him but never record on such songs as "Willie Anderson's Blues", "Vanado Anderson Blues", "Bob Martin Blues", "Cooney Vaughn's Tremblin' Blues", "Miles Davis Blues" and an extended reworking of his classic, "The 44 (Vicksburg) Blues." Montgomery knew a staggering number of piano players and absorbed a vast musical knowledge from them. Indeed, Montgomery knew a huge number of songs although he had a smaller number of favorites he recorded often throughout the years.</p>
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<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/b6733a4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/b6733a4.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Crescent City Blues" height="300" width="300" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/b6894b4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/b6894b4.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Farrish Street Jive" height="300" width="300" /></a></td>
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<p>Eurreal Montgomery was the fifth of ten children, born to Harper and Dicy Montgomery. The family home was in Kentwood, Louisiana where Harper ran a honky-tonk where logging workers gathered on weekends to drink, dance, gamble and listen to music. Most all of the Montgomerys were musical. Harper played clarinet, and Dicy played accordion and organ. Eurreal’s brothers and sisters all learned to play piano to one degree or another. Little Brother taught himself to play simple "three finger blues", as he called them, on a piano his father bought the family. From then on," he told his biographer Karl Gert zur Heide, "I just created simple things on my own until later I got large enough and went to hear older people play.… like Rip Top, Loomis Gibson, Papa Lord God." Montgomery had plenty of opportunity to hear older musicians. Most of them passed regularly through Kentwood and played at his father’s honky-tonk. Eventually, he told Heide, "…I ran away from home at about the age of eleven and played piano for a living."</p>
<p>Little Brother, along with a group of other players, developed a piano piece that was unlike any other, and they revelled not only in its originality, but also in its sheer difficulty. He described it as “the hardest barrelhouse of any blues in history to play because you have to keep two different times going in each hand”. This remarkable composition developed over a period of years and was inevitably picked up by other players. One of these (“a feller… (who) always used to be hangin’ around us tryin’ to get in on it”) was Lee Green. Later, in St.Louis, Green would teach it to <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/sykesfrm.htm" target="_blank">Roosevelt Sykes</a>, who in turn, was the first to put it on a record, for Okeh in New York in 1929, under the title "44 Blues."</p>
<p>Montgomery played his way through Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. He eventually moved to New Orleans. In the mid-1920's, Montgomery toured Louisiana with a variety of bands, his own and others. In 1928, Montgomery was hired by Clarence Desdune’s Dixieland Revelers, a dance band. At the end of 1928, Montgomery quit the Revelers and moved up to Chicago. He made a name for himself playing rent parties—house parties put on in black neighborhoods to raise money to pay the rent. As Heide writes: "It seems impossible to lay down a reliable chronology of Brother's movements in he mid-1920s. He traveled extensively in the areas round Louisiana and Mississippi… He probably bought his first car when he was eighteen years old. Thus he could traverse the country playing 'one-nighters.'"</p>
<p>In late 1930, Montgomery accompanied Minnie Hicks and on two songs, Irene Scruggs on four and recorded “No Special Rider blues” and "Vicksburg Blues" for Paramount. The latter song was one of the most popular blues of its day, widely imitated by bluesmen. In 1931 he cut one 78 for Melotone, "Louisiana Blues b/w Frisco Hi-Ball"and cut two 78's for Bluebird in 1935. His next recording opportunity was in October 1936 in New Orleans where he waxed a remarkable 18 song session. He also backed fifteen year old singer Annie Turner on four numbers. The recordings Montgomery laid down were undoubtedly the pinnacle of <a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Deep-South-Piano.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Deep-South-Piano-e1427324354861.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Deep South Piano Book" height="500" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="325" /></a>his career, an astonishing profusion of piano technique, originality and depth of feeling that mark these as one of the finest bodies of piano blues recorded in the era. As Chris Smith writes he was "adept at blues, jazz, stride, boogie and pop which he synthesized into a personal style that ranged easily from the bopping earthiness of "Frisco Hi-Ball" to the pearl-stringing elegance of "Shreveport Farewell." His high voice and bleating vibrato are unmistakable, especially on his signature piece, "Vicksburg Blues", a polyrhythmic showcase for his acute but never pedantic timing. it's also an example of Brother's poetry of geography; many of his songs, and even the titles of his instrumentals, are rich evocations of places he knew and the railroads that carried him between them."</p>
<p>Around the time World War II started Montgomery moved north to Chicago where he remained for the rest of his career. After the war, he began playing "old-time jazz" with musicians such as Baby Dodds and Lonnie Johnson. In 1948, he took part in a Carnegie Hall reunion concert by the Kid Ory Band and He played the Chicago club circuit regularly. Montgomery, like many others, saw himself as more than just a bluesman. From quite early on, too, Montgomery had played in jazz bands, and based in New Orleans in the 1920's, he worked with many of the great musicians in that city. It was in a jazz band that he would appear on his first issued recordings of the post-war era, together with New Orleans musicians Lee Collins (trumpet) and Oliver Alcorn (sax) and a Chicago rhythm section, in 1947 for Century. Also from the 1940's were unissued sides for Savoy in 1949.</p>
<p>In the 1950's there was sporadic recording activity, even if there were few issued records to show for it at the time: a 1951 session for Atlantic with drummer Frank ‘Sweet’ Williams, two 1953 sides for JOB and two sessions in 1954 and 1956 only four tracks were issued, on a ten-inch LP on the Winding Ball label and five rare sides cut for the Chicago label, Ebony, in 1956.</p>
<p>As electric post-war blues took hold in Chicago, Montgomery was an active session musician. He toured briefly with Otis Rush in 1956. His fame grew in the 1960's, and he continued to make many recordings. He appeared on some of the influential mid-fifties record made by Otis Rush, and played piano on one of Buddy Guy’s first big hits, his 1960 remake of Montgomery’s "First Time I Met The Blues."</p>
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<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/slp2284.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/slp2284-e1427324511112.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Deep South Piano" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="350" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/slp228b41.jpg" target="_blank">Read Liner Notes</a></td>
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<p>As momentum to Montgomery’s career picked up in the 60's and he became a world traveler, visiting the UK and Europe on several occasions during the 1960's, cutting several albums there, while remaining based in Chicago. He cut some excellent albums during this period including <em>Tasty Blues</em> for Bluesville featuring sympathetic support from guitarist <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/tholafrm.htm" target="_blank">Lafayette Thomas</a>, two exceptional records for Folkways (<em>Blues </em>and <em>Farro Street Jive</em>), the aforementioned Storyville album, a fine live recording in Amsterdam (<em>Bajez Copper Station</em>) plus band recordings with Edith Wilson and the State Street Ramblers (<em>He May Be Your Man… But He Comes To See Me Sometime!</em>), an album with the State Street Swingers (<em>Goodbye Mr. Blues</em>), recordings made for his own FM label among several others. Other notable recordings were made in 1964 for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (<em>I Blueskvarter Vol. 2</em>) and in 1960 when Montgomery visited England where he was recorded extensively by piano expert Francis Wilford Smith (issued on <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/magpifrm.htm" target="_blank">Magpie</a> as <em>These Are What I Like: Unissued Recordings Vol. 1</em> and <em>Those I Liked I Learned: Unissued Recordings Vol. 2</em>.). He continued performing and recording practically right up to his death on September 6, 1985 of congestive heart failure.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F9131&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%203%2F29%2F15%3A%20Deep%20South%20Piano%20%E2%80%93%20Little%20Brother%20Montgomery%20Revisited" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35895712015-03-10T08:52:10-06:002024-03-18T02:07:34-06:00Pledge Drive<p>Just a quick note that on our 3/15 show I will have my friend and bluesman <a href="http://www.stevegrills.com/" target="_blank">Steve Grills</a> down in the studio to help out on the pledge drive. Steve will be bring down some records to spin and I'll bring down some as well. There will be no show notes for this show.</p>
<p>The Jazz90.1 spring membership campaign is underway with a goal of $50,000 to keep the great jazz, blues and specialty programs on the air. If you're a listener of the show please help support us if you can. You can call at 966-JAZZ, 966-5299 or toll-free 1-800 -790-0415. You can also pledge online by <a title="Pledge Support for Jazz90.1" href="https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=50559" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F9122&title=Pledge%20Drive" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35845002015-03-08T14:54:28-06:002023-12-10T09:44:06-07:00Big Road Blues Show 3/8/15: Parchman Farm Blues – It Ain't But One Thing I Done Wrong, Stayed In Mississippi Just A Day Too Long
<table id="tablepress-365" class="tablepress tablepress-id-365">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Jimpson and Group </td>
<td class="column-2">Murderer’s Home </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">22 and Group </td>
<td class="column-2">It Makes A Long Time Man Feel Bad </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Foots</td>
<td class="column-2">Hollers </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Josephine Parker </td>
<td class="column-2">I Got A Man In New Orleans </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Lucille Walker </td>
<td class="column-2">Shake 'em on Down </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Beatrice Tisdall</td>
<td class="column-2">Workhouse Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Wade Walton</td>
<td class="column-2">Parchman Farm </td>
<td class="column-3">Shake 'Em On Down</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Joe Savage</td>
<td class="column-2">Joe’s Prison Camp Holler </td>
<td class="column-3">Living Country Blues USA Vol. 9</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">The Confiners</td>
<td class="column-2">Harmonica Boogie </td>
<td class="column-3">The Devil's Music</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Bama</td>
<td class="column-2">Stackalee </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Tangle Eye </td>
<td class="column-2">Tangle Eye’s Blue </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Floyd Batts</td>
<td class="column-2">Lucky Song </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Big Charlie Butler </td>
<td class="column-2">It's Better To Born Lucky</td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi: Saints & Sinners</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Dobie Red & Group</td>
<td class="column-2">Rosie </td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi: Saints & Sinners</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Bukka White </td>
<td class="column-2">Parchman Farm Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">The Complete Bukka White</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Bukka White </td>
<td class="column-2">When Can I Change My Clothes</td>
<td class="column-3">The Complete Bukka White</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Bama</td>
<td class="column-2">I’m Going Home </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Clarence Alexander</td>
<td class="column-2">Disability Boogie Woogie </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">John Dudley</td>
<td class="column-2">Cool Drink of Water Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Eva White</td>
<td class="column-2">No Mo' Freedom</td>
<td class="column-3"> Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Mattie May Thomas </td>
<td class="column-2">No Mo' Freedom </td>
<td class="column-3">American Primitive Vol. II</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Mattie May Thomas </td>
<td class="column-2">Dangerous Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">American Primitive Vol. II</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Charlie Patton</td>
<td class="column-2">Spoonful </td>
<td class="column-3">The Best of Charlie Patton</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Ed Lewis</td>
<td class="column-2">Levee Camp Holler / Interview </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Bama</td>
<td class="column-2">Levee Camp Hollers </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Clarence Alexander</td>
<td class="column-2">Prison Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Beatrice Perry </td>
<td class="column-2">I Got a Man on the Wheeler (Levee Camp Blues) </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Hattie Goff</td>
<td class="column-2">Oh Mr. Dooley, Don't 'Rest Me </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Group Of Women Prisoners </td>
<td class="column-2">If There's Anybody Here Wants to Buy Some Cabbage </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">Bridges Lee Cole </td>
<td class="column-2">Hollers</td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-32">
<td class="column-1">Bama</td>
<td class="column-2">I Don't Want You Baby</td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-33">
<td class="column-1">Grover Wells and Group </td>
<td class="column-2">Rosie</td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-34">
<td class="column-1">Son House</td>
<td class="column-2">County Farm Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-35">
<td class="column-1">Franks Evans</td>
<td class="column-2">Red River Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi: The Blues Lineage</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-36">
<td class="column-1">Bukka White</td>
<td class="column-2">Sic 'Em Dogs On </td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi Blues and Gospel: Field Recordings 1934-1942</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-37">
<td class="column-1">John Dudley </td>
<td class="column-2">Clarksdale Mill Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Southern Journey, Volume 3: 61 Highway Mississippi</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-38">
<td class="column-1">Henry Ratcliff </td>
<td class="column-2">Look for Me In Louisiana</td>
<td class="column-3">Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-39">
<td class="column-1">Ed Lewis & Prisoners </td>
<td class="column-2">I'll Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down </td>
<td class="column-3">I'll Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-40">
<td class="column-1">Mary James</td>
<td class="column-2">Go 'Way Devil Leave Me Alone</td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-41">
<td class="column-1">Five Woman </td>
<td class="column-2">Penitentiary Blues (Rickentiest Superintendent) </td>
<td class="column-3">Jailhouse Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-42">
<td class="column-1">Leroy Miller</td>
<td class="column-2">Berta, Berta </td>
<td class="column-3">Southern Journey, Volume 3: 61 Highway Mississippi</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-43">
<td class="column-1">Floyd Miller</td>
<td class="column-2">Dangerous Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">I'll Meet You On That Other Shore</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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<p><strong>Show Notes: </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DTD-37_600.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DTD-37_600-e1425518096390.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Parchman" height="344" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin-top: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px;" width="500" /></a></p>
<p>Today's show is inspired by by the recent release on Dust-To-Digital, <a href="http://www.dust-digital.com/parchman-farm/" target="_blank"><em>Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959</em></a>. The set collects sides recorded by Alan Lomax in the 40's and 50's at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Much recording was done at Parchman beginning in the 1930's and the prison has inspired many songs. Today we feature some of those songs and recordings spanning 1930 through 1962.</p>
<p>For decades the prison operated essentially as a for-profit cotton plantation and harsh working and living conditions made Parchman Farm notorious. Folklorists <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/2845" target="_blank">Alan Lomax</a>, his father <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lohtml/lojohnbio.html" target="_blank">John A. Lomax</a>, Herbert Halpert, and William Ferris all made recordings at Parchman. The Lomax's first visited Parchman in 1933 and returned numerous times to record blues, work songs, spirituals, and personal interviews with inmates. Herbert Halpert made some remarkable recordings by female inmates recorded in the prison’s sewing room in 1939. Other notable recordings include a 1939 session with bluesman Bukka White while he was serving time. Alan Lomax went back to Parchman to record in 1947, 1948 and 1959. In the late 60's William Ferris made recordings at Parchman.</p>
<p>In 1958 Alan Lomax wrote: “A few strands of wire were all that separated the prison from adjoining plantations. Only the sight of an occasional armed guard or a barred window in one of the frame dormitories made one realize that this was a prison. The land produced the same crop; there was the same work for blacks to do on both sides of the fence. And there was no Delta black who was not aware of how easy it was for him to find himself on the wrong side of those few strands of barbed wire. … These songs are a vivid reminder of a system of social control and forced labor that has endured in the South for centuries, and I do not believe that the pattern of Southern life can be fundamentally reshaped until what lies behind these roaring, ironic choruses is understood.” A report in the <em>New York Post</em> in 1957 confirms Lomax's impression: "The state penitentiary system at Parchman is simply a cotton plantation using convicts as labor. The warden is not a penologist, but an experienced plantation manager. His annual report to the legislature is not of salvaged lives; it is a profit and loss statement, with the accent on profit." Reform finally came in 1972 when federal judge William C. Keady found that Parchman Farm violated the Constitution and was an affront to "modern standards of decency."</p>
<table cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="left">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4398498710_40819ba15c1.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4398498710_40819ba15c1.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Jailhouse Blues" height="300" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="300" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jailhouseblues.pdf">Read Liner Notes</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Regarding the recordings that make up the bulk of today's show, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/6254" target="_blank">Bruce Jackson</a> writes: "Black prisoners in all the Southern agricultural prisons in the years of these recordings participated in two distinct musical traditions: free world (the blues, hollers, spirituals and other songs they sang outside and, when the situation permitted, sang inside as well) and the work-songs, which were specific to the prison situation, and the recordings in this album represent that complete range of material, which is one of the reasons this set is so important: it doesn’t just show this or that tradition within Parchman, but the range of musical traditions performed by black prisoners. I know of no other album that does that."</p>
<p>In 1947-48 Alan Lomax made these remarkable recordings at Parchman Farm, armed with state-of-the-art technology, a cassette machine. These sides were originally issued as the LP <em>Negro Prison Songs</em> and reissued on CD as <em>Prison Songs Vol. 1: Murderous Home</em> by Rounder with a companion volume following later. The bulk of this material appears on the Dust-To-Digital collection and there are also some unreleased recordings. Lomax gathered the prisons best lead signers for these recordings, all simply known by their nicknames: men like Bama, 22, Alex, Bull, Dobie Red, and Tangle Eye. Returning to the United States in 1958 (after 10 years abroad), Lomax set out on two more long field trips through the American South which resulted in nineteen albums issued on the Atlantic and Prestige International labels in the early 1960's. He traveled from the Appalachians to the Georgia Sea Islands, from the Ozarks to the Mississippi Delta, recording blues, ballads, breakdowns, hymns, shouts, chanteys, and work songs. Among those recordings were more material recorded at Parchman Farm.</p>
<p>Both Alan and his father began recording in prisons as early as 1933. Through a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, John Lomax was able to set out in June 1933 on the first recording expedition under the Library of Congress' auspices, with Alan Lomax (then eighteen years old) in tow. In July 1933 they acquired a state-of-the-art, 315-pound acetate phonograph disk recorder and proceeded to tour Texas prison farms recording work songs, reels, ballads, and blues from prisoners. During the next year and a half, father and son continued to make disc recordings of musicians throughout the South, touring Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where they found Leadbelly and made recordings at Parchman. The Lomax's recorded at Parchman throughout the 30's. One of the most famous bluesman they recorded was <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/whitbfrm.htm" target="_blank">Bukka White.</a> 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, where John Lomax recorded him performing two numbers in 1939. After his release White recorded twelve songs at a Chicago session in 1940. Among the songs he recorded were two songs about his time in prison: "Parchman Farm Blues" and "When Can I Change My Clothes?."</p>
<p><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/www.timeonparchmanfarm.com_-e1425519401874.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Parchman farm" height="333" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="500" /></p>
<p>I've always been fascinated by the females who recorded at Parchman and whom I first heard on the album <em>Jailhouse Blues</em> on the <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/rosetfrm.htm" target="_blank">Rosetta label</a>. These recordings were made in May and June 1939 by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Halpert" target="_blank">Herbert Halpert</a> in the sewing of the Woman's Camp in Parchman. Camp 13 was the woman's camp where white and black women occupied separate wards. The women's primary work was making clothes for the prisoners, mattresses and bedding. The woman also did canning and helped out in the fields. The Parchamn women were asked to sing a song, any song they chose. There were no restrictions about length or subject, but most of the songs were short and some merely fragments. The best of those singers is the remarkable Mattie May Thomas. Thomas was a senior member at Parchman for she had served twice before. She recorded four sides. One of the songs she sings, "Dangerous Blues", was also recorded by Parchman prisoner Floyd Batts and Joe Savage. John Lomax recorded some woman at Parchman in 1936.</p>
<p>There were a number of blues singers like Bukka White who did time at Parchman including Son House and Joe Savage, both featured today. After allegedly killing a man in self-defense, House spent time in prison in 1928 and 1929. According to Dan Beaumont in <em>Preaching The Blues </em>at "some point in possibly in 1927, but more likely in 1928 …at a boisterous 'frolic,' House shot and killed a man. …At the trial House claimed self-defense, but that defense failed and he was convicted and sentenced to time at the state prison, Parchman Farm." In 1930 House recorded "County Farm Blues" and recorded it again for Alan Lomax in 1942 for the Library of Congress.</p>
<table cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="right">
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<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/parchman1.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/parchman1.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Parchman 1959" height="514" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="350" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Parchman Farm, September 1959</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Joe Savage appears in the 1978 Alan Lomax documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIj1wyK1cPI" target="_blank"><em>The Land Where the Blues Began</em></a>. Savage spent several years in the Parchman State Penitentiary, and speaks on film about the brutality he faced while serving time. He was recorded in 1980 by Axel Küstner and Siegfried Christmann and issued as part of the <em>Living Country Blues USA</em> series of albums. From those recordings we play the powerful "Joe’s Prison Camp Holler."</p>
<p>Other Parchman related songs featured today included sides by <a href="http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/wade-walton" target="_blank">Wade Walton</a> and the Confiners. Clarksdale barber/musician Walton recorded the talking blues "Parchman Farm" on his long-out-of-print album, <em>Shake 'Em on Down</em>. On it he talks about bringing two white folk-song collectors (Dave Mangurian and Donald Hill) from California to the prison in 1958. In 1961, the Electro Record Company of Hattiesburg, MS released a single, the instrumental "Harmonica Boogie b/w Toss Bounce" by the Confiners a group of Parchman prisoners who were let out for public appearances.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F9047&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%203%2F8%2F15%3A%20Parchman%20Farm%20Blues%20%E2%80%93%20It%20Ain%27t%20But%20One%20Thing%20I%20Done%20Wrong%2C%20Stayed%20In%20Mississippi%20Just%20A%20Day%20Too%20Long" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35681122015-03-02T06:20:31-07:002023-12-10T12:38:17-07:00Big Road Blues Show 3/1/15: Kings Of The Twelve String – Great 12-String Blues Performances 1924-1943
<table id="tablepress-364" class="tablepress tablepress-id-364">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Blind Willie McTell</td>
<td class="column-2">Dark Night Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Classic Years 1927-1940</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Blind Willie McTell</td>
<td class="column-2">Loving Talking Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Best Of</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Blind Willie McTell</td>
<td class="column-2">Mama, Let Me Scoop For You</td>
<td class="column-3">Best Of</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Seth Richards</td>
<td class="column-2">Lonley Seth Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Country Blues Vol. 1 1928-1937</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Seth Richards</td>
<td class="column-2">Skoodeldum Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Country Blues Vol. 1 1928-1937</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Ed Andrews </td>
<td class="column-2">Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay</td>
<td class="column-3"> A Richer Tradition</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Julius Daniels </td>
<td class="column-2">Ninety-Nine Year Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">When The Sun Goes Down </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Willie Baker</td>
<td class="column-2">No No Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Charley Lincoln 1927-1930 & Willie Baker 1929</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">George Carter</td>
<td class="column-2">Ghost Woman Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 11</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">George Carter</td>
<td class="column-2">Weeping Willow Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 11</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Freddie Spruell</td>
<td class="column-2">Milk Cow Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi Blues Vol.2 1926-1935</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Charlie Kyle</td>
<td class="column-2">Kyle's Worried Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Country Blues Vol. 1 1928-1937</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Uncle Bud Walker</td>
<td class="column-2">Stand Up Suitcase Blue</td>
<td class="column-3">Mississippi Moaners</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Charlie Hicks</td>
<td class="column-2">Depot Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Charley Lincoln 1927-1930 & Willie Baker 1929</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Charlie Hicks</td>
<td class="column-2">Mama, Don't Rush Me</td>
<td class="column-3">Charley Lincoln 1927-1930 & Willie Baker 1929</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Too Tight Henry</td>
<td class="column-2">The Way I Do</td>
<td class="column-3"> Rare Country Blues Vol. 3 1928-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Too Tight Henry</td>
<td class="column-2">Charleston Contest pt 1</td>
<td class="column-3"> Rare Country Blues Vol. 3 1928-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Barbecue Bob</td>
<td class="column-2">How Long Pretty Mama</td>
<td class="column-3">The Essential</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Barbecue Bob</td>
<td class="column-2">Barbecue Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Chocolate To The Bone </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Barbecue Bob</td>
<td class="column-2">Going Up The Country</td>
<td class="column-3">Chocolate To The Bone </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Winston Holmes & Charlie Turner</td>
<td class="column-2">Kansas City Dog Walk</td>
<td class="column-3">Kansas City Blues 1924-1929</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Louis Lasky</td>
<td class="column-2">How You Want Your Rollin' Done</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 3</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">John Byrd & Washboard Walter</td>
<td class="column-2">Billy Goat Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Country Blues Vol. 2 1929-1943</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">John Byrd & Washboard Walter</td>
<td class="column-2">Old Timbrook Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Rare Country Blues Vol. 2 1929-1943</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Mae Glover & John Byrd</td>
<td class="column-2">I Ain't Givin' Nobody None</td>
<td class="column-3">I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 1</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Leadbelly </td>
<td class="column-2">The Bourgeois Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Leadbelly: Important Recordings 1934-49</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Leadbelly </td>
<td class="column-2">New York City</td>
<td class="column-3">Leadbelly: Important Recordings 1934-49</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Leadbelly </td>
<td class="column-2">Noted Rider Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Remaining LOCR Vol. 5 1938-1942</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Blind Willie McTell</td>
<td class="column-2">Searching The Desert Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Best Of</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">Barbecue Bob</td>
<td class="column-2">California Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Chocolate To The Bone </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-32">
<td class="column-1">Lonnie Johnson & Eddie Lang</td>
<td class="column-2">Midnight Call Blues</td>
<td class="column-3"> Lonnie Johnson Vol. 5 1929-1930</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-33">
<td class="column-1">Lonnie Johnson</td>
<td class="column-2">Uncle Ned, Don't Use Your Head</td>
<td class="column-3">Lonnie Johnson Vol. 7 1931-1932</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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<p><strong>Show Notes: </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cover.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cover-e1424911415692.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Kings of the Twelve String" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>Today's show was inspired by a query from a listener who asked me about an album called <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Various-Kings-Of-The-Twelve-String/release/3585886" target="_blank"><em>Kings of the Twelve String</em></a>. The album was in the catalog of the Piedmont, Gryphon, and Chesapeake labels in the 1960's and was then reissued twice by Flyright, first in 1973 and then again in 1978. I have the latter copy on Flyright and there was apparently a twelve page booklet which unfortunately my copy does not have. So on today's program we spotlight some great 12-string blues performances from the pre-war era, featuring several tracks from the <em>Kings of the Twelve String</em> album.</p>
<p>In the he 19th and early 20th century twelve-strings were regarded as “novelty” instruments. It was not till the 1920's and the 1930's that 12-string guitars became a major part of blues and folk music, where their sound made them ideal as solo accompaniment for vocalists such as Lead Belly and Blind Willie McTell. According to Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell in <em>The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly</em>: "The twelve-string in general was introduced into the United States from Mexico and Latin America, which had a long and complex history of double-stringed instruments. By 1900 a company a company called Lyon and Healy was producing them for sale in the states, and a 1928 catalog listed five different models under various brand names." <span style="line-height: 1.5;">The first recording of a male country blues singer seems to have been by a twelve-string guitarist called Ed Andrews who was recorded for Okeh in Atlanta in March or April 1924. However, in the history of the blues, artists who played the 12-string as their primary instrument were relatively few. For some reason Atlanta was the home of several 12-string players including Blind Willie, Barbecue Bob, Charlie Hicks, Julius Daniels, Willie Baker and George Carter. Other 12-string players featured today include Freddie Spruell, Uncle Bud Walker, Too Tight Henry, John Byrd and some exceptional performances by Lonnie Johnson among others.</span></p>
<p>Today we play several sides by <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/mctelfrm.htm" target="_blank">Blind Willie McTell</a> and the music of his fellow Atlanta bluesmen, just about all who were inspired by McTell. Like Memphis, Atlanta was a staging post for musicians on their way to all points. It’s not surprising then that the first country blues musician, Ed Andrews, was recorded there in 1924. The company that recorded him, Okeh, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/barbecue-bob-2.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/barbecue-bob-2-e1424911481201.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="barbecue bob 2" height="568" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="300" /></a>was one of many to send their engineers to Southern cities to record local talent. Companies like Victor, Columbia, Vocalion and Brunswick made at least yearly visits until the depression. McTell was born in Thomson, Georgia, near Augusta, and raised near Statesboro. He played a standard six-string acoustic until the mid-'20s, and never entirely abandoned the instrument, but from the beginning of his recording career, he used a 12-string acoustic in the studio almost exclusively. He was A major figure with a local following in Atlanta from the 1920's onward, he recorded dozens of sides throughout the 1930s' under a multitude of names — all the better to juggle "exclusive" relationships with many different record labels at once — including Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, and Georgia Bill, as a backup musician to Ruth Mary Willis. Willie's recording career began in late 1927 with two sessions for Victor records, eight sides including "Statesboro Blues." He recorded prolifically through the 1930's a did a session for the Library of Congress in 1940 under the supervision of John Lomax. The newly founded Atlantic Records took an interest in Willie and cut 15 songs with him in Atlanta during 1949. The one single released from these sessions, however, didn't sell, and most of those recordings remained unheard for more than 20 years after they were made. In 1950, along with his friend Curley Weaver, he cut sides for Regal. McTell cut his final sides for record store owner Ed Rhodes in 1956, who had begun taping local bluesmen at his shop in Atlanta in the hope of releasing some of it. These turned out to be the only tapes he saved, out of all he'd recorded.</p>
<p><a href="http://jasobrecht.com/atlanta-bluesmen-barbecue-bob-laughing-charley-lincoln/" target="_blank">Barbecue Bob</a> was the name given by Columbia Records talent scout Don Hornsby to Atlanta blues singer Robert Hicks. Hicks is widely credited as being the singer who more than any helped to popularize Atlanta blues in its formative period. Born to a family of sharecroppers in Walnut Grove, GA, Robert Hicks and his brother, Charley "Lincoln" Hicks relocated with them to Newton County. There the Hicks brothers came in contact with Savannah "Dip" Weaver and her son, Curley Weaver. With the Weavers, the Hicks boys learned to play guitar and sing. Robert Hicks was the first of this group to "break out"; Hicks' first Columbia record, "Barbecue Blues," recorded in Atlanta on March 25, 1927 and was a big hit. Over the next three years he made 62 sides for Columbia. Hicks died in 1931 of pneumonia. He was only 29. His brother, Charley, cut a total of twelve sides between 1927 and 1930.</p>
<p>Among the other Atlanta artists featured are Willie Baker, George Carter, <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/daniefrm.htm" target="_blank">Julius Daniels</a> and Ed Andrews. Baker was a contemporary of the Hicks brothers and cut nine sides in 1929. He was remembered to play around Patterson, Georgia, and it is possible that he saw Robert Hicks play in a medicine show in Waycross, Georgia. Other than t<a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/b6007a4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/b6007a4-e1424911550889.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" height="350" style="margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>hat, nothing further is known. Nothing is known of George Carter other then he cut four sides for Paramount in 1929. Bruce Bastin related that when Edward "Snap" Hill, a boyhood friend of Curley Weaver and the Hicks brothers was played a tape of one of Georg Carter's songs it prompted him to say: "He's from Atlanta" although he knew nothing about him. Julius Daniels cut eight songs for Victor at two sessions in 1927. The aforementioned Ed Andrews left behind two songs in 1924, "Barrel House Blues b/w Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay."</p>
<p>Unlike Atlanta there were few Mississippi artist who recorded on the 12-string. Among those featured today are Uncle Bud Walker, Freddie Spruell and transplanted Mississippian John Byrd. Walker cut one 78, "Look Here Mama Blues" b/w "Stand Up Suitcase Blues", recorded on July 30, 1928, in Atlanta, GA, and released by OKeh Records.<a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/8257" target="_blank"> Freddie Spruell</a> recorded ten tracks for OKeh, Paramount, and Bluebird between 1926 and 1935. Spruell could well be considered the first Delta blues performer to record when he cut "Milk Cow Blues" in Chicago on June 25, 1926. Spruell also backs Washboard Sam on "Ocean Blues b/w Y.M.V. Blues", Sam's 1935 debut recording for Bluebird. Spreull's Social Security file indicates he was born on December 28, 1893, and although he is generally considered a Mississippi bluesman, it appears he moved to Chicago with his parents as a small boy, and his ties to the Delta are more stylistic than geographical.</p>
<p>John Byrd was born in Mississippi around the 1890's era. At some time in his youth he relocated to Louisville, Kentucky. It may have been in Louisville where he became friends with "Washboard" Walter Taylor. He made his debut recordings in 1929 as a solo gospel artist cutting one record for Gennett as "Rev. George Jones and his Congregation". That record was issued but during the same period other recordings by him or as a member of "Washboard Walter's Trio" were unissued. Byrd and Taylor moved on to Paramount Records where Byrd cut his only solo 78 in 1930. He also found session work as a guitarist backing singer Mae Glover.</p>
<p>According to Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell in <em>The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly</em>: "Sometime during his wanderings – probably late in 1910, when he was living near Dallas – Huddie acquired his first twelve-string guitar." Leadbelly told may tales of how he picked up the instrument. One of the less fanciful stories is recounted in the book: 'I saw one of those old 12-string Stellas sitting in the window of a Dallas store. The year before I heard a man play it in one of those traveling medicine shows where they sold a cure-all for fifty cent a a bottle.' Captivated by the loud, ringing sound of the instrument, Leadbelly had spent the rest of the night hanging around the medicine show tent listening to the man play. Shortly, thereafter, when he finally saw one of the twelve-strings for sale; 'the price of the guitar was $12', he recalled, 'I had to have it.'"</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/v20658b4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/v20658b4-e1424911680607.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="v20658b4" height="350" style="margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>Others featured artists include Seth Richards, Charlie Kyle, Too Tight Henry, Louis Lasky, Winston Holmes and Charlie Turner and Lonnie Johnson. Seth Richards recorded a couple tracks under his real name in 1928, which would be his last recordings until he recorded as Skoodle Dum Doo and Sheffield in 1943. Kyle was said to have been from Texas and may have traveled to Memphis in 1928 along with female blues singers Bessie Tucker and Ida Mae Mack to record. Six of his songs were recorded, only four were issued resulting in two 78's. Born in Georgia in 1899 'Too Tight' toured extensively during the 1920's as with both Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson. In Memphis he worked with Jed Davenport. He was considered at the time as a master of the 6 and 12-string guitar. He recorded one 78 in 1928 and one in 1930. In the early 1940's he became a popular and regular performer on a Memphis based radio show. Lasky cut fives sides in 1935 as well as backing Anna Lee Chisholm, Big Bill, Memphis Minnie and Washboard Sam. It's been suggested he was a influence on Big Bill's guitar style. Nothing is known about Lasky's background but his style suggests a older musician. Turner played rack harmonica and guitar, and was an accomplished player of blues and ragtime and Holmes sang, and played guitar. Holmes backed Kansas singer Lottie Kimbrough at a 1926 session and cut six sides with Charlie Turner at a 1928 session. 12-string guitar was not Lonnie's primary instrument but he did play it on his historic duets with Eddie Lang ("Midnight Call Blues" – my favorite of the duets and a the favorite of Lonnie biographer <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/8141" target="_blank">Dean Alger</a>) and to dazzling effect on his 1931 classic, "Uncle Ned, Don't Use Your Head", both featured today.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F9038&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%203%2F1%2F15%3A%20Kings%20Of%20The%20Twelve%20String%20%E2%80%93%20Great%2012-String%20Blues%20Performances%201924-1943" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35495302015-02-22T14:52:48-07:002023-12-10T12:04:31-07:00Big Road Blues Show 2/22/15: You Got To Move – Blues Form The Newport Folk Festival Pt. 2
<table id="tablepress-363" class="tablepress tablepress-id-363">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">John Lee Hooker</td>
<td class="column-2">Great Fire Of Natchez</td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">John Lee Hooker</td>
<td class="column-2">Bus Station Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Mississippi Fred McDowell, Annie Mae McDowell & Rev. Robert Wilkins</td>
<td class="column-2">What Do You Think About Jesus</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Mississippi Fred McDowell</td>
<td class="column-2">Lord I'm Going Down South</td>
<td class="column-3">The Blues at Newport 1964 </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Rev. Gary Davis</td>
<td class="column-2">Samson and Delilah</td>
<td class="column-3">Rev. Gary Davis At Newport</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Rev. Gary Davis</td>
<td class="column-2">You Got to Move </td>
<td class="column-3">Rev. Gary Davis At Newport</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1"> Mississippi John Hurt</td>
<td class="column-2">Spikedriver Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival 1963</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1"> Mississippi John Hurt</td>
<td class="column-2">Stagolee </td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival 1963</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1"> Mississippi John Hurt</td>
<td class="column-2">Trouble, I've Had It All My Days </td>
<td class="column-3">Live Oberlin College & Newport '63</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Skip James</td>
<td class="column-2">Sick Bed Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Skip James</td>
<td class="column-2">Hard Time Killing Floor Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Son House </td>
<td class="column-2">Death Letter Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Son House </td>
<td class="column-2">Son's Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Son House w/ Mance Lipscomb</td>
<td class="column-2">Pony Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Great Bluesmen Newport </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Muddy Waters</td>
<td class="column-2">Walkin' Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Muddy Waters</td>
<td class="column-2">Flood </td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Muddy Waters</td>
<td class="column-2">I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man</td>
<td class="column-3">At Newport 1960</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Doc Reese </td>
<td class="column-2">Hey Rattler</td>
<td class="column-3">The Blues at Newport 1964 </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Elizabeth Cotton</td>
<td class="column-2">Freight train</td>
<td class="column-3">The Blues at Newport 1964</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Mance Lipscomb</td>
<td class="column-2">Freddie</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Lightnin' Hopkins</td>
<td class="column-2">Mojo Hand </td>
<td class="column-3">Live At Newport</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller</td>
<td class="column-2">San Francisco Bay Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller</td>
<td class="column-2">Double Double Do Love You</td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Robert Pete Williams</td>
<td class="column-2">The Prodigal Son</td>
<td class="column-3">The Prodigal Son</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry </td>
<td class="column-2">Key To The Highway</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1963</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Sleepy John Estes</td>
<td class="column-2">Cleanup At Home</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues at Newport</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Howlin' Wolf </td>
<td class="column-2">Dust My Broom</td>
<td class="column-3">Devil Got My Woman: Blues at Newport 1966</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Howlin' Wolf </td>
<td class="column-2">Meet Me In The Bottom</td>
<td class="column-3">Devil Got My Woman: Blues at Newport 1966</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Memphis Slim</td>
<td class="column-2">Harlem Bound</td>
<td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Robert-Wilkins.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Robert-Wilkins.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Robert Wilkins Newport 1964" height="306" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="480" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Rev. Robert Wilkins, Newport, 1964</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The Newport Folk Festival is an annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival. The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival, backed by its original board: Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger and Albert Grossman. The festival in its initial guise ran from 1959 to 1970, with no festivals scheduled in 1961 or 1962. The festival was revived in 1985. The festival's beginning in 1959 parallel the blues revival period and all of the great rediscovered bluesman appeared at the festival. The first bluesmen to appear at the festival were Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in 1959. Others who performed at Newport include Muddy Waters, who issued a live album of their 1960 performance, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Rev. Robert Wilkins, Sleepy John Estes, Robert Pete Williams, Lightnin' Hopkins and many others. Today is part two of or look at the great blues performances of Newport in particular chronological order. The following information comes from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Music-Sixties-Story-Black/dp/0813551749http://" target="_blank"><em>Blues Music in the Sixties A Story in Black and White </em></a> by Urlich Adelt.</p>
<p>"Even during the hiatus of folk song enthusiasm in the 1950s, a small group of connoisseurs kept promoting the music and helped to prepare for the full-scale folk revival between 1958 and 1965. 20 The folk music magazine <em>Sing Out!</em> was launched in 1950 as a small-scale operation and would grow into a formidable publication in the 1960s. Harry Smith’s six-disc Anthology of American Folk Music, which featured commercial recordings of blues, gospel, and string band music from the 1920s and 1930s, came out on Folkways in 1952 and would serve as an inspiration for many emerging folk musicians in the 1960s and as an impetus to rediscover the musicians featured on the recordings.</p>
<p>The Newport Folk Festival was one of the main catalysts of the 1960's folk revival. The showcasing of rediscovered blues artists, in particular in the years between 1963 and 1965, aptly demonstrates the emergence of a distinctive white blues fan culture that drew from notions of folk authenticity developed in nineteenth-century Europe and refined by the folk revivalists. …The Newport Folk Festival also revealed a particular form of antimodern blues purism, which entailed a nostalgic rediscovery of and hunt for prewar black musicians. This purism would eventually clash with the diluted but not necessarily less racialist white notions of blues authenticity represented by the plugging in of Mike Bloomfield and others.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/wolf.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/wolf-e1424220152137.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Howlin' Wolf Newport 1966" height="347" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="500" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Howlin Wolf with Hubert Sumlin on Guitar,<br>
Newport Folk Festival (1966) by David Gahr</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Although the first two Newport Folk Festivals in 1959 and 1960 were financial disasters, they drew about twelve thousand people each, an impressive number for the time. …The financial problems of both the jazz and the folk festival and the raucous crowds at the jazz festival in 1960 forced the organizers to cancel the folk festival in 1961 and 1962. …After the two-year hiatus, the Newport Folk Festival became a nonprofit operation in 1963. Among the board members of the newly established Newport Folk Foundation were George Wein, Pete Seeger, and Alan Lomax. The foundation’s mission was 'to promote and stimulate interest in the arts associated with folk music.' In addition to organizing the festival, this included fostering folk music and material culture in the field and in schools. Ralph Rinzler, another member of the board of directors, worked as talent and folklore coordinator and would seek out potential performers for the festival in rural regions of the United States and Canada.In an attempt to democratize the festival, each participant would receive a standard fee of fifty dollars (regardless of popularity) as well as travel and food reimbursements. The directors invited a larger number of amateur musicians, more women and musicians from a wider musical spectrum.</p>
<p>Interestingly, although the blues was racially coded as black or of black origin at Newport, much of the music in question was a nostalgic rehash of styles dating back to the 1920s and 1930s fraught with essentialist notions of blackness, and therefore few black people attended the concerts. Blues performers had only represented a small part of the lineup at the first two Newport Folk Festivals, but they became one of the major attractions in the years between 1963 and 1965 and contributed to a genre that fans could separate from folk music."</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8982&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%202%2F22%2F15%3A%20You%20Got%20To%20Move%20%E2%80%93%20Blues%20Form%20The%20Newport%20Folk%20Festival%20Pt.%202" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35328792015-02-15T15:17:46-07:002023-12-10T11:12:57-07:00Big Road Blues Show 2/15/15: Goodbye Newport Blues – Blues From The Newport Folk Festival Pt. 1<table class="tablepress tablepress-id-362" id="tablepress-362">
<thead> <tr class="row-1"> <th class="column-1">ARTIST</th> <th class="column-2">SONG</th> <th class="column-3">ALBUM</th> </tr>
</thead>
<tbody> <tr class="row-2"> <td class="column-1">Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee</td> <td class="column-2">My Baby Done Changed The Lock On The Door</td> <td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues 1959-1968</td> </tr> <tr class="row-3"> <td class="column-1">Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee</td> <td class="column-2">Long Gone</td> <td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues 1959-1968</td> </tr> <tr class="row-4"> <td class="column-1">Willie Thomas and Butch Cage</td> <td class="column-2">44 Blues</td> <td class="column-3">The Folk Music Of The Newport Folk Festival 1959-60 Vol. 1</td> </tr> <tr class="row-5"> <td class="column-1">John Lee Hooker</td> <td class="column-2">Tupelo</td> <td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues 1959-1968</td> </tr> <tr class="row-6"> <td class="column-1">John Lee Hooker</td> <td class="column-2">Hobo Blues</td> <td class="column-3">The Newport Folk Festival 1960 Vol. 1</td> </tr> <tr class="row-7"> <td class="column-1">Mississippi Fred McDowell</td> <td class="column-2">Highway 61</td> <td class="column-3">The Blues at Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-8"> <td class="column-1">Mississippi Fred McDowell</td> <td class="column-2">If The River Was Whiskey</td> <td class="column-3">The Blues at Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-9"> <td class="column-1">Sleepy John Estes</td> <td class="column-2">Drop Down Mama</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-10"> <td class="column-1">Robert Pete Williams</td> <td class="column-2">On My Way From Texas</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-11"> <td class="column-1">Mississippi John Hurt</td> <td class="column-2">Sliding Delta</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-12"> <td class="column-1">Mississippi John Hurt</td> <td class="column-2">Talking Casey</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-13"> <td class="column-1">Mississippi John Hurt</td> <td class="column-2">Coffee Blues</td> <td class="column-3">Newport Folk Festival 1963: The Evening Concert Vol. 1</td> </tr> <tr class="row-14"> <td class="column-1">Skip James</td> <td class="column-2">Going Back to the CountryDarling, Do You Remember Me?</td> <td class="column-3">Going Back to the Country</td> </tr> <tr class="row-15"> <td class="column-1">Skip James</td> <td class="column-2">Cypress Grove Blues</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-16"> <td class="column-1">Skip James</td> <td class="column-2">Devil Got My Woman</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-17"> <td class="column-1">Lightnin' Hopkins</td> <td class="column-2">Baby Please Don't Go</td> <td class="column-3">Lightnin' Hopkins At Newport</td> </tr> <tr class="row-18"> <td class="column-1">Wilie Doss</td> <td class="column-2">Coal Black Mare</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-19"> <td class="column-1">Wilie Doss</td> <td class="column-2">Hobo Blues</td> <td class="column-3">Blues At Newport 1964</td> </tr> <tr class="row-20"> <td class="column-1">Son House</td> <td class="column-2">Preaching Blues</td> <td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td> </tr> <tr class="row-21"> <td class="column-1">Son House</td> <td class="column-2">Empire state Express</td> <td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td> </tr> <tr class="row-22"> <td class="column-1">Lafayette Leake & Willie Dixon</td> <td class="column-2">Wrinkles</td> <td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td> </tr> <tr class="row-23"> <td class="column-1">Otis Spann</td> <td class="column-2">Goodbye Newport Blues</td> <td class="column-3">At Newport 1960</td> </tr> <tr class="row-24"> <td class="column-1">Muddy Waters</td> <td class="column-2">Soon Forgotten</td> <td class="column-3">At Newport 1960</td> </tr> <tr class="row-25"> <td class="column-1">Muddy Waters</td> <td class="column-2">I Got My Brand On You</td> <td class="column-3">At Newport 1960</td> </tr> <tr class="row-26"> <td class="column-1">Robert Wilkins</td> <td class="column-2">Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Round</td> <td class="column-3">Blues With A Feeling</td> </tr> <tr class="row-27"> <td class="column-1">Robert Wilkins</td> <td class="column-2">The Prodigal Son</td> <td class="column-3">The Prodigal Son</td> </tr>
</tbody>
</table><!-- #tablepress-362 from cache -->
<p><strong>Show Notes: </strong></p>
<table align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OB-YM417_bkrvcr_P_20130809082330.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OB-YM417_bkrvcr_P_20130809082330-e1423693803227.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="333" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="500" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;">Mississippi John Hurt performs at the Newport Folk Festival in July, 1964</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>The Newport Folk Festival is an annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival. The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival, backed by its original board: Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger and Albert Grossman. The festival in its initial guise ran from 1959 to 1970, with no festivals scheduled in 1961 or 1962. The festival was revived in 1985. The festival's beginning in 1959 parallel the blues revival period and all of the great rediscovered bluesman appeared at the festival. The first bluesmen to appear at the festival were Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in 1959. Others who performed at Newport include Muddy Waters, who issued a live album of their 1960 performance, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Rev. Robert Wilkins, Sleepy John Estes, Robert Pete Williams, Lightnin' Hopkins and many others. Today is part one of or look at the great blues performances of Newport in particular chronological order.</p>
<p>All of the great rediscovered bluesman performed at Newport; John Hurt was tracked down in Avalon, Mississippi, Bukka White in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Skip James was found in Mississippi's Tunica Hospital while Son House was residing in Rochester, New York. Eric Von Schmidt recalled the scene when <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/jamesfrm.htm" target="_blank">Skip James</a> took to the stage in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Let-Follow-You-Down/dp/0870239252" target="_blank"><em>Baby Let Me Follow You Down</em></a>: "Skip sat down, and put his guitar on his leg. He set himself down, doing a little finger manipulation with his left hand, then he set his fingers by the sound hole. Sighed and hit the first note of I'd Rather Be the Devil Than Be That Woman's Man. He took that first note up in falsetto all the way, and the hairs on the neck went up, and all up and down my arms, the hairs just went right up. It's such an eerie note. It's almost a wail. It's a cry. There was an audible gasp from the audience."</p>
<p>Skip James recorded a legendary session for Paramount Records in 1931 then vanished for 33 years leaving no trail to follow. Just another blues man who had come and gone. He was tracked down and found in the Tunica, MS, hospital and then brought north to appear at the 964 Newport Folk Festival.</p>
<p>In <em>Baby Let Me Follow You Down</em> Schmidt recalled his memories of the festival: "I was listening to <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/hurtfrm.htm" target="_blank">Mississippi John Hurt</a> sing Spike Driver Blues. It was unreal, John Hurt was dead. Had to be. All the guys on that Harry Smith Anthology were dead. But there was no denying that the man singing so sweet and playing so beautifully was the John Hurt. He had a face – and what a face. He had a hat that he wore like a halo."</p>
<p>In 1963, a folk musicologist, Tom Hoskins, supervised by Richard Spottswood, was able to locate Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi. While in Avalon, Hoskins convinced Hurt to perform several songs for him, to ensure that he was genuine. Hoskins was convinced, and seeing that Hurt's guitar playing skills were still intact, Hoskins encouraged him to move to Washington, D.C., and begin performing on a wider stage. His performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new folk revival audience.</p>
<table align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/tumblr_lv6nqudImZ1qhsatdo1_500.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/tumblr_lv6nqudImZ1qhsatdo1_500.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="336" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="500" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"> Mississippi John Hurt performs at the Newport Folk<br> Festival in July, 1964 (photo by Rick Staehling)</td> </tr>
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<p><br><a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/7894" target="_blank">Robert Wilkins</a> cut one of the great albums of the blues revival, <em>Memphis Gospel Singer</em>, recorded in 1964 for the Piedmont label but perhaps because he refused to play blues his part in the 60's revival is sometimes neglected. Wilkins hit the folk circuit, appearing at Newport in 1964 and the Memphis Country Blues Festival in 1966 and 1968. Even after the Rolling Stones covered "Prodigal Son" Wilkins steadfastly refused to play the blues. At the 1964 festival Wilkins delivered an epic nine minute version of "Prodigal Son", showing, that if anything, his playing was better than ever.</p>
<p>Other bluesmen weren't so much rediscovered as simply exposed; <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/lipscfrm.htm" target="_blank">Mance Lipscomb</a> was a gifted songster and slide guitarist who was born in 1895, who played at local functions around Navasota, Texas and did not make his debut recording until 1960. Lightin' Hopkins, another Texan had been recording since the 40's when he arrived at Newport. Mississippi McDowell was discovered by Alan Lomax in 1959 and recorded several albums before playing Newport in 1964. In 1956, <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/wil_rfrm.htm" target="_blank">Robert Pete Williams</a> shot and killed a man in a local club and was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in Angola prison. He served two years before being discovered by folklorists <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/osterfrm.htm" target="_blank">Dr. Harry Oster</a> and Richard Allen. The pair recorded Williams performing several of his own songs and helped Williams receive a pardon in 1959. For the first five years after he left prison, Williams could only perform in Louisiana, but made several albums. In 1964, Williams played his first concert outside of Louisiana, at the Newport Folk Festival. The cuts recorded of <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/dossfrm.htm" target="_blank">Willie Doss</a> at Newport in 1964 are the only recordings that were ever released of his music. Doss was born in Cleveland, Mississippi, but discovered living in Ashford, Alabama by folklorist Ralph Rinzler.</p>
<p>Successful urban bluesmen like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, faced with a diminishing market for blues in the black market, saw the festival as a way to attract a whole new audience. <em>At Newport 1960</em> was released by Muddy Waters after his appearance. When Muddy’s band played the Newport Folk Festival in 1960, Otis Spann sang "Goodbye Newport Blues" which appeared on the subsequent live album. The song was written by poet Langston Hughes in response to a riot that happened at the festival the day before.</p>
<p>Performers were paid just $50 to appear at Newport, but careers were made on this main stage. Dick Waterman who became a booking agent and business adviser to many of the rediscovered bluesmen recalled: "It's important to remember that the record companies were well represented at the festival. You only had about fifteen minutes to play, but if you performed really well in those few minutes, as you turned from the microphone and left the stage, you just might be greeted by John Hammond of Columbia, or Maynard Solomon of Vanguard, or Jac Holzman of Elektra. There were no lawyers or middlemen involved. The guy who made the decision at the record company was there to make a deal."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8957&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%202%2F15%2F15%3A%20Goodbye%20Newport%20Blues%20%E2%80%93%20Blues%20Form%20The%20Newport%20Folk%20Festival%20Pt.%201" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/35166502015-02-08T15:07:16-07:002024-03-28T04:56:28-06:00Big Road Blues Show 2/8/15: Boogie In The Park – The One Man Band Tradition
<table id="tablepress-361" class="tablepress tablepress-id-361">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Stovepipe No. 1</td>
<td class="column-2">I've Got Salvation In My Heart</td>
<td class="column-3">Stovepipe No. 1 & David Crockett 1924-1930</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Stovepipe No. 1</td>
<td class="column-2">Lonesome John</td>
<td class="column-3">Stovepipe No. 1 & David Crockett 1924-1930</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Joe Hill Louis </td>
<td class="column-2">I Feel Like A Million</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie in the Park</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Joe Hill Louis </td>
<td class="column-2">Street Walkin' Woman</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie in the Park</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller </td>
<td class="column-2">Just Like a Ship on the Deep Blue Sea</td>
<td class="column-3">Frisco Bound! with Jesse Fuller</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller </td>
<td class="column-2">Hesitation Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Jazz, Folk Songs, Spirituals, Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller </td>
<td class="column-2">Take It Slow And Easy</td>
<td class="column-3">The Lone Cat</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Doctor Ross</td>
<td class="column-2">Dr. Ross Boogie </td>
<td class="column-3">The Memphis Cuts 1953-1956</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">Doctor Ross</td>
<td class="column-2">Come Back Baby </td>
<td class="column-3">The Memphis Cuts 1953-1956</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Doctor Ross</td>
<td class="column-2">Chicago Breakdown </td>
<td class="column-3">The Memphis Cuts 1953-1956</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Daddy Stovepipe</td>
<td class="column-2">Black Snake Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Daddy Stovepipe</td>
<td class="column-2">Tuxedo Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Juke Boy Bonner</td>
<td class="column-2">Going Back to the CountryDarling, Do You Remember Me?</td>
<td class="column-3">Going Back to the Country</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Juke Boy Bonner</td>
<td class="column-2">I Live Where the Action Is</td>
<td class="column-3">The One Man Trio</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Joe Hill Louis</td>
<td class="column-2">Peace Of Mind</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie In The Park</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Joe Hill Louis</td>
<td class="column-2">Boogie In The Park</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie In The Park</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller</td>
<td class="column-2">Leavin Memphis Frisco Bound</td>
<td class="column-3">The Lone Cat</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller</td>
<td class="column-2">San Francisco Bay Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">San Francisco Bay Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Jesse Fuller</td>
<td class="column-2">Sleeping In The Midnight Cold</td>
<td class="column-3">Railroad Worksong</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Ben Curry (Blind Bogus Ben Covington)</td>
<td class="column-2">Adam And Eve In The Garden</td>
<td class="column-3">Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Ben Curry (Blind Bogus Ben Covington)</td>
<td class="column-2">Boodle De Bum Bum</td>
<td class="column-3">Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Blind Joe Hill</td>
<td class="column-2">Boogie In The Dark</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie In The Park</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Abner Jay</td>
<td class="column-2">I'm a Hard Workin Man</td>
<td class="column-3">Swaunee Water And Cocaine Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Driftin' Slim </td>
<td class="column-2">Jackson Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Somebody Hoo-Doo'd The Hoo-Doo Man</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Driftin' Slim </td>
<td class="column-2">Mama Don't Tear My Clothes</td>
<td class="column-3">Somebody Hoo-Doo'd The Hoo-Doo Man</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">J.D. Short</td>
<td class="column-2">So Much Wine</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues From The Mississippi Delta</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">J.D. Short</td>
<td class="column-2">You're Tempting Me</td>
<td class="column-3">The Sonet Blues Story</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Doctor Ross</td>
<td class="column-2">Call The Doctor</td>
<td class="column-3">A Fortune Of Blues Vol. 1</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Doctor Ross</td>
<td class="column-2">Drifting Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Call The Doctor</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">Juke Boy Bonner</td>
<td class="column-2">Struggle Here in Houston</td>
<td class="column-3">The Struggle</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-32">
<td class="column-1">Juke Boy Bonner</td>
<td class="column-2"> Life Gave Me a Dirty Deal</td>
<td class="column-3"> Life Gave Me a Dirty Deal</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
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<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Daddy-Stovepipe.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Daddy-Stovepipe.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="391" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 3px;" width="275" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Daddy Stovepipe, Gennett Records Studio, 1924<br>
Photograph From <em>Talking Machine World</em></span></strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>><br>
As Geoge Paulus wrote in the liner notes to an album by Blind Joe Hill: "The one-man blues band, like the jug band, has all but vanished from the streets and gin mills of the cities and towns." Indeed, there doesn't seem to be much documentation on the prevalence of one-man bands and looking at the history of recorded blues, their contributions are merely a ripple in the history of recorded blues. Some information can be gleaned from liner notes and there is the book <a href="http://www.thecountryblues.com/op-ed/book-review/" target="_blank"><em>Head, Hands and Feet: A Book of One Man Bands</em></a> by David Harris written a few years back that looks to be fairly comprehensive. As Pete welding wrote: "In the entire recorded history of black American folksong the number of such performers whose music has possessed anything other than curiosity or novelty value can be counted on the fingers of one hand. …One thing is certain: one-man band music is poorly represented on record. Like black string band music, it was much more commonly practiced and widely distributed through black America than its meager documentation on record would suggest, an probably for many of the same reasons. It is well known that at the very time when the largest numbers of black string bands could have been recorded by the mobile recording teams sent into the South by the record firms of the 1920's and 30's, they were largely ignored, passed over in favor of blues performers. …This one-sided emphasis tended to give us something of a distorted picture of black music."</p>
<p>On today's show we spotlight one-man band recordings made between the 1920's through the 70's. It should be noted that there are a number of artists like Papa George Lightfoot, Driftin' Slim, Washboard Willie and others who performed as one-man bands but recorded with bands in the studio. Today we hear from a few one-man bands from the pre-war era including Stovepipe #1, Daddy Stovepipe and Bogus Ben Covington and from the post-war era John Hill Louis, Doctor Ross, Jesse Fuller, Juke Boy Bonner, Driftin' Slim, J.D. Short, Abner Jay and and Blind Joe Hill.</p>
<p>From the pre-war era we spotlight music from Stovepipe #1, Daddy Stovepipe and Bogus Ben Covington. Sam Jones is remembered by elderly Cincinnati residents as a wanderer whose distinctive look (a stovepipe hat) and sound (one man band guitarist, harmonica and kazoo player blowing through a stovepipe to achieve a unique sound) made him a popular street performer. He cut sessions in 1924 as a one man band and in 1927 with guitarist Davi<a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/7886359_orig.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/7886359_orig-e1423096121446.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Joe Hill Louis" height="306" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>d Crockett. On December 11, 1930 Stovepipe with David Crockett went into the studios with a group who called themselves King David's Jug Band. They cut six sides for the Okeh label.</p>
<p>Johnny Watson, alias <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/stovefrm.htm" target="_blank">Daddy Stovepipe</a> was born in Mobile, Alabama, on April 12th 1867 and died in Chicago, November 1st 1963. By the 1920's he was working as a one-man band on Maxwell Street in Chicago, where he acquired the name "Daddy Stovepipe" from the characteristic top hat he wore. A veteran of the turn of the century medicine shows, he was in his late fifties when he became one of the first blues harp players to appear on record in 1924. n 1927 he made more recordings, this time in Birmingham, Alabama for Gennett Records. He made more recordings back in Chicago in 1931 for the Vocalion label with his wife, "Mississippi Sarah", a singer and jug player and made more recordings with her in 1935. He spent his last years as a regular performer on Chicago's famous Maxwell Street, where he made his last recordings.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/covinfrm.htm" target="_blank">Ben Covington or Ben Curry</a> is said to have been born in Alabama but to have worked mainly in Mississippi and Chicago. According to Big Joe Williams he got his nickname of "Bogus Ben" because he insisted on impersonating a blind person whilst performing on street corners and in minstrel shows. In 1928 he recorded for Paramount. He recorded again in, 1929, this time for Brunswick. It is possible that he recorded for Paramount again in 1929, this time using the name "Memphis Ben". A final session recorded in 1932 for Paramount and credited to Ben Curry is usually accepted as being by the same Bogus Ben. After this session he may have moved to Pennsylvania and is said to have died there around 1935.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cd50094.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cd50094-e1423095945844.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Doctor Ross" height="355" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>Three of the big names in one-man bands after the war were Joe Hill Louis, Doctor Isiah Ross and Jesse Fuller. <a href="http://thehoundblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/joe-hill-louis.html" target="_blank">Joe Hill Louis </a>was born Lester (or possibly Leslie) Hill on September 23, 1921 in Raines, Tennessee. He picked up Harp first and by the late '40's, his one-man musical attack was a popular attraction in Handy Park and on WDIA, the Memphis radio station where he hosted a 15-minute program billed as The Pepticon Boy. Louis’ recording debut was made for Columbia in 1949, and his music was released on a variety of labels through the 1950's, most notably recording for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records,for whom he recorded extensively as a backing musician for a wide variety of other singers as well as under his own name. "Boogie in the Park" (recorded July 1950 and released August 1950) was the only record ever released on Sam Phillips' early Phillips label before founding Sun Records. Louis cut sides for Checker Records, Meteor and Ace with his final records cut for House Of Sound shortly before his death from tetanus in Memphis in August 1957.</p>
<p>Born and raised in Georgia, <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/fullefrm.htm" target="_blank">Jesse Fuller </a>began playing guitar when he was a child, although he didn't pursue the instrument seriously. In his early twenties, Fuller eventually settled down in Los Angeles and then moved to San Francisco where he worked various odd jobs around the Bay Area, he played on street corners and parties. Fuller's musical career didn't properly begin until the early '50's, when he decided to become a professional musician at the age of 55. Performing as a one-man band, he began to get spots on local television shows and nightclubs. Fuller's career didn't take off until 1954, when he wrote "San Francisco Bay Blues." The song helped him land a record contract with the independent Cavalier label, and in 1955 he recorded his first album, <em>Folk Blues: Working on the Railroad with Jesse Fuller</em>. The album was a success and soon he was making records for a variety of labels, including Good Time Jazz and Prestige. In the late '50s and early '60s Jesse Fuller became one of the key figures of the blues revival, helping bring the music to a new, younger audience. Throughout the '60s and '70s he toured America and Europe, appearing at numerous blues and folk festivals, as well as countless coffeehouse gigs across the U.S. Fuller continued performing and recording until his death in 1976.</p>
<table border="0" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/slim.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/slim.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Driftin' Slim" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="477" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><em>From back cover of Flyright FLY 559; Photographer<b>:</b> Frank Scott </em></span></strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Born <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/dr_rofrm.htm" target="_blank">Charles Isaiah Ross</a> on October 21, 1925 in Tunica, Mississippi, he took early inspiration from the music of Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, and Sonny Boy Williamson I; primarily a harpist, hence his nickname "The Harmonica Boss", he only added the other instruments in his arsenal in order to play a USO show while a member of the Army during World War II. Upon his release from the military, Ross settled in Memphis, where he became a popular club fixture as well as the host of his own radio show on station WDIA. During the early '50s, Ross recorded his first sides for labels including Sun and Chess; in 1954 he settled in Flint, Michigan, where he went to work as a janitor for General Motors, a position he held until retiring. He recorded some singles with Fortune Records during this period, including "Cat Squirrel" and "Industrial Boogie". In 1965 he cut his first full-length LP, <em>Call the Doctor</em>, and that same year mounted his first European tour. Ross won a Grammy for his 1981 album <em>Rare Blues</em>, and subsequently enjoyed a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim towards the end of his career. He passed in 1993.</p>
<p>Another acclaimed one man band artist is <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/5310" target="_blank">Juke Boy Bonner</a>. In 1957, Bonner made his recording debut for the Irma label, in Oakland, California. He returned to touring the South, frequenting bars and juke joints in Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, where he 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. During the late 60's, Bonner suffered from bouts of ill health and underwent major stomach surgery. He earned a meager living playing gigs in Houston. Blues Unlimited magazine raised enough money for Juke Boy to cut a 45 for the Blues Unlimited label in Houston in 1967. Chris Strachwitz, owner of Arhoolie Records, on a field trip to Texas heard the record and cut an album with him in December 1967. Further sessions f<a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bonner_weldon_jukeboy.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bonner_weldon_jukeboy-e1423096780872.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Juke Boy Bonner" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>ollowed for Arhoolie in Houston during 1967, 1968 and 1969. He found his way to Europe in 1969 where he cut the album <em>Things Ain't Right</em> 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. Bonner was reduced to unloading trucks and collecting aluminum cans to make a living. 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.”</p>
<p>Among the other artists featured today are <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/micklfrm.htm" target="_blank">Driftin' Slim</a>, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/5261" target="_blank">J.D. Short</a>, <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/bljoefrm.htm" target="_blank">Blind Joe Hill</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/aug/29/unsungheroesno1abnerjay" target="_blank">Abner Jay</a>. While these artists seemed to have performed as one-man bands, most of them did their recordings within a band context except Joe Hill. Slim made his first sides in the earliest 50's backed by legendary band consisting of himself on harmonica, Baby Face Turner and Crippled Red (Junior Brooks) on guitars and Bill Russel on drums.His only true one-man band recordings were in the late 60's for Milestone which issued his only full length album, <em>Somebody Hoo-Doo'd The Hoo-Doo Man</em>, recorded by Pete Welding in 1966 and 1967. Short cut some classic sides for Paramount and Vocalion in the 30's and made some one-man band recordings when recorded by Sam Charters in the early 60's. Jay began playing in medicine shows at the age of 5 and in 1932 joined the Silas Green from New Orleans Minstrel Show. Jay went on to lead the WMAZ Minstrels on Macon radio from 1946–56 before going solo. Common instruments on Jay's recordings include harmonica, drum kit, a six-string banjo and the bones. For many years, Jay released his music and monologues through his own record label, Brandie Records, and in later year issued recordings on Mississippi Records.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8923&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%202%2F8%2F15%3A%20Boogie%20In%20The%20Park%20%E2%80%93%20The%20One%20Man%20Band%20Tradition" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/34989922015-02-01T15:05:36-07:002022-06-01T19:03:53-06:00Big Road Blues Show 2/1/15: Mix Show
<table id="tablepress-360" class="tablepress tablepress-id-360">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Doc Wiley </td>
<td class="column-2">Big House Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2 1945-50</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Walter Brown & Skip Brown's Orchestra</td>
<td class="column-2">Susie May </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2 1945-50</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Charles "Crown Prince" Waterford </td>
<td class="column-2">Time To Blow</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2 1945-50</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Alice Moore </td>
<td class="column-2">New Blue Black And Evil Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">St. Louis Women Vol. 2 1934-1941</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Josh White</td>
<td class="column-2">Black And Evil Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Josh White: Blues Singer 1932-1936</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Leroy Ervin</td>
<td class="column-2">Blue Black And Evil </td>
<td class="column-3">Texas Blues:Bill Quinn's Gold Star Recordings</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Lennie Lewis & His Orchestra (vcl. Harold Tinsley) </td>
<td class="column-2">Mean, Bad And Evil Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2 1945-50</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Lightnin' Hopkins </td>
<td class="column-2">Black and Evil</td>
<td class="column-3">Texas Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">Blind Joe Reynolds </td>
<td class="column-2">Outside Woman Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 5</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Marshall Owens</td>
<td class="column-2">Try Me One More Time</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 4</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Willie Harris </td>
<td class="column-2">Never Drive a Stranger from Your Door</td>
<td class="column-3">Jackson Blues 1928 -1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">John Lee Hooker </td>
<td class="column-2">Don't You Remember Me?</td>
<td class="column-3">I'll Go Crazy: The Federal Records Story</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Lightnin' Hopkins </td>
<td class="column-2">Darling, Do You Remember Me?</td>
<td class="column-3">Soul Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Clifford Gibson (R.T. Hanen Vcl) </td>
<td class="column-2">She's Got The Jordan River In Her Hips </td>
<td class="column-3">Clifford Gibson 1929-1931</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Washboard Sam </td>
<td class="column-2">Rive Hip Mama</td>
<td class="column-3">Rockin' My Blues Away</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Sammy Lewis & Willie Johnson </td>
<td class="column-2">So Long Baby Goodbye </td>
<td class="column-3">Sun Blues box</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Sammy Lewis</td>
<td class="column-2">You Lied To Me </td>
<td class="column-3">Blow By Blow - An Anthology of Harmonica Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Peg Leg Howell </td>
<td class="column-2">Moanin' and Groanin' Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Mississippi Sheiks </td>
<td class="column-2">Your Good Man Caught The Train and Gone</td>
<td class="column-3">Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down: The Best Of The Mississippi Sheiks</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Mobile Strugglers </td>
<td class="column-2">Memphis Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">African American Fiddlers 1926-1949</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Muddy Waters </td>
<td class="column-2">Too Young To Know</td>
<td class="column-3">The Complete Chess Recordings</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Louisiana Red</td>
<td class="column-2">Catch Me A Freight Train</td>
<td class="column-3">Forrest Cty Joe/Rocky Fuller: Memory Of Sonny Boy</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Sonny Boy Williamson II</td>
<td class="column-2">Born Blind</td>
<td class="column-3">The Chess Years Box Set</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Blind Lemon Jefferson </td>
<td class="column-2">Stocking Feet Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Meaning In The Blues </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Blind Lemon Jefferson </td>
<td class="column-2">That Crawlin' Baby Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Best Of Blind Lemon Jefferson</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Otis Spann </td>
<td class="column-2">Hotel Lorraine</td>
<td class="column-3">Martin Luther King’s Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Big Joe Williams </td>
<td class="column-2">The Death Of Dr. Martin Luther King</td>
<td class="column-3">Martin Luther King’s Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Brother Will Hairston </td>
<td class="column-2">The Alabama Bus Parts 1 & 2</td>
<td class="column-3">Martin Luther King’s Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Chocolate Brown with Blind Blake </td>
<td class="column-2">You Got What I Want</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Images Vol. 12</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">Mamie Smith</td>
<td class="column-2">Kansas City Man Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Crazy Blues: The Best of Mamie Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-32">
<td class="column-1">Lucille Bogan</td>
<td class="column-2">Tired as I Can Be</td>
<td class="column-3">Shave 'Em Dry: The Best of Lucille Bogan</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- #tablepress-360 from cache -->
<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
<p><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/120538975599.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Alice Moore: Black And Evil Blues" height="350" style="margin: 3px;" width="350" />While I do theme shows most weeks, these mix shows often contain some short themes from set to set and we certainly explore a few on today's program. On deck today we spotlight several songs that revolve around the lyric "black and evil, first popularized by singer Alice Moore, we showcase a trio of songs revolving around Martin Luther King, we play several sides from the King Records anthology <em>Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2</em>, we hear twin spins from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Sammy Lewis, plus a whole batch of great pre-war blues and more.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/196" target="_blank">Alice Moore</a>, Little Alice, as she was known, achieved a measure of success with her first record, "Black And Evil Blues" cut at her first session 1929 with three subsequent versions cut during the 1930's. Our version, "New Black And Evil Blues" was recorded in 1937.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I'm black and I'm evil, and I did not make myself</em> (2x)<br>
<em>If my man don't have me, he won't have nobody else</em><br>
<em>I've got to buy me a bulldog, he'll watch me while I sleep</em> (2x)<br>
<em>Because I'm so black and evil, that I might make a midnight creep</em><br>
<em>I believe to my soul, the Lord has got a curse on me</em> (2x)<br>
<em>Because every man I get, a no good woman steals him from me</em></p>
<p>Paul Oliver had this to say about the number: "At times the characteristics of African racial features and color have an ominous significance in the blues, which may hint that they are indirectly related to social problems. So the state of being 'blue' is associated with alienation, and is linked with an 'evil mind' or an inclination to violence. Both are coupled with the inescapable condition of being black." There's also, I think, a way of diffusing the negative "black" by owning it as Moore does, a way of empowering oneself by taking the negative associations of black and turning it around and even reveling in it. Moore's song was covered by Lil Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins and Leroy Ervin. Several other artists used the "black and evil" theme including Josh White and Lennie Lewis & His Orchestra, both who are featured today.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/bluesgospelkings-2.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/bluesgospelkings-2-e1422477862272.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Blues & Gospel Kings Vol. 2" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>Today we spotlight several songs from the second volume of an anthology that collects early sides from the legendary King label titled <em>Blues & Gospel Kings, Vol. 2 1945-50</em>. Founded by Syd Nathan in 1943, King Records was one of the most influential independent labels of the 1940s and 1950s. By the end of the latter decade, it had become the nation's sixth largest record company. The label originally specialized in country music and." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly – If it's a Hillbilly, it's a King." The company also had a "race records" label, Queen Records (which was melded into the King label within a year or two) and most notably (starting in 1950) Federal Records which launched the singing career of James Brown. In the 1950s, this side of the business outpaced the hillbilly recordings.</p>
<p>Although he was not the first male country blues singer/guitarist to record, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/5927" target="_blank">Blind Lemon Jefferson</a> was the first to succeed commercially and his success influenced previously reluctant record companies to actively seek out and record male country blues players in the hope of finding a similar talent. Throughout the ’20s Lemon spearheaded a boom in ‘race’ record sales that featured male down-home blues singers and such was the appeal of his recordings that in turn they were responsible for inspiring a whole new generation of blues singers. There's no shortage of great Lemon songs and today we spin "Stocking Feet Blues" and "That Crawlin' Baby Blues", the latter with the devastating lines:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Some woman rocks the cradle, and I declare she rules her home<br>
Woman rocks the cradle, and I declare she rules her home<br>
Many a man rocks some other man's baby and the fool thinks he's rockin' his own</em></p>
<p>I did not do a new show last week but I did want to play a few songs in honor of Martin Luther King. I did, however, see the movie <em>Selma</em> which was quite powerful. Overt political commentary was rare in recorded blues and gospel prior to the 1960’s but became increasingly more common afterwords. Several blues and gospel numbers were recorded about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in Alabama. In "Alabama Bus Pts. 1 & 2" Brother Will Hairston sings bout the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Dr. King and ignited by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man. Several blues singers paid tribute to the death of Martin Luther King including Champion Jack Dupree, Big Joe Williams and Otis Spann. All three tracks played today come from the CD <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Various-Martin-Luther-Kings-Blues/release/3290325" target="_blank"><em>Martin Luther King's Blues </em></a>on the Agram label, a companion to the book <em>President Johnson’s Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on LBJ, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and Vietnam 1963-1968</em> by Guido Van Rijn.</p>
<table cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="left">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/lewissam4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/lewissam4-e1422478175955.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Sammy Lewis" height="478" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" width="350" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Sammy Lewis (Photo from the Charly Sun Blues Box)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Harmonica blower <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/lewsafrm.htm" target="_blank">Sammy Lewis</a> and guitarist Willie Johnson recorded for Sun Records in 1955 cutting "I Feel So Worried b/w So Long Baby Goodbye." The third song from this session, "Gonna Leave You Baby" was not issued at the time. Lewis continued working in Memphis after Johnson moved north, working with an assortment of bands. He went on to cut a 45 for the West Memphis 8th Street label in 1977. He was thought to have died until he was rediscovered in 1970, still playing in West Memphis. The 8th street sides were collected on the anthology <em>Blow By Blow – An Anthology of Harmonica Blues</em> on the Sundown label.</p>
<p>We play several classics from the pre-war era and as always I try to drawn from the best sounding reissues I can find. Tracks like Blind Joe Reynolds' "Outside Woman Blues", Marshall Owens' "Try Me One More Time" and Chocolate Brown (Irene Scruggs) with Blind Blake come from the CD's that accompany record collector John Tefteller's annual <a href="http://www.bluesimages.com/" target="_blank">blues calendars</a>. The 78's are expertly remastered by Richard Nevins of Yazoo Records from the best possible copies. Other tracks like Peg Leg Howell's "Moanin' and Groanin' Blues" and Blind Lemon Jefferson's "That Crawlin' Baby Blues" come from some of the best reissue labels, Old Hat and Yazoo, A few others like Mamie Smith's "Kansas City Man Blues", Lucille Bogan's "Tired as I Can Be" and the Mississippi Sheiks' "Your Good Man Caught The Train and Gone" come from major label reissues, sometimes from the original masters, back when the majors occasionally reissued pre-war blues. So if you're not a 78 collector but are collecting pre-war blues pay attention to companies like these if you want to hear these old blues records at their best.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8897&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%202%2F1%2F15%3A%20Mix%20Show" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/34734412015-01-18T15:17:19-07:002022-07-18T09:51:18-06:00Big Road Blues Show 1/18/15: Storyville Special – Blues from Storyville Records
<table id="tablepress-359" class="tablepress tablepress-id-359">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Champion Jack Dupree</td>
<td class="column-2">Reminiscin' With Champion Jack</td>
<td class="column-3">Champion of the Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Champion Jack Dupree</td>
<td class="column-2">Storyville Special</td>
<td class="column-3">Boogie Woogie, Booze And Wild Women</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Champion Jack Dupree</td>
<td class="column-2">Drive 'em Down Special</td>
<td class="column-3">Two Fisted Piano From New Orleans: Blues Roots Vol. 8</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Speckled Red</td>
<td class="column-2">I Had My Fun</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Masters 11: Speckled Red</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Speckled Red</td>
<td class="column-2">Four O'Clock Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Masters 11: Speckled Red</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Speckled Red</td>
<td class="column-2">Early Morning Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blues Masters 11: Speckled Red</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Lonnie Johnson & Otis Spann</td>
<td class="column-2">Clementine Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Swingin' with Lonnie: Blues Roots Vol. 5</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Lonnie Johnson & Otis Spann</td>
<td class="column-2">See See Rider</td>
<td class="column-3">Swingin' with Lonnie: Blues Roots Vol. 5</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">Sleepy John Estes with Hammie Nixon</td>
<td class="column-2">Diving Duck Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Portraits In Blues Vol. 10</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">John Henry Barbee</td>
<td class="column-2">I Ain't Gonna Pick No More Cotton</td>
<td class="column-3">I Ain't Gonna Pick No More Cotton</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Sippie Wallace & Little Brother Montgomery</td>
<td class="column-2">Woman Be Wise</td>
<td class="column-3">Sippie Wallace Sings The Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Sippie Wallace & Little Brother Montgomery</td>
<td class="column-2">I'm A Might Tight Woman</td>
<td class="column-3">Sippie Wallace Sings The Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Big Joe Williams</td>
<td class="column-2">Shake Them Down</td>
<td class="column-3">Big Joe Williams</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Robert Pete Williams</td>
<td class="column-2">Doctor Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Robert Pete Williams</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Otis Spann</td>
<td class="column-2">Blue Ghost Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Otis Spann: I Have Had My Fun - Blues Roots Vol. 9</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">Otis Spann</td>
<td class="column-2">Six Weeks Old Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Otis Spann: I Have Had My Fun - Blues Roots Vol. 9</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Big Bill Broonzy</td>
<td class="column-2">I Get The Blues When It Rains</td>
<td class="column-3">An Evening With Big Bill Broonzy Vol. 2</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Big Bill Broonzy</td>
<td class="column-2">Black Brown And White</td>
<td class="column-3">An Evening With Big Bill Broonzy</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Sunnyland Slim</td>
<td class="column-2">Prison Bound Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Sunnyland Slim: Blues Roots Vol. 9</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Roosevelt Sykes</td>
<td class="column-2">The Way I Feel </td>
<td class="column-3">Roosevelt Sykes: Portraits In Blues Vol. 11</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Roosevelt Sykes</td>
<td class="column-2">Boot That Thing</td>
<td class="column-3">Memphis Minnie Vol. 4 1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Sonny Boy Williamson</td>
<td class="column-2">The Sky Is Crying</td>
<td class="column-3">Keep It to Ourselves</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Sonny Boy Williamson</td>
<td class="column-2">Rebecca Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Piano Blues</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery</td>
<td class="column-2">I Must Get Mine In Front</td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Little Brother Montgomery</td>
<td class="column-2">Bob Martin Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Deep South Piano</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Sonny Terry with Brownie McGhee </td>
<td class="column-2">I'm Afraid Of Fire</td>
<td class="column-3">Wizard Of The Harmonica</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Brownie McGhee </td>
<td class="column-2">My Last Suit</td>
<td class="column-3">The Best Of Brownie McGhee</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Memphis Slim </td>
<td class="column-2">This Is A Good Time To Write A Song </td>
<td class="column-3">Memphis Slim: Blues Roots Vol. 10</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- #tablepress-359 from cache -->
<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/slp11442.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/slp11442.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Big Bill Broonzy" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>On today's program we spotlight a great batch of recordings from the <a href="http://www.storyvillerecords.com/" target="_blank">Storyville</a> label based in Copenhagen. <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/storyfrm.htm" target="_blank">Storyville</a> managed to corral many of the great blues performers who made their way to Europe staring in the latter end of the 1950's and which increased as the American Folk Blues Festival brought many more to European shores throughout the 1960's. I have always been impressed with the quality of the albums Storyville issued. Artists like Champion Jack Dupree, Memphis Slim and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, for example, recorded prolifically for many labels often churning out less than inspired recordings in their later years but Storyville had a knack for eliciting great performances from even the most jaded artists and the fact is that the Storyville albums maintain a consistently high level of quality. In addition to the original recordings, Storyville also released albums of recordings by Harry Oster and Pete Welding.</p>
<p>The year was 1950 when a group of jazz enthusiasts/record collectors often met at the home of Karl Emil Knudsen. Among those present were Heinrich Breiling and the young clarinet phenomenon Henrik Johansen. The label was launched in Copenhagen in 1952 with Knudsen eventually taking over full responsibility of the label. Storyville originally sold imported American records but when American jazz artists began to tour in Europe and Scandinavia Knudsen seized every opportunity to record them for the label. The label's first releases were 78 rpm reissues featuring Ma Rainey, Clarence Williams Blue Five, and James P. Johnson, but Storyville soon began releasing original recordings. Looking back on the period of 1956 to 1964, and to a lesser extant into the early 70's, Storyville’s recorded quite a bit of blues. The first great blues singer to arrive in Copenhagen was Big Bill Broonzy in 1956 and recorded by the label. Many blues artists toured Europe as part of the <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/afbffrm.htm" target="_blank">American Folk Blues Festival</a>, which originally ran for a decade between 1962 and the early 70's. Storyville recorded the artists in the wee hours after they had played the evening concert. The label recorded many of the bluesmen who settled down and lived and performed in Europe including Memphis Slim, Champion Jack Dupree and Eddie Boyd. The label seemed to have a special affinity for piano players, cutting several albums by Champion Jack Dupree plus sessions by Speckled Red, Little Brother Montgomery, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Sunnyland Slim and Eddie Boyd. Others who recorded for the label include Robert Pete Williams, Big Joe Williams, Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Sonny Boy Williamson and others. A good chunk of the material has been made its way to CD including the 7-CD set, <a href="http://www.storyvillerecords.com/products/the-blues-box-1088604" target="_blank"><em>The Blues Box</em></a>. The Storyville discography can be a bit confusing as the label repackaged, and re-titled their albums through the years.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/st210094.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/st210094.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Champion Jack Dupree" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>As mentioned previously, there's a wealth of great piano blues recorded by the label. <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/duprefrm.htm" target="_blank">Champion Jack Dupree </a>moved to Europe in 1959, first settling in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. He record prolifically for Storyville, British Decca, Blue Horizon, Sonet and others. Dupree moved to Europe in 1959, first settling in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. He record prolifically for Storyville, British Decca, Blue Horizon, Sonet and others. Dupree cut 45's, EP's and several albums for Storyville including <em>Champion of the Blues</em>, <em>The Best Of The Blues</em>, <em>Portraits in Blues Vol. 5</em>, <em>The Blues Of Champion Jack Dupree</em> and several others.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/speckfrm.htm" target="_blank">Speckled Red </a>first recorded in 1929, cutting his classic "The Dirty Dozens" among others. He did another session in 1930 and a final one in 1938. Charlie O'Brien, a St. Louis policeman and something of a blues aficionado had tracked down old bluesmen during the 1950s, including Speckled Red on December 14, 1954, who subsequently was signed to Delmark Records as their first blues artist. In 1960 he was booked to tour Europe. On June he toured Scandinavia where he recorded for Storyville.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/2652" target="_blank">Little Brother Montgomery</a> saw his career pick up in the 1960's and he became a world traveler, visiting the UK and Europe on several occasions during the 1960's, cutting several albums there, while remaining based in Chicago. He cut one of his best latter day albums in 1972 for Storyville titled <em>Deep South Piano</em>. Montgomery can also be heard playing behind Sippie Wallace on the Storyville album <em>Sippie Wallace Sings The Blues</em> recorded in 1966 when when she was touring with the American Folk Blues.</p>
<p>Other piano players who recorded for Storyville were Otis Spann, Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slim, Sunnyland Slim and Eddie Boyd. Roosevelt Sykes was recorded for Storyville while on tour for the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival. 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 of the series of American Folk Festival concerts. in 1962. That same year, he moved permanently to Paris where he secured his position as one of the most prominent blues artists for nearly three decades. He recorded the album <em>Traveling With The Blues</em> for Storyville in 1960 plus some other scattered sides for the label. Otis Spann recorded an album for the label as well as backing Lonnie Johnson on a fantastic session. Both men were on tour for the 1963 American Folk Blues Festival at the time.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/6711584.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/6711584.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Sonny Boy Williamson: Portrait In Blues Vol. 4" height="350" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a><a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/3226" target="_blank">Big Bill Broonzy </a>was the first blues singer to be recorded by Storyville. In 1951, Broonzy took his first tour of Europe, where he was met with enthusiasm and appreciation. His appearances in Europe introduced the blues to European audiences and were especially influential in London’s emerging skiffle and rock blues scene. Broonzy’s success also set the stage for later blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II and Muddy Waters to play European venues. Broonzy toured Europe again in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Broonzy was recorded live at Club Montmartre in Copenhagen and these recordings were issued on Storyville as A<em>n Evening With Big Bill Broonzy Vol. 1 & 2</em>.</p>
<p>Other blues singers recorded for the label include Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Joe Williams, John Henry Barbee, Sleepy John Estes & Hammie Nixon, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Robert Pete Williams. Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon were recorded for Storyville while both were on tour for the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival while Big Joe and Robert Pete Williams were recorded for Storyville while both were on tour for the 1972 Festival. Both Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry cut excellent albums in the early 70's for Storyville each accompanying each other. Sonny Boy Williamson first traveled to Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival in 1963 and joined the Festival again in 1964. He recorded a wonderful session for Storyville in 1963 backed by Matt Murphy, Memphis Slim and Billie Stepney.</p>
<p><a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/5261" target="_blank">John Henry Barbee</a> cut an exceptional album for the label and has a fascinating but tragic story. Barbee recorded recorded for Vocalion in the early fall of 1938 where he made the trip to Chicago and recorded four titles. His initial record sold well enough to cause Vocalion to call on Barbee again, but by that time he had left his last known whereabouts in Arkansas. Barbee returned to the blues scene during the midst of the blues revival. His earliest sides are from 1963 recorded at the Chicago club the Fickle Pickle. n 1964 he joined the American Folk Blues Festival and was recorded several times that year: songs by him appear on a pair of albums on the Spivey label, several tracks were recorded while in Europe as well as a an excellent full-length album for Storyville issued as <em>Portraits in Blues Vol. 9</em>. and appears on <em>John Henry Barbee & Sleepy John Estes: Blues Live</em>. In a case of tragic circumstances, Barbee returned to the United States and used the money from the tour to purchase his first automobile. Only ten days after purchasing the car, he accidentally ran over and killed a man. He was locked up in a Chicago jail, and died there of a heart attack a few days later, November 3, 1964, 11 days before his 59th birthday.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8867&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%201%2F18%2F15%3A%20Storyville%20Special%20%E2%80%93%20Blues%20from%20Storyville%20Records" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/34522452015-01-05T08:26:38-07:002022-05-23T03:31:07-06:00Big Road Blues Show 1/4/15: The Blues Ain't Nothin' But…??? – The Year 1938
<table id="tablepress-358" class="tablepress tablepress-id-358">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
<th class="column-1">ARTIST</th>
<th class="column-2">SONG</th>
<th class="column-3">ALBUM</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-2">
<td class="column-1">Bo Carter </td>
<td class="column-2">Who's Been Here?</td>
<td class="column-3">Greatest Hits 1930-1940</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
<td class="column-1">Big Bill Broonzy</td>
<td class="column-2">Good Time Tonight</td>
<td class="column-3">Good Time Tonight</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
<td class="column-1">Kokomo Arnold</td>
<td class="column-2">Goin' Down in Galilee (Swing Along With Me)</td>
<td class="column-3">Kokomo Arnold Vol. 4 1937-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
<td class="column-1">Merline Johnson & The Louisiana Kid</td>
<td class="column-2">Separation Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Merline Johnson Vol. 2 1938-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
<td class="column-1">Trixie Smith</td>
<td class="column-2">Freight Train Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Charlie Shavers & The Blues Singers 1938-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
<td class="column-1">Rosetta Tharpe</td>
<td class="column-2">Rock Me</td>
<td class="column-3">The Original Soul Sister</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
<td class="column-1">Pete Johnson </td>
<td class="column-2">Roll 'Em</td>
<td class="column-3">Pete Johnson 1938-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
<td class="column-1">Meade Lux Lewis</td>
<td class="column-2">Honky Tonk Train Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">From Spirituals To Swing</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
<td class="column-1">Joe Turner & Pete Jonson</td>
<td class="column-2">Low Down Dog</td>
<td class="column-3">From Spirituals To Swing</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
<td class="column-1">Washboard Sam</td>
<td class="column-2">Yellow, Black And Brown</td>
<td class="column-3">Washboard Sam Vol. 2 1937-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
<td class="column-1">Jazz Gillum </td>
<td class="column-2">Boar Hog Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Bluebird Recordings 1934-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
<td class="column-1">Blind John Davis</td>
<td class="column-2">Jersey Cow Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Blind John Davis 1938-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
<td class="column-1">Shorty Bob Parker</td>
<td class="column-2">The Death of Slim Green</td>
<td class="column-3">Kid Prince Moore 1936-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-15">
<td class="column-1">Tampa Red</td>
<td class="column-2">Love with a Feeling</td>
<td class="column-3">The Essential</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-16">
<td class="column-1">Lonnie Johnson</td>
<td class="column-2">Blue Ghost Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Lonnie Johnson Vol. 1 1937-1940</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-17">
<td class="column-1">John Henry Barbee</td>
<td class="column-2">Six Weeks Old Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Memphis Blues 1927-1938)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-18">
<td class="column-1">Big Joe Williams</td>
<td class="column-2">Peach Orchard Mamma</td>
<td class="column-3">Big Joe Williams Vol. 1 1935-1941</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-19">
<td class="column-1">Blind Boy Fuller </td>
<td class="column-2">Funny Feeling Blues </td>
<td class="column-3">Blind Boy Fuller Remastered 1935-193</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-20">
<td class="column-1">Leadbelly</td>
<td class="column-2">Noted Rider Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Leadbelly - The Remaining LOCR Vol. 5 1938-1942</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-21">
<td class="column-1">Monkey Joe</td>
<td class="column-2">New York Central</td>
<td class="column-3">Monkey Joe Vol. 1 1935-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-22">
<td class="column-1">Curtis Jones</td>
<td class="column-2">Alley Bound Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Curtis Jones Vol. 2 1938-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-23">
<td class="column-1">Memphis Minnie</td>
<td class="column-2">Good Biscuits</td>
<td class="column-3">Memphis Minnie Vol. 4 1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-24">
<td class="column-1">Georgia White</td>
<td class="column-2">The Blues Ain't Nothin' But...???</td>
<td class="column-3">Georgia White Vol. 3 1937-1939</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-25">
<td class="column-1">Speckled Red</td>
<td class="column-2">Early In The Morning</td>
<td class="column-3">Speckled Red 1929-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-26">
<td class="column-1">Peetie Wheatstraw</td>
<td class="column-2">Shack Bully Stomp</td>
<td class="column-3">The Essential</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-27">
<td class="column-1">Cow Cow Davenport</td>
<td class="column-2">Railroad Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Essential</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-28">
<td class="column-1">Oscar Woods</td>
<td class="column-2">James Session Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Texas Blues: Early Masters From the Lone Star</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-29">
<td class="column-1">Harlem Hamfats</td>
<td class="column-2">I Believe I'll Make A Change</td>
<td class="column-3">Harlem Hamfats Vol. 3 1937-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-30">
<td class="column-1">Jimmie Gordon</td>
<td class="column-2">Fast Life</td>
<td class="column-3">Jimmie Gordon Vol. 2 1936-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-31">
<td class="column-1">George Curry</td>
<td class="column-2">My Last Five Dollars</td>
<td class="column-3">Frank ''Springback'' James & George Curry 1934-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-32">
<td class="column-1">Johnnie Temple</td>
<td class="column-2">Gonna Ride 74</td>
<td class="column-3">Johnnie Temple Vol. 1 1935-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-33">
<td class="column-1">Son Bonds</td>
<td class="column-2">Old Bachelor Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">Son Bonds & Charlie Pickett 1934-1941</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-34">
<td class="column-1">Sleepy John Estes</td>
<td class="column-2">Special Agent (Railroad Police Blues)</td>
<td class="column-3">I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More 1929-1941</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-35">
<td class="column-1">Sonny Boy Williamson</td>
<td class="column-2">Decoration Blues</td>
<td class="column-3">The Bluebird Recordings 1937-1938</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-36">
<td class="column-1">Yank Rachel</td>
<td class="column-2">I'm Wild And Crazy As Can Be</td>
<td class="column-3">The Original Sonny Boy Williamson Vol.1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- #tablepress-358 from cache -->
<p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p>
<table cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" align="left">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td> <a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/unnamed.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/unnamed.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="1938 Decca Cataloge" height="613" style="border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 3px;" width="350" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">1938 Decca Catalog</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Today’s show is the twelfth installment of an ongoing series of programs built around a particular year. The first year we spotlighted was 1927 which was the beginning of a blues boom that would last until 1930; there were just 500 blues and gospel records issued in 1927 and increase of fifty percent from 1926 a trend that would continue until the depression. To feed the demand other record companies conducted exhaustive searches for new talent, which included making trips down south with field recording units. The Depression, with the massive unemployment it brought, had a shattering effect on the pockets of black record buyers. Sales of blues records plummeted in the years 1931 through 1933. Things picked up again in 1934 with the companies recording full-scale again. During this period there was far less recording in the field during this period and in view of the popularity of Chicago singers there was less need. From 1934 until 1945 there were three main race labels, all selling at 35 cents: Decca, the Brunswick Record Corporation's Vocalion, and RCA-Victor's Bluebird. There were two other labels that featured a fair number of blues during this period; the store group Montgomery Ward, with a label of the same name, drew at various times on Gennett, Decca and Bluebird and Sears Roebuck used ARC material on its Conqueror label. Race record sales were up around 15 per cent in 1937. Sales were a bit down by 1938 with an average of eight race records a week, down from seven a week from the previous year.</p>
<p>From 1934 until 1945 there were three main race labels, all selling at 35 cents: Decca, the Brunswick Record Corporation's Vocalion, and RCA-Victor's Bluebird. There were two other labels that featured a fair number of blues during this period; the store group Montgomery Ward, with a label of the same name, drew at various times on Gennett, Decca and Bluebird and Sears Roebuck used ARC material on its Conqueror label. Race record sales were up around 15 per cent in 1937: Decca and Bluebird each put out around 120 items whilst BRC-ARC issued almost on Vocalion and another 100 on the dime-store labels.</p>
<p>According to John Godrich and Robert M.W. Dixon in their classic book <em>Recording The Blues</em>, the record companies "had three way of unearthing new talent: by placing advertisements in local newspapers, especially just before a field unit was due in a nearby town; by just relying on chance comments from singers, concerning other who might be good recording propositions; and by employing their own talent scouts, who carry out steady, systematic searches. The last method was intensively employed in the the thirties – <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/2652" target="_blank">Roosevelt Sykes</a>, for instance, would find likely artists for Decca (or, sometimes, for Lester Melrose). But despite this, race catalogs in the thirties relied more heavily on a small nucleus of popular singers than they had in the twenties. It was the urban style of blues that now dominated the market – and as in the previous years it was artists such as Tampa Red, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/WhizKid_SpiritSwing4.jpg"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/WhizKid_SpiritSwing4.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Spirituals to Swing Concert" height="680" width="300" /></a>Kokomo Arnold, Washboard Sam, Jazz Gillum, Memphis Minnie, Big Bill Broonzy, Peetie Wheatstraw and the Harlem Hamfats who dominated the market. Tampa cut 26 sides, the Hamfats cut around numbers under there own name as well as backing other singers, <a href="http://www.wirz.de/music/wheatfrm.htm" target="_blank">Peetie Wheatstraw</a> cut 17 sides, Washboard Sam cut over two-dozen sides, <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/242" target="_blank">Jazz Gillum</a> cut a dozen numbers and Broonzy cut around two-dozen sides. Several big name artists had their careers end during this period including Bumble Bee Slim who's last sides were cut in 1937 (he would record again in the 50's and 60's), while Kokomo Arnold and Casey Bill weldon cut their finals sessions in 1938.</p>
<p>We spin a few tracks today from a groundbreaking concert held in New York City in 1938. <em>From Spirituals to Swing</em> was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond in Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The event was dedicated to singer Bessie Smith, who died a year before in a car accident in Virginia. The concerts included performances by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, Helen Humes, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Mitchell's Christian Singers, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Terry. The idea was a history, starting with spirituals and leading up to big swing bands, involving African American performers. Hammond had difficulty gaining sponsorship for the event because it involved African American artists and an integrated audience. However, The New Masses, the journal of the American Communist Party, agreed to finance it. The boogie-woogie craze of the late 1930s and early 1940s dates from these concerts. Johnson and Turner, along with Lewis and Ammons, continued as an act after the concerts with their appearances at the Cafe Society night club, as did many of the other performers.</p>
<p>As in the previous year the blues market was dominated by Chicago singers but there several down-home singers recorded. wo down home singers who could hold their own in terms of popularity against the urban artists were Sleepy John Estes and <a href="http://sundayblues.org/archives/222" target="_blank">Blind Boy Fuller</a>. Fuller cut twenty-two sides in 1938 for Vocalion. Estes cut an eight song session on April 22, 1938 and at the same session Son Bonds cut one 78 backed by Estes. Other down-home singers featured today include Big Joe Williams, Leadbelly and John Henry Barbee.</p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fsundayblues.org%2Farchives%2F8850&title=Big%20Road%20Blues%20Show%201%2F4%2F15%3A%20The%20Blues%20Ain%27t%20Nothin%27%20But%E2%80%A6%3F%3F%3F%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Year%201938" id="wpa2a_2"><img src="//sundayblues.org/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_120_16.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Share" height="16" width="120" /></a></p>Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/34433602014-12-28T15:38:35-07:002023-12-10T09:44:05-07:00Big Road Blues Show 12/28/14: Mix Show . Show Notes: For our final show of 2014 we have a diverse mix show spanning the 1920's through the 1970's and along the way we pay tribute to two blues ladies who recently passed; we end the year on a somber note with tributes to Detroit singer Alberta Adams and L.A. singer Mickey […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/34254952014-12-21T15:53:08-07:002023-12-30T08:06:42-07:00Big Road Blues Show 12/21/14: Christmas In Jail (Ain't That A Pain) – Christmas BluesShow Notes: I've been doing a Christmas blues show for many years and was always frustrated with the lack of a really good collection of early blues Christmas songs. In 2005 I hooked up with the Document label to put together a 2-CD, 52 track collection of blues and gospel songs from the 1920's to […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/33988442014-12-14T15:07:08-07:002023-12-10T09:56:14-07:00Big Road Blues Show 12/14/14: They Call Me Big Mama – The Life and Music of Big Mama ThorntonShow Notes: Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton is probably best remembered for two songs that became huge for Elvis and later Janis Joplin. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953 and Elvis had an even bigger hit with it in 1956. Joplin covered "Ball and Chain" […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/33718532014-12-07T15:40:12-07:002023-12-10T09:55:32-07:00Big Road Blues Show 12/7/14: Going Down The Road Feeling Good – Kip Lornell's 1970's Field RecordingsShow Notes: From the 1960's through the 80's there were folklorists, researchers and dedicated fans such as David Evans, George Mitchell, Sam Charters, Chris Stratwichz, Mack McCormick, Bruce Jackson, Peter B. Lowry, Tary Owens, Art Rosenbaum, Pete Welding, Bengt Olsson, Glenn Hinson, Tim Duffy, Axel Küstner and Kip Lornell who actively sought out and recorded […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32932792014-11-16T15:07:23-07:002023-12-10T09:56:02-07:00Big Road Blues Show 11/16/14: Mix ShowShow Notes: An entertaining mix show for today featuring several tracks by Papa Charlie Jackson who was spotlighted in last week's show on blues banjo. In addition we spina set of sides revolving around the song Jackson made famous, "Salty Dog", a couple of songs revolving around both Sonny Boy's, plus we hear from several […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32741732014-11-09T15:25:14-07:002022-05-18T09:58:52-06:00Big Road Blues Show 11/9/14: I Thought I Heard My Banjo Say – Blues Banjo 1920's-1970'sPapa Charlie Jackson For sometime it seems that guitar has eclipsed every other instrument to be the the one most commonly associated with the blues. It wasn't always the case and if one looks at the history of black music it's littered with pianos, harmonicas, violins, mandolins, jugs and other instruments. The banjo has a […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32633082014-11-02T15:09:11-07:002022-05-23T21:53:12-06:00Big Road Blues Show 11/2/14: Old Country Blues – Forgotten Country Blues Heroes Pt. 8, 1960's & 70'sShow Notes: Read Liner Notes I was talking last week on the air during our pledge drive about radio and how the landscape has changed with iTunes and services like Spotify and Pandora. What I tried to emphasize is that even with these services there is a vast amount of material that has never been […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32516872014-10-26T17:36:51-06:002023-12-10T09:41:07-07:00Big Road Blues Show 10/26/14: Mix Show & MoreShow Notes: Last week our feature was on Post-War Black String Bands but due to our pledge drive we ran of time to include all the tracks I intended to play. Today we open up with those tracks with background information to be found on the notes for last week's program. The rest of the show […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32404112014-10-19T18:44:06-06:002022-05-17T06:57:15-06:00Big Road Blues Show 10/19/14: Raise a Ruckus Tonight – Post-War Black String BandsShow Notes: *Due to the pledge drive several tracks (marked with an asterisk) were not played today. We will play these tracks on next week's program. As collector Marshall Wyatt wrote, “the violin once held center stage in the rich pageant of vernacular music that evolved in the American South… and the fiddle held sway […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32292332014-10-12T15:11:48-06:002023-12-10T12:24:32-07:00Big Road Blues Show 10/12/14: I Was Born In A Lion's Den, Raised On A Smokin' Forty Five – Doctor Clayton & His BuddiesShow Notes: My buddy my buddy Doctor Clayton, he has been here and gone But you know he waved his hand, and told me to carry on We used to drink gin, beer and whiskey, and walk together all night long But now he has passed away, and told me to carry on (Willie "Long […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/32186342014-10-05T15:06:56-06:002022-05-10T04:24:41-06:00Big Road Blues Show 10/5/14: Mix ShowShow Notes We have a fine mix show lined up for the first week of October. We spotlight several albums including two sets from the new CD that accompanies record collector John Tefteller's new blues calendar, several fine sides featuring fiddler Butch Cage and friends from two long-out-of-print LP's and a set of jump blues from a […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31973802014-09-21T15:42:50-06:002022-05-16T11:45:19-06:00Big Road Blues Show 9/21/14: Take A Little Walk with Me – Mississippi Blues Pt. 5Show Notes: Today's show is the fifth in a series of shows devoted to great early Mississippi blues artists. The bulk of the artists are relatively well known and on today's show we capture the recordings they made at the start of their career. Mississippi produced some of the most powerful blues singers and guitarists […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31868302014-09-14T19:27:32-06:002022-05-31T15:57:08-06:00Big Road Blues Show 9/14/14: What's The Matter Blues – Great Recording Sessions Pt. IV (Victor In Memphis 1928 Pt. 1)Show Notes: Today's show is the fourth installment spotlighting great recording sessions; The first spotlighted two sessions conducted by the Victor label roughly a year-and-a-half apart, one in Chicago and one in New Orleans in 1936 and 1937, the second was conducted by Brunswick in Memphis in 1929 and 1930 and the third spotlighted sessions […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31763582014-09-07T10:28:59-06:002021-09-03T09:24:29-06:00Big Road Blues Show 9/7/14: Mix ShowShow Notes: This has been a busy summer and I have been taking quite a bit of time off. It's been a struggle getting these shows together on time and this one just got in under the wire. Nevertheless a good mix show lined up for today opening with a pair of lengthy cuts from […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31533492014-08-24T15:07:30-06:002023-12-10T10:18:35-07:00Big Road Blues Show 8/24/14: Sunshine Special – Great Recording Sessions Pt. III (Columbia In Dallas 1927 & 1928)Show Notes: Today's show is the third installment spotlighting great recording sessions. The first spotlighted two sessions conducted by the Victor label roughly a year-and-a-half apart, one in Chicago and one in New Orleans in 1936 and 1937, the second was conducted by Brunswick in Memphis in 1929 and 1930. Today we spotlight some great […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418142014-08-03T19:18:34-06:002022-05-31T10:22:26-06:00Big Road Blues Show 8/3/14: Talkin' to You Wimmen About the Blues – Classic Female/Male DuetsShow Notes: Today's show is something of a sequel to a couple of related shows I aired a couple of years back: Fence Breakin' Blues – Great Country Blues Guitar Duets and Play It It 'Till I Turn High Yeller – Great Guitar/Piano Duets. Today we spotlight some classic blues and gospel female/male duets spanning […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418152014-07-27T15:52:20-06:002022-05-30T10:55:01-06:00Big Road Blues Show 7/27/14: Mix ShowShow Notes: As I'm looking over today's mix show I have to say, even by the standards of this show, there's some pretty obscure stuff. The mix shows are basically songs that have caught my ear that I haven't played before, new stuff I've acquired or older records I've revisited. Now I never purposely play […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418162014-07-13T15:05:45-06:002023-12-10T09:58:02-07:00Big Road Blues Show 7/13/14: Mix ShowShow Notes: Today's mix show has several themes and featured artists running throughout. On deck today we play songs revolving around the term "11-29" and spin a trio of songs based on Sippie Wallace's "Up The Country Blues." We also feature twin spins form Julia Moody, Big Joe Williams and Blind Willie McTell. We hear […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418172014-07-06T15:05:09-06:002023-12-10T10:02:24-07:00Big Road Blues Show 7/6/14: Way Down In the Delta, That's Where I Long To Be – Mississippi Blues Pt. IIIShow Notes: Today's show is the third in a series of shows devoted to great early Mississippi blues artists, most little remembered today. Mississippi produced some of the most powerful blues singers and guitarists of the 1920's and 1930's although one could say that the intense interest in Mississippi has taken the spotlight away from […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418182014-06-29T15:04:45-06:002022-05-28T14:49:23-06:00Big Road Blues Show 6/29/14: Jackson Stomp – Blues From Jackson MississippiShow Notes: As writer Scott Barretta wrote in an article on Jackson blues: "Intersected by I-55 about halfway between Memphis and New Orleans, Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi, arguably has as grand a blues heritage as those cities and the Delta to its northwest." Jackson, Mississippi in the 1920’s was a city with a […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418192014-06-15T14:20:57-06:002022-03-11T08:23:56-07:00Big Road Blues Show 6/15/14: Mix ShowShow Notes: While the heart of this program is our weekly theme shows, where I get to dig deep into a particular theme or topic, the monthly mix show give me a bit of a breather and the opportunity to tackle things that don't fit in to our theme shows. The mix shows also usually […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418202014-06-08T15:12:34-06:002022-05-30T14:06:38-06:00Big Road Blues Show 6/8/14: Diving Mama – Spivey Records Pt. IIShow Notes: Victoria Spivey Spivey Records was a blues record label, founded by blues singer Victoria Spivey and her partner and jazz historian Len Kunstadt in 1961. The label was originally called Queen Vee Records, changing the name to Spivey records the following year. I believe only a couple of 45's were issued under the […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418212014-05-21T14:01:14-06:002022-03-16T06:01:33-06:00Big Road Blues Show 5/18/14: New York Moan – Spivey Records Pt. IShow Notes: Spivey Records was a blues record label, founded by blues singer Victoria Spivey and her partner and jazz historian Len Kunstadt in 1961. The label was originally called Queen Vee Records, changing the name to Spivey records the following year. I believe only a couple of 45's were issued under the Queen […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418222014-05-11T19:19:49-06:002022-05-31T02:49:33-06:00Big Road Blues Show 5/11/14: New Orleans, They Call It The Land Of Dreams – The Legendary Lonnie JohnsonShow Notes: Lonnie Johnson (left) in 1941. Photo by Russell Lee (Library of Congress). Dear old New Orleans, they call it the land of dreams Yes, dear old New Orleans, it’s known for the land of dreams It’s my old hometown, it’s dear old New Orleans I first spoke with Dean Alger back in 2009 […]Colorado Blues Societytag:coblues.org,2005:Post/31418232014-05-04T14:55:13-06:002022-05-07T05:08:06-06:00Big Road Blues Show 5/4/14: Mississippi Moan – Forgotten Early Mississippi Greats Pt. 1Show Notes: Today's show is the first of a series of shows devoted to great early Mississippi blues artists, most little remembered today. Ishman Bracey, Rube Lacey and Willie Lofton hailed from the fertile Jackson, MS region. Little is known of Lofton who cut eight titles in 1934 and 1935. Despite cutting only one 78 […]Colorado Blues Society