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Big Road Blues Show 4/14/24: High Priced Whiskey And Woman Done Put Me On The Killin’ Floor – Origins of Classic Blues Songs Pt. 6

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

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Sitting Here Wondering	Ike Turner: Rocks The Blues
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Wrong Doing Woman	Blues Complete
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Talkin' About Me	Ike Turner: Rocks The Blues
Lonnie Holmes	'51 Boogie	Shout, Brother, Shout!
Charlie Booker	Walked All Night	The Sun Blues Box 1950-1958
Sonny Boy Williamson II	She's Crazy	From The Bottom
Earl Hooker	Yeah Yeah	Chicago Blues from C.J. Records Vol. 2
Earl Hooker	Swear To Tell the Truth	Earl Hooker And His Blues Guitar
Earl Hooker	That Man	Earl Hooker And His Blues Guitar
Earl Hooker	Rocking Wild	Earl Hooker And His Blues Guitar
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Footrace to a Resting Place	To Know A Man
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	The Bright Sound	Blue Guitar
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Look Over Yonder Wall	Don't Have To Worry
Earl Hooker	Tanya	Simply The Best
Earl Hooker	You Got To Lose	Don't Have To Worry
Earl Hooker	Crying Blues	Blue Guitar
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Is You Ever See a One-Eyed Woman Crying?	Don't Have To Worry
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	The Sky Is Crying	Rambling Woman
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Leave My Woman Alone	Rambling Woman
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Would You Baby	Rambling Woman
Elmore James	Mean Mistreatin' Mama	The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings
Elmore James	Sunnyland Train	The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings
Elmore James	Talk To Me Baby	The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings
Sammy Myers	Poor Little Angel Child	Blues Harmonica Wizards
A.C. Reed	That Ain’t Right	Blue Guitar
Muddy Waters	Little Brown Bird	The Complete Aristocrat & Chess Singles As & Bs 1947-62
Muddy Waters	Going Home	The Complete Aristocrat & Chess Singles As & Bs 1947-62
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Things I Used to Do	Complete Studio Recordings 1955-1984
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Cry, Cry Darling	Living Chicago Blues Vol. 2
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Blackjack	Complete Studio Recordings 1955-1984
Junior Wells	I'm a Stranger	Calling All Blues
Junior Wells	It Hurts Me Too	Calling All Blues
Junior Wells	Messin' With The Kid	Calling All Blues
Elmore James	Up Jumped Elmore	The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings
Elmore James	I Gotta Go Now	The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings
John Lee Hooker	Baby, I Love You	If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im
Andrew ''Big Voice'' Odom	I Got The Feeling	Farther Up The Road
Otis Rush	Would You Baby	Rambling Woman
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker	Cut You A Loose	Cold Day In Hell

Show Notes:

Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues/n The Killin' Floor Back in 2014 we did two shows tracing the origins and evolution of several classic blues songs and revisited the theme with two more shows in 2020. Last week we aired part 5 and today we air part 6. Today we trace the history of “Killing Floor “, “Little Red Rooster”, “Worried Life Blues” and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.”

The influential postwar blues song “Killing Floor” was written by Willie Dixon for Howlin’ Wolf who recorded it in 1964 for Chess Records. The term “killing floor” refers to the bloodstained area of a slaughterhouse where animals are put to death before being butchered. When someone is placed “on the killing floor,” they are in a dire, almost hopeless position. In his book Barrelhouse Words, Stephen Calt states: “A black slang term, still current among teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s, denoting any place used to engage in sex. The term itself derives from slaughterhouses, the spoken introduction of the Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom song states: “My man works at a stockyard, cleanin’ chitlins, up on that killin’ floor.” The use of this expression in recorded blues dates back to 1928 when it was mentioned by singer and guitarist Arthur Petties in “Two Time Blues” where he sings: “A two timin’ woman, keep you on that killin’ floor.” Son House also uses the phrase in his 1930 Paramount recording “Dry Spell Blues, Part One.” Throughout the coming year, the term appeared in the title of two blues songs: Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom’s “Killin’ Floor Blues” and Skip James’s “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues.” Both House and James used the phrase to describe the troubled times and hardships that accompanied the Great Depression.

Doctor Clayton recorded the hard luck tale, “On The Killin’ Floor” in 1943. Willie Mabon’s “I’m Hungry” uses some of Clayton’s lyrics.”

Please give me a match to light this short that I found
I know it looks bad for me, picking tobacco off the ground
I was in my prime not so very long ago
But high priced whiskey and woman done put me on the killin’ floor

Howlin’ Wolf’s use of the term follows Petties’ example of relating it to a love affair that has gone bad and of the realization of the betrayal. Led Zeppelin recorded “The Lemon Song” in 1969, which consisted mainly of lyrics taken directly from “Killing Floor.” ‘‘The Lemon Song’’ also borrowed a verse from Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside Blues.” Released on the band’s second album, writing credit for ‘‘The Lemon Song’’ was claimed by Led Zeppelin. ARC Music, which owned the publishing rights to Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” sued the band for copyright infringement and the case was settled out of court in 1972 for an undisclosed sum of money.

Brownie's New Worried Life Blues

The Red Rooster’’ was written by Willie Dixon and was first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961 for Chess Records. The song, which is often titled “Little Red Rooster,” became a classic of postwar Chicago blues. The song was subsequently recorded by many musicians including Sam Cooke (whose version reached number eleven on the pop charts in 1963), Z. Z. Hill, and Luther Allison, as well as the rock groups the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, and the Doors. Much of the lyrical ideas of “The Red Rooster” can be traced to the first generation of recorded blues and the folk beliefs of southern African Americans of the early twentieth century. At that time, it was a widely held superstition that the crowing of a rooster was a warning of the presence of a stranger. In turn, a rooster could be used to watch one’s house, just as a dog might be used today. Charley Patton recorded “Banty Rooster Blues” for Paramount Records in 1929 and sang “I’m gonna buy me a banty, put him at my back door. So he see a stranger comin’ he’ll flop his wings and crow.” Lyrically the track contained many similarities to Walter Rhodes’ “The Crowing Rooster.” Patton may well have known Rhodes, as they resided in the same part of Mississippi, and Patton could have learned the song directly from Rhodes. Memphis Minnie, used a similar theme in her 1936 recording for Vocalion Records, “If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home).” The song’s lyrical structure most likely inspired “The Red Rooster’s” final verse.

“Worried Life Blues” is based on “Someday Baby Blues” recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935. Big Maceo recorded “Worried Life Blues” June 24, 1941, shortly after arriving in Chicago. Lester Melrose produced the song and it became Maceo’s first single on Bluebird Records. Blues historian Jim O’Neal notes that it “eclipsed the song [‘Someday Baby’] that inspired it”. Several other renditions soon followed Big Maceo’s, including those by Bill Gaither (1941), Sonny Boy Williams (1942), and Honeyboy Edwards (1942). In 1945, Maceo recorded a second version with additional lyrics, also accompanied by Tampa Red. Titled “Things Have Changed”, it reached number four on Billboard magazine’s Race Records chart. When Charles Brown reworked it as a West Coast blues number titled “Trouble Blues”, it was one of the biggest hits of 1949 and spent 15 weeks at number one on Billboard’s Race Records/Rhythm & Blues Records chart. In 1955, Muddy Waters’ recording of it as “Trouble No More” that reached number seven on the R&B chart. “Worried Life Blues” became an early blues standard and was among the first songs inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1983 as a “Classic of Blues Recordings.” Junior Parker recorded “Worried Life” in 1969; Minit Records released it as a single, which appeared at number 34. In 1970, a version originally recorded by B.B. King as “Someday Baby” in 1960 was retitled “Worried Life” and reached number 48.

Sonny Boy Williamson I recorded “Good Morning, School Girl” in 1937 during his first recording session for Bluebird Records. The melody has been traced to “Back and Side Blues”, a 1934 blues song recorded by Son Bonds. In October 1948, Leroy Dallas recorded a version of the song, titled “Good Morning Blues”. Texas bluesman Smokey Hogg recorded his version, calling it “Little School Girl”. In 1950, the song reached number nine on the Billboard Best-Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records chart. Memphis one-man-band Joe Hill Louis recorded an electric version titled “Good Morning Little Angel” in February or March 1953. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, several versions of “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” were recorded as acoustic country-style blues, including versions by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, and Doctor Ross. In 1965, Junior Wells with Buddy Guy recorded it for their influential Hoodoo Man Blues album. McDowell included a 1971 performance on Live in New York and in 1978, Muddy Waters recorded an updated rendition for I’m Ready.

Big Road Blues Show 11/5/23: Locked Out Boogie – The Year 1948

November 5, 2023November 5, 2023 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Robert Nighthawk	Return Mail Blues	Prowling With The Nighthawk
Muddy Waters	Down South Blues	The Complete Chess Recordings
St. Louis Jimmy	So Nice And Kind	The Aristocrat Of The Blues
Leroy Foster	Locked Out Boogie	The Aristocrat Of The Blues
Vera Ward Hall	Another Man Done Gone	Library of Congress
Alex	Prison Blues	Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 1947–1959
C. B. Cook with four singers below and six other men	Rosie	Library of Congress
Roy Hawkins	It's Too Late To Change	Going Downtown
Jimmy Wilson	Mistake In Life	Bob Geddin's Cava-Tone Records Story 1946-1949
Pee Wee Crayton	Central Avenue Blues	Sure Fire Hits On Central Avenue
Roy Milton	Hop, Skip & Jump	Roy Milton & His Solid Senders
Frankie Lee Sims	Single Man Blues	Down Behind the Rise
Jesse James	Forgive Me Blues	Down Home Blue Classics 1943-1953: Texas
John Lee Hooker	Drifting From Door To Door	The Classic Early Years 1948-1951
Jesse Thomas	D Double Due Love You	Down Behind the Rise
Rosita (Chicken) Lockhart	Mean Mean Woman Blues	Down Home Blues: New York, Cincinnati & the Northeastern States
Blue Lu Barker	What Did You Do To Me	Blue Lu Barker 1946-1949
Viviane Green	Bowlegged Blues	I'm A Bad, Bad Girl
Snooky Pryor	Telephone Blues	Gonna Pitch a Boogie Woogie
Floyd Jones	Stockyard Blues	Floyd Jones 1948-1953
Johnny Young	My Baby Walked Out On Me	Downhome Blues Classics: Chicago
Eddie Boyd	Chicago Is Just That Way	Chicago Is Just That Way
Goldrush	All My Money Is Gone	Jaxyson Records Story 1948-1949
Hank Kilroy	Harlem Woman	Juke Joints Vol. 3
Thunder Smith	West Coast Blues	Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
T.J. Fowler	Red Hot Blues	Ham Hocks And Cornbread
Wynonie Harris	I Feel That Old Age Coming On	Rockin' The Blues
Roy Brown	Roy Brown's Boogie	Roy Brown 1947-1949
Sherman Williams	Weepin' Willow Blues	Sherman Williams 1947-1951
Lonnie Johnson	I Know It's Love	Lonnie Johnson 1948-49
Brownie McGhee	Brownie's New Worried Life Blues	New York Blues 1946-1948
Mabel Scott	Just Give Me A Man	Mabel Scott 1938-1950
Piney Brown	Mourning Blues	The R&B Years 1949
Lowell Fulson	River Blues, Pt. 1	Lowell Fulson 1946-47
Lil' Son Jackson	Roberta Blues	Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Smokey Hogg	Suitcase Blues (Aka Low Down Blues)	Deep Ellum Rambler
L.C. Williams	Hole in the Wall	Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Lightnin' Hopkins	Tim Moore's Farm	All the Classic Sides
Walter Mitchell	Pet Milk Blues	Detroit Ghetto Blues
K.C. Douglas	Mercury Boogie	The Bob Geddins Blues Legacy
Leroy Dallas	Jump Little Children Jump	Ralph Willis Vol. 2 1951-1953

Show Notes

Locked Out Boogie Today’s show is the twenty-second installment of an ongoing series of programs built around a particular year. The first year we spotlighted was 1927 which was the beginning of a blues boom that would last until 1930. The Depression had a shattering effect on the pockets of black record buyers and sales of blues records plummeted in the years 1931 through 1933. After a strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942, recording had resumed in 1945 and was up considerably from the previous years and continued it’s upswing in 1946 and into 1947. The year 1948 saw many of the older stars like Tampa Red, Big Maceo, Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy recording less, or not at all. The Chicago blues that would become so popular, saw important artists record such as Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk and the debuts of Floyd Jones, Snooky Pryor and Leroy Foster. There was a mix of uptown blues by T.J. Fowler, Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown and some decidedly down-home blues from popular artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker and lesser knowns such as Thunder Smith, Goldrush and Jesse James. The west coast was well represented with recordings by Pee Wee Crayton, Roy Milton, Roy Hawkins, Jimmy Liggins and others. Boogie Woogie saw it’s popularity waning but with and handful of songs by big names Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons to fine boogie-woogie lades like Camille Howard, Hadda Brooks and others. Very little field recording was done outside a handful of recordings by John Lomax.

Single Man Blues

1948 saw some key records for artists that would mold the sound of post-war Chicago blues, picking up the mantle from the older generation of Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie. Muddy Waters had made his Chicago debut in 1946 backing James Clark and James “Sweet Lucy” Carter. In 1948 he put out classics like “Down South Blues”, “I Can’t Be Satisfied”, “I Feel Like Going Home” and backing artists heard today including Baby Face Leroy and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. In 1948 Robert Nighthawk was back in Chicago and resumed his acquaintance with Muddy Waters who arranged for his recording session with Aristocrat. “I put him on the label” Waters stated.” Foster made his debut for Aristocrat at the end of 1948 with “Locked Out Boogie” b/w “Shady Grove Blues” with the record billed as Leroy Foster and Muddy Waters.

Snooky Pryor got the idea of amplifying his harmonica while serving in the military during World War II, and in 1945 began performing at the Maxwell Street market with portable PA system he purchased at a store at 504 South State. In the late 40’s he cut a batch of great sides for small Chicago labels such as Marvel, Swingmaster and JOB. We hear Pryor back Johnny Young on “My Baby Walked Out On Me.”

Jump blues was big during this period and we hear from blues shouters like Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown. During the 1942–44 musicians’ strike, Harris was unable to pursue a recording career, relying instead on personal appearances. Performing almost continuously, in late 1943 he appeared at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. He was spotted by Lucky Millinder, who asked him to join his band on tour. Harris joined on March 24, 1944 and made his debut with the band a few months later. In July 1945, Harris signed with Philo and went on to record sessions for other labels, including Apollo, Bullet and Aladdin. His greatest success came when he signed for Syd Nathan’s King label, where he enjoyed a series of hits on the U.S. R&B chart in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These included a 1948 cover of Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight.”

It's Too Late To Change

Roy Brown was a fan of blues singer Wynonie Harris. When Harris appeared in town, Brown tried but failed to interest him in listening to “Good Rockin’ Tonight”. Brown then approached another blues singer, Cecil Gant, who was performing at another club in town. Brown introduced his song, and Gant had him sing it over the telephone to the president of De Luxe Records, Jules Braun, reportedly at 4:00 in the morning. Brown was signed to a recording contract immediately. It was released in 1948 and reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart. Ironically, Harris recorded a cover version of the song, and his version rose to the top of the Billboard R&B chart later in 1948.

There was plenty of fine down-home blues recorded in 1948 from artists such as Frankie Lee Sims, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Jesse Thomas, Goldrush and Thunder Smith among others. On his discharge from the Army, Sims decided to be a musician and made his way to Dallas. There, he made the acquaintance of T-Bone Walker and Smokey Hogg. He was playing with Smokey Hogg at the Empire Room when Blue Bonnet owner Herb Rippa saw their performance and offered each man a contract. In the event, Sims had two singles issued on Blue Bonnet but Hogg’s single was leased to Bullet in Nashville. The following year Sims backed Lightnin’ Hopkins on a handful of Gold Star sides. It wasn’t until March 1953 that Sims recorded for the Specialty label as a leader.

Lola Ann Cullum was instrumental in giving Lightning Hopkins and Thunder Smith their first opportunity as recording artists for Aladdin Records. She took them to California christened Smith ‘Thunder’ for the loudness of his playing and Hopkins ‘Lightning’ for his proficiency as a guitarist. In her mind, Smith would be the star but turned out otherwise. Smith plays piano behind Hopkins on his first two sessions for Aladdin in 1946 and 1947, never achieving the success that Hopkins did. Hopkins backed Smith on a four-song session for Aladdin in 1946 with Smith cutting one session apiece in 1947 for Gold Star and in 1948 for Down Town.

L.C. Williams was another associate of Lightnin’ Hopkins. He was a singer/tap dancer who also occasionally drummed behind Lightnin’ Hopkins. He arrived in Houston in 1945 and was one of the Drifting From Door To Door many characters who hung around in Lightning’s orbit sitting on stoops drinking beer and wine, shooting the breeze with passers-by. He made his first record in 1947 for with Hopkins on piano and guitar. Hopkins plays guitar on a four-song session for Gold Star in 1948 with Williams making some final sides for Eddie’s and Freedom between 1948-1950. He died in Houston of TB in 1960.

After nearly 15 years since his first visit with his father in 1933, Alan Lomax returned to the Mississippi State Penitentiary, better known as Parchman Farm. Instead of toting their earlier cumbersome disc-cutting machine, he was equipped with a state-of-the-art reel-to-reel tape deck. The blk of the recordings were made in 1947 but these sides were captured in 1948. Hall was first recorded by folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt in 1937. John Lomax became aware of Hall as a result of Tartt’s recordings and then recorded her for the Library of Congress. Alan Lomax also sought her out and made recordings of her in the late 1940s and 1950s. She first recorded “Another Man Done Gone” in 1940

While many of the old stars were fading, Lonnie Johnson had renewed success when he signed with King in 1947, staying with them through 1952. This resulted in close to seventy issued sides. By 1947 he had switched to electric guitar, was incorporating more ballads into his repertoire while the music was in transition from blues to R&B. The prior year he had a massive hit with “Tomorrow Night.”

Big Road Blues Show 9/17/23: She Run Me Out On The Road – Mix Show

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 Jeff Leave a comment

Mix Show	SONG	ALBUM
Spider Carter	Dry Spell Blues	St. Louis 1927-1933
Ell-Zee Floyd	Snow Bound and Blue	Down On The Levee
Charles Avery	Dearborn Street Breakdown	Shake Your Wicked Knees
Muddy Waters	Strange Woman	Hollywood Blues Summit 1971
Muddy Waters	Walkin' Through the Park	Hollywood Blues Summit 1971
Memphis Jug Band	Going Back To Memphis	Best Of
Peg Leg Howell	Monkey Man Blues	Peg Leg Howell Vol. 2 1928-1930
Sleepy John Estes	Drop Down Mama	Blues At Newport 1964
Louis Armstrong	Long Long Journey	Satchmo In The Forties
Big Joe Turner & Pete Johnson	Kansas City Blues	Hollywood Rock And Roll Record
Arbee Stidham	Standin' In My Window	A Time For Blues
Ivy Smith & Cow Cow Davenport	Southern High Waters Blues	Ivy Smith & Cow Cow Davenport 1927-1930
Annie Turner & Little Brother Montgomery	Hard on You	Little Bother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954
Lucille Bogan	My Georgia Grind	Lucille Bogan Vol. 1 1923-1929
Walter Horton	Now Tell me, Baby	Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam
Big John Wrencher	I'm A Root Man	American Blues Legends 1974
Easy Baby	Good Morning Mr Blues	Barrelhousin' Around Chicago The Legendary George Paulus 1970s Recordings
Kid Wiggins	Lonesome Road	Playing For The Man At The Door
James Tisdom	Steel Guitar Rag	Playing For The Man At The Door
Lightnin’ Hopkins	Blues Jumped a Rabbit	Playing For The Man At The Door
Frank Evans	Red River Blues	Field Recordings Vol. 13 1933-1943
Josh White	Lazy Black Snake Blues	Blues Singer 1932-1936
Poor Bill	Way Up on the Mountain	East Coast Blues In The Thirties 1934-1939
Robert Petway	Bertha Lee Blues	Catfish Blues
Jealous James Stanchell	Anything from a Foot Race to a Resting Place	Playing For The Man At The Door
Lightnin’ Hopkins	The Foot Race Is On	Autobiography in Blues
Big Moose Walker & Jump Jackson´s Combo	Footrace To A Resting Place	Blues Complete
Tom Bell	Storm in Arkansas	I Can Eagle Rock: Jook Joint Blues Library of Congress Recordings 1940-1941
Sam Chatmon	God Don't Like Ugly	I Have to Paint My Face
Lum Guffin	Johnny Wilson	On The Road Again
Joe Cooper	She Run Me Out On The Road	Living Country Blues USA Vol. 2: Blues On Highway 61
Sippie Wallace	You Gonna Need My Help	Sippie Wallace Vol. 2 1925-1945
Sara Martin	Hole In The Wall	Sara Martin Vol. 4 1925-1928
Billie (Willie Mae) McKenzie	Woke Up With The Rising Sun	Female Chicago Blues 1936-1947
Lizzie Miles	Lizzie's Blues	Jazzin' The Blues 1943-1952

Show Notes:

Dearborn Street Breakdown / Dry Spell Blues We tackle a wide gamut of blues from the 20s through the 70s today. On deck today is a set revolving around superb pianists Charles Avery, two live recordings by Muddy Waters, we hear from some excellent women singers and some blues shouters and crooners. In addition we spin some great field recordings captured by Mack McCormick, John Lomax and others, a strong set of harmonica blues, trace the history of an obscure song and much more.

Active in Chicago in the 20’s and 30’s, Charles Avery worked as a session musician backing artists such as Lil Johnson, Freddie ‘Red” Nicholson, Red Nelson, Victoria Spivey and others. He cut one record under his own name, 1929’s “Dearborn Street Breakdown” (the other side of the 78 was Meade Lux Lewis’ “Honky Tonk Train Blues”). It’s been suggested that Avery plays behind Ell-Zee Floyd and Spider Carter who we hear today. Carter cut three sides in 1930 for Brunswick and Floyd cut two sides on Sept. 19, 1930 at the same session Carter recorded.

The eight-song set Hollywood Blues Summit 1971, was recorded at the legendary Ash Grove club in Los Angeles on the Blue Summit weekend (which also featured Freddie King and Lightnin’ Hopkins) from July 27 to Aug. 1, 1971. The band includes: Calvin Fuzz Jones on bass, Pee Wee Madison & Sammy Lawson on guitars, Paul Oscher & Shakey Horton on harmonica and Pinetop Perkins on piano.

We spotlight several fine blues ladies today including Ivy Smith, Sippie Wallace, Sara Martin, Lizzie Miles and others. Cow Cow Davenport’s early career revolved around carnivals and vaudeville. Davenport didn’t cut a 78 record until 1927 (two 1925 sides for Gennett were unissued) although prior to that he made a number of piano rolls. Davenport briefly teamed up with singer Ivy Smith in 1927, backing her on some two-dozen sides as well as waxing around thirty sides under his own name through 1938. we hear the duo on the fine flood blues “Southern High Waters Blues.”

Sara Martin was singing on the Vaudeville circuit by 1915 and made her debut for Okeh Records in 1922. She cut close to one hundred sides through 1928. She recorded four sides with Clarence Williams that included King Oliver on cornet in 1928 of which we spin “Hole In The Wall.”

Last week we delved into the box set, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971, produced by the Smithsonian which collects Mack’s, mostly unreleased, field recordings captured between 1958 and 1971. There were several tracks we didn’t get to on that show and today we hear from pianist Kid Wiggins, James Tisdom and Lightnin’ Hopkins who Mack recorded extensively.

Hollywood Blues Summit

In addition we hear a track from Jealous James Stanchell cut in 1959 titled “Anything from a Foot Race to a Resting Place” which always fascinated me for it’s unique title and lyrics. This track first appeared on the album Treasury Of Field Recordings Vol. 2. These albums were compiled by McCormick and issued on the British 77 label in 1960. Regarding the song and it’s performer he wrote: “Evenings he goes from bar to bar along Dowling St. Singing for tips, some songs like “Jambalaya” derive from the jukeboxes, but mostly his own personal observations. The song is Jealous James’ own composition, well known around Houston and Kansas City from his own singing, but not previously recorded or published. The recording came about one afternoon when Lightnin’ Hopkins was scheduled to make some tapes but, as usual, found himself without an acoustical guitar. He went out and found Jealous James inviting him and his guitar to come along. After finishing ‘Corrine, Corrina’ – in Volume I of this set – Lightnin’ turned things over to Jealous James who sang several of his own songs including this. Lightnin’ was so delighted with it that he promptly recorded a boogie which he dubbed ‘The Footrace is On’ which takes its inspiration from Jealous James his song. Lightnin’s song, elaborating on the foot-race idea, is in his Autobiography in Blues, Tradition LP 1040.” In 1960 Big Moose Walker with Jump Jackson’s Combo cut two takes of “Footrace To A Resting Place” for End Records which is essentially the same song. He recorded the song again which appeared on and Elmore James album titled To Know A Man (Blue Horizon, 1969) and credited to an unidentified singer possibly “Bushy Head!” He cut the song several times over the years including a fine version simply titled “Footrace” on the album Rambling Woman for Bluesway in 1969. I wonder where he heard this song? I don’t know of any other versions.

As usual we spin some interesting field recordings, this time out by Tom Bell, Joe Cooper, Lum Guffin, Frank Evans and others. In 1940, recording for the Library of Congress, John Lomax captured some fine recordings in his travels, first in Texas in October then Louisiana, Mississippi, and finally Georgia by November. Many of these tracks can be found on the excellent Travelin’ Man album, I Can Eagle Rock: Jook Joint Blues from Alabama and Louisiana. One of these artists was a fine dance and blues artists named Tom Bell who we hear on his “Storm in Arkansas.” Frank Evans was recorded by Lomax in 1936 in Parchman Farm.

Red River Blues

The title of today’s show is taken from a song by Joe Cooper. Cooper was discovered in the late ‘60s by researcher Bill Ferris and was the uncle of Son Thomas. both are featured in Ferris’s book Blues from The Delta. Cooper played with Henry Stuckey, considered one of the founders of the Bentonia blues style and played at local house parties. He was recorded by Gianni Marcucci in the 70s and by my friends Axel Küstner in 1980 and Michael Hortig in 1981.

We hear some fine blues singing today from Louis Armstrong, Big Joe Turner and Arbee Stidham. Louis Armstrong sings on “Long Long Journey” from 1946 in an all-star band featuring Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges. Next week I’ll be devoting a show to Big Joe Turner and chatting with Derek Coller who is the author of the new book, Feel So Fine, which is a biography and discography. As the blurb states: “Big Joe Turner was the greatest of the blues shouters. For more than five decades, from Kansas City saloons to Carnegie Hall, through the swing era, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and soul music, Joe Turner sang, never wavering. Small bands, big bands, trios, pianists, rock groups, choirs, all styles of accompaniment rocked to his rhythm. Joe Turner was like a force of nature, making everyone feel fine.” Today we feature a live track with Big Joe back by his pal Pete Johnson.

We spin a set of tough post-war harmonica today by Walter Horton, Big John Wrencher and Easy Baby. From his first recording session we hear from Walter Horton going under the name Mumbles on “Now Tell Me Baby” waxed in 1951. I first heard this on the great Nighthawk album Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam.

Storm in Arkansas Several years back I found myself in the segregated black section of Shufordville Cemetery (outside of Clarksdale) which contains the graves of blues fiddler Henry “Son” Simms, who recorded with Muddy Waters and Charley Patton and harmonica man Big John Wrencher. A marker was erected in 2014 for Wrencher. We hear a fine live number by him today when he was touring Europe as part of the 1974 American Blues Legends tour.

Fame and fortune never found Easy Baby who worked as a mechanic by day and the Chicago clubs at nights. We play a track from Sweet Home Chicago Blues, a real gem released on the small Barrelhouse imprint (released on CD on the Japanese P-Vine label). A large part of the record’s success goes to the band: Eddie Taylor’s fleet fingered playing is every bit as inventive as his band leader while Kansas City Red’s drumming is so crisp and in-the-pocket it should be used as a clinic for up and coming blues drummers. Easy cut another good one in for Wolf in 2000 titled If It Ain’t One Thing, It’s Another.

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

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

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

Show Notes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robert John Masters — Click to Read Notes

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