Big Joe Williams and the Stars of Mississippi Blues, Disc C

Disc three and the start of disc four feature the complete recorded output of Tommy McClennan, a gruff-voiced blues shouter best known for "Cross Cut Saw Blues" and "Whiskey Head Woman" and a penchant for interjections and spoken asides during his recordings.

Big Joe Williams and the Stars of Mississippi Blues, Disc B

A five-disc box set from England's JSP Records, Big Joe Williams and the Stars of Mississippi Blues collects 126 tracks by Big Joe Williams and loosely related artists like Willie Lofton, Honeyboy Edwards, Robert Petway, and Tommy McClennan.

The second disc collects 17 songs Williams recorded in Chicago in 1945 and 1947, followed by two sides (including "Jivin' Woman") tracked in St. Louis in 1949, and six songs from a 1951 session in Jackson, MS.

Big Joe Williams and the Stars of Mississippi Blues, Disc A

A five-disc box set from England's JSP Records, Big Joe Williams and the Stars of Mississippi Blues collects 126 tracks by Big Joe Williams and loosely related artists like Willie Lofton, Honeyboy Edwards, Robert Petway, and Tommy McClennan. Disc one opens with a half dozen tracks from Williams (including "49 Highway Blues") with Henry Townsend on second guitar that were recorded in Chicago in February 1935, followed by four sides (including Williams' signature song, "Baby Please Don't Go") recorded the following Halloween. The disc closes out with four songs from a session in Aurora, IL, in 1937, and nine tracks recorded in March and December of 1941.

Big Joe Williams

I'll do the prewar Big Joe Stuff soon, but I really enjoy both of these as well so I'll use these to get the biographical info out.

"Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982), billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as "Baby Please Don't Go", "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Peach Orchard Mama" for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion. Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.

Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman's Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:

    "When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield's "blues night" at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard".

Born in Crawford, Mississippi, Williams as a youth began wandering across the United States busking and playing stores, bars, alleys and work camps. In the early 1920s he worked in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels revue and recorded with the Birmingham Jug Band in 1930 for the Okeh label.

In 1934, he was in St. Louis, where he met record producer Lester Melrose who signed him to Bluebird Records in 1935. He stayed with Bluebird for ten years, recording such blues hits as "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1935) and "Crawlin' King Snake" (1941), both songs later covered by many other performers. He also recorded with other blues singers, including Sonny Boy Williamson I, Robert Nighthawk and Peetie Wheatstraw.

Williams remained a noted blues artist in the 1950s and 1960s, with his guitar style and vocals becoming popular with folk-blues fans. He recorded for the Trumpet, Delmark, Prestige and Vocalion labels, among others. He became a regular on the concert and coffeehouse circuits, touring Europe and Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s and performing at major U.S. music festivals.

Williams' guitar playing was in the Delta blues style, and yet was unique. He played driving rhythm and virtuosic lead lines simultaneously and sang over it all. He played with picks both on his thumb and index finger, plus his guitar was heavily modified. Williams added a rudimentary electric pick-up, whose wires coiled all over the top of his guitar. He also added three extra strings, creating unison pairs for the first, second and fourth strings. His guitar was usually tuned to Open G, like such: (D2 G2 D3D3 G3 B3B3 D4D4), with a capo placed on the second fret to set the tuning to the key of A. During the 1920s and 1930s, Williams had gradually added these extra strings in order to keep other guitar players from being able to play his guitar. In his later years, he would also occasionally use a 12-string guitar with all strings tuned in unison to Open G. Williams sometimes tuned a six-string guitar to an interesting modification of Open G. In this modified tuning, the bass D string (D2) was replaced with a .08 gauge string and tuned to G4. The resulting tuning was (G4 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4), with the G4 string being used as a melody string. This tuning was used exclusively for slide playing.

He died December 17, 1982 in Macon, Mississippi. Williams was buried in a private cemetery outside Crawford near the Lowndes County line. His headstone was primarily paid for by friends and partially funded by a collection taken up among musicians at Clifford Antone's nightclub in Austin, Texas, organized by California music writer Dan Forte, and erected through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on October 9, 1994. Harmonica virtuoso and one time touring companion of Williams, Charlie Musselwhite, delivered the eulogy at the unveiling. Williams' headstone epitaph, composed by Forte, proclaims him "King of the 9 String Guitar."

Dues Paid The Bluestime Story

"Bluestime is not a storied label, not in the way Sun and Chess are. An offshoot of ABC, Bluestime launched in 1969 and the intent of the imprint was to take old bluesmen and freshen them up for the new decade, usually by placing them in a setting where long, jazzy improvisations were encouraged. Apart from a live version of "Hound Dog" from Big Mama Thornton, every one of the 15 tracks showcased on this 2013 collection were released between 1969 and 1970, most of them in 1970. To get an idea of how thoroughly of its time this music is, T-Bone Walker performs a tribute to B.B. King and also covers the man's "Every Day I Have the Blues," while Big Joe Turner sings a song about plastic man. The decades have washed away the commercialism of these moves and have left behind funky, almost jazzy vamps on cuts that rarely stretch longer than four minutes (although the 14 minutes of the Super Black Blues Band and the ten minutes of Turner surely do leave an impression) but often feel like they do, because the concentration is not on the song but the groove. It's hard to argue that any of these acts are at a peak, and yet hearing Walker, Turner, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson," Otis Spann, and Harmonica Slim in a different setting, happy to tackle their times, is pretty engaging and makes this worthwhile hearing. Maybe it doesn't completely rehabilitate this awkward era, but it does suggest the elongated jams had more to savor than initially met the ear."AMG

James "Wee Willie" Wayne - Fom Texas To New Orleans

There was a request for re-up on this link so I will bring it forward for another run.

Now some of you may have thought that Unky Clif was some sort of myth but this post is actually written by him.

"Charlie Gillett ruined my life.

In 1970 when the first edition of his book "Sound Of The City" was released I was a novice collector. Too smart to continue buying albums because I liked the cover but smart enough to know how little I knew about the music(s) I loved. Gillet's book, possibly the finest written about the origins of rock & roll, was a revelation and the suggested listening set me on an epic quest to gather all the 300 or so songs mentioned. Some performers were familiar to a Chicago boy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed. Others were a bit more of a chore.

James Wayne ruined my life.

Buried in the early portion of Gillett's treasure map was James Waynes' "Tend To Your Business" (Sittin' In With 588) from 1951. So began my search for the Holy Grail. For 35 years I dug into anything which might lead to this golden track. Hard to recall in those pre-internet days the effort involved in finding an out of print 78 by a one-hit R&B singer who never found his own pot of gold. A process made even harder by a man who recorded under nearly as many names as he released records. James Wayne, James Waynes, Wee Willie, Larry Evans, Billy Hoke, where to begin…

My journey ended about 5 years ago and like any quest the experience is more important than goal so I won't pretend that Wayne is the great lost R&B hero. Just a journeyman who cranked out  about 40 songs for Sittin' In With (1950-1951), Imperial (1951-1952, 1955 & 1961), Aladdin, Million, Old Town & Fabor (1954 - 1955),  Pickwick (1956) and D.W. (1965). Also the perfect example of a Chitlin' Circuit performer.

I can't  provide much by way of biography but this link (http://borensteinslaw.blogspot.com/search/label/Jimmy%20Wayne) tells a sad part of the Wayne story. Like many things in James' saga even this is flawed. James Douglas Wayne was actually born 17 April 1924 in Livingston Co TX the son of Alvin and Allie Wayne from DeSoto Parish LA. The family had moved to the outskirts of Houston in early 1920 and Alvin died there in 1938 leaving three children and his wife. James completed 3 years of High School and, in late 1942, enlisted in the Army.


This disc is a mess just like the James Wayne story. Clearly tossed together without notes, a lousy cover and issued on a homemade CD with no semblance of chronology. James' 1951 recording of "Junkco Partner" AKA "Worthless Man" (SIW 607) is considered by some to be the earliest version of this New Orleans chestnut and his "Travelin' Mood" (Imperial 5355) from 1955 has become the template for many subsequent recordings. Clearly a tarnished Grail but one well worthy of a few good gulps.

For my part the most fascinating thing about this guy is that he may well be responsible for the song Junco Partner in the form we know it today. I have found verification that this version (track 3) is the one that Professor Longhair, Dr. John and James Booker all learned the song from. There is no doubt it shares elements from earlier songs like Champion Jack's Junker's Blues, but it appears Wayne may be due credit for writing the song as it is currently played. The song itself has such a history and so many verses and versions that it should likely be public domain but somehow sleazy Bob Shad of all people managed to steal it and put his name on it and it remains that way today. 

Addendum: I had the honor today of discussing the subject of Junco Partner, Junker's Blues and James Wee Willie Wayne with both Deacon John and Smokey Johnson. They both were firm in saying that the two songs are essentially un-related other than thematically. Both quickly pointed out that The Fat Man and Lawdy Miss Clawdy are Junker's Blues with different lyrics. They also mentioned the fact that the song came out of a group of pianists including William Hill, Champion Jack, Tuts Washington and Professor Longhair who were all playing with recently arrived Caribbean musicians.

As to Junco Partner, neither felt it was a related song at all and both swear they had never heard it until James Wayne. They were both pretty impressed that I knew who he was and both were fairly certain that Wayne wrote the song. 

Livin' in New Orleans....Ain't it grand! 

The Soul Of Gospel 2

Part 2 of this stunning playlist extracted from an absolutely fabulous article and collection, written and compiled by Karl Tsigdinos & John Glassburner at the remarkable Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven. I started this last Sunday, and at least a few seemed to like it. Volume 2 is just as earth shaking as last weeks' service. The tracks themselves are included in last week's download.

The Soul Of Gospel 2 by Kingcake on Mixcloud

Blues and Gospel from the Bandera, Laredo and Jerico Road labels of Chicago

 These sets seem to be nearly endless, but I've got to say that this one is entirely worthwhile. The first 17 tracks are some entertaining blues, the last 10 tracks are some even more entertaining gospel. The aren't any "names" here, but there ain't no duds either.

Dusty Brown is one of those guys who you would cheerfully catch at a local blues club and come away satisfied.

Jimmy Lee Robinson is the kind of blues guy who was likely a local sensation, a regional star. There is a lot of variety to his sounds and he was clearly very creative in his ear for sound palates.

The Grover Pruitt single is worth the listen as is the Bobby Davis material - both of these are rock n roll crossover attempts that are easily as listenable as tracks from those better-known.

The 'memorable' quotient increases with the gospel material included. The A side of the Norfleet Brothers single is destined for a compilation. Both sides of the Space Spiritual Singer are good enough to have me keeping an eye for them from now on. The six tracks from The Faithful Wanderers and Elder Samuel Patterson are all easily good enough to be welcome additions to any collection of obscure gospel -- the kind of thing I love having in my pocket.

Skip James - The Complete Early Recordings

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. Born in Bentonia, Mississippi, United States, he died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He first learned to play guitar from another bluesman from the area, Henry Stuckey. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly due to the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. After a long absence from the public eye, James was "rediscovered" in 1964 by three blues enthusiasts, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at several folk and blues festivals and gave live concerts around the country, also recording several albums for various record labels.

His songs have influenced several generations of musicians, being adapted or covered by Kansas Joe McCoy, Robert Johnson, Alan Wilson, Cream, Deep Purple, Chris Thomas King, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The Derek Trucks Band, Beck, Big Sugar, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams and Rory Block. He is hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues."

Eddie Kirkland - It's The Blues Man! (w/ bonus)

Eddie Kirkland (August 16, 1923 – February 27, 2011) was an American electric blues guitarist, harmonicist, singer, and songwriter.

Kirkland, known as the "Gypsy of the Blues" for his rigorous touring schedules, played and toured with John Lee Hooker from 1949 to 1962. After his period of working in tandem with Hooker he pursued a successful solo career, recording for RPM Records, Fortune Records, Volt Records, and King Records, sometimes under the stage name Eddie Kirk. Kirkland continued to tour, write and record albums until his death in February 2011.

Kirkland was born in Jamaica to a mother, aged 11 (Kirkland was raised believing his mother was his sister), and first heard the blues from "field hollers", and raised in Dothan, Alabama until 1935, when he stowed away in the Sugar Girls Medicine Show tent truck and left town. Blind Blake was the one who influenced him the most in those early days. He was placed on the chorus line with "Diamond Tooth Mary" McLean. When the show closed a year later, he was in Dunkirk, Indiana where he briefly returned to school.

He joined the United States Army during World War II. It was racism in the military, he said, that led him to seek out the devil. After his discharge Kirkland traveled to Detroit where his mother had relocated. After a days work at the Ford Rouge Plant, Kirkland played his guitar at house parties, and there he met John Lee Hooker. Kirkland, a frequent second guitarist in recordings from 1949-1962. "It was difficult playin' behind Hooker but I had a good ear and was able to move in behind him on anything he did."

Kirkland fashioned his own style of playing open chords, and transformed the rough, porch style delta blues into the electric age by using his thumb, rather than a guitar pick. He secured his own series of recordings with Sid Nathan of King Records in 1953, at Fortune Records in 1958 and, by 1961, on his own album It's the Blues Man, with the King Curtis Band.

Kirkland became Hooker's road manager and the two traveled from Detroit to the Deep South on many tours, the last being in 1962 when Hooker abandoned Kirkland to go overseas. Kirkland found his way to Macon, Georgia and began performing with Otis Redding as his guitarist and band leader. As Eddie Kirk, he released "The Hawg" as a single on Volt Records in 1963. The record was overshadowed by Rufus Thomas's recordings, and Kirkland, discouraged by the music industry and his own lack of education to change the situation, turned to his other skill and sought work as an auto mechanic to earn a living for his growing family.

In 1970, one of the revivals of the blues was taking place. Peter B. Lowry found Kirkland in Macon and convinced him to record again. His first sessions were done in a motel room, resulting in the acoustic, solo LP Front and Center; his second was a studio-recorded band album, the funky The Devil... and other blues demons. Both were released on Lowry's Trix Records label. It was during the mid-1970s that Kirkland befriended the British blues-rock band, Foghat. Kirkland remained with Lowry, Trix, and was based in the Hudson Valley for twelve years. It was during this period that Kirkland appeared on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert with Muddy Waters, Honeyboy Edwards, and Foghat. These were also the years that Kirkland again energized his sound. "Eddie's thumb pick and fingers style give him freedom to play powerful chord riffs rich in rhythms and harmonic tension. He plays like a funky pianist, simultaneously covering bass lines, chord kick, and counterpoint."

The 1990s brought Randy Labbe as manager, booking agent and on his own record label, Deluge, recorded Kirkland. Three albums were produced during this Maine period, one live, one with a guest appearance from Hooker and one containing a duet with Christine Ohlman. By 2000, Kirkland was on his own again, always doing his own driving to concerts in his Ford County Squires, crossing the country several times a year. Labeled now as the Road Warrior, "A thickset, powerful man in the waistcoat and pants of a pin strip suit; red shirt, medallion, shades and a black leather cap over a bandanna, his heavy leather overcoat slung over his arm,.... he's already a Road Warrior par excellence."

Well into his eighties Kirkland continued to drive himself to gigs along the coast and in Europe, frequently playing with the Wentus Blues Band from Finland.

A documentary short entitled PICK UP THE PIECES was made about a year in Eddie's life (2010) and it could be viewed on youtube.com up until Eddie's death when the family asked that it be removed. It followed Eddie's struggles as an uneducated African American trying to make it as a Blues musician and it chronicled his hard life that included taking three lives in self-defense, his stint in the armed forces resulting in an unfair discharge, his struggles with poverty, his many children ( he claimed 73), and his love of music.

Kirkland died in a car accident on the morning of February 27, 2011 in Crystal River, Florida. At approximately 8:30 a.m. a bus hit Kirkland's car, a 1998 Ford Taurus wagon. Reportedly Kirkland attempted to make a U-turn on U.S. 98 and Oak Park Boulevard, putting him directly in the path of a Greyhound bus. The bus struck the vehicle on the right side and pushed it approximately 200 feet from the point of impact. Kirkland suffered serious injuries and was transported by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital, where he died a short time later. The bus driver and 13 passengers on the bus were not hurt.

Cedell Davis

A favorite of Cliff's, I'm not a big fan myself.

"CeDell Davis (born Ellis Davis, 9 June 1927) is an American blues guitarist and singer.

Davis is most notable for his distinctive style of guitar playing. Davis plays guitar using a table knife in his fretting hand in a manner similar to slide guitar, resulting in a welter of metal-stress harmonic transients and a singular tonal plasticity. He uses this style out of necessity. When he was 10, he suffered from severe polio which left him little control over his left hand and restricted use of his right. He had been playing guitar prior to his polio and decided to continue in spite of his handicap, and developed his knife method as the only way he could come up with of still playing guitar.

Davis was born in Helena, Arkansas, United States, where his family worked on a local plantation. He enjoyed music from a young age, playing harmonica and guitar with his childhood friends.

Once he sufficiently mastered his variation on slide guitar playing, Davis began playing in various nightclubs across the Mississippi Delta area. He played with Robert Nighthawk for a ten-year period from 1953 to 1963. While playing in a club in 1957, a police raid caused the crowd to stampede over Davis. Both of his legs were broken in this incident and he was forced to use a wheelchair since that time. The hardships resulting from his physical handicaps were a major influence in his lyrics and style of blues playing.

Davis moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the early sixties and continued his artistic work. In recent times, Davis' music has been released by the Fat Possum Records label to much critical acclaim. His 1994 album, produced by Robert Palmer, Feel Like Doin' Something Wrong, received a 9.0 from Pitchfork Media who called it "timeless."

The Best Of CeDell Davis (1995) was also released, with help from Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit. The Horror of It All followed in 1998. His album When Lightnin' Struck the Pine, released in 2002, included work by musicians Peter Buck, Barrett Martin, Scott McCaughey, and Alex Veley."

Leo Welch - Sabougla Voices

Although the blues and gospel are classified as different kinds of music genres, they aren't mutually exclusive, and like every other kind of vernacular American music, there has always been a lot of cross-pollination going on, and since musicians are musicians, playing secular music in a jook on Saturday night isn't substantially different than taking the same set of riffs into church on Sunday morning, with different lyrics, of course. And even that isn't all that difficult, since singing about loss and singing about redemption are really two sides of the same coin, a part of the same conversation. Leo Welch understands this, and he's had to. Born and raised in Sabougla in the hill country of Mississippi, Welch worked over 30 years in the region's logging camps, spending his nights and days off playing picnics, house parties, and jook joints, developing a raw and urgent electric guitar style that put him in a long line of Mississippi trance guitarists that included R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. When the blues gigs began to get rarer in the mid-'70s, Welch simply packed up his approach and blues prowess and took them to the churches, developing a style that combined the grit and dirt of Mississippi blues guitar with the passionate urgency of Southern call-and-response gospel, which puts him squarely in the lineage of another great gospel guitarist, Mississippi Fred McDowell. This debut set, released when Welch was 82, is pretty much his church set done up straight with no frills in a recording studio, and it's a stunning and fiery thing to hear. From the relentless opener, "Praise His Name," this is an album of redemptive gospel blues that crackles with urgency, passion, and relentless energy. Welch is no traditionalist, and he has stated that he doesn't have a divisive mind when it comes to either the blues or gospel, enjoying both, and whether one sings about mortal love or God, it's all about longing. This is a marvelous album, a revelation, even, with striking electric stomps like "Somebody Touched Me," which sounds a bit like a raw garage band doing a slowed-down gospel version of Chuck Berry, and delicately balanced acoustic numbers like "Mother Loves Her Children" and "The Lord Will Make a Way" showing that Welch has found a way to make the blues and gospel speak together in one voice.

Darrow Fletcher - The Pain Gets A Little Deeper

"A child prodigy, Darrow Fletcher started singing when he was six years old. Everybody predicted stardom for the young crooner, who didn't have a shy bone in his body. He recorded his first record while still a student at Hirsch High School; he later attended South Shore. Ironically, the song turned out to be his most popular recording. "The Pain Gets a Little Deeper" was a rough song for a 14-year-old to get into, or so one would think, but Fletcher belted it out as if he had just gone through a knockdown, drag-out divorce. Travels took him to the celebrated chitlin' circuit, where he shared billings with other hot acts. He appeared on many television shows, not big ones like Dick Clark, but smaller soul shows like Ken Hawkins' World of Soul in Cleveland, OH, and Soul Train when it was Chicago-based.

At least three more singles on Groovy Records didn't come close to equaling the minimal success of his debut; he switched labels again and again, but sales never amounted to much. He recorded some singles, though; "Sitting There That Night" was a monster in Chicago, but never got much further than the city limits, due to Jacklyn Records' small budget. He cut "What Good Am I Without You" (1968) for the same label with the same results. Chicago's big city lifestyle, combined with his local success, got him flossy gigs at the Regal Theater with stars such as Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Ruffin, B.B. King, the Radiants, and others. His "The Way of a Man" made CKLW's (Detroit/Windsor) heavy rotation, notching well into the station's Top 20 survey. Pushed and managed by his father, Fletcher tried but never signed to a label with deep pockets. He had two releases on Revue Records that went totally unnoticed everywhere but at the Fletcher abode. In 1970, "Dolly Baby" b/w "What Is This" dropped on Uni Records, but made no noise. "Now Is the Time for Love" came out on Genna Records, another midget.

After a while, Fletcher gave up the dream." AMG

The Soul of Gospel, The Gospel of Soul

The Soul Of Gospel by Kingcake on Mixcloud

First of all let me say that even if you normally take a pass on our Sunday morning services, today you should make an exception because this collection is too, too good!!!!

This first Sunday Morning post is extracted from an absolutely fabulous article and collection writen and compiled by Karl Tsigdinos & John Glassburner at the remarkable Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven. The site is pretty much required reading for anyone who is interested enough in this stuff to be hanging out here. The truly excellent article, pictures, links etc are all included in the download or at the link above to  the site, as I found it - what I have done for you is to extract all of the mp3's imbedded in the article into a two volume file for you to listen to whilst you read the fine work of Messrs Karl Tsigdinos & John Glassburner.

I have listened to part one of this compilation this morning and it is quite simply the greatest, most moving, gospel I have ever heard!!! I was moved to tears repeatedly!!! 

The Carter Brothers - Blues On Tour

 A favorite of Cliff's - often reminiscent of early BB King.

This electric blues act with a soul bent recorded for Jewel Records, among other labels. Roman Carter (lead vocals, bass), Albert Carter (guitar), and Jerry Carter (vocals, piano) came from Garland, AL, and began recording in 1964 for producer/songwriter Duke Coleman's local label. Stan Lewis' Jewel Records licensed a pair of their singles, of which "Southern Country Boy" got to number 21 on the R&B charts nationally. They never cut an album, but before splitting up in 1967 (when Albert and Jerry Carter were said to have been drafted) the trio recorded more than a dozen single sides, which have since been collected on several compilations. Lead singer Roman Carter, who also cut solo singles for Jewel, endured as a solo performer over the next 40 years and was given an award as Best Male Blues Vocalist at the Fifth Annual Real Blues Awards, sponsored by Real Blues magazine in 1999. Several years later, Carter teamed up with veteran producer/composer Tom Rothrock (who launched Beck's career during the previous decade) to issue the full-length Never Slow Down in November 2007.

Bo Carter - Bananna In Your Fruit Basket & Twist It Babe

Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon (June 30, 1892 – September 21, 1964) was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings. Carter also managed that group, which included his brother, Lonnie Chatmon, on fiddle and occasionally Sam Chatmon on bass, along with a friend, Walter Vinson, on guitar and lead vocals.

Since the 1960s, Carter has become best known for his bawdy songs such as "Let Me Roll Your Lemon", "Banana in Your Fruit Basket", "Pin in Your Cushion", "Your Biscuits Are Big Enough for Me", "Please Warm My Wiener" and "My Pencil Won't Write No More". However, his output was not restricted to risqué music. In 1928, he recorded the original version of "Corrine, Corrina", which later became a hit for Big Joe Turner and has become a standard in various musical genres.

Carter and his brothers (including pianist Harry Chatmon, who also made recordings), first learned music from their father, ex-slave fiddler Henderson Chatmon, at their home on a plantation between Bolton and Edwards, Mississippi. Their mother, Eliza, also sang and played guitar.

Carter made his recording debut in 1928, backing Alec Johnson. Carter soon was recording as a solo artist and became one of the dominant blues recording acts of the 1930s, recording 110 sides. He also played with and managed the family group, the Mississippi Sheiks, and several other acts in the area. He and the Sheiks often played for whites, playing the pop hits of the day and white-oriented dance material, as well as for blacks, using a bluesier repertoire.

Carter went partly blind during the 1930s. He settled in Glen Allan, Mississippi and despite his vision problems did some farming but also continued to play music and perform, sometimes with his brothers. Carter moved to Memphis, and worked outside the music industry in the 1940s.

Carter suffered strokes and died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Shelby County Hospital, Memphis, on September 21, 1964.

Bull Moose Jackson - Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again

Benjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson (April 22, 1919 – July 31, 1989) was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophonist, who was most successful in the late 1940s.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, he learned to play the saxophone and started his first band, The Harlem Hotshots, while he was still in high school. In 1943, he was recruited as a saxophonist by bandleader Lucky Millinder, and the musicians in Millinder's band gave him the nickname "Bull Moose" for his appearance. He began singing when required to stand in for Wynonie Harris at a show in Texas.

Millinder encouraged Jackson to sign a solo contract with Syd Nathan of King Records to play rhythm and blues. He first recorded in his own right in 1946, with "I Know Who Threw the Whiskey", an answer song to Millinder's "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well". The following year, his recording of "I Love You, Yes I Do" reputedly became the first R&B single to sell a million copies, holding the #1 spot on the R&B chart for three weeks and crossing over to the pop chart, where it made #24.

He formed his own group, The Buffalo Bearcats, and over the next five years recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, including both romantic crooning and bawdy jump blues. Other big hits in 1948 included the double-sided hit "All My Love Belongs to You" / "I Want a Bowlegged Woman", and his biggest R&B chart hit, "I Can't Go On Without You", which stayed at # 1 on the R&B chart for eight weeks. He also made an appearance in the 1948 film, Boarding House Blues, with Millinder.

In 1949, he covered "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me" a song that been successful for Wayne Raney as well as several country and western performers.

Jackson toured throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. Around 1951, his band included bebop composer and arranger Tadd Dameron on piano, and another jazz musician, Benny Golson, on saxophone.

Some of Jackson's later risqué material, including "Big Ten Inch Record" (later covered by Aerosmith on Toys in the Attic) and "Nosey Joe" (written by Leiber and Stoller), both from 1952, were too suggestive for airplay, but remained popular.

Jackson continued to record until the mid-1950s, but the advent of rock-and-roll largely sidelined older musical artists, and so he instead went to work for a catering firm in Washington, D.C.. In 1961 he re-recorded, "I Love You, Yes I Do" with modernized high-fidelity and had a minor hit.

In the early 1980s he was persuaded by Carl Grefenstette to perform and record again with the Pittsburgh R&B revival band, The Flashcats, who had been playing his songs, and to record the album Moosemania! in 1985. Jackson also toured nationally and internationally. However, his health was deteriorating from lung cancer, and he died in Cleveland during the summer of 1989.

Big Jay McNeely

Big Jay McNeely
Born:  Cecil James McNeely  on Apr 29, 1927 in Watts, CA

Biography by Bill Dahl, All Music
His mighty tenor sax squawking and bleating with wild-eyed abandon, Big Jay McNeely blew up a torrid R&B tornado from every conceivable position -- on his knees, on his back, being wheeled down the street on an auto mechanic's "creeper" like a modern-day pied piper. As one of the titans who made tenor sax the solo instrument of choice during rock's primordial era, McNeely could peel the paper right off the walls with his sheets of squealing, honking horn riffs.

Cecil McNeely and his older brother Bob (who blew baritone sax lines with Jay in unison precision on some of Jay's hottest instrumentals) grew up in Los Angeles, where jazz reigned on Watts' bustling nightlife strip. Inspired by Illinois Jacquet and tutored by Jack McVea, McNeely struck up a friendship with Johnny Otis, co-owner of the popular Barrelhouse nitery. Ralph Bass, a friend of Otis, produced McNeely's debut date for Savoy Records in 1948 (Savoy boss Herman Lubinsky tagged the saxist Big Jay, in his eyes a more commercial name than Cecil). McNeely's raucous one-note honking on "The Deacon's Hop" gave him and Savoy an R&B chart-topper in 1949, and his follow-up, "Wild Wig," also hit big for the young saxist with the acrobatic stage presence.

From Savoy, McNeely moved to Exclusive in 1949, Imperial in 1950-1951, King's Federal subsidiary in 1952-1954 (where he cut some of his wildest waxings, including the mind-boggling "3-D"), and Vee-Jay in 1955. McNeely's live shows were the stuff that legends are made of -- he electrified a sweaty throng of thousands packing L.A.'s Wrigley Field in 1949 by blowing his sax up through the stands and then from home plate to first base on his back! A fluorescently painted sax that glowed in the dark was another of his showstopping gambits.

In 1958, McNeely cut his last hit in a considerably less frantic mode with singer Little Sonny Warner. The bluesy "There Is Something on Your Mind" was committed to tape in Seattle but came out on disc jockey Hunter Hancock's Swingin' imprint the next year. McNeely's original was a huge smash, but it was eclipsed the following year by New Orleans singer Bobby Marchan's dramatic R&B chart-topping version for Fire. Since then, it's been covered countless times, including a fine rendition by Conway Twitty!

Honking saxists had fallen from favor by the dawn of the '60s, so McNeely eventually became a mailman and joined Jehovah's Witnesses (no, that's not the name of a combo). Happily, his horn came back out of the closet during the early '80s. McNeely went on to record for his own little label and tour the country and overseas regularly.

Andrew Tibbs

Andrew Tibbs was born Melvin Andrew Grayson on 2 February 1929 in Columbus, Ohio. His father was the prominent Chicago Baptist minister, Reverend S. A. Grayson, and Tibbs got his start singing in church choirs. His brother Robert for a time was married to Dinah Washington. When he surreptitiously began singing blues in clubs, he used his middle name and his mother's maiden name, becoming "Andrew Tibbs." His route to Aristocrat began when in 1947 he was singing at Jimmy's Palm Garden. At intermission, he would go around the corner to the Macomba Lounge and sing during that club's intermissions. Sammy Goldberg saw him at the club and signed him to Aristocrat; Leonard Chess saw commercial potential in recording Tibbs, and decided to invest in the company, which was already recording Tom Archia. Tibbs' debut session has always been said to be the first one that Leonard Chess attended.

When interviewed by Jim O'Neal in Living Blues (1982), Tibbs explained how he just got up and sang traditional blues verses in the clubs, so he had never needed to come up with any compositions. Two numbers were hastily concocted for the recording date: Tibbs and Tom Archia worked out "Bilbo Is Dead" in the back seat of a cab on the way to the session, and Tibbs brought the lyrics into the session inscribed on a paper bag.

Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was an American politician. Bilbo, a Democrat, twice served as governor of Mississippi (1916–20, 1928–32) and later became a U.S. Senator (1935–47). A master of filibuster and scathing rhetoric, a rough-and-tumble fighter in debate, he made his name a synonym for white supremacy. Proud of being a racist, Bilbo believed in the natural inferiority of black people, was a fiery defender of segregation, and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Of short stature (5 ft 2 in, 1.57 m), Bilbo wore flashy clothing, and was nicknamed "The Man" because he tended to refer to himself in the third person. [...] — Wikipedia

Little Walter - Walter's Blues

This recently released remastered version sounds better than anything that I've heard previously. The disc has 25 cream of the crop Chess tracks; the best you will get in a single disc.

"Marion "Little Walter" Jacobs is widely considered the greatest blues harmonica player ever. A Creole who could speak French, he was born in Marksville, Louisiana in 1930. He took up the harmonica as a child, at first playing polkas and waltzes, and by the time he was 12 he was on his own, working the sidewalks and bars of New Orleans with his instrument. He had also discovered the music of John Lee Williamson, and modeled his early blues style on that of Williamson’s.

When he was fourteen he drifted to Helena, Arkansas, and came under the influence of Rice Miller, who along with Walter Horton, gave him pointers on the harp. The following year, Little Walter’s evolution beyond traditional folk-blues began when he started to listen to the records of jump saxophonist Louis Jordan and learn his solos note for note on harmonica.

In 1947 he arrived in Chicago with Honeyboy Edwards, and became a part of the fabled Maxwell Street scene that at one time or another included almost every postwar Chicago blues luminary. He first recorded that year behind singer Othum Brown on the Ora Nelle label, and also began playing in a trio with Jimmy Rogers and Muddy Waters, whom he had met on Maxwell Street. It was the core of what was to be the world’s most celebrated blues band.

Little Walter began recording in 1950 with Muddy, first on the Parkway label, and then for Chess, the label he was to stay with for the rest of his short life. With Waters’s "Long Distance Call," Walter became the first to record amplified harmonica. Muddy’s records did well, but despite his musical success, Jacobs had serious problems. He was prone to heavy drinking, and got into fights. "He was hellacious when he drank," Lazy Lester Johnson once told me, "and he liked the bottle." The only one who could control him, it seemed, was Muddy.

On May 12, 1952, Little Walter recorded an instrumental under his own name that the Muddy Waters band had been using to close sets with. "Juke," with its fat, amplified tone and sax-like phrases, was released under Little Walter’s own name and became a huge hit. Following its success, he left Waters’ band to form his own group, but continued to record with Muddy. From then on, either under his own name or Muddy’s, he recorded a string of sides that has been the envy of every blues harp player since. But all that changed when rock ‘n roll came along in the mid-1950s. Sales of blues records dropped and Little Walter was bitter about it.

In 1964 he toured Europe with the Rolling Stones, but substance abuse and his hot temper still plagued him. "Little Walter was dead ten years before he died," Muddy Waters told Patrick Day, gesturing to indicate drinking and then shooting dope. At gigs, as well as offstage, he would sometimes wave a pistol or two around, and had trouble keeping a band together. Photos taken towards the end of his life show a scarred, haggard man looking closer to 55 than 35.
On February 14th, 1968, Walter Jacobs died of injuries sustained in a Chicago street fight. He was only 37 years old." Glenn Weiser

Mighty Joe Hicks / Jimmy Hughes - Something Special

I'm posting this one primarily for the Joe Hicks, since this Jimmy Hughes material has already appeared here last year. Of course if you missed it then you are doubly in luck.

"Joe Hicks is an American R&B and soul blues singer and songwriter. He hailed from San Francisco, California, United States, and found limited success in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Hicks recorded an album for a subsidiary label of Stax Records.

His 1968 recording, "Don't It Make You Feel Funky", was produced by Pat Vegas and released by AGC Records; it later appeared on the 1995 compilation album, A Treasure Chest of Northern Soul. In 1969, he recorded the single, "I'm Goin' Home" b/w "Home Sweet Home - Part II", which was written and produced by Sly Stone, and released on the latter's Stone Flower label.

His joint compositions with Delaney Bramlett, "Sound of the City" and " I Know Something Good About You", were featured on Delaney & Bonnie & Friends' 1972 album, D&B Together. With Bobby Womack, Hicks co-wrote "Simple Man" and "Ruby Dean" (which both appeared on Womack's 1972 Understanding album), plus Womack's hit single, "That's The Way I Feel About Cha".

In 1973, Hicks recorded the album, Mighty Joe Hicks, which was released by Enterprise Records (a subsidiary label of Stax). It included the track, "Ruby Dean".

He is not to be confused with a similarly named, Missisissippi raised, Delta blues drummer and singer, who performed with the Fieldstones." wiki

Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Allright Again!

I just HAD to put this up because I was watching an interview with Gate in which he discussed the 3 months that he spent on tour with Eric Clapton. He got me at first giggling and finally belly laughing out loud. Apparently at some point in the tour Gate was moved to ask Senor Guitar God "What the f__k do you need 20 guitars on stage with you fo' ? One for every guy you tryin' to copy?"

Whew!!! Has anyone ever more succinctly described all there is to know about Clapton? My belief is that all the genuinely important and original things Clapton has EVER played could easily be contained in 2 discs. That said, 2 discs is quite a bit more than most can claim.

Okay, Clapton slam done....umm by the way, this is an absolutely killer Gate album - enjoy my friends.

Jimmy Lewis - It's Getting Harder

Jimmy Lewis was born in 1939 in Nashville, Tennessee. He recorded a dozen singles in the 1960's, including a duet with Ray Charles, but he soon found that his compositional skills were much more in demand. Based in Los Angeles, he continued composing for Ray Charles and other artists. In the 80's he wrote many of Z.Z. Hill's best songs for Mississippi's Malaco Records. He reunited with Ray Charles again in the 90's.

It was also in the 90's that Lewis began his stint as primary writer, arranger and producer for Peggy Scott-Adams. His easy-going style meshed perfectly with Scott-Adams' hard-hitting style, and the collaboration resulted in a string of Southern Soul hits that as much as any other song-producing team defined the sound of Southern Soul from the mid-nineties into the new millennium.

As a musical entrepreneur, Lewis has been a human dynamo. Besides writing, arranging and producing Scott-Adams and other artists for his Miss Butch label, Lewis has cranked out solo Jimmy Lewis CD's regularly through the 90's and 00's.

Despite limited "pipes," Lewis has won over chitlin' circuit deejays and fans by composing colorful, culturally "incorrect" portraits of real life, and novelty songs enriched with modern-day folklore. Today he's regarded as perhaps the foremost storyteller in contemporary Southern Soul rhythm and blues. Daddy B Nice

Marvin Sease 1987

Born Feb. 16 1946 in South Carolina. d. 8th February 2011, Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S.A.
Died from pneumonia in Vicksburg, Mississippi on the 8th of February 2011.
Marvin Sease got his start by joining a gospel group in nearby Charleston called Five Gospel Singers and later when he was 20 he sang with the Gospel Crowns. But soon his heart was in R & B and he put together Sease, a backing band featuring his three brothers. When this went nowhere, Sease himself put out several 45s, and eventually scored a regular gig at a Brooklyn nightspot called the Casablanca. Sease recorded a self-titled LP in 1986 featuring one of his most popular songs, "Ghetto Man," and began working the South's so-called chitlin circuit of ghetto bars, rural juke joints, and blues festivals. While shopping the LP, released on his own Early label, to record stores, Sease stumbled upon a contact who eventually got him a deal with Polygram, which re-released the LP on London/Mercury in 1987 with the addition of the newly recorded, ten-minute track "Candy Licker." "Candy Licker" became an underground success on jukeboxes across the South; it was too explicit for radio airplay, but audiences - especially female ones - flocked to see Sease in concert. He thusly fashioned himself as a smooth, X-rated ladies' man but he sings soul blues and gospel-drenched soul with salacious lyrics that also appeals to male fans of southern soul.