Hmmm....did somebody ask about a set of Joe Simon's Sound Stage 7 / Monument tracks? I believe you can also find some links to a couple of the actual albums in the Shares and Requests, but here is a compilation of Simon's work with John Richbourg. (btw Sound Stage 7 was a subsidiary label of Monument.)
Born on September 24, 1893, in Coutchman, Texas, singer and guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the most influential blues performers of the early 20th century. He is considered one of the founders of Texas blues and a leading figure in country blues. According to allmusic.com, Jefferson was born blind and was one of seven children. His parents were sharecroppers.
Walker was born Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr. in Blytheville, Arkansas, and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. His saxophone style was the anchor for the band's overall sound. The other original members of the group were drummer Tony Washington, guitarist Willie Woods, and keyboardist Vic Thomas.
Nicks obtained a permanent gig at a local TV station in South Bend, Indiana, and asked Walker to join him and his keyboard player (Fred Patton) permanently. Shortly after, Nicks asked Willie Woods, a local singer, to perform with the group; shortly after Woods would learn how to play guitar also. When Nicks got drafted into the United States Army, Walker convinced the band to move from South Bend to Battle Creek, Michigan. While performing in Benton Harbor, Walker found a drummer, Tony Washington, to replace Nicks Eventually, Fred Patton (piano player) left the group, and Victor Thomas stepped in. The original name, "The Rhythm Rockers," was changed to "The All Stars". Walker's squealing gutbucket style was inspired by jump blues and early R&B, particularly players like Louis Jordan, Earl Bostic, and Illinois Jacquet. 
The group was spotted by Johnny Bristol, and he recommended them to Harvey Fuqua, in 1961, who had his own record labels. Once the group started recording on the Harvey label, their name was changed to Junior Walker & the All Stars. When Fuqua's labels were taken over by Motown's Berry Gordy, Jr. Walker & The All Stars became members of the Motown Records family, recording for Motown's Soul imprint in 1964. 
Walker re-formed the All Stars in the 1980s. Foreigner's 1981 album 4 featured Walker's blistering sax solo on "Urgent". On April 11, 1981, Walker was the musical guest on the season finale of Saturday Night Live. He later recorded his own version of the Foreigner song for the 1983 All Stars's album Blow the House Down. Walker's version was also featured in the 1985 Madonna film Desperately Seeking Susan. In 1983, Walker was re-signed with Motown. 
A second service featuring the ladies today - to the left is the termite chewed cover of the record that this was actually ripped from, however some may prefer the clean one from the internet. This is a strong record featuring a 17 year old Shirley Caesar on about half the leads.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Mildred Cummings was the youngest child of a large musical family of African-American origin; she began to sing with her sisters, as the Cummings Sisters, performing spirituals in Dayton and the surrounding area. By the 1930s, she was making solo appearances in young people's amateur talent shows or in front of her family. She preferred ballads and developed a stage wardrobe that appealed to black southerner agricultural workers who at that time were migrating to the US northern cities. In her stage show she performed barefoot, with a straw hat, braids, backwoods clothes and a basket. In US and Canadian English a cornshuck is the husk of an ear of maize.
In 1940, Cummings married Cornelius Jorman, with whom she had three children. Her husband worked as her manager and accompanied her at her performances. By in 1942 she was a star in the Chicago area, performing at the Rhumboogie Club. The band leader and arranger Marl Young who worked at the club recognised her talent and signed her under contract to the then famous Club DeLisa. A year later, the future owner of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, heard her sing in Washington DC and wrote in his memoirs:
Her Sunbeam recordings were now republished on the Old Swingmaster label and she enjoyed some success in the Detroit area based at the Frolics Bar. Performances in New York and Washington followed. During one of these tours she met the dancer Henry "Henny" Ramsey, who became her lover and with whom she spent several years on tour while her children stayed with her family in Dayton. Ramsey and Cornshucks lived together for a while in Los Angeles, where she appeared in the clubs of Central Avenue, such as the Last Word Room and Club Alabam.
Washington cited B.B. King as most influential on his style of singing and guitar playing, which was heavily sprinkled with his gospel singing roots. Shortly after his mother died, he began singing blues as often as he could at the Vet's Inn in Cincinnati, where he worked with a house band for 16 years. In 1962, he recorded his first single for the Finch label in Cincinnati, and it was later released on the Bluestown label. His 1964 singles for the VLM label, including a song he wrote called "Haven't Got a Friend,'' got him noticed in England, and this in turn led to a deal with Fraternity Records in 1966. Lonnie Mack joined Washington on several singles for Fraternity recorded in 1969. In 1970, he recorded two singles for the Jewel label before finally recording his first LP for the Detroit-based Eastbound Records in 1972.
Issued at the start of The Great Depression, the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, Son remained popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate, Willie Brown, he was the leading musician of Coahoma County. There he was a formative influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for Library of Congress and Fisk University. The following year, he left the Delta for Rochester, New York, and gave up music.
Some of you may have figured out by now that the Blues posts have had us on the road to Robert Johnson ever since the Big Joe Williams collection. Bit by bit I have sought to give a realistic picture of what came before RJ and what his influences were. Certainly on the song writing level at the very least, Skip James seems to count as an influence. I've just now realized that I'd posted these songs earlier on the blog, but I'm happy to say this is a much superior remastering job.
Blackwell also made solo recordings for Vocalion, including "Kokomo Blues" which was transformed into "Old Kokomo Blues" by Kokomo Arnold before being redone as "Sweet Home Chicago" by Robert Johnson. Blackwell and Carr toured throughout the American Midwest and South between 1928 and 1935 as stars of the blues scene, recording over 100 sides. "Prison Bound Blues" (1928), "Mean Mistreater Mama" (1934), and "Blues Before Sunrise" (1934) were popular tracks.
Blackwell returned to music in the late 1950s and was first recorded in June 1958 by Colin C. Pomroy (those recordings were released as late as 1967 on the Collector label). Soon afterwards he was recorded by Duncan P. Schiedt for Doug Dobell's 77 Records.
Scrapper Blackwell was then recorded in 1961, in Indianapolis, by a young Art Rosenbaum for the Prestige/Bluesville Records label. The story is recounted by Rosenbaum as starting three years before the recordings were made. While still growing up in his hometown of Indianapolis, an African American woman that Rosenbaum knew said he "had to meet a man that she knew, who played guitar, played blues and christian songs, they'll make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck." Rosenbaum goes into more details of meeting Blackwell; "I met the gentleman across the street from the Methodist hospital in Indianapolis". Scrapper's friend said, "well he hasn't got a guitar", so Art said "well I got a guitar." Scrapper than said that he needed some 'bird food', with Rosenbaum being confused as to what he was referring to, Scrapper continued, "you gotta get some bird food for the bird, before the bird sings... beer!" Rosenbaum said, "I'm too young!" Scrapper and his friend continued, "we'll buy the beer, you just give us some money." Art concludes the meeting, "So we did, and he started playing these beautiful blues. I didn't realize he was Scrapper Blackwell til I mentioned his name to a blues collecting friend." To which then the friend exclaimed, "you met Scrapper Blackwell!?"
When the Chosen went back into the studio in mid-1953, only Randall remained from the previous incarnation; his new collaborators included low tenors John Evans, J.T. "Rattler" Ratley, and Preston Whitted, and baritone Sam Thomas. During a subsequent tour stop in Chicago, they recruited 17-year-old lead vocalist Lou Rawls, already a gospel veteran through his work with the Teenage Kings of Harmony, the Holy Wonders, and the Highway QC's. In February 1954, Rawls made his first recordings as a Chosen Gospel Singer; another session followed just two months later, but in the interim, both Evans and Ratley apparently exited the ranks. Also gone was Randall, the sole remaining link to the group's origins; he was replaced by Raeford Blair. There is some evidence that E.J. Booker, later of the Pilgrim Travelers, was also in the group at this juncture, although other accounts deny such a claim.
