Killer 50s work from the great Little Walter

Little Walter, born Walter Marion Jacobs on May 1, 1930 in Marksville, Louisiana, taught himself harmonica age at the age of 8. He ran away from home, formed a group and worked the streets and small clubs of New Orleans in 1942. He worked in the Helena, Arkansas area from 1943-1946, performing on King Biscuit Time and with Houston Stackhouse. Jacobs moved to Chicago around 1946 and played on Maxwell Street and in clubs with Tampa Red, Bill Broonzy, and Memphis Slim.

His first recordings in 1947 were for Ora Nelle, a small Maxwell Street record label. After Muddy Waters started recording for Chess in 1947 with Ernest "Big" Crawford on bass. In 1948 he added Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rodgers on second guitar, and Leroy Foster on drums to his band, and this group of musicians defined the modern blues band through their experience playing in Chicago's clubs. Their first recordings appeared on Chess in 1950, all classics of postwar blues. Walter's innovative playing and distinctive sound from his amplified harmonica contributed heavily to making Muddy's recordings of the early 1950's the magnificent achievements they still are. Walter toured with the Muddy Water's band during the years 1948-1952.

In 1952 Walter left Muddy's band to showcase his own vocal skills. Walter formed a group called The Jukes with David and Louis Myers on guitars and Fred Below on drums. This trio, known as the Aces then, had been working previously with Junior Wells. Their first recordings were for the Checker subsidiary of Chess in 1952. Walter played the amplified harmonica (often alternating standard and chromatic harmonicas) by holding a small microphone in his cupped hands. He achieved a saxophone-like sound that expressed his highly imaginative improvisations remeniscent of the bop jazz saxophonists of the day. Pete Welding has said of Walter, "As a vocalist he manifested the same incisive, resilient swing, the same passionate conviction and intensity with which he animated his harmonica playing."

From 1952 to 1968 Walter recorded about 100 titles for Chess, of which about half were issued on record as of the early 1970's. Previously unreleased material is making its way to newly released CD's. Grab 'em. Walter also recorded frequently as a sideman for Chess/Checker in the years 1952-1968 in addition to extensive touring, including a tour of England in 1964 with the Rolling Stones.

Walter died on February 15, 1968 in Chicago at the age of 37 as a result of head injuries sustained in a street fight. He is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Evergreen, Il.

These tracks show that he was one of the greatest blues acts working for Chess Records at the time! Many of the numbers here are heavy on Walter's classic harmonica style, but they also feature plenty of rough-edged vocals with a nicely soulful approach.

Instrumentation is mostly small combo -- with Otis Spann on piano, Freddie Robinson and Leonard Caston on guitars, and Willie Dixon on bass -- among a variety of other players on the different sessions.

Titles include "Hate To See You Go", "Key To The Highway", "Blue & Lonesome", "I Had My Fun", "I Got To Find My Baby", "Nobody But You", "Take Me Back", and "Roller Coaster".

Also 2 bonus tracks -- "I've Had My Fun (alt)" and "I Got To Find My Baby (alt)".

http://lix.in/85cd68

I love it

Posted by Joski at 4:03 PM | 2 comments  
Labels: Little Walter

The success of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” album overshadowed last year’s other outstanding old-timey soundtrack, from the movie Songcatcher.

This follow-up to that album (which featured contemporary artists performing early American folk ballads) presents early recordings of a number of those same tunes, along with other ballads from the same tradition.

Legendary artists like Dock Boggs, Almeda Riddle, Doc Watson, and Roscoe Holcomb all contribute some of the best-known folk ballads of the era, including "Black Jack Davey," "Pretty Saro," "House Carpenter," and a gripping version of "Matty Groves."

Although Songcatcher was set near the turn of the century, these gems from Vanguard's vaults are mostly from the '60s folk revival festival circuit, and although they offer crisp sound quality and strong presence, these artist's true golden recordings were done in the '20s and '30s.

The 1927 recordings of the young and hungry Dock Boggs singing "Sugar Baby" blow away the versions of the same song 40 years later, as is the case with Clarence Ashley, Mother Maybelle Carter, and every other performer on this disc (with the exception of Watson, who will be equally astounding until the day he dies, and then beyond).

Still, this is a spectacular folk revival collection, perfect for those who enjoyed the music in the movie but were disappointed with the contemporary updates on the film's soundtrack.

The track listing::

~ Babes in the Woods -- Almeda Riddle

~ Georgie -- Doc Watson

~ The Coo Coo Bird -- Hobart Smith

~ The Two Lovers -- Almeda Riddle

~ Matty Groves -- DocWatson

~ Oh Death -- Dock Boggs

~ Girl of Constant Sorrow -- Sarah Ogan Gunning

~ Winter's Night -- Doc Watson

~ Black Jack Davey -- Almeda Riddle

~ Sugar Baby -- Dock Boggs

~ Wish I Was a Single Girl Again -- Cousin Emmy

~ Leather Britches-- Fiddlin Arthur Smith

~ Will The Weaver -- Almeda Riddle

~ Little Birdie -- Roscoe Holcombe

~ Pretty Saro -- Doc Watson

~ House Carpenter -- Clarence Ashley

~ Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies -- Mother Maybelle Carter

Posted by Joski at 4:00 PM | 3 comments  
Labels: Mountain Music, Rural Country

Trixie Smith (born 1885 in Atlanta Georgia; died September 21, 1943 in New York City), was an Blues Singer, vaudeville entertainer, and an actress.

Sometime around 1915 she moved north to New York to work in show business. At first she worked in minstrel shows and on the TOBA vaudeville circuit. It was in vaudeville where she became a featured vocalist. In 1922 Smith made her first recordings for the “Black Swan” label.

Among these were "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" (1922), written by J. Berni Barbour, of historic interest as the first secular recording to reference the phrase "rock and roll". Her record inspired various lyrical elaboration’s: "Rock That Thing" by Lil Johnson, "Rock Me Mama" by Ikey Robinson, and so on.

Also later that year she won a blues singing contest in New York sponsored by the White dance team of Vernon and Irene Castle, beating out Lucille Hegamin and some other lesser known singers with her song "Trixie’s Blues”.

Smith is best remembered today for the excellent Jazz bands that accompanied her on her records. The records were often released under the name of Trixie Smith and her Down Home Syncopators, which was usually either Fletcher Henderson & his Orchestra

or the White group The Original Memphis Five

Trixie recorded a fine session for Decca in 1938 that featured Sidney bechet and an additional song in 1939, but her recording career had for all practical purposes ended by 1926 when she recorded with Jimmy Bythe and his Ragamuffins.

As her career as a Blues singer waned, Smith returned to her theatrical roots and worked in musical revues, Broadway shows and appeared the four films. She died in 1943.

http://lix.in/677909

http://lix.in/2ceef1

http://lix.in/2a218c

Peace and Love

Posted by Joski at 5:13 PM | 4 comments  
Labels: Trixie Smith

The record explores songs Levon Helm learned as a boy in Arkansas.

“Growing up on a cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta, Dirt Farmer rings true to home,” Levon said. “Amy encouraged me to go all the way back and try to record some of the family songs from home that we always loved best.”

The record reveals the essential beauty of traditional songs like “Little Birds” and the Stanley Brothers’ “False Hearted Lover Blues,” and takes a new look at Paul Kennerley’s “A Train Robbery,” Buddy and Julie Miller’s “Wide River To Cross” and another sentimental favorite, Lauralyn Dossett’s “Anna Lee.”

Levon said: “‘The Girl I Left Behind’ was one of the first songs my parents taught me as a child, along with ‘Little Birds’and ‘Blind Child.’ ‘The Poor Old Dirt Farmer’ is a song that my wood-carver musician friend Michael Copus and I learned together when we worked with Jane Fonda on The Dollmaker down in Tennessee. ‘Single Girl, Married Girl’ is one of my favorite songs of the whole session. It gave us the chance to address a traditional standard with the entire rhythm section using non-electric instruments and a full set of drums. It also gave us the chance to monkey up the rhythm of a traditional country beat.”

On Dirt Farmer, Helm's pays tribute to his family, singing traditional songs that he learned growing up in rural Arkansas. He also covers songs by Steve Earle and J.B. Lenoir; full of dobros, mandolins and acoustic guitars, the album resonates deeply, honouring Levon's roots.

This is this year’s best album, no doubt about it

http://lix.in/6ec495

Posted by Joski at 7:40 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Levon Helm

Posted by Joski at 5:00 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Buddy Guy

Gus Cannon was born September 12, 1883 on Henderson Newell's plantation in Marshall County Mississippi. His parents, John and Ellen, were sharecroppers; his father had been a slave. Gus was the youngest of 10 brothers. When Gus was 12 he went to Clarksdale with his brother Tom to work in the cotton fields. Around this time Gus took an interest in music and made a banjo from a guitar neck and a bread pan. He learned songs from local musicians, mostly country songs that he strummed. He then learned to finger pick from a local musician named Bud Jackson. Gus got his first real banjo when he was 15; his brother won it in a crap game.

At this time there were several banjo/fiddle groups in Clarksdale, including W. C. Handy and his band with Jim Turner on fiddle. By the time he was 19 Gus was playing at Saturday night balls for $2.50 a night as well as working other odd jobs in the area. By 1901 Gus had gotten a job working for the railroad at Belzoni, near Greenville Mississippi. It was at this time that he formed his first jug band with Jim Guffin. In 1907 he went to work at a plantation near Ashport, Tennessee. Gus would spend his weekends in nearby Ripley, and it was here on a Sunday afternoon in that he met Noah Lewis. Noah was born on Glimpse Farm in Lauderdale county, outside Henning, Tennessee around 1890. Noah was a harp player, in fact he was known for being able to play two harps at once, one with his mouth and the other with his nose. He was also known as a heavy cocaine user. Noah introduced Gus to Ashley Thompson who played guitar and was only 13 at the time.

In 1910 Gus was married to Louis Brown's daughter. By 1914 Gus was playing the medicine show circuit under the name "Banjo Joe". Gus also made visits to Beale Street in Memphis which contained such establishments as "The Red Light", "The Blue Light", "The Hole In The Wall" and "The Monarch" also known as "The Castle of Missing Men". These places were notorious for prostitution, and the easy availability of moonshine, reefer and cocaine. Gus lived off and on in Memphis during the 1920s where he also met Hosea Woods and Elijah Avery.

The origins of jug bands can be traced to Louisville, Kentucky around the turn of the century. The early jug bands played a mixture of early jazz, country and pop that had its roots in ragtime. By 1910 there were several jug bands in Louisville, usually consisting of a jug, fiddle, banjo and sometimes a mandolin or guitar. One of the first jug bands to be recorded was Earl McDonalds Dixieland Jug Blowers in the early 1920s.

Back in Memphis, Will Shade (born 2/5/89 in Memphis) had started the Memphis Jug Band. They became very popular in Memphis, often playing in Church Park, where Gus saw them. The Memphis Jug Band first recorded for Victor in February 1927 and over the next four years recorded 57 sides. By 1930 there were seven different jug bands active in Memphis. The Memphis Jug Band had become so popular, and large, that they would split into two versions and play two different gigs on the same night.

In 1928 Ralph Peer from Victor, who had previously recorded the Memphis Jug Band, returned to Memphis looking for other jug bands to record. Charlie Williamson, the manager of the Palace Theatre, recommended Gus. By this time Gus had had a harness made for his jug so that he could wear it around his neck and play banjo at the same time. Gus called up Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson and on Jan 30 1928 they recorded 4 sides in an old auditorium as "Cannon's Jug Stompers". Two of the songs "Minglewood Blues" and "Big Railroad Blues" featured Ashley on vocals, the others "Madison St Rag" and Springdale Blues" featured Gus. Minglewood was described as a small lumber camp or saw mill in Ashport, west of Ripley, that was a "good time spot".

These recordings did well and in Sept 1928 an additional 10 sides were cut; 4 on Sept 5 with Avery replacing Thompson, 2 more on Sept 9 and then 4 more on Sept 20 with Hosea Woods added on kazoo. Two takes of "Viola Lee Blues" were recorded during the Sept 20 session with Noah Lewis on Vocals. The second take included a completely different (from the version that Grateful Dead fans are used to) third verse. Cannon's Jug Stompers recorded a total of 26 sides between Jan 30, 1928 and Nov 28, 1930. In addition, Noah Lewis recorded 4 sides by himself (2 on Oct 2, 1929 and 2 on Nov 26, 1930) and 4 sides as the "Noah Lewis Jug Band" during Nov 1930. The Noah Lewis Jug Band included "Sleepy" John Estes on guitar and Yank Rachel on Mandolin. During the Nov 26 session they recorded New Minglewood Blues. It is this version that most resembles the verions performed by the Grateful Dead.

Cannon did something unpredictable for a man of his generation and peer group: he lived another fifty years after the heyday of early blues recording. He stayed around Memphis and eventually made more records, including a brilliant, rusty, twangy relic of an album for Stax in 1963. Only 500 were pressed, so the vinyl is a collector's item. The good news is that most were sold in the city, so one can occasionally pick one up for a dollar in a garage sale.

Cannon died in 1979, and was buried back down in the red clay of North Mississippi that he came from a century earlier.

http://lix.in/664c71

http://lix.in/e5bd56

Peace

Posted by Joski at 11:47 AM | 2 comments  
Labels: Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, Jug band

A true best of compilation of what bluegrass has to offer today

1. Uncle Pen - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
2. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys
3. This Weary Heart You Stole Away (Wake Up, Sweet... - The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys
4. Are You Missing Me? - Jim & Jesse (McReynolds Bros.) & The Virginia Boys
5. You Don't Know My Mind - Jimmy Martin
6. Rocky Top - Osborne Brothers
7. Blue Moon Of Kentucky - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
8. Orange Blossom Special - Stanley Brothers
9. The Ballad Of Jed Clampett - Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys
10. Dooley - The Dilliards
11. Nine Pound Hammer - The Kentucky Colonels
12. Roving Gambler - The Country Gentleman
13. Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms - Del McCoury
14. Dueling Banjos - Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell
15. Will The Circle Be Unbroken - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
16. Old Home Place - J.D. Crowe & The New South
17. Little Cabin Home On The Hill - Ricky Skaggs
18. Love You In Vain - Alison Krauss & Union Station

Posted by Joski at 11:43 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: Appalachian, Bluegrass

Pink Anderson and Gary Davis, both born in South Carolina around the turn of the century, were among the last of a breed of entertainers known as songsters--singing guitarists adept at a variety of material, including blues, folk, minstrel, popular, and religious.

Both men spent much of their lives singing on the streets, trying to please whoever passed by. Anderson's plaintive music was captured on record several times between 1928 and 1962, and the 1950 session for folk collector Paul Clayton that's heard on the first half of this CD displays Anderson's remarkable versatility.

Davis, whose eight 1956 titles comprise the other half, abandoned the secular side of his repertoire early on to concentrate on singing and picking for the Lord. While Anderson, who died in 1974, became too ill later in life to take much advantage of this album on Prestige/Bluesville, Davis continued to tour and record widely until a heart attack felled him on the way to a concert in 1972.

PINK ANDERSON – John Henry, Everyday in the Week, The Ship Titanic, Greasy Greens, Wreck of the Old 97, I've Got Mine, He's in the Jailhouse Now

REV. GARY DAVIS – Blow, Gabriel; Twelve Gates to the City, Samson and Delilah; Oh Lord, Search My Heart; Get Right Church, You Got to Go Down, Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning, There Was a Time That I Was Blind.

Posted by Joski at 6:20 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Pink Anderson, Reverend Gary Davis

Recorded during a three hour session on August 24, 1960, Gary Davis laid down 12 of his most impassioned spirituals for Harlem Street Singer.

Starting off the session with a version of Blind Willie Johnson’s "If I Had My Way I'd Tear That Building Down," here renamed "Samson and Delilah," Davis is in fine form.

His vocals are as expressive as Ray Charles’ while similar in richness to Richie Havens' work.

Harlem Street Singer features his inspired country blues fingerpicking as well. Many moods color the selections, from the gentle "I Belong to the Band" to the mournful "Death Don't Have No Mercy," only to be followed by the joyous shouting of "Goin' to Sit Down on the Banks of the River."

Posted by Joski at 6:15 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis sings and plays 6 & 12 string guitar and harmonica.

This was Reverend Davis’ third Bluesville album and it was originally released in 1961.

Davis was in fine form throughout the session, playing some startlingly intricate 12-string guitar licks, blowing some rootsy harp, and singing with conviction. Between the songs, the Reverend tells some rambling stories, which are just as gripping and fascinating as the music itself

Recorded in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in 1961. Originally released on Bluesville (1049).

All songs composed by Reverend Gary Davis except "Hold To God's Unchanging Hand", "Little Bitty Baby", and "Tryin' To Get To Heaven In Due Time" (traditional, arranged by Reverend Gary Davis).

Trying To Get To Heaven In Due Time

Time Is Drawing Near

Hold To God`s Unchanging Hand

Bad Company Brought Me Here

I Decided To Go Down

Lord, I Looked Down The Road

Little Bitty Baby

No One Can Do Me Like Jesus

Lost Boy In The Wilderness

Posted by Joski at 5:47 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Reverend Gary Davis

When young John Cohen (founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers) went to the home of Reverend Gary Davis in early 1954, Cohen could not have known the importance of the recordings he made.

These historic recordings of the Reverend predate his seminal albums and feature Davis singing with his wife and another preacher - a rarity among Davis recordings.

These tracks provide a window into the world of the blind preacher caught between the blues and God.

1. If I Had My Way
2. If The Lord Be For You - (previously unreleased)
3. Twelve Gates To The City
4. You Got To Move
5. We Are The Heavenly Father's Children
6. Friend Like Lonely Jesus, A - (previously unreleased)
7. Get Right Church
8. Marine Band (Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be?) - (previously unreleased)
9. Shine On Me - (previously unreleased)
10. There's Destruction On This Land
11. He Stole Away - (previously unreleased)
12. Uncloudy Day, The - (previously unreleased)
13. Say No To The Devil - (previously unreleased)
14. I Belong To The Band
15. Give Me A Heart to Love - (previously unreleased)
16. He Never Has Left Me Alone - (previously unreleased)
17. Got On My Traveling Shoes - (previously unreleased)
18. Civil War Parade

Posted by Joski at 5:37 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Reverend Gary Davis

First of 14 volumes (help!) on Document featuring women blues singers of the 20s and 30s who didn't record enough to a whole CD of their recordings.

Very little is known about most of them

The singers on this first volume demonstrate the extremes of the stylistic range of the female blues singers of this era from the southern barrelhouse style of Ora Alexander and the down-home style of Baby Bonnie to the vaudeville style of Louise Anderson and Mildred Austin. Accompanists include Theodore "Wingy" Carpenter, Lovell Bolan, Milton Davage and Corky Williams.

The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era.

While the vaudeville theatres and travelling tent shows were probably the main venues for most of them, some sang in cabarets and others in low-down barrelhouses.

Some were vaudeville veterans whose careers stretched back to the teens or even earlier, while others were young new arrivals on the stage. Yet others sound as though they had just emerged from a rough saloon and house party environment.

Some created their own excellent song material, while others were merely the vehicles for ambitious songwriters who often also served as their accompanists. Some are obscure and many leave us wishing they had been more extensively recorded.

Ora Alexander
01 :: i'm going to have it now
02 :: you've got to save that thing
03 :: rider needs a fast horse
04 :: ugly man blues
05 :: sweetest daddy in town
06 :: men sure are deceiving
07 :: i crave your lovin' every day
08 :: i'm wild about my patootie

Louise Anderson
09 :: papa, you're too slow

Mildred Austin
10 :: my papa doesn't two-time no time
11 :: sing that song with feeling
12 :: anybody here want to try my carbage?
13 :: i'm all broke out with the blues

Baby Bonnie
14 :: Baby Bonnie: backbiting moan
15 :: i got your water on
16 :: leaving school blues
17 :: black bottom blues
18 :: longing home
19 :: home, sweet home blues

Eloise Bennett
20 :: love me mr. strange man
21 :: effervescent daddy
22 :: i can't be satisfied with one
23 :: sting me, mr. strange man

Posted by Joski at 5:06 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Female Blues singers

Born in the Alley, Raised Up in the Slum
Classic Piano Rags, Blues & Stomps
from the 1920s & 1930s


"From irrepressible good time music to
introspective distillations of the essence of
blues ." - Dirty Linen

"It's amazing to hear just how much stream can be
worked up with just a voice and a piano."
- Music Matters

"Tough-voiced mamas with their songs of sex,
booze and unfaithful way." - Juke Blues

A collection of rare, classic recordings from the 1920s and 30s featuring powerful vocals by great women blues singers accompanied by the brilliant piano playing of legendary master of barrelhouse blues, rags and stomps.

Barrelhouse Mamas spotlights woman blues singers all backed by various piano players. Woman singers dominated the blues market ever since Mamie Smith's 1921 smash "Crazy Blues" and remained a strong force up until the mid 20's. Probably the best known on this collection is Lucille Bogan who recorded some 89 sides between 1923 and 1935 with some top notch piano accompanists. Her three sides show her to be a first rate singer with a powerful delivery and like many of her peers her songs deal with some heavy themes. "Alley Boogie" has some fine boogie piano by Charles Avery and lyrically has unmistakable sexual overtones. Avery also offers support on "They Ain't Walking No More" a tough song about prostitution.

Tough themes abound including Freddy Brown's somber "Raised in the Alley Blues" which provides this collection's subtitle with the lines "I was born in the alley, raised up in the slum." Mary Johnson was a fine St. Louis singer who shines on her two lowdown blues. "Dawn of Day Blues" is particularly effective with Judson Brown laying down a barrelhouse style and some superb bottleneck guitar by Tampa Red.

Of course not all is doom and gloom and there's some stellar up-tempo numbers as well. The set opens with a duet between Ivy Smith and the Cow Cow Davenport who were a popular vaudeville and recording act in the late 20's. Cow Cow Davenport is best know for his "Cow Cow Blues" which has gone on to be one of those timeless blues whose motifs can be found in countless other songs.

In "State Street Jive", encouraged by the talking of Ivy Smith, Davenport plays some tremendous barrelhouse showing why he was one of the most respected pianists of his generation. "Steady Grinding Blues" is another up-tempo number by Dorothy Baker who cut a handful of sides in 1933 and 1934. Possibly backed by Roosevelt Sykes this a classic bawdy blues song with a powerful attack and some first rate sprightly piano.

1. State Street Jive - Davenport, Cow Cow & Ivy Smith
2. Dawn Of Day Blues - Johnson, Mary
3. Meat Cutter Blues - St. Louis Bessie
4. Alley Boogie - Bogan, Lucille
5. Sloppy Drunk Blues - Bogan, Lucille
6. They Ain't Walking No More - Bogan, Lucille
7. Steady Grinding Blues - Baker, Dorothy
8. Fort Worth And Denver - Tucker, Bessie
9. Key To The Mountain - Johnson, Mary
10. Santa Claus Crave - Robinson, Elzadie
11. Texas Bound Blues - Thornton, Margaret
12. Goodbye Rider - Mack, Ida May
13. Tain't A Cow In Texas - Thornton, Margaret
14. Jockey Blues - Thornton, Margaret
15. Whip It To A Jelly - Brown, Freddy
16. Raised In The Alley Blues - Brown, Freddy
17. Satan Is Busy In Knoxville - Manning, Leola
18. Evil Man Blues - Johnson, Lil
19. Bad Luck Blues - Trowbridge, Doretha
20. Riot Call Blues - Washington, Elizabeth
21. He Treats Me Like A Dog - St. Louis Bessie
22. Morning Sun Blues - Johnson, Mary
23. Tight In Chicago - Alderson, Mozelle

Posted by Joski at 4:57 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Barrelhouse, Female Blues singers

The highs, the lows, the pleasure and the pain are all here in a diverse selection of songs about illicit narcotics to moonshine alcohol, from the period 1917 to 1944.

Listeners under the impression that drug music began with "White Rabbit" and ended with "White Lines" would be wise to pick up the first and best volume in the German Trikont label's excellent Flashbacks series -- compiling 25 jazz, blues, and vocal cuts from the first-half of the 20th century, the set documents World War II-era vice and sin at its finest, deftly mixing radio hits with utter obscurities.

From simple tobacco to caffeine, and from illicit narcotics to moonshine alcohol, these 25 titles chronicle those addictive substances which temporarily produce a buzz, banish cares and increase energy levels. The highs, the lows, the pleasure and the pain are all here in a diverse selection of songs from the period 1917 to 1944. Highlights include Lord Buckley's pal Harry The Hipster enquiring 'Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine?', Blue Lu Barker's 'Don't Make Me High' and Dick Justice's 'Cocaine'.

The songs range from the benign (Gene Krupa's "Feeling High and Happy") to the explicit (the Memphis Jug Band's "Cocaine Habit Blues"), and while some of the selections are clearly reaching to justify their thematic inclusion -- Bukka White's immortal "Fixin' to Die Blues" almost certainly has nothing to do with "fixing" in the junkie lexicon sense of the term -- the pacing and sequencing are dead-on, and even novelty throwaways like Harry "The Hipster" Gibson's "Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine?" stand up to repeated listening in this context.

01 The Cat Is High - The Ink Spots
02 Junker's Blues - Champion Jack Dupree
03 Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs. Murphys Ovaltine - Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson
04 Don't You Make Me High - Blue Lu Barker
05 I'm Wild About My Stuff - Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie
06 You're A Viper - Stuff Smith & His Onyx Club Boys
07 Selling That Stuff - McKinney Cotton Pickers
09 Moonshine Man Blues - Peter Cleighton with Blind John Davis
10 Cigarettes, Cigars - Florence Desmond
11 Minnie The Moochers Wedding Day - Mills Blue Rhythm Band
12 The Ghost Of Smokey Joe - Cab Calloway
13 Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee - Waring's Pennsylvanians
14 Dope Head Blues - Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson
15 Wacky Dust - Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra
16 Fixin' To Die Blues - Bukka White
17 Cocaine Habit Blues - Memphis Jug Band
18 Reefer Man - Baron Lee & The Blue Rhythm Band
19 Cocaine - Dick Justice
20 Jake Walk Papa - Asa Martin
21 Kickin' The Gong Around - Louis Armstrong
22 The Candy Man - Rosetta Howard & The Harlem Hamfats
23 Repeal The Blues - Ray Noble & The New Mayfair Orchestra
24 Feeling High And Happy - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
25 Knockin' Myself Out - Jean Brady & Big Bill Broonzy
26 Smoke Clouds - Herbert Payne

Posted by Joski at 4:50 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Drug Songs

Posted by Joski at 4:44 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Drug Songs, Reefer Songs

The classic female blues spanned from 1920 to 1929 with its peak from 1923 to 1925.

The most popular of these singers were Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mammie Smith, Ethel Waters, Ida Cox, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace, Alberta Hunter, Clara Smith, Trixie Smith and Berta Chippie Hill.

Hundreds of others recorded including Lizzie Miles, Sara Martin, Rosa Henderson, Martha Copeland, Bessie Jackson (Lucile Bogan), Edith Johnson, Katherine Baker, Margaret Johnson, Hattie Burleson, Madlyn Davis, Ivy Smith, Alberta Brown, Gladys Bentley, Billie and Ida Goodson, Fannie May Goosby, Bernice Edwards..

They sang often backed behind their bands consisting of piano, several horns and drums. These women were pioneers in the record industry: they were among the first black singers recorded, they were the first blues singers recorded, and they were instrumental in spreading the 12 bar blues form throughout the country.

In terms of performing, they often wore elaborate outfits and sang of the injustices of their lives, bonding with their audience’s sorrows. Their schedules were grueling, staying on the road most of the time with tent shows in the summer and theatres during the winter. With the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the popularity of the blues singers declined. Some went back home, took up jobs or moved to Hollywood.

In the '60s with the blues revival, Sippie Wallace, Alberta Hunter, Edith Wilson and Victoria Spivey returned to the stage.

'Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes' features the best female singers from 'Mother of Blues' Ma Rainey to 'Empress of the Blues' Bessie Smith. This is a very varied collection of songs, containing hints of jazz as well as traditional blues.

1. CC Rider Blues - Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey
2. Blame It On The Blues - Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey
3. Don't Advertise Your Man - Clara Smith
4. Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Mornin' - Alberta Hunter
5. How Long Daddy How Long - Ida Cox
6. Black Snake Blues - Victoria Spivey
7. Bedroom Blues - Sippie Wallace
8. Trouble In Mind - Chippie Hill
9. Gin House Blues - Bessie Smith
10. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out - Bessie Smith
11. I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl - Bessie Smith
12. My Georgia Grind - Lucille Bogan
13. Black Angel Blues - Lucille Bogan
14. Ice Man (Come On Up) - Memphis Minnie
15. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now - Georgia White
16. Blues Ain't Nothing But... - Georgia White
17. Hot Nuts (Get Them From The Peanut Man) - Lil Johnson
18. Don't You Make Me High - Merline Johnson
19. Rock Me - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
20. I'm Tired Of Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes - Rosetta Crawford
21. Romance In The Dark - Lil Green
22. Why Don't You Do Right - Lil Green
23. Evil Gal Blues - Dinah Washington
24. Salty Papa Blues - Dinah Washington

Posted by Joski at 4:35 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Female Blues singers