Topic: Bob Campbell

[blueshome]

Anyone got any info on Bob Campbell? He cut some nice tunes: Dice Blues, Shotgun Blues, Starvation Blues. Just getting my head round them. I'm trying vastapol but they could be out of E standard.

[Bunker Hill]

I think he's a biographical blank. When Paul Oliver included Starvation Blues on the 1960 LP which accompanied his book Blues Fell This Morning he noted that lyrically it was based on Blind Blake's Detroit Bound Blues.

[uncle bud]

Anyone got any info on Bob Campbell? He cut some nice tunes: Dice Blues, Shotgun Blues, Starvation Blues. Just getting my head round them. I'm trying vastapol but they could be out of E standard.

Also "Worried All the Time". His tunes sound like E position, standard tuning to me. His voice sounds a little like Buddy Moss, though rougher.

[dj]

Dave Moore, in the notes to Document CD 5641, "Rare Country Blues Volume 2", lists Campbell as "a mystery... about whom nothing is known".  There are 3 titles that were never issued from Campbell's sole recording session.  He may have accompanied Lucille Bogan on as many as 9 titles while he was in New York City, but only 2 of those titles ("I Hate That Train Called The M. And O." and "Tired As I Can Be") were issued. 

The fact that Campbell was in New York recording at the same time as Lucille Bogan and Walter Roland suggests that he might have been from around Birmingham Alabama. 
   

[tenderfoot84]

starvation farm is definately e standard. the descending run is similar to that used by little hat jones on two string blues and (behind texas alexander) on double crossin' blues.

i'm not entirely sure what he's playing behing the last line of each verse but i fudge it by playing a b7 with my pinky on the 2nd string 3rd fret (a la e7), coming on and off this note and open strings. it's a weird sound but i think it fits. not really compared it wi the original recently.

it's just an e-shape maybe four frets up, brought back into position. very cool. i'd love to learn dice's blues. it's an all time favourite.

i read something about a black albino guitar player called bob campbell who (i think it was hobart smith???) siad did the best version of rilroad bill he ever heard. i'm convinced this is a different bob campbell though. otherwise i'm sure we'd heard more about him... maybe...

[blueshome]

Just revisiting this as I'm getting on top of the tunes nicely.

I've noticed a kind of similarity to some of Tommy Johnson's playing an singing in that of Mr.Campbell, anyone else?

[oddenda]

Birmingham-born pianist Big Chief Ellis had a similar "Dices' song in his repertoire; he cut it first in the 40s in NYC.

Peter B.

[dj]

Birmingham-born pianist Big Chief Ellis had a similar "Dices' song in his repertoire

Thanks for that info, Peter.  That, plus the fact that he appeared in the studio at the same time as Walter Roland and Lucille Bogan and accompanied Bogan, makes it seem likely that Campbell was from somewhere around Birmingham Alabama.

[Stumblin]

What's goin' on? 
I've been listening to and playing the blues for two decades, and I only heard of Bob Campbell this week.
Am I missing one of your Weenie in-jokes, or is this a recording artiste with whose oeuvre I should familiarise myself?
If the latter, kindly recommend the most comprehensive or complete extant and available CD or MP3 set.
Ta.

[dj]

Bob Campbell recorded for Vocalion in New York city on July 30, 1934.  Four of the songs that he recorded under his own name and two accompaniments to Lucille Bogan were issued.  All four of Campbell's recordings under his own name can be found on Document CD 5641, Rare Country Blues Volume 2.   

[Stumblin]

Bob Campbell recorded for Vocalion in New York city on July 30, 1934.  Four of the songs that he recorded under his own name and two accompaniments to Lucille Bogan were issued.  All four of Campbell's recordings under his own name can be found on Document CD 5641, Rare Country Blues Volume 2.   

Now that is "soyviss!"
Thanks dj
I'll check that out on amazon, I could do with gettin' poorer!

[LD50]

Bob Campbell recorded for Vocalion in New York city on July 30, 1934.  Four of the songs that he recorded under his own name and two accompaniments to Lucille Bogan were issued.  All four of Campbell's recordings under his own name can be found on Document CD 5641, Rare Country Blues Volume 2.   

Now that is "soyviss!"
Thanks dj
I'll check that out on amazon, I could do with gettin' poorer!

Just to be anal-retentive...

'Shotgun Blues' is found in better sound on Yazoo's Times Ain't Like They Used to Be: Early American Rural Music, Vol. 1, while 'Dice's Blues' sounds best on Yazoo's My Rough And Rowdy Ways - Vol. 2.

The Document is the best/only place to get the other two tracks, tho.

[Stumblin]

Thanks.
As it turns out, these recordings are available here free and for nowt!
Bargain! I'll listen to those tomorrow.