Topic: who was Tampa Kid?

[uncle bud]

I seem to remember that this was CHARLIE McCoy not Joe? Is that possible? I know that "Keep On Trying" is on a McCoy Brothers CD.

This makes more sense. The voices are closer together, and Charlie was a very nice slide player (see Last Time Blues). I don't have the McCoy Brothers CDs, so the latest I have for a vocal from Charlie is 1932 (although he may have sung with the Hamfats), on "Too Long". Again, on first listen, it's close. Could be.

[Stuart]

I had a few free minutes and was curious, so I listened to the small sample that is on my computer, comparing tracks by Charlie, Joe, and Tampa Kid. I hear one guitar, not two, and it seems pretty clear what he's doing. A lot of nice runs coming off of the slide parts. It doesn't sound like Charlie or Joe to me, but that's based on listening to a limited number of tracks via iTunes. Perhaps a larger body of material to work with--on the stereo and under the headphones--might yield a different conclusion.

[uncle bud]

I hear one guitar as well, very nicely played in a Tampa Red style.

I went and checked the Hamfats disc and it was in fact Charlie McCoy, not Herb Morand, who sang "Let's Get Drunk and Truck" in 1936. The voice is not really the same as the Tampa Kid and I'm therefore with Stuart in voting nay.

Whoever the Tampa Kid was, Keep On Trying is a really good tune, nice slide playing and a good vocal.

[Spatz]

 Tampa Red was pictured with his National Style 4 round neck Tricone, which was supposedly gold-plated. He was referred to as the "Man with the Golden Guitar". Speaking of the "Tampa Kid", maybe the play on names comes about because of the brand of guitars used. Keep in mind National Tricones were very expensive, and the highly engraved models were not commonplace.

I've seen a promotional photograph of Joe McCoy and he's holding a National Tricone, a round neck model. If you look closely you can see the engraving on the  edge of the bout and it looks like a Style 3 "Lily of the Valley" pattern. Actually it could be the same Tricone that Peetie Wheatsraw is holding in his famous promotional photograph, which is also a National Style 3 Tricone. This particular model is fairly rare, Bob Brozman has mentioned there were probably less than twenty round neck variants.

[Pan]

Hi all

I was wondering, since the last post in this thread was from 2007, if any new information about the identity of Tampa Kid has been found?

I noticed that his two recorded songs can be found on YouTube, and there it is claimed that he was Charlie McCoy. Wikipedia also says this, but any evidence from how this conclusion was made are not given.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Charlie_McCoy

Cheers

Pan

[Bunker Hill]

Hi all
I was wondering, since the last post in this thread was from 2007, if any new information about the identity of Tampa Kid has been found?

I noticed that his two recorded songs can be found on YouTube, and there it is claimed that he was Charlie McCoy. Wikipedia also says this, but any evidence from how this conclusion was made are not given.

We have Blues Documents to thank for that when they assigned them to Charlie McCoy in 1992 (BDCD 6020). I don't own the two CDs and can't seem to find any magazine reviews for the period 1992/3. B&GR4 (1997) has a unique Tampa Kid entry. Something or somebody must have prompted Johnny Parth to reassign to CMcC. Maybe the CD booklet notes explain.

[Randy Meadows]

I did a quick search and found two entries only.

One Will Brown- "Alias Tampa Kid-  He died in Charlotte Florida in 1927-



Two- is a " Tampa Kedd. Born in Ms. 1940 census. Line 12 La.

[Bunker Hill]

Thanks, this takes us a bit further. "Our" Tampa Kid was recorded by Decca Tuesday 27 Sept 1936

If I'm understanding what's shown, he's neither. One died in 1927 before the recording , the other born 1940 after it.

[Gumbo]

If I read it right, Bunker Hill that's the 1940 census and Tampa Kedd was age 26. Actually I think that says Kidd rather than Kedd.

Good to know he's not Willie Brown. There's enough of them already