Topic: YouTube.com - Interesting Country Blues related video clips

[dj]

I have no idea who's really performing in your video, John, but it sure isn't Arthur Crudup.  On Crudup's recording he was backed by Sonny Boy Williamson II on harmonica, Joe Willie Wilkins on electric guitar, and someone remembered only as "Sam" on bass.  The harmonica on your post is definitely not Sonny Boy, and there's no sign of Joe Willie Wilkins anywhere.  It's not even the same song as Crudup's!

Crudup's Make A Little Love was released on Trumpet Records as by "Elmer James", partly because Lillian McMurry wanted to cash in on the success of Dust My Broom (also released on Trumpet), partly because McMurry was worried that Crudup was still under contract to Victor, and probably partly because after James's success with Dust My Broom he jumped to the Bihari Brothers' labels (Flair, Modern, Meteor) instead of recording again for Trumpet.  (Source: Mark W. Ryan  Trumpet Records: Diamonds on Farish Street)

For anyone who's interested, here's the correct recording:




 

[harriet]

I think it's this Jewel recording from 1962.  Here's a link. It's credited to an "Elmo James" - I'm not familiar with either Elmore James or Arthur Cruddup to say whether it's one or none of those.  https://soundcloud.com/elmojames-music/make-a-little-love

On discogs there is a photo of the record with the comment :
The singer of the ''Catfish Blues'' (side A) is Bobo Thomas and of the ''Make A Little Love'' (side B) is Elmore James,
both credited as Elmo James  https://www.discogs.com/Elmo-James-Elmo-James-Catfish-Blues-Make-A-Little-Love/release/6190208

I hope this helps in the investigation.
Harriet

[dj]

Harriet, that Jewel record is just a couple of songs licensed from Lillian McMurry after the demise of Trumpet Records.  That's Bobo Thomas doing Catfish Blues, and Crudup  doing Make a Little Love.

There's nothing in the lyrics of the song that Johnm posted abut "make a little love".  Is the song perhaps called Little Girl or Hey Little Girl?  That "Hey little girl" recurs as a chorus at the end of every verse.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the information and for clearing up the discographical conundrum, dj. As soon as I heard the version I posted I knew it was not Crudup either singing or playing. And on the actual Crudup track you posted he was not playing guitar at all--all of the guitar playing was by Joe Willie Wilkins, because it was in E position standard tuning, which Crudup never used. Thanks to you and Harriet for addressing the snafu.
All best,
Johnm

[Slack]

Well, I asked Siri who it was ( ) and she says it's Little Sammy Davis, which I think is an excellent guess.  However I could not find the song on his discography.  Maybe an early forgotten recording?  See what you think of Siri's guess... esp on his older recordings.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/328148-Little-Sammy-Davis

[dj]

Nice work, Slack!  And, um... nice work Siri.  It's Goin' To New Orleans by Little Sammy Davis.

[dj]

Going back to Howlin' Wolf's Saddle My Pony:  I missed an early James Cotton Harmonica session.  A few months after Wolf's record was cut, Willie Nix recorded Baker Shop Boogie and Seems Like a Million Years at Sun Studios with James Cotton on harmonica.  Based on Cotton's assured, Sonny Boy Williamson style playing on Baker Shop Boogie, I'd say there's no way that he's playing the harmonica on Saddle My Pony and Dorothy Mae.

[Slack]

Nice work, Slack!  And, um... nice work Siri.  It's Goin' To New Orleans by Little Sammy Davis.

Lol, yes Siri picked out 'Goin' to New Orleans' as well, almost immediately.  Pretty impressive

[Stuart]

Re: Howlin' Wolf's "Saddle My Pony": There's a "sessionography" at the back of Moanin' At Midnight, so if anyone has a copy at hand, it might be worth checking. I can't locate mine at the moment, but I'll check when I do.

It would be interesting to know when and where the listing of James Cotton as the harp player first appeared. IIRC, he played in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 50s, so it's possible that it was added later, filling in the info from what was assumed to be the case. The exact details of the specific session might have been lost in the shuffle--but that's just a guess.

James Cotton was born on July 1, 1935, so he would have been 16 at the time of the recording.

[jpeters609]

It's Goin' To New Orleans by Little Sammy Davis.

...with Earl Hooker on guitar.

[dj]

Moanin' at Midnight has Cotton listed on harmonica, with a note saying "Cotton's undeveloped harp style is evident on 'Saddle My Pony'.  He and Wolf probably both played harp on 'Dorothy Mae'.  Wolf played harp on 'Sweet Woman' and 'Decoration Day'."

If that is really Cotton, he put in a heap of work developing his style before he recorded with Willie Nix 4 months later.

Authors Segrest and Hoffman apparently got their session and discography information from the 1971 and 1987 editions of the Leadbitter and Slaven post-war discography, supplemented by the liner notes to various CD releases.

[Stuart]

Thank you, dj.

It's possible that this is a case of, "a mistake continuously repeated," as those of us who work with historical texts see from time to time. A far-fetched speculation is that James Cotton is "playing in the style of," or perhaps his harp style was yet to be fully formed and still flexible, but I wouldn't bet the family jewels on it. I like Lightnin's original thought--that it was Willie Johnson. (Or perhaps someone other than James Cotton.)

I don't know how tight record keeping was at Sam Phillips' outfit back in its early years. Like I wrote previously, the info might have been provided some time after the recording date, with the details muddled. The bass player is listed as, "Unknown," which suggests to me that the names of the session personnel were not written down at the time of the recording, otherwise the bass player's name would not have been omitted or later listed as "Unknown."

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Does anyone know anything about L. C. Williams? This cut, "Hole In The Wall" came up on my youtube feed this morning. He sounds very Lightnin' Hopkins-influenced. Here is "Hole In The Wall":



All best,
Johnm

[jpeters609]

Hi John,
He not only sounds Lightnin'-influenced, the guitar player actually IS Lightnin' Hopkins.

L.C. Williams was recorded as a vocalist only on multiple occasions between 1947 and 1953, often with Lightnin' on guitar.

From Stefan Wirz's discography site, we learn that L.C. Williams was born March 12, 1920, in Millican (Brazos County) Texas
and died October 18, 1960, in the Houston Tuberculosis Hospital in Houston, Texas.

https://www.wirz.de/music/willialc.htm

[Johnm]

Thanks for that information, Jeff. It goes to explain how the guitar playing could be so busy under the singing. Lightnin' was very Lightnin'-influenced--doh! Lightnin' was a tremendous session player, wasn't he?
All best,
Johnm