Topic: Blues Aliases

[Bunker Hill]

There was an article in 78 Quarterly once that had all the pseudonyms that the Broadway label used when it reissued Paramount and other material -- I'll have to dig it out.

I'd forgotten about that. I was going to unearth John Godrich's series which he commenced in Blues Unlimted (December 1963) and crib from those. You saved me the effort!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Last night I thought of Ed Bell--Barefoot Bill--Sluefoot Joe in this category.
all best,
Johnm

[Marshcat]

Nor should we forget the legendary 1930s ?migr? Glaswegian piper and bluesman sometimes known as One-Armed Jamie Mcgee, immortalised in a BBC Radio 2 "Folk on 2" documentary some years ago. Can't find it online, but this gives the general flavour:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=45979#680537

[CF]

Merline Johnson sang a duet with a singer using the alias 'The Louisiana Kid' on a tune called 'Separation Blues' which I have on the Columbia/Roots & Blues 'Legends of the Blues Vol.2' (a tune which nicks Johnny Hodges' famous 'Jeep's Blues' intro) . . . is the identity of this vocalist known?

[Bunker Hill]

Merline Johnson sang a duet with a singer using the alias 'The Louisiana Kid' on a tune called 'Separation Blues' which I have on the Columbia/Roots & Blues 'Legends of the Blues Vol.2' (a tune which nicks Johnny Hodges' famous 'Jeep's Blues' intro) . . . is the identity of this vocalist known?

That song was previously unissued but maybe if one can discover who else was in the studio on 7th July 1938 by locating the adjacent matrix numbers on either side of the Johnson session (2294-2297), there may be a clue there.

[Pan]

John Lee Hooker also comes to mind.

He recorded with the pseudonyms "Texas Slim", "Delta John", "Birmingham Sam & His Magic Guitar"  , "Little Pork Chops"  , "Johnny Williams", "John Lee Booker" (!), "Boogie Man", and "Johnny Lee", among others. I'm sure others can add to the list, these were the first ones I dug up from the internet.

No record contract was to hold him down, it seems  .

Pan

[fictioneer]

Joe Evans and Billy Bird.  DGR don't equate them but they sound like the same guy to me.

[uncle bud]

Cheapfeet, Rev. Moses Mason was indeed "(Red Hot) Old Mose". Re. J.D. Short, I'll have to look at a St. Louis disc on Wolf, which has several of his aliae. 

Speaking of Mose, Thomas Dorsey/Georgia Tom recorded as Memphis Mose for the Brunswick label.

[CF]

Thanks for that Andrew. 'Mose' & not 'Moses'? Oops
For Hanen I only have 'She Got the River Jordan in her Hips' with Clifford Gibson on guitar & have been comparing the vocal with some J. D. Short tunes & there is a very close similarity there, especially with the vibrato altho' I detect a difference otherwise. Short's voice seems to be more clenched whereas Hanen's has a more open quality, slightly more expressive. But that could be as simple as different moods/different day in the studio. Anyone else with an opinion on these two?

[uncle bud]

I checked that St. Louis Blues disc on Wolf (WSE 115). J.D. was a complicated fellow.  In addition to Jelly Jaw Short, you do indeed have R.T. Hanen (sounds like Short to me) on "She's Got Jordan River In Her Hips" and "Happy Days Blues". You also have "Spider" Carter, listed as "poss. J.D. Short" on "Please Please Blues", "Dry Spell Blues", and "Don't Leave Me Blues". I have not listened too carefully but would say likely but not definitive on the first 2, pretty certain on the last. Then you have Ell-Zee Floyd, sounds like Short though a bit croonier IMO, on "Snow Bound and Blue". Then you have Joe Stone for "It's Hard Time" and "Back Door Blues". Then you have Joe C. Stone on guitar accompanying James Stump Johnson.

So
Jelly Jaw Short
"Spider" Carter
R.T. Hanen
Ell-Zee Floyd
Joe Stone
Joe C. Stone

were all probable aliae for J.D. Short.

And yes, Mose, not Moses.

[uncle bud]

Thought of another one, though not a recording alias, as far as I recall. Leadbelly = Walter Boyd.

[uncle bud]

While poking around in B&GR for information related to JohnM's question over on the JD Short thread (I've got nothin'), I came across another alleged alias for J.D. Short. According to B&GR, the singer named "Neckbones" doing a duet with Peetie Wheatstraw on his first record, "Tennessee Peaches Blues" and "Four O'Clock in the Morning" is believed to be Short. My problem with this is that the singer doesn't sound like J.D. Short that much to me. It actually sounds more like Charley Jordan. A less assured Jordan perhaps. There's no giveaway to my ear in the simple guitar accompaniment, which is listed as being played by the ubiquitous "unknown". However, Jordan possibly recorded with Wheatstraw less than a week later, accompanying on guitar.