Now you can't get that stuff no more. No matter how you try, you can't buy - You can't get that stuff no more - Tampa Red, You Can't Get That Stuff No More
Every year about this time, I like to solicit recommendations of the best CB tunes that are 75 years old, that being 1931 this year. I like to perform at least one each time I play out, it seems to be a hit with the crowd, distracting them from my stumbling playing.
So, if you know of any good CB tunes from 1931, please post them here. I'll go through my stuff at home tonight and see what I can come up with.
From the Columbia 14000 series released in 1931, 4 sides that jump out are Willie Walker, Dupree Blues/South Carolina Rag Blind Sammie (Willie McTell), Broke Down Engine Blues/Southern Can Is Mine Also: Lil McClintock, Furniture Man/Don't Think I'm Santa Claus
On Victor: Clifford Gibson, Old Time Rider/Brooklyn Blues Blind Willie (Joe) Reynolds, Married Woman Blues/Third Street Woman Blues Beans Hambone-El Morrow, Beans Ben Ferguson, Try And Treat Her Right/Please Don't Holler, Mame
Of course there are some Memphis Jug Band, Cannon's Jug Stompers, Barbecue Bob etc.
These are just a few that I could find readily. I don't have an easy reference to the Vocalion, Okeh etc. sides but if I get a chance i'l try to dig some out.
Hi Alex, That Blind Joe Reynolds "Third Street Woman Blues" is terrific, and you never hear anyone do it. Working that up would be a real coup. All best, Johnm
Charley Jordan: Cheating Blues, Starvation Blues, Keep It Clean - No. 2, Keep It Clean - No. 3, You Run And Tell Your Daddy, Tight Haired Mama Blues, Days Of The Week Blues, Silver Dollar Blues, Greyhound Blues, Workingman's Blues, Santa Claus Blues, Bad Breaks Blues
Teddy Darby: Deceiving Blues, Built Right On The Ground
Oh yes and whilst on the topic of pianists let's not forget Leroy Carr who recorded 8 titles in 1931 the best known being Low Down Dog Blues which is usually gets credited to Big Joe Turner as originator!
"Nineteen Thirty-One Blues" by Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, recorded January 16, 1931. Not their best or most interesting side, but a good "book end" for the year. The otherwise immensely prolific duo recorded only 8 sides in 1931.
The 6 solo sides recorded by Scrapper on November 24, 1931 (which include "Rambling Blues," "Down South Blues," "Sneaking Blues," and "Back Door Blues") are some his most interesting.
Once you start looking, they do start popping out, don't they?
There was a reason for the dearth of recording in 1931/2 as Dixon & Godrich outlined in their chapter 'Hard Times 1931-1932' (Recording The Blues, Studio Vista, 1970, reprinted in Yonder Comes The Blues, Cambridge UP, 2001). In short record sales had plummeted by May 1930 in the wake of the 'Crash', companies then cut pressing runs to 3-4 hundred copies per disc and finally only recorded those artists they knew would still manage to sell 3-4 hundred. Did I hear some ask, "what has any of this has to do with the task as set?". Point taken. I do get carried away when it comes to matters historical.