When he was brought to Europe in 1951 he was a caretaker, a 'mopper', at the Iowa State College, and on his return resumed his menial work as a janitor - Paul Oliver on Big Bill Broonzy, Blues Off the Record
One I've been listening a lot to lately and wishing there was more of is Pernell Charity.
In his notes to almost every one of the CD releases of the Trix catalog, Pete Lowry says "there's enough in the can by this artist for another CD". My wish would be that all Lowry's material would see the light of day. If I had to choose just one artist, it'd be Henry Johnson, "the Union County Flash".
Of non-Trix artists, I guess the person I most wish had recorded more is Frank Hovington.
Artists with releases in the 1920s and 30s that should have been tempted to record upon their rediscovery: Rube Lacey and Ishmon Bracey.
And stuff that exists that should be made commercially available: the music by Drew County MS musicians that David Evans recorded when doing his research for Big Road Blues. (Stefan Wirz or Bunker Hill: please make my day by pointing out that this was released 2 years ago on some minor British label )
Hi all, Frank Hovington is a great candidate, dj. I would like to hear more of Hayes McMullen. The one cut of his that accompanies the Wardlow book, "Lookahere Woman" is terrific. Joe Calicott seems like a fellow who might have known many more songs than he recorded, and he sang so beautifully, especially as an older man. I would have liked to have heard more of Welly and Rich Trice, too. Anybody who would play "Diddie Wa Diddie" in E (Welly) and "Step It Up And Go" (as "Pack It Up And Go") in A (Rich) is worth hearing more of. All best, Johnm
How about Baby Tate ? He impressed me very much when I was a teenager in the 70ties. I heard him the first time on a Folkways album called "The Blues", which contained music to the shortfilm, with the same title, by Sam Charters. The album had also some great Pink Anderson tunes (a touching Cottonfields sung with his 6 year old son) and some by Furry Lewis. Would love to see that film btw. Quoting the Penguin guide to the blues : "Baby Tate wasn't an originator but his versions are lively, meaningful and personalized. Even at his most Fullerish (Blind Boy) he wasn't a mindless imitator" Pete Lowry recorded Tate extensively but never issued the material. Only one cd on Prestige is available now. He also accompanied Peg Leg Sam on his Trix cd. Baby Tate was only 56 when he died in 1972 so he had much more to offer...
Hi all, It has been a while since this thread has been posted to, but a number of players have come to my attention since then. From the George Mitchell Collection, I would love to have heard more from John Lee Ziegler, Lonzie Thomas, Cecil Barfield, Jimmy Lee Williams, Robert Driggs and Rosa Lee Hill. It would have been great to hear more material from Henry Johnson, too. On the piano side, I sure wish Romeo Nelson had been recorded more. All best, Johnm
Hi John - I can't recall if I have mentioned this before or not, but in the case of some of the George Mitchell recordings, there are some additional tracks that are not on the CD set but are available in mp3 format if one has an emusic.com account. These include quite a number of additional recordings from Cecil Barfield, as well as some additional tracks from Lonzie Thomas, John Lee Zeigler and quite a few others.
You can preview excerpts from the tracks at emusic.com if you have an account. I believe registering for an account gets you 25 free tracks or something. It does require installing emusic download manager software, though that seems to work just fine.
I've used emusic to plug some holes in my collection without having to buy a whole lot of the same material all over again, as well as for some of this extra George Mitchell stuff. It's not bad, though obviously best if you do a lot of your listening on a computer or iPod-like device.
On the piano side, I sure wish Romeo Nelson had been recorded more. All best, Johnm
I'll second that. The sad thing is that in the mid 60s he gave up music and took a series of day jobs in areas like construction work or elevator operating. He suffered a heart attack in 1972 and, just prior to his death in 1974, Eric Kriss and Jim O'Neal interviewed him. I don't think this was ever published but, from memory, portions were cited in a Kriss's piano instructional as well the Living Blues obituary.
Hi all, Just so that the thread ends up being about the same thing all the way through, the title references Country Blues musicians who lived into the LP era, and who for whatever reason, never got the opportunity, or enough opportunities, to record. We can all think of players from the pre-War era whom we wish had recorded more titles. all best, Johnm
« Last Edit: August 25, 2009, 04:06:41 PM by Johnm »
Oh if only Fred Ramsay had recorded more! See http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=5025.0 for previous discussion of Cat Iron which has within it a link to a discography containing nice illustrative material. Years ago I scanned the 8 page booklet as jpegs I'll see if I've kept them. Maybe Stefan Wirz can put them to some use.
John Dudley, from Alan Lomax's '59 recording trip. See his tag for more info. (Also, I believe Blind Joe Reynolds was still alive into the early 60's. Just imagine.) For some electric country blues, I'd like to have heard more from Boyd Gilmore, Charlie Booker, and Baby Face Turner.