Topic: Mystery Blues Photo

[jharris]

I received an email through my website from artist Steve Chandler regarding the identification of a photo. As far as I know he's only shown this to Tefteller who drew a blank. Any guesses? Here's the front and back.





Jeff H.

[banjochris]

The guy who's standing looks a little like Hacksaw Harney to me.

[jharris]

The guy who's standing looks a little like Hacksaw Harney to me.

That's interesting. The first time I saw the photo I thought of Hacksaw.

[lindy]

For comparison, there's a photo of Hacksaw in his later years along the left hand border of the Harney page that Stefan Wirz has on his discography website.

http://www.wirz.de/music/adelpfrm.htm

And I'm going to go way out on a limb here, something about the other guy's mouth and eyes made me think of Johnny Shines, but that was just a quick first impression, don't wanna bet the farm on it. I looked around the Web for a photo of Shines as a young 'un, couldn't find anything.

According to Stefan's website, Hacksaw was born in 1902 and Shines in 1915. That would make Hacksaw 35 and Shines 22 in that picture, if that's them.

Lindy

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Why not look for guitar duo recordings in Dixon and Godrich from '36--'38?  If the photo is anything more than two friends who played guitar together, most likely it would be of a working duo, in which case it might be a recording duo. 
All best,
Johnm

[dj]

Fort Smith is in extreme western Arkansas, right on the Oklahoma border, about 150 miles southeast of Tulsa.  If they were Fort Smith locals, there's a very good chance the world never heard of them.

They seem to have similar, if not matching, jackets, so were probably playing at the time as a regular duo.  Johnm's suggestion of looking for guitar duos c. 1937 is an interesting one.  Looking through what I've got on iTunes, there aren't many possibilities, assuming the duo was from Arkansas.  Arkansas shorty (James McComb) and his unknown partner, perhaps?  Or the Two Charlies?

One last thought, which should be obvious, but I'll say it anyway.  We have no way of telling that this is a "Blues Photo".  It's two African American musicians who played guitar.  They may have specialized in country, western, gospel, pop, or polkas for all we know.

[Johnm]

You're right about that, SpikeDriver, and I thought about that possibility, but I believe Maylon was murdered several years prior to 1937.  I am not sure of the date of that, though.
All best,
Johnm

[lkn2myis]

Clyde Stewart - that would be great!

As far as my memory - and that of some great old musicians and relatives - goes, there was never a 'true' (in one piece, not mutilated, etc.) photo of him.

The bits of music that I've heard the old guys played that were attributed to Stewart were exceptional.  Particularly since he had that issue with his fingers.

[dj]

He was really an obscure player...

I'll say.  I've never heard of him.  He's not mentioned in B&GR4, either as an artist or an accompanist, or in Fancourt & McGrath as an artist.  Any biographical and/or discographical information would be appreciated.

[hortig78rpm]

heelo

maybe some unknown musicians. arkansas was`nt really favoured by the recording companies, as far as I know, no recording took place in the 3o`s.
a closer look at the seated musician  shows, that he has a bottleneck. so if its a known musician it could be john lee, who recorded the classic "blinds blues" in the 5o`s. I will compare this pic with an early one in wardlows book.

blues`in yours
mike 

[TonyGilroy]

I'm no expert on this sort of thing but the guy standing looks to me somewhat like Bill Gaither.

[hortig78rpm]

no, gaither no for shure,had`nt left chicago until drafted. I think they are locals. always bear in mind, that there had been 1oos of musicians, who never recorded.

mike

[lkn2myis]

He was really an obscure player...

I'll say.  I've never heard of him.  He's not mentioned in B&GR4, either as an artist or an accompanist, or in Fancourt & McGrath as an artist.  Any biographical and/or discographical information would be appreciated.

All that I know about Clyde Stewart is from old relatives and friends/neighbors.  He lived in Arkansas - don't know if he was born there or not, but he definitely lived there.

Some type of childhood accident caused him to lose pretty much two fingers on his right hand.  I believe that it was a wood chopping type of thing with a brother.

At any rate, he had one or two songs recorded on a real obscure label.  The 'locals' always referred to him as the best picker they'd ever heard.  He played other songs, because I had heard them 'covered', but didn't really have any real recording stuff going on.  I know he was usually mentioned with other greats of the time, and might have them. Lots of old stories of 'remember when he met so-and-so', that type of thing.  I know that's vague,
but that's all I'm remembering right now.

From what I recall his tunes were known for incredible hooks with all sorts of clever derivations that made his tunes stand out.  When I heard anyone play his stuff, everyone's ears stood up.  Unique, gutsy, deep-down Delta
stuff.

Not much else that I recall at this time.  I'll think on it a bit.

Anyone else have anything they know about him?  I'm sure others have something to add to this, I can't be the only one!

(Sorry- don't mean to hijack the thread.  This might need to be a separate one all together.)

[dj]

All that I know about Clyde Stewart is...  Unique, gutsy, deep-down Delta stuff....  I'm sure others have something to add to this, I can't be the only one!

 

Funny!  But let's not.

[lkn2myis]

True, but don't.