Country Blues > SOTM - Song Of The Month

SOTM July 2019: Pony Blues

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Johnm:
Hi all,
The Song of the Month selection for July, 2019 is "Pony Blues".  Certainly the most famous version at this point is Charlie Patton's, which has been written about at length in a variety of places, including this forum.  Here is Charlie Patton's "Pony Blues":



Charlie was later to record the song as "Stone Pony Blues", a version that is usually discussed as though it is obviously lesser than his original recording.  It seems pretty darn good to me.  Here it is:



Son House recorded "Pony Blues" for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in 1942, accompanying himself in Vestapol, as opposed to the E position in standard tuning that Charlie Patton had utilized for his accompaniments.  Here is Son's version:



Big Joe Williams recorded the song, first as "My Grey Pony Blues" and later, simply as "Pony Blues".  He accompanied his version out of Spanish tuning, which he used for the rest of his repertoire, too.  Here is Big Joe's "Pony Blues":



Honeyboy Edwards put the song back in the E position that Patton had used.  Here is his version:



Johnny Young did a terrific version in E in standard tuning that we listened to in the Miller's Breakdown thread.  Here it is:



I'll stop there and leave plenty of other versions for folks to find and post--one or two versions at a time only please, so more people get to have a say and contribute.

All best,
Johnm

Lignite:
I always found this to be one of Wolf's most mysterious recorded pieces. It was recorded early in his recording career and based on his mentor Charley Patton's Pony Blues. Why does it suddenly seem to come to an abrupt ending? Who is the terrible harmonica player who is not Wolf? I always heard it was a young James Cotton.Somehow it seems like an out-take not intended for release but I do own an original 78 pressing on Chess.

jpeters609:

--- Quote from: Lignite on July 01, 2019, 08:59:25 AM ---Who is the terrible harmonica player who is not Wolf? I always heard it was a young James Cotton.


--- End quote ---

James Cotton is often credited with playing harp on this recording (it doesn't sound like him), but I have read that the harp player was actually Willie Johnson — who as a harmonica player was a tremendously exciting guitarist.

jpeters609:
Floyd Jones slowed it down a bit with "Early Morning" on Chess from 1952:

Johnm:
Thanks Lightnin' and Jeff for posting those versions.  The Howling' Wolf one really is odd, I'd not heard that before.  He phrases everything short in the front end of the rendition and it sounds like it might have befuddled the rest of the band, or they just might not have noticed.  The Floyd Jones almost sounds more like a cover of Tommy Johnson's "Cool Drink of Water".  It's neat to have two versions that were unfamiliar.
All best,
Johnm

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