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Willie Brown Mystery, Solved

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Hardluckchild:
Hello, everyone. I believe I've done something that many others feel they've done- solved the Willie Brown mystery. If I sound like a pretentious ass, please disregard what I just said and read only the following >:D:I listened to Future Blues and M&O Blues, and then Mississippi Bottom Blues and Rowdy Blues. M&O Blues and Future Blues display a man with gruff and coarse vocals. Kid Bailey's Mississippi Bottom Blues features a man with a lighter and distinctly soft voice. The same is true of Rowdy Blues, up until approximately the 50 second mark (!!!), when "Bailey" sings, "I don't love nobody, whole round world but you," in the exact coarse stylings of Willie Brown. "Ain't no use.." follows, in the same coarse, passionate and emotive voice. This means that Brown and Bailey are the same person. The anomaly, Mississippi Bottom Blues, with no hint of coarseness that I can detect, simply demonstrates that Brown was like Blind Willie Johnson in his ability to sing in an angelic and digestible tone at one moment, and then switch to a gruff, gravelly cigarette-coarse throaty sound. If you aren't convinced by the 4th verse of Rowdy Blues that the singer is Willie Brown, I don't know what else to say. I think that pretty much everyone will be convinced by the one minute mark if they attempt to detach themselves from the guitar playing and focus only on the vocals. This being said, I'm not a guitarist. However, I'm an excellent mimic and have a knack for picking up languages. Sorry about the self-referential crap. Without the missing piece - Rowdy Blues - I probably wouldn't have believed that the "two" men are the same guy. "Rowdy Blues," which demonstrates both of Brown's beautiful tones, has solved this mystery.

Make me a pallet on the floor was recorded by the same man. I believe it was either Lomax or Son House who said that Brown was under the weather at the time. Perhaps someone can verify this by looking at Son House interview transcripts or Lomax's The Land... book. I mentioned this because the coarseness of the second half of Rowdy Blues is there, but not of Future and M&O.
And let's also keep in mind that we're talking about an 11-year difference in recording dates. And, yes, an 11-year difference would also be the case when comparing Future and M&O to Mississippi Blues and Ragged and Dirty, but the point is that it wouldn't be the case when comparing Mississippi Blues and Ragged and Dirty to Make me a pallet on the floor! Simply put, there is no accounting for why or how the vocals and even quality of guitar work (sorry to phrase this in non-technical terms) could or should be so different between Pallet and Ragged+Mississippi.

Ragged and dirty blues and Mississippi blues are sung by a different man, a person whose enunciation is not nearly as clear as Brown's, whose vocal pitch isn't quite on the mark, and whose guitar playing is more tentative and includes some notes that I can't say are flubbed, but would have no reason for their less than perfect execution if we compare them with make me a pallet on the floor. This is where the guitarists on the forum can do an investigation.

What does everyone think?

**"Nothing I had did, but something she had heard" in Mississippi Bottom Blues, does, indeed, have some of the gruff and coarse quality in it.**

**I assume it's been mentioned elsewhere, and in and of itself it's not proof of anything, but "Mississippi Bottom Blues" contains a variant of the "poor mother's getting old" line that Charley Patton had recorded the previous year in Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues. (Put bluntly, Brown=Bailey, is my point)

Blues Vintage:
Brown=Bailey. I agree.

Devils Son Inlaw:
I don't mean to shoot you down but many others have claimed this for a while.  Unfortunately there is no documentation to prove this to be true, only a few recorded songs by a great musician(s)?

Hardluckchild:
I appreciate your honest response, Mr. Wheatstraw. Putting aside the theories of others, could you please let me know your own thoughts on the matter? Do you have an opinion one way or the other? If so, are there any examples you point to in order to support your opinion?

It might sound off topic, but I think that a classically trained musician who sits down and listens to old Caruso recordings (and those of his peers) could be of help to us old blues fans. Sounds a bit out of left field, but maybe such a person could help us out, provided he or she is willing to first dive deep into listening to the so-called standard Country Blues essentials in order to acclimate his or her ears to the genre.

Just wondering if you had an opportunity to go 50 seconds in to "Rowdy Blues" (and then listen to the remaining verses) and then quickly jump to listening to M&O and Future Blues. If you do so, I think you'll come to the same realization that I did.

Also, has anyone noticed or written about the fact that M&O and Future Blues (in all remasterings that I've heard) have more surface noise on them than Rowdy and Mississippi Bottom? To my ears, greaterr amounts of surface noise (crackling like Rice Crispies) can create the impression that a rough and coarse vocal is rougher than it actually is! In other words, if the listener believes Brown isn't Bailey because Brown's vocals just sound much tougher, it could be the surface noise on M&O and Future that create this impression. Of course, I'm purposely leaving out the obvious fact that the vocals on Mississippi Bottom could never be misconstrued as being coarse (I addressed this in my first post, showing how Rowdy starts off with the same soft vocals as Mississipi Bottom, but then morphs into coarse territory at the 50 second mark.This fact shows that "Bailey" could sing in both a sweet and rough manner, just like Blind Willie Johnson.)

The man whose vocals started off sweet and angelic on Rowdy, but then became quite coarse and rough, is the same.man whose vocals were sweet throughout nearly all of Mississippi Bottom. Also, the man whose vocals were coarse and aggressive throughout Future and M&O - which are full of surface noise - is the same man whose vocals sounded ever so slightly less coarse on Rowdy. if you put these two facts together, the only conclusion you can draw is that Brown is Bailey.

Hardluckchild:

--- Quote from: Blues Vintage on October 23, 2022, 04:53:30 PM ---Brown=Bailey. I agree.

--- End quote ---

Would it be all right if I ask about how you came to the conclusion you did? Feel free to let me know here or through a private message. Thanks in advance.

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