Topic: Post-War Country Blues--A Hit Parade

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've realized in recent years that many of my favorite Country Blues recordings and artists come from the Post-War period.  I thought it might be fun to have a thread acknowledging the music and players of that period.  Just in the interest of keeping it confined to that period, I won't select anybody who recorded in that period who also recorded in the Pre-War period.  I'll list a bunch of my favorites and I hope anyone who cares to will add some favorites of his/her own to the list.
   * Lil' Son Jackson--Roberta Blues
   * Frankie Lee Sims--Lucy Mae Blues
   * Robert Pete Williams--Louise
   * Shirley Griffith--Shaggy Hound Blues
   * Lonzie Thomas--My Three Women
   * Jimmy Lee Williams--Have You Ever Seen Peaches
   * Henry Johnson--Join The Army
   * John Lee Hooker--Hobo Blues
   * John Jackson--Bearcat Blues
   * Pete Franklin--Guitar Pete's Blues
   * Mance Lipscomb--Tell Me Where You Stay Last Night
   * Cat Iron--Tell Me You Didn't Mean Me No Good
All best,
Johnm

[ScottN]

Hi Johnm,

Cool idea for a post.  Not sure how to handle the revivalists like Van Ronk and others.  Pretty sure Libba Cotten (Freight Train) and Lightning Hopkins (too many to pick from - Mojo Hand) could be added unless Sam recorded before the war.  Tarheel Slim's 180 Days and Baby Tate's She's So Sweet.  Doc Watson's Deep River Blues is always a favorite.

Thanks,
              Scott

[Johnm]

Good choices, Scott.  I think, but am not sure, that all of the artists you selected fall into the Post-War category, though Lightnin's earliest recordings may just make it by the skin of their teeth.  Doc is a great choice--I hadn't thought of him at all.
All best,
Johnm

[jpeters609]

Charley Booker: "Walked All Night"
Wright Holmes: "Good Road Blues"
Junior Brooks (with Baby Face Turner): "Lone Town Blues"
John Lee Ziegler: "Who's Gonna Be Your Man"
John Dudley: "Clarksdale Mill Blues"
Pinetop Slim: "Applejack Boogie"
Lonzie Thomas: "Rabbit On A Log"
Andrew Dunham: "Sweet Lucy"
Guitar Nubbit: "Georgia Chain Gang"

[bird to whistle]

I had the Muddy Waters double album "Folk Singer/Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy". So many great songs on there. That album and John Lee Hooker's beautiful version of "I Cover the Waterfront" got me hooked on county blues. Funny that it was the Chicago guys that got me into the early stuff.



Other guys might be Doug Quattlebaum, Snooks Eaglin, Smokey Hogg. I really like Quattlebaum's "Come Over Here".

[Rivers]

Great idea for a category.

R.L. Burnside's cuts on Mississippi Delta Blues Volume 2 Blow My Blues Away would be right up there.

Fred McDowell's first recordings for Alan Lomax are fabulous.

Pigmeat Pete & Catjuice Charlie.

I'll pick out some individual tunes later but those are some broad sources that come immediately to mind.

[daddystovepipe]

* Baby Tate  --  Bad Blues
* Johnny Shines  --  Ramblin'
* Jesse Fuller  --  You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
* Roosevelt Holts  --  Rocks in My Pillow
* Lil Son Jackson  --  Roberta Blues
* JB Lenoir  --  The Whale Has Swallowed Me
* Mance Lipscomb  --  If I Miss The Train   
* Smoky Babe  --  Bad Whiskey
* Robert Pete Williams  --  1000 Miles From Nowhere
* Lightnin' Hopkins  --  Last Affair
* Big Joe Williams  --  Sloppy Drunk Blues
* Hubert's Blues  --  Hubert Sumlin (acoustic instrumental / hear it for free on Spotify / cd is called Blues Anytime)

[dj]

Dr. Ross deserves to be on the list.  My choice of a song from him is a little idiosyncratic, a song where one chord boogie meets hillbilly: Polly Put Your Kettle On.

[Parlor Picker]

"The Spider and the Fly" by those old bluesmen, the Rolling Stones. Great imagery in the lyrics (which also brings to mind their "Parachute Woman (Land on Me Tonight)".

As mentioned, anything by Fred McDowell and Smoky Babe.

[Prof Scratchy]

This:

[harriet]

Precious Bryant - Fever
Jesse Mae Hemphill - Broken Hearted Blues
Rev. Pearly Brown - It's A Mean Old World
Sister O.M. Terrell - I Want You To Lead Me On

[Johnm]

Hi all,
It's neat to see the choices people are making here.  In your post, Jeff, you mentioned a couple of musicians with whom I'm not familiar.  Could you give some sources for hearing music by Wright Holmes, Charlie Booker and Junior Brooks and a bit of information on when they were recorded and where they were from?  Thanks.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Frank Hovington - Lonesome Road Blues
Anything by Cat-Iron, Mr. Carradine - really, but forced to choose, today I would pick Don't Your House Look Lonesome
Butch Cage and Willie B. Thomas - Forty-Four Blues

[Lyndvs]

Robert Pete Williams is my personal favourite post war fella.Some fine artisits not mentioned are:
Herman E.Johnson
Scott Dunbar
Cecil Barfield
Rosa Lee Hill
Another vote for Charley Booker but i`ll pick  No Ridin`Blues,one of my favourite electric blues tracks.
lyndvs

[Dom94]

Roy Dunn : cc rider
Homesick james : Goin Back home
John Dee Holeman: One Black Rat
Smoky Babe : Insect Blues

[ScottN]

Hi all,

How about post (Vietnam) war - Larry Johnson's Fast and Funky - The Beat From Rampart Street...are we still within bounds?

Thanks,
              Scott

[Bunker Hill]

Hi all,Could you give some sources for hearing music by Wright Holmes, Charlie Booker and Junior Brooks and a bit of information on when they were recorded and where they were from?  Thanks.
All best,
Johnm

Wright holmes was interviewed in 1967. I've posted it here but guess it should really be in "books & articles". You may wish to relocate it.

Alley Blues: The Story of Wright Holmes
(Blues Unlimited 45, August 1967 pps 13 & 16)

The musical career of Wright Holmes spans almost 30 years of the Texas blues. From his early days of performing for the whores, gambler and sweet back men at Bob London's notorious 'Hoosh Pad' speakeasy in Houston's Fifth Ward, through a brief but exciting recording career in the forties, on up to today, singing for church services and evangelistic meetings, Wright has lost none of the elemental flavour that characterises his blues.

Wright Holmes was born in Hightower, Texas on July 4, 1905 "Makes me a patriotic baby". He moved to Houston in 1930 at the height of the Depression, when jobs for Negroes were few and far between, but was more fortunate than most for he could play guitar and sing blues. Bob London's speakeasy was, more or less, the central watering place for the Houston bluesmen of the thirties and his white mule bootleg whiskey was the best in town. Here there was always a game of Georgia Skin or Yoker to enliven the evening and the shady ladies would be around, using Bob's place as a rendezvous and pick up spot for tricks. This was the environment that nurtured bluesmen like 'Tibu', 'Mobile' and Texas Alexander who would come in to sing for tips until the day that Bob London got a jukebox. One evening Wright came in and began to sing and play but was told to stop. "The Music Box" was now the allowed entertainment. Wright left and so did most of the clientele causing Bob to change his tune in a hurry. Guitars and Wright Holmes in particular were always welcome thereafter.

World War Two took Wright, like thousands of other Southern Negroes to Detroit and Chicago to work in the defense plants (perhaps the single most important event in the popularisation of the blues and Negro music), but when the War was over he returned to Houston and resumed his musical activities, playing at the 'Club De Lisa', 'The Whispering Pines' and the 'Ebony Club' on Dowling Street. He also was featured on various shows broadcasted by KT RH, then owned by Jesse H. Jones, a Houston business tycoon and Government official, along with many other Negro artists, both blues and spiritual.

In 1947, Wright went to the Gold Star studio on Houston's Southside arid recorded 'Alley Blues' and 'My Own Lonesome Blues' for Bill Quinn, receiving the usual 75 dollars. Wright still remembers calling Bill repeatedly, only to finally learn that his record would not be released. When asked about the session, Bill's facile memory brought it clearly to mind. "Wright Holmes, I recorded a fellow named Holmes, but he sounded too much like Lightnin' Hopkins, so I never released it". Later that year, Wright was heard by Abe Conley who owned a small studio off Lyons Avenue. At the O.K. studio Wright cut 'Alley Blues', 'Gone From Home Blues', 'Good Road Blues' and 'The Midnight Rambler'. Conley sold the material to Miltone Records on the Coast and three sides eventually turned up on Gotham Records. Like so many performers, Wright received no royalties for his efforts. This fact, plus a desire to settle down, convinced him to give up the bluesman's life in 1950.

In the early part of 1967, I found Wright through Bill 'Guitar Papa' Barnes. He had lost his right leg to gangrene and walked on crutches. His Gibson guitar was worn and had the look of a well used tool, while his voice still had power and dignity. Wright had worked hard since 1950, owning an attractive cottage in a good neighbourhood in Houston's Northsjde. He and his wife, Elzadie, live frugally on their Social Security cheque, which Wright supplements with Church jobs. When Mike and I went to meet him, he was playing at the Universal Evangelistic Temple on Bell Street, the Temple being only a small part of the Universal Community Place run by Evangelistic Connie Martin, 'Evangelistic Prophetees of the South West' and 'purveyor of Consecrated Oils for Healing and Success'. The Place also offers 'Neatly furnished rooms and apartments, reasonable and reliable, in and out guests', under the general supervision of Bishop Martin, Connie's husband.

Wright had been asked to supply the music for 'Founder's Week' services and was eager to return to the comforts of home. After a brief service in the 8' x 20' chapel, highlighted by a large picture of Jesus, illuminated by a red bulb, we took Wright back to his cottage under the cool pines of Kashmere Gardens, where he could think back to the times when Bob London made the best whiskey in Houston and one could listen to bluesmen like Luther Stoneham, Tibu, Mobile, Thunder Smith, Bob Richardson and Texas Alexander.   Larry Skoog

[Parlor Picker]

Hi all,

How about post (Vietnam) war - Larry Johnson's Fast and Funky - The Beat From Rampart Street...are we still within bounds?

Thanks,
              Scott

Definitely! One of my all-time favourite albums.

[oddenda]

Dom 94 -

          Glad you like "my" stuff. Those were interesting, and generally good. times.

Peter B.

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for the information on Wright Holmes, Bunker Hill.  I thought of a couple more I would add to this list:
   * Ralph Willis--Just A Note
   * Dan Pickett--99 and 1/2 Won't Do
All best,
Johnm

[jpeters609]

Hi all,
It's neat to see the choices people are making here.  In your post, Jeff, you mentioned a couple of musicians with whom I'm not familiar.  Could you give some sources for hearing music by Wright Holmes, Charlie Booker and Junior Brooks and a bit of information on when they were recorded and where they were from?  Thanks.
All best,
Johnm

Charley (or sometimes Charlie) Booker was a singer/guitarist from Leland, Mississippi. He recorded 4 sides for Modern on one of the Bihari field trips to that state (around the same time they first recorded Elmore James) in 1952. Charlie was accompanied by the harmonica player Houston Boines on these sides, including the great "No Ridin' Blues," which had its inspiration in the melody line of Charley Patton's "Green River Blues." Booker said that it was Boyd Gilmore (another one of my favorites who also recorded for Modern) who turned him on to Patton's tunes (Gilmore apparently owned some Patton 78s). Booker also recorded a couple songs at Sun, where the unissued "Walked All Night" comes from -- it's a stomper. His discography is here:  http://www.wirz.de/music/bookcfrm.htm

Bunker Hill provided some great info on Wright Holmes, the only man who Lightnin' Hopkins apparently viewed as a true rival and threat around Houston. Man -- Holmes' playing sounds to me like the equivalent of driving through the trees with your headlights off. It is a daring ride. Great lyrics and edgy, snorted vocals, too. Only recorded three issued sides, I think. All great. Find 'em here:  http://www.wirz.de/music/holmefrm.htm

And Junior Brooks also recorded for Modern (in Arkansas, I think), during one of THE all-time great postwar blues sessions (in a group with Baby Face Turner, Sunny Blair, and Driftin' Slim) in 1952. The two sides under his name were recorded with Baby Face Tuner on lead guitar -- and John, if you want to explore an under-appreciated and really, really impressive postwar electric country blues guitarist, you need to look into Baby Face Turner. He was the guitar player on all the sides of these Arkansas Modern sessions, and his playing is truly the anchor and the innovator in every song. Just listen to his tone -- it is instantly recognizable and really sweet. This is Delta blues as it would have been played by one of the pre-war greats with an electric guitar. Anyway, the Junior Brooks song, "Lone Town Blues," has Baby Face on lead guitar and Junior on vocals and rhythm guitar. The playing is just absolutely driven -- you can imagine these guys had played a lot together. And Junior's vocals are just WOW. You need to listen. When this record was first heard by blues researchers, there was some wondering if it was Son House. You can understand that thought, once you hear the song. You should be able to find records where you can hear both of these guys here:  http://www.wirz.de/music/micklfrm.htm

In the end, I really can't sing Baby Face Turner's praises highly enough. This is a guitar player who needs to be vaunted. He came from the Arkansas delta and apparently died in the 1960's. (Junior Brooks was said to have been older and supposedly died not long after his recordings were made in the early 50's.)

Some youtube links:

Charley Booker:


Junior Brooks:


Wright Holmes:

[Lyndvs]

[Bunker Hill]

Thanks very much for the information on Wright Holmes, Bunker Hill.  I thought of a couple more I would add to this list:
   * Ralph Willis--Just A Note
   * Dan Pickett--99 and 1/2 Won't Do
All best,
Johnm

Dan Pickett, whose appearance in 1965 on Country Blues Classics Vol 2 (BC6), started four decades of speculation as to the "who, what, when and where", was finally put to rest in 1986. Bruce Bastin was trawling through the Gotham files and spotted a royalty payment to James Founty covering one of Pickett's sessions. Eighteen months later Axel K?stner tracked down his relatives, who provided him with a 1950s photo of Pickett/Founty in 2011.

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for the additional information on Charlie Booker, Junior Brooks and Wright Holmes, Jeff.  I really appreciate it, and it's great to have the attached videos to put their sounds in my head.  Thanks!
All best,
Johnm

[outfidel]

I'd add:

Etta Baker -- Carolina Breakdown
John Jackson -- Boat's Up the River
Roscoe Holcomb -- Trouble in Mind

[Mr.OMuck]

This is a great long overdue topic. I've opined in past conversations that the post war stuff has an out of time lonesome desperation and sense of despair that is absent in much of the earlier recordings. The music of older people choosing to work in an outdated style.
Guitar Pete Franklin - Gotta find my baby
Smokey  Babe - Locomotive Blues
Shirley Griffith - Meet me in the Bottom
Robert Curtis Smith. Can't recall titles
Baby Tate - see what you done done
Blind Snooks Eaglin - mama don't you tear my clothes
Alex Seward......
Wade Walton
Memphis Slim - Mother Earth
Doug Quattlebaum........
Larry Johnson- keep it clean
Memphis Willie B. - brownsville Blues
Etta Baker..railroad Bill naturally
Peg Leg Sam
Barrelhouse Buck
Elizabeth Cotton for sure, everything she did was great as far as i'm concerned
Fred McDowell certainly
Connie Williams?
John Lee Zeigler
Arthur Weston
Jessie Mae Hemphill and her Dad Sid for that matter
Everybody George Mitchell recorded
And then there are the people who may have recorded a few titles pre War
But the bulk of whose career was post war
Rev. Davis
Brownie McGhee
Leadbelly
Lightnin' Hopkins
Must be many more

[Mr.OMuck]

Wow wright Holmes is amazing! Thanks for that. Puts me in mind of a big one we've omitted, Hacksaw Harney who I don't believe has any pre war records.
I didn't mention Robert Pete Williams but definitely.
And even though he doesn't qualify as a Blues player, since the only people who listen to him and dig his music come from the same group,and since his playing is so great and casts such a long shadow, i feel we should accord a special place of honor to the late great Joseph Spence.

[Bunker Hill]

Puts me in mind of a big one we've omitted, Hacksaw Harney who I don't believe has any pre war records.

Only as accompanist to Pearl Dickson and Walter Rhodes http://www.wirz.de/music/harnefrm.htm

[Johnm]

The Wright Holmes cut really is terrific, and your description of it is apt, Jeff.  Holmes sounds like he's taking every corner on two wheels, operating at the very edge of his ability to control what he's doing, which can make for some very exciting music.  He merits admiration, too, for getting some altogether different sounds in E in standard tuning; as much as that position has been played in, that's really tough to do!
All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

Thanks for the info and the YT links, Jeff--especially Wright Holmes. It sounds like no grass ever grew under his feet, that's for damn sure!

[uncle bud]

A reminder that 3 Wright Holmes tracks can be found on the Weenieology Rare and Unusual Post-War Blues disc 1, for those of you who may have that. And Charlie Booker's No Ridin' Blues was on the CD that came with Gayle Dean Wardlow's Chasin' That Devil Music.

[Pan]

How about the artists from the Florida Folklife Collection?

I searched YouTube and found Emmet Murray,



Richard Williams (with Lilly B. Williams and Ella Mae Wilson),



And Moses Williams.



I also came by Little / Harmonica Sammy Davis' only Trix 45, "Someday Blues" and am wondering who provided the guitar accompaniment? Perhaps Mr. Lowry might remember, if he sees this?



Cheers

Pan

 

[Bunker Hill]

I also came by Little / Harmonica Sammy Davis' only Trix 45, "Someday Blues" and am wondering who provided the guitar accompaniment? Perhaps Mr. Lowry might remember, if he sees this?

Pan

Being in Australia he's probably fast asleep so I'll post this until he can provide "chapter & verse".

LITTLE SAM DAVIS
V/h/g -1 with Dan DelSanto (g).
         Poughkeepsie, NY, 31 Jan 1971
71-0177   Shake and finger-pop    unissued
71-0178   Baby, scratch my back   unissued
71-0179   Sam?s swing [inst]     Trix 4505
71-0180   Stormy Monday -1       unissued
71-0181   Your funeral and my trial   unissued
71-0182   Someday blues            Trix 4505

The full Trix discography can be viewed at http://www.wirz.de/music/trixfrm.htm but I guess Pan you've already looked at it.

[dj]

Poughkeepsie, NY, 31 Jan 1971

Recorded in Poughkeepsie?  Peter, where in Poughkeepsie?  I don't hear any traffic noise, so it couldn't have been Dan's house on Church Street.   

[Pan]

I also came by Little / Harmonica Sammy Davis' only Trix 45, "Someday Blues" and am wondering who provided the guitar accompaniment? Perhaps Mr. Lowry might remember, if he sees this?

Pan

Being in Australia he's probably fast asleep so I'll post this until he can provide "chapter & verse".

LITTLE SAM DAVIS
V/h/g -1 with Dan DelSanto (g).
         Poughkeepsie, NY, 31 Jan 1971
71-0177   Shake and finger-pop    unissued
71-0178   Baby, scratch my back   unissued
71-0179   Sam?s swing [inst]     Trix 4505
71-0180   Stormy Monday -1       unissued
71-0181   Your funeral and my trial   unissued
71-0182   Someday blues            Trix 4505

The full Trix discography can be viewed at http://www.wirz.de/music/trixfrm.htm but I guess Pan you've already looked at it.

Thanks, Bunker Hill. I did look at Stefan's site. 

Cheers

Pan

[oddenda]

dj -

          Since you asked nicely! Recorded in Sam's apartment in a building on Main Street before it was "malled". He was upstairs a couple of floors and in the back of the building. I was using two Sony ECM-21 electret mics w. cardioid pick-up pattern. I got Sam out and about playing in local bars and on Eddie Kirkland's band album ["The Devil... and other blues demons"]. Took Val Wilmer to hear him at Smitty's (where his 45 and Eddie's were on the jukebox - "my" only jukebox exposure!) - she did a piece on him for MELODY MAKER comparing him favorably with Little Walter. I was with Sam at Smitty's the night his wife died. He was called by the hospital - I watched him fall apart at the seams before my eyes and was totally powerless to do anything to help. He later fell into a bottle and disappeared in spite of Little Eliot's efforts to help with gigs. Doug Price effectively re-rediscovered him years later via his radio show and the rest is history. Sam lives (if still so) in a nursing home after strokes. The album issued by Delmark is brilliant and what I had hoped to do with Sam, but t'was not to be as alcohol and pain took him "down" while I was still active. A fine player/singer and a genuinely nice person.

Peter B.

p.s. -"Stormy Monday" is by Sam alone w. Dan's Martin... playing left-handed.

[dj]

Thanks, Peter. 

I have to say that one of my fondest wishes is that at some point you'll get back to New Jersey and that all the material you recorded for Trix will be made available in some form.  You seemed to have a knack for finding interesting artists, getting good music out of them, and recording it well.

[oddenda]

dj -

          Thanks for that vote of appreciation - they are few and far between. I've laid out over eighty albums from my tapes, but physically getting a hold on them is the problem. I may be able to get digital dubs from the LofC, but don't hold your breath. Dubs were made there when I was working with Alan Lomax back in the day on what eventually became "The Deep River of Song" of the Alan Lomax collection on Rounder.

pbl

[jpeters609]

The "anti-war" blues thread reminded me of another postwar favorite: James Scott Blues Rockers with L.B. Lawson. They recorded 5 songs for Sun circa 1951 (all unissued). L.B. Lawson was the vocalist, and James Scott, Jr., was the lead guitarist, providing more of that on-the-fly improvisation on electric guitar:

"Flypaper Boogie"
"Got My Call Card"
"Scott's Boogie"
"Missing In Action"
"Can't Love Me And My Money (sic) Too" (to my ears, Lawson is singing "buddy," not "money")

Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to any of these songs on YouTube, etc.

James Scott also recorded a pretty great version of Boyd Gilmore's "All In My Dreams" in the 1960's for a tiny Greenville, Mississippi label called Big Beat. He called it: "I Had A Dream I Love My Baby & I Can?t Do Without Her Love." About as fine a title as you can find. I don't see this anywhere on the web, sadly, but I have the 45 and it's great fun.

[blueshome]

I think this qualifies, it was posted on the Facebook RBF page.

[Johnm]

That is a really cool track, Phil.  Thanks for posting it.
All best,
Johnm

[evan]

Good ol' William 'Talking Boy' Stewart

[btasoundsradio]

Check out my Radio Show/Podcast Post War Country Blues episode
https://soundcloud.com/btasoundsradio/bta-sounds-radio-episode-8-post-war-country-blues