Some February Blues Births:
- February 1st.,1943-- William "Bill" Miller, aka "Mr. Stress", a Cleveland bluesman
- February 12th.,1900-- Pink Anderson (the Pink of Pink Floyd
- February 28th.,1939--John Fahey, born John Aloysius Fahey
Answer To The January 2019 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for is/was Willie Lee Johnson, born March 4, 1923, in Senatobia, Mississippi. His first instrument, as with many a bluesman's beginnings, was a homemade guitar, and by the late 1930's he was working local parties. His first touch with a professional bluesman was working with Howlin' Wolf, in 1941, at Dooley Square, in Tunica, Mississippi. In the mid-'40's he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked local clubs with other bluesmen, such as Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Calvin Newborn, Willie Nix, Willie Love, and Howlin' Wolf, who by that time, had also moved to Memphis. Johnson's first recordings were with Wolf, at Memphis Recording Service (later to become Sun Records), in 1951. Two of those songs were released on/by Chess Records, with two more released on/by the R P M Records label. In 1952 the studio was re-named Sun Records, with further sessions for Johnson, with Wolf and several other artists, with the recordings, again, being released on many different labels. Some of the people with whom he recorded, as a sideman, were Wolf, Willie Nix and His Band, Little Junior Parker, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Elmore James, Rosco Gordon, and others. In 1955 he moved to Chicago, where he sat in with Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, J.T. "Saxman" Brown, and other local bluesmen. He recorded with Wolf, a few sides, for Chess Records. There were some of those recordings, done in '56 and '57, that some "Facebook experts" claim were wrongly credited to Johnson. By the way, his earlier recordings (in 1951) with Wolf were "How Many More Years", "Moaning At Midnight", and "Riding In The Moonlight"(recorded originally as "Baby Ride With Me"). Willie passed away, at home, on February 26, 1995.
Blues Question For February 2019: This bluesman, not real well-known, but should be, as you have probably heard his work. He recorded on at least seven different labels, toured extensively / sat in with some of the big names in the blues. He got his nickname because of another "trade" at which he was proficient. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) and Artist(s) for February 2019: The song is "Cold Weather Blues", and the artist is Muddy Waters. There were two reasons for picking this one: first, because it's this time of year, and second, because of the "sidemen": a young Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar, and Willie Dixon on stand-up bass. This came from the 1964 Muddy Waters album, "Folk Singer", on Chess Records.
(As I edit this blog it is -3 degrees)
(As I edit this blog it is -3 degrees)
Blues Trivia For February 2019: After listening to the aforementioned song, I got to thinking about Muddy and Willie Dixon. Willie wrote or co-wrote over 500 songs, some for himself, but most for others. The song I'm referring to in this section, has been, in some listings, shown as one of his compositions, but I believe those statements to be wrong, as I can find no record showing that to be true. Muddy was famous for "appropriating" writing credits on some songs. One that comes to mind is "I Got My Mojo Working", which is still mis-credited to him, which a lawsuit corrected years ago. This type of thing has been happening since the beginning of recorded music. Sometimes, it's done accidentally when re-issues of materials are done, but other times it's done on purpose, to sell more "product". Anyhow, here's the trivia part. About 1996 0r '97, when we started this store, I bought some discs from a distributor in Colorado. The two brands that I most often purchased from him were "Blues Encore" and "Giants of Jazz", that second one having some jump blues artists featured. One title on the Blues Encore items I ordered, I bought a copy for myself, to play here in the store, was a compilation cd, "Uncle Sam Blues". The disc has 18 tracks, songs done about the war times of W.W.II, Korea, Vietnam, and other references. One of those songs was "Atomic Bomb Blues", by Homer Harris. When I listened to it, I thought the guitar sounded familiar, so I got to digging. Turns out, it was recorded September 27,1946, in Chicago, on Testament Records(?), along with two other songs by Harris: "Tomorrow Will Be Too Late" and "I'm Gonna Cut Your Head, Mama". The backing band personnel were: Muddy Waters on guitar, James Clark on piano, Ransom Knowling on double bass, and Judge Riley on drums. If you look for "Atomic Bomb Blues" now, you'll find most listings for it under Muddy Waters. One listing credits it to Homer Harris. That's on the Bear Family Records label, out of Germany. It's on an l.p.-sized boxed set, containing 5 cd's, 1 dvd, and a 250 page hardcover book. The set is titled "Atomic Platters: Cold War Music", and the cd's have over 100 vintage cold war songs and over 2 dozen civil defense Public Service Announcements, voiced by celebrities such as Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Johnny Cash, and many others. The dvd features 9 bizarre civil defense and anti-communist cold war short films of the '50's and '60's. If you're interested, the set has an msrp of $ 249.99 and can be ordered. The song is also available on some Muddy Waters compilations: an 8 cd set out of the U.K., and is in stock ($23.98), a 4 cd set, also out of the U.K., not in stock (also $23.98), and a 20 cd set, on the Sony label, again, from England, with an msrp of $ 93.99 (not in stock).
Some February Blues Passings:
- February 1st.,1990-- Johnny Woods
- February 15th.,1994-- Mozelle Alderson, born Mozelle Fagans
- February 22nd.,1994-- John Henry Creach, best known as Papa John Creac
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