Hope all had a Merry and Safe Christmas, and a good start on New Year's Day, for 2020!
Some January Blues Births:
- January 2nd.,1939--Albert "Little Smokey" Smothers
- January 13th.,1959--David "Kid" Ramos
- January 31st, either 1926 or 1928--Harold Jerome "Chuck" Willis
Answer to The December 2019 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Hammie Nixon, aka Hammie Nickerson, born as Hammie Davis (father was Green Nixon, mother was Martha Davis), on January 22,1908, in Brownsville, Tennessee. He was orphaned at an early age, and was raised, up to age 10, by a white family. He was interested in music at an early age and started playing at parties. He teamed up with a locally performing bluesman, one "Sleepy" John Estes, from 1924 to '27, playing picnics and country dances. Often, the pair went hoboing through Arkansas and Missouri. He worked in '30 and '31, mostly as a farmer, in Brownsville. In late '31 he moved to Chicago, where, up to '37, he worked house parties and street corners, with "Brownsville" Son Bonds, for tips. He recorded blues songs with Bonds, on the Decca label. He recorded more with Bonds, gospel songs, with Bonds being listed as "Brother" Son Bonds. In '35, Hammie teamed up with "Sleepy" John Estes, and recorded on the Champion label. Later on in '35 and '37, the pair recorded on the Decca label (in '34, Decca had bought out Gennett and its' subsidiary label, Champion records). From then, up into '62, he returned to Brownsville, to work mostly outside the music field, but did travel to record with Estes, Little Buddy Doyle, Charlie Pickett, Lee Green, and Clayton T. Driver. One source shows that he recorded with Estes, on the Victor label, in '29, but I find no record of that. Estes did record for Victor in '29, not with Nixon, but with Jab Jones and James "Yank" Rachell, as the "Three J's Jug Band". What I did find is that Nixon and Estes did, in '48, record 2 unreleased cuts, "Harlem Bound" and "Stone Blind", on the Ora Nelle label (more on that label shortly), but that recording also shows an "unknown" washtub bass player. It lists Estes as being on vocal and guitar, with Nixon shown on harmonica. Could it also be Nixon on that bass? His primary instrument was the harmonica, but he also played guitar, Jew's harp, washboard, jug, kazoo, and tub bass. Starting in '63, and from then on, until Estes' died in '77, the pair toured and performed all over the U.S., Canada, and most of the countries of Europe. Many of these performances were recorded and later released by the labels in the countries in which they took place. After Estes' death, Hammie toured and performed with the Beale Street Jug Band, up into the '80's. He suffered a cerebral hemmorage and passed away on August 17,1984, in Jackson, Tennessee. By the way, he was married to Estes' daughter, Virginia Estes.
Blues Question For January 2020: This bluesman played guitar and piano, with piano being his main focus. He was known for his ability as a player, but also for his stage presence and performance thereon. He was influenced by a couple of the greats in blues piano but favored and idolized one in particular. That one influenced both his playing and his songwriting. He wrote hundreds of songs, with many of those covered or performed by some of the leading names in the blues. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) and Artist(s) For January 2020: The song is "Call My Job", and the artist is "Detroit Jr.". This is the original, the 1965 recording of what is now a blues standard. I picked this one as a "tip of the hat" to those who did the "party hearty" thing on New Year's Eve, and took two days to recover, before going back to work.
Blues Trivia For January 2020: Earlier in the Blog I listed a recording by Nixon and Estes on the Ora Nelle label, done in 1948. In 1947, the first issued recording on that label, #711, was done by Little Walter J. and Othum Brown, the "A" side being "Ora Nelle Blues, the "B" side being "I Just Keep On Loving Her". Vocal and guitar on the A side by Brown, with Little Walter on harp and the B side with Little Walter on vocal and harp and Brown on guitar. Two things to note on that record: it was Little Walter's first recording and it was two of the three recordings ever done by Brown. Some sources show that the "Ora Nelle Blues" title was in honor of Walter's girlfriend, while other sources show it was about Brown's girlfriend. Further research, however, has shown that it was to honor a cousin of Idel Abrams (known as "Red" to friends, because of her haircolor), the wife of Bernard Abrams. In 1945 Bernard opened the Maxwell Radio and Record company, at 831-833 West Maxwell Street. He sold and repaired radios and other electrical items. He bought a military surplus record cutting machine and set up an area in the store where blues musicians could make demo recordings. A lot of those recordings went out the door, after the musicians had paid the bill for the services. It didn't take long for him to figure out that there might be money to be made with an actual record label, hence the Ora Nelle label was born, sole distributor being Maxwell Radio Co. He built up quite a collection of those demo recordings and sold them out of the store. Idel handled the sales end of things. During that time, Bernard had bought up one whole block of buildings on Maxwell Street. Some sources show only 4 songs ever pressed and released, while others show 5 and/or 8. There's one that shows 14, including alternate takes of some of the songs. Bernard was quoted as saying that "a bluesman never plays a song twice the same way". One of the bluesmen who recorded demos there was Muddy Waters, who later confirmed that he had taken all his recordings with him when he left the store. He also said, and Bernard confirmed, that he performed on the sidewalk in front of the store, before he became well-known enough to start booking gigs locally. We'll never know what treasures were lost there, as the building burned down a few years later, with lots of demos inside. By the way, that store/recording "studio" was the only store of its' type on the fabled Maxwell Street. We have 3 different dvd's in stock that document the history of that street and the blues men and women who performed thereon, and the "market", some showing a little history of Ora Nelle Records, Bernard and Idel Abrams, and the Maxwell Radio and Record Store.
Some January Blues Passings:
- January 5th.,2009-- Sam "Bluzman" Taylor
- January 17th.,1975-- Elzadie Robinson
- January 28th.,2017-- Gabriel Perrodin, better known as "Guitar Gable"
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