Some March Blues Births:
- March 4th.,1908 -- Thomas Edgar "Tom" Shaw
- March 15th.,1906 -- Manual "Manny" Nichols
- March 31st.,1944 -- Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Ralphs
Answer To The February 2024 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/ is Tony Hollins, born June 25, 1909, in Mississippi, just not sure where. Some sources showing him being born in Clarksdale (Coahoma County), while other sources show it as Octibbeha County, with the city being Starkville (the county seat), neither of which I could confirm. Most sources show him being raised at / on Lucky's Plantation, which was supposedly near Clarksdale. Checking both of those counties, and a past/ current list of Mississippi plantations, I find no listing of a Lucky's anywhere. I couldn't find any info on where, how, or when he learned to play guitar, but it had to be when he was fairly young, as he was dating John Lee Hooker's sister Alice in the '20's. John Lee's actual birth year has never been truly found, but it's shown, in different places, as being in 1912, 1915, 1917, 1920, and 1923. Since Tony taught John Lee how to play when he was dating Hooker's sister, the correct year might be 1917, or maybe all the dates for both men are wrong. Reportedly the songs Tony taught him were "Crawling King Snake" and "Catfish Blues". A contemporary of Tony's around that time was Tommy McClennan. If you're familiar at all about the early blues recordings, you know that one artist might have done the original recording, and others would like to record the song, so they'd change a few words or one chorus of it, record and sell it as their own. One of those was "Cross Cut Saw", which Tony recorded on the OKeh label, in Chicago, on June 13, 1941, which wasn't released at that time, but was years later. On September 15, 1941, Tommy McClennan recorded it for Bluebird Records, # 8897 A, at the RCA Studio A, also in Chicago. That recording session for Tony netted him nothing, since nothing was released. Disgusted with the music field, he went back to Clarkdale and resumed his old job as a barber. He served in the U.S. Army c 1943- 1945. In '52 he went back to Chicago when asked to record with Sunnyland Slim (Albert Laundrew). It's been reported that Tony passed away in Clarksdale in '57, while other sources show him passing in Chacago in '59. I couldn't verify either.
Blues Question For March 2024: This bluesman was born in Texas or Louisiana. No references as to how or when he learned/ started playing, but his stated influences on harmonica were DeFord Bailey and both Sonnyboy's, and on guitar was Guitar Slim (Eddie Jones). He also wrote many songs, and moved around quite a bit, performing and/ or recording. Stan Lewis, of Stan's Music Shop, in Shreveport, Louisiana, gave him his "stage name". Any idea as to who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For March 2024: The song is "Hard Day Blues", and the artist is Muddy Waters. This was recorded on the Testament label, # T2207, "B" side, cco # 4653-1, on September 27, 1946, and was unissued at that time. The artists on it were: Muddy on guitar and vocal, James Clark on piano, Homer Harris on rhythm guitar, Ransom Knowling on bass, and Judge Riley on drums. There's another version titled "Hard Days", recorded for/ on the Aristocrat label, # U7152, on November 30, 1948, in Chicago. On it the artists were: Muddy on vocals and guitar, Leroy Foster on rhythm guitar, and Ernest "Big" Crawford on bass, unissued at the time, but released by the Chess label, on LP # 6641, in January of '74.
(Editor's Note: While this is the song Joe shares with us, I'm not sure it is the specific version mentioned.)
(Editor's Note: While this is the song Joe shares with us, I'm not sure it is the specific version mentioned.)
Blues Trivia For March 2024: You should have noted in the preceding section the mention of the Aristocrat label.You're probably thinking that you're not familiar with it, but you are, just under the replacement name. This entire section is trivia, not just one item, so here we go. The original company was officially launched on April 10, 1947, by Charles Aron and his wife, Evelyn, with partners Fred and Mildred Blount, and Art Spiegel, though none of the partners took any leadership roles in the business. By June of '47, they became interested in recording Rhythm & Blues artists, so they hired talent scout Sammy Goldberg. Aristocrat's actual recordings were done by/at Universal Recording Corp., 20 N Wacker Dr., 7121 Ridge Ave., Chicago. By September of '47, Leonard Chess, proprietor of the neighborhood bar and after- hours joint, the Macomba Lounge (3905 South Cottage Grove) had invested money in the company and was involved in the sales end of the company. In the BILLBOARD published on October 11, 1947, he was listed as a new addition to the "sales staff". Basically, that meant he was "wholesaling" Aristocrat's products out of his car's trunk (a Buick), as many others were doing the same with other recordings from other labels. Then Leonard increased his share of the company by buying out the Brounts. Then his brother Phil, bout out Spiegel. In '48, when the Aron's separated, Leonard and Evelyn Aron ran the company. On December 16,1949, Evelyn married Art Sheridan, and left to start another company, American Distributing. The Chess brothers bought out her remaining shares, and thus became the sole owners. On June 3, 1950, the brothers changed the company name to Chess Records, started a new numbering system, as Aristocrat's system had been a mess. They started with number 1425, the address of their early childhood home on South Karlov Street, in Chicago. When they started issuing LP's in '57, they used the same 1425 as the first one. In '47 when Sammy Goldberg was doing the recruiting, one artist he signed for future recordings was Sunnyland Slim. In '48, having heard Sunnland at the Macomba, Leonard wanted to record him, as he believed that he would be a big success. Sunnyland called a guitarist he knew, and they were scheduled to record on the same day. That guitarist was Muddy Waters. Aristocrat did 292 recordings in the three years they existed, on an almost non-existant funding situation. Some of the recordings have yet to be found, but they're still being hunted.
Some March Blues Passings:
- March 4th.,1933 -- "Blind" Willie Walker
- March 13th.,1985 -- Robert "Bob" Shad, born Abraham Shadrinsky
- March 19th.,1976 -- Paul Francis Kossoff
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