Some May Blues Births:
- May 5th.,1922 -- Joseph Denton "JD"/"Jay" Miller
- May 10th.,1903 -- Ann Cook, aka "Bad Ann"
- May 23rd.,1923 -- Helen Elizabeth Humes
Answer To The April 2025 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/ is Jimmie Lee Robinson (some sources show his first name spelled Jimmy), aka "Lonesome Lee", was born April 30,1931, in the Cook County Hospital. He grew up in an apartment, living with his grandparents, just off Maxwell Street. One of his neighbors, Blind Percy (more on him in the Trivia section), taught him how to play the guitar. In 1942, at eleven years of age, he was good enough to be playing in the Maxwell Street Market, with other musicians, such as Memphis Minnie (born Lizzie Douglas), Big Bill Broonzy, and Robert Nighthawk (more on him in the June Blog). In '48 he met Eddie "Playboy" Taylor, and the pair played club dates up into '52, when they split. After they split Jimmie started a blues band, "The Every Hour Blues Boys", featuring Frank "Sonny" Scott on drums, and a young fledgling guitarist that he had met outside a welfare center, Fred Christian, who you should know by his performing name : Freddy King. King, in a later interview, said that it was Robinson who actually taught hin how to play the guitar, constantly watching and listening to him to make sure he was getting better. King also said that Jimmie had the greatest impact on his career from those times. That band lasted four years, and in '55 Jimmie signed on to perform with Little Walter (Jacobs), as a guitarist, bassist, or vocalist, as required. You can hear Jimmie on many of Little Walter's recordings from that period. In '58, when Little Walter was incapacitated from being shot, Robinson took over as the vocalist, but left the band later that year because of personnel differences. Also in '58, he recorded two songs under the name "Lonesome Lee" on/ for the Bandera label. In '60 he recorded four more songs for them, giving him a total of six. In the early '60's the popularity of blues was declining in the U.S., though it was growing in popularity in England, thanks to the efforts of people like Long John Baldry, Duster Bennett, John Mayall, and a band that took its name from a Muddy Waters song : "A Rollin' Stone", but, due to the declining interest here, fewer gigs because of lowered demand, Jimmie decided to quit playing. That choice was also fueled by the death of his mother. He went to work for the Chicago Board of Education as a carpenter, drove a cab part- time, and opened a candy store. He still took occaisional gigs and toured with his longtime friend, Little Willie Anderson, up into the '80's. In '65 he went to Europe and peformed in The American Folk Blues Festival, working with all the big names involved there. In the late '80's a local blues band called Ice Cream Men ( a tribute to Doug Quattlebaum's profession, maybe ?), talked Jimmie into returning to the music and performing and recording, which he did. He capped that off with his active protests of the destruction of Maxwell Street. He was an active member of the Maxwell Street Preservation Coalition, and wrote that group's theme song: "Maxwell Street Teardown Blues". In 2000 he performed on Maxwell Street, playing that song and fasting for 81 days. In the end, it was all for naught, as by the end of the year, the University of Illinois got their way: Maxwell Street was gone they could now expand. Later that same year Jimmie changed his name to J.L. Latif, as part of his conversion to Islam. In 2002 it was found that he had a malignent cancer in his sinuses. He was recovering from dealing with that when it was found that the cancer had spread throughout his body. This is why I said he came to a bad end: he was found in his car, with a gunshot wound to the head. It was ruled a suicide, as it was felt that he didn't want to suffer through the lengthy pain associated with an incurable disease of this type: that was on July 6,2002.
Blues Question For May 2025: This bluesman came from a little town in Mississippi: Indianola, one of a few bluesmen born there who would eventually move to Chicago. He started off on one instrument, but switched to another after moving to Chicago. He was also a singer and songwriter. He never received the recognition or fame that others did, but he did leave a legacy of sorts. Any idea who this bluesman could be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For May 2025: The song is "Atomic Bomb Blues", and the artist is William "Homer" Harris, aka "The Seven Foot Tall Smiling Cowboy" or "Memphis Jimmy". It was recorded September 27, 1946, in Chicago. The players on it were Homer on guitar and vocals, Muddy Waters on guitar, James "Beale Street" Clark on piano, Ransom Knowling on bass, and Judge Riley on drums. I picked this one due to the current nuclear posturing and threatening being done by all the countries who have that capability. Fingers off the triggers, boys; don't be stupid.
Blues Trivia For May 2025: I mentioned in an earlier section of this blog that I'd cover Blind Percy in this section, so, here it is. It is not known whether or not Blind Percy and His Blind Band were blind at all, him or the band. There's evidence that Blind Joe Taggart, who recorded some non- gospel blues using the name Blind Joe Amos, and possibly also recorded using the name Six Cylinder Smith, was actually Blind Percy. So it's possible Blind Percy recorded using all those names I just listed, but there's no positive proof of any of it, except for the sound and playing style. When you see pictures or movies of Jimmie Lee Robinson sitting in a chair, playing acoustic guitar, did you notice that he wore spurs, possibly for the "jingle" effect, much like the foot stomping style used by John Lee Hooker, referred to as the Bentonia style? Somewhere there's a picture of Jimmie Lee sitting in a chair on Maxwell Street, playing "Maxwell Street Teardown Blues", with a wrecking ball knocking down a section of a wall behind him. That was done during his hunger strike. Twist Turner, a drummer, has said of Maxwell Street that you had to be there to enjoy it, the smells, sounds, and the taste of it. He said "no movie you can find of it can't give you that". He further said that when he lived in Chicago, he went there every weekend of every year that he lived there, just to be able to experience all of it.
Some May Blues Passings:
- May 7th.,1998 -- Louisa "Blue Lu" Barker, aka Lu Blue
- May 14th.,1973 -- Elmer Chester Snowden
- May 18th.,2024 -- "Spider" John Koener
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