Some June Blues Births:
- June 7th.,1896 -- Lane Hardin, aka Arkansas Johhny Todd
- June 13th.,1942 -- Robert "Bob" Hall
- June 23rd.,1935 -- Dillard Crume
Answer To The May 2025 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Arther "Little Arthur" Duncan, born February 5, 1934, in Indianola, Mississippi, the town that also gave us blues fans Albert King, Riley "B.B."King, and Louis Collins, aka Mr.Bo. Little Arthur grew up on the Woodburn Plantation, the same one that B.B. King grew up on. Arthur started out as a drummer, but switched to harmonica after his family moved to Chicago in 1950, and he met Little Walter. There was a time in the '50's that he lived in a basement apartment below where Little Walter and Jimmy Reed lived. Arthur had his own band in the '50's, but he also played with people like Hip Linkchain (Willie Richards), Floyd Jones, John Brim, and Earl Hooker. In the '60's and '70's he worked construction jobs, after all, he was raising a family, so there wasn't a lot of time to play gigs, excapt on some evenings. Those "quick" gigs did produce some great music, playing with such artists like Earl Hooker, Rick "Junior" Kreher (a guitarist for Muddy), Twist Turner, a drummer, Illinois Slim (Tom Morris) on harp and guitar, Eddie "Playboy" Taylor, and Thomas "Mot" Dutko, a guitarist. Around 1980 Arthur owned a bar named Artesia's, on Lake Street, which was later moved to the 4900 block of West Madison, and was re-named "Backscratcher's Social Club".He was three or four doors East of Delmark Records labelmate Jimmy Burns's barbeque joint, which was called "Uncle Mickey's Barbeque". I believe Arthur lived in the back of his club . Supposedly, at some later date, after an argument with the landlord, his lease wasn't renewed, so the club was done. While the club was open, it was a gathering spot for all of that generation of Chicago bluesmen at that period. Arthur would make sure that those who were there, were good and drunk, as anything less would have been inhospitable. He'd tell stories about a drunken Jimmy Reed, or about a twelve hour gig he'd just played for a biker party on the South Side, after getting a call from Eddie Taylor, who had just played the prior twelve hour gig at that party. In 1989, he recorded an album on the Blues King label, #BK-1002, released on cassette only, titled "Bad Reputation", with bandmates Henry Qualls on guitar, and Big Al Dupree on piano. By the '80's he'd been working at some of the premier Chicago blues clubs, among them were Kingston Mines, B.L.U.E.S. on Halstead, Rosa's, and Lilly's. Arthur had some tooth problems that kept him from playing in the early '90's. In 1998, he got a new set of pearly whites, and was back to playing. There was/is an anthology done in '97, "Blues Across America - The Chicago Scene", on the Cannonball Records label, #29204. On it are three of the Chicago players of that period: four tracks by Robert Plunkett, five tracks by Emery Williams Jr. (now aka Detroit Junior), and the four tracks that were on that '89 Blues King cassette. Some of this info, I think, came from Rockin' Johnny Burgin, who was "in residence" at Lilly's, playing guitar, when he was in highschool. Arthur's final recording was "Live at Rosa's Lounge", Delmark # DE793, done in 2007. Then, a lengthy illness, and hospitalization wouldn't allow him to take advantage of the fame that was beginning in his career. Arthur passed away in Northlake, Illinois, on August 20,2008, of complications after brain surgery. He was cremated, and it's not known where his ashes are.
Blues Question For June 2025: This bluesman was another "late bloomer" , as far as success, but he played and performed for many years before that. He was just as happy doing his day job, doing manual labor, as he was playing music. He used a Tabasco bottle as a slide, and he had a style of play that was similar to an East Texas player. He was talked into doing an album, the only one he ever did, when he was almost 60, but he still liked to just be home. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For June 2025: The song is "Sunny Land", and the artist is Elmore James. It was recorded around August 1954, in Los Angeles, on the Flair label, # FL-i65, released as Flair #1057. The artists on it were Elmore on vocals and guitar, James Parr on trumpet, Maxwell Davis on tenor sax, Jewell Grant on baritone sax, Willard McDaniel on piano, Ralph Hamilton on bass, and Jessie Sailes on drums. I picked this one because it shows another side of Elmore and his normal frantic slide playing. But if you want to hear the slide style, just listen to the flip side of this record, as that side is "Standing At The Crossroads", Flair recording number FL-217.
Blues Trivia For June 2025: In the May 2025 Blog, in the section on Jimmie Lee Robinson, I listed the local band that talked him into performing again, The Ice Cream Men Band. Still don't know why the picked the name, but the players were Rockin' Johnny Burgin on guitar (he was in highschool at the time), Steve Cushing on drums, Scott Dirks on harmonica, and Dave Walden on guitar, and most likely been found on a Thursday night at Lilly's. I also said that there would be something on Robert Nighthawk in this blog, but that's going to have to wait till a later date. There is one c.d. that you never see listed in Arthur Duncan's discographys, and it's a good one. It's called "Live in Chicago", on the Random Chance label, # RCD-3, done in 2000, I'm guessing, most likely at Lilly's. I've only seen it listed on Amazon, and it's a bit pricey. Its got 9 tracks and is 49:43 long. And the Backscratcher part of everything, in Duncan's case was of his admiration of Slim Harpo, and his song, "Baby, Scratch My Back", which was mostly instrumental, with some spoken lyrics, not sung.
Some June Blues Passings:
- June 8th.,1993 -- Foster McKenzie III, aka Root Boy Slim
- June 10th.,2004 -- Ray Charles Robinson, aka Ray Charles
- June 22nd.,2005 -- Harry "Big Daddy" Hypolite
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