Some July Blues Births:
- July 4th.,1882 -- Essie Barbara Whitmans
- July 13th.,1949 -- David Karl William Wilcox
- July 24th.,1919 -- "Bishop" Joe Perry Tillis
Answer To The June 2025 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is John Henry Miles, born July 8,1934, in Elmo, Texas, just about forty miles east of Dallas. When his mother married Scottie Moore Qualls, he became known as Henry Lee Qualls. He grew up in Cedar Grove, Texas, and now, the only thing left of Cedar Grove is the cemetery. What was the Cedar Grove School became Cartwright, which then became Wills Point High School in 1930, which is where Henry went to school. He learned the rudiments or basic skills of the guitar from his grandmother, and he played gospel music at his local church. He named his guitar Mabelene, spelled or interpreted at times as Mabelline or Maybelline. While he was still a youth he got more help learning the guitar from Emmitt Williams. I tried to track down Emmitt Williams, but there were/ are several musicians with that name, but I couldn't find any who's age would have been correct to coincide with Henry's age. Also in his youth, he went to Dallas to see shows featuring Samuel John "Lightnin' " Hopkins, Melvin "Lil Son" Jackson, and Frankie Lee Sims. In 1955 Henry married Ethel Mae Cooper, and over the years, they had and raised eleven children together. His music was "part time" because he worked ploughing fields around his/ their lifetime home, in Elmo, or mowing lawns in Dallas. And yes, ploughing is spelled correctly, as it is the verb of the tool, plough, the noun. That is/was a single blade tiller, drawn by a horse, an oxen, or whatever animal one could hook it to,to turn single furrows to do the planting. Henry, in his later years, bought a '49 Ford tractor to do the job. It's been said that his style of playing guitar was similar or reminiscent of Willie "Smokey" Hogg's way of playing it, but I believe that the only comparison is that neither played with the accepted base of 12 bar blues, but more as a "free style" as to how the blues should be played. Now a note for you: I left that "Willie" Smokey Hogg in there, because that's how the Wikipedia on Henry Qualls lists it in their bio, when, in fact the real Smokey Hogg's first name was/is Andrew, and he passed away on May 1, 1960. Willie Hogg was a musician in New York in the '60's, who added the "Smokey" to his name to capitalize on the fame of the real Smokey after the real one died. Smokey preferred acoustic where Henry liked his 36 year old electric, and their slide work was what one would call erratic. They both played what they felt, and felt what they played. Smokey I never met, but Henry, I did. Met and talked with him out in Helena, where he was to perform in/at the King Biscuit Blues Festival. He definately liked his "rot-gut" whiskey ! He was there with the Dallas Blues Society, and none of them were feeling any pain. Listening to him telling me about his music basically told me that what I had listened to in his recordings is exactly what I said earlier -- he felt wht he played, and he played what he felt. If you listen to any of his music, be it blues or gospel, you will hear that. In 1987 Tim "Mit" Schuller, a columnist and writer who covered the music scene in Dallas, Charles "Chuck" Nevitt, a record collector and blues music purveyor, and Brian "Hash Brown" Carmay founded the Dallas Blues Society. In '88 Chuck tracked down Zu Zu Bollin, got him out of where he was living, and set him up with local gigs to get him back to his old self, as far as performing. In '89 Chuck felt that Bollin should be recorded, so he started the Dallas Blues Society Records label, so artists like Bollin would have their work preserved for future generations to hear. He set up the session locally, and had it pressed on vinyl. He then shopped around, and made a deal with Antone's in Austin, to put it on c.d. format, got that done and released it as "Zu Zu Bollin: Texas Bluesman", to wide acclaim. Zu Zu never got to enjoy the fame, as he died in '90 of cancer.Chuck was devastated, then his partner, photographer and videographer Scott "Scotty" aka "Tee Bee" Ferris sent him a videotape of a man playing guitar in his yard, all by himself. That man was Henry Qualls. This time he went through the same routine and recorded an album with Henry, titled "Henry Qualls: Blues From Elmo, Texas". Again with the acclaim and reception of it, sent Henry to tour all over Europe and the U.S., this performance in Helena being one of those. He also played in Deep Ellum, which is the entertainment center in Dallas then and now, and Fort Worth. The success Henry achieved never changed him -- he was just country folk. He played his guitar in the standard position, but he sometimes put it in his lap, and fired up the slide efforts, using a Tobasco spice bottle as his slide. He also said that he didn't like playing in the bigger townss; His quote was "them people down there can't even remember their name". Nevitt also said that the success didn't change him at all, that he never upgraded his whiskey, just kept drinking his old "rot gut" stuff. He just wanted to be home, in his century old house, next to the railroad tracks of the Texas And Pacific Railway line, in Elmo. Henry passed away on Sunday, December 7, 2003, at Kindred Hospital, of complications from intestinal surgery. He is buried in the Elmo Cemetery.
Blues Question For July 2025: This bluesman was born in Mississippi, but moved to Chicago, where his career started. That was cut short by military service. He played guitar, did vocals, and was a songwriter. He did record three albums under his own name, but he also recorded many albums backing the big name lead performers. And you think some of the blues people you read about had a "rough row to hoe", wait 'til you read what this guy went through in the answer in next month's blog. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For July 2025: The song is "Texas Tornado", though some listings show it as "Texas Tornado Blues", and the artist is "Big Bill" Broonzy ( born Lee Conley Bradley). It was recorded in Chicago on January 28,1947. The musicians on it were: Big Bill on guitar and vocals, Memphis Slim (John Len Chatman) on piano, Ransom Knowling on string bass, and Tyrell Dixon on drums. I picked this one because of the story on Henry Qualls, a Texas bluesman, and this time of year this is, with tornado's, it seems, all over this country this year. -- But wait -- this tornado that Big Bill sings about is this tornado who blows the house down if you ask her where she's been! Gotcha !!
Blues Trivia For July 2025: Listening to Henry Qualls music, harkens back to what it was like in years past, raw, no spit and polish job with ads to sell the product. You may not like his particular style, but if you look at many of the early original bluesmen, this raw music was the way it was. Now look at some of your blues performers of today: many with college degrees, where mom and dad footed the bills to get them started. Some of them have 15 to 20 or more guitars on stage, to cover the music they're planning to play in their sets. some use all electric, some use all acoustic, where some use both. Now, go back and look at the old, early players - most did all types of blues with one guitar, or, sometimes, as many as three, an acoustic, maybe a Stella, an electric, probably a Gibson or Fender, and an old National Resonator steel guitar. I just saw a story on the web the other day, about how Buddy Guy taught Derek Trucks, a highly regarded guitarist, how to be better -- by turning down the amp. I just read a book by Bennett Kelly, "Sensation Blues". Its main character is a 16 year old wanting to be a blues musician, set in today's world, and he is being taught in the old way, by his blues musician uncle. Learn how to play by listening to tapes of the early masters. Bennett captures it well.
Some July Blues Passings:
- July 8th.,2012 -- Ernest Lane
- July 16th.,2008 -- Maynard Silva
- July 22nd.,1987 -- J Nicholas "Nick" Perls
RSS Feed