Some August Blues Births:
- August 1st.,1942-- Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia
- August 15th.,1911-- Buster "Harpie" Brown (remember the song "Fannie Mae" ? )
- August 31st.,1945-- Van Morrison, aka Van the Man, the Belfast Cowboy (full actual name Sir George Ivan Morrison)
Answer to the August 2017 Blues Question: the blues person we were looking for is/was Sister O. M. Terrell, born as Ola Mae Long on August 18th.,1911, in Atlanta, Georgia. At age eleven she had a "conversion experience" at an annual summer "tent revival", which was put on by the Fire- Baptized Holiness Church. The Holiness Movement was born out of disapproval with the "formality and worldliness" that was taking root, at that time, in the Baptist and Methodist faiths- the late 1800's. It was basically the African- American members who left those two faiths, along with poor whites, to start the "Fire- Baptized" faith. They didn't approve of the "needless ornamentation" of women. They also considered it a sin for men to wear a necktie. In 1975 the church group changed its name to the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. Yes, there are some local "Fire- Baptized" congregations in our area, but enough on that score. In her early years, after joining that church, Sister Terrell played her guitar (self-taught) and sang songs, most of which she wrote, on Atlanta's vice- ridden Decatur Street, from the 1930's up into the 1950's, as did many other itinerant "street preachers" of that time. She was brought to the attention of Columbia Records by Robert T. Christie and Lauren Moore, managers at radio station WPAL, in Charleston, South Carolina, where, for a time, Sister Terrell did a live show on Sundays. Everything I've found shows that she recorded six sides for her Columbia recording session, but I've found eight. I don't know if the two extras were done at that Columbia session and not listed or if they were done elsewhere. Her recordings didn't sell because Columbia mistakenly released them as "country" rather than "gospel". Gospel recordings at that time were selling as fast as they could be produced, so, because if the mislabeling, Sister Terrell was an unknown to the gospel fans. Because of that she received no royalties for her efforts, became disgusted, and walked out of the Columbia studios, never to return. Things haven't changed much today as some rock and country recordings are labeled as blues. Bruce Nemerov, who wrote some of what info is contained here, talked with a music publisher some time ago who asked him to try to locate Sister Terrell, as he had some royalty checks waiting. I don't know what the date was, but Bruce found her in a nursing home in Conyers, Georgia. He stated that the money allowed her some material comfort in her last years. She passed on March 3rd., 2006, in Conyers, Georgia.
Blues Question for August 2017: this bluesman is relatively unknown but you've probably heard him on other artists and/or bands recordings. He first played in a minstrel group before moving to Chicago and getting into the blues market. He recorded and/or played with some of the big names in the blues, usually as a sideman/band member, or as a studio musician. Any ideas as to who this bluesman is ??
Blues Trivia for August 2017: there have been many bluesmen who, over the years, started in gospel music, performing and/or recording it. One of those was Joel Adams, known as Jo-Jo Adams or Doctor Jo-Jo Adams. Born in rural Alabama around 1918, he first sang with the Big Four Gospel Jubilee Singers, before moving to Chicago in the early '40's. He started performing in the clubs on the South Side, as a jump blues singer, a comedian, a dancer, or as an m.c. His singing style was like that of Cab Calloway (remember him in The Blues Brothers movie, in his white tux with tails ?). Jo-Jo had his tux custom- made, featuring 55" tails. He often said that "when I spin around you could shoot dice on them". He then went to Los Angeles to record on the Aladdin label. On his return to Chicago he recorded on the Aristocrat label (later to become Chess Records) for Leonard Chess. In 1949 he did a risqué version of The Hucklebuck in the all African- American casted revue film "Burlesque in Harlem". He did his own revue, The Jo-Jo Show, which sometimes featured Joe Williams and Willie Mabon, among others. He also performed with Memphis Slim and Terry Timmons in several Chicago clubs. His last recordings, in 1952 and '53, were on the Chance and Parrot labels. His very first recording, in 1946, was Jo Jo Blues, on the Melody Lane label, with bandleader Freddie Williams, who was also a guitarist, owned a record store--and the Melody Lane Records label, which was started in March of 1946. Here's the Trivia part -- shortly after that first recording, the labels name was changed to Hi-Tone Records when Russian-born Nathan Rothner, a jukebox operator, became involved. Hy-Tone closed in 1948, after King Records in Cincinnati bought some of the master recordings of Hy-Tone from Rothner. There have been several record companies who have used some form of the Hy-Tone name. Among them are Hytone, started by the Indestructable Phonograph Company in 1921; Hi-Tone, set up in New York City as a susidiary of Signature Records in 1949; Hy-Tone, also set up in New York in 1957; another Hy-Tone, which produced gospel records in California in the 1960's; HighTone Records, based in Oakland, California, in 1983. That last one closed its doors in 2008 and sold its entire catalogue to Shout! Factory. In 2016, the HighTone part of Shout! Factory, was sold to Concord Bicycle Music. That company was founded in 1973 by Carl Jefferson, an auto dealer and jazz fan, in Concord, California. He sold it to Alliance Entertainment in 1994. In 1999, Norman Lear (that name ring any bells ?) and Hal Gaba bought that company and moved its headquarters to Beverly Hills. From that day to this, that company, now known as Concord Music Group, has been buying up record labels/companies-- way too numerous to list them all here-- but if you're a true blues fan, you'd recognize quite a few of them. And, if you think there's not a lot of money in that, consider this: on June 2nd.,2017, Concord Music Group bought music publisher IMAGEN for $500 MILLION !!
Some August Blues Passings:
- August 5th.,1957-- Joe Hill Louis, born as Lester (or Leslie) Hill
- August 15th.,1958-- William Lee Conley "Big Bill" Broonzy
- August 30th.,2013-- John Farrel "Juke" Logan
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