Some November Blues Births:
- November 4th.,1915- Bradbury James "Brad" Taylor
- November 15th.,1941 - James "Jim" Dickinson
- November 26th.,1941 - Amos Garrett
Answer To The October Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Charles Henry "Baby" Tate, born January 28,1916, in Elberton, Georgia. I got this far before the discrepancies started showing up. A man who likes the American Musics, Stefan Wirz, has compiled a list of musicians, along with lots of other info, in the basic areas of American music, and part of it's called an "illustrated discography". He gets more in depth in researching his info than most, in his efforts to get it right. Under Baby Tate's listing, he shows that Tate was born in Magnolia Township, Abbeville, Georgia. Next--his birth date, and it's variances. The 1916 date is correct, but there's a group, WBSS Media, that shows the year as 1920. I have a picture of his burial plot stone, which has the correct dates, along with another picture showing his military (provided by) headstone, which shows the year as 1919. Oh, engraved on his plot stone is "See What You Done, Done", the title of the song he's best known for. The military headstone also says he was a PFC, in the 4086th. Quartermaster Service Company, when he was overseas during W.W. II, and yes, he performed in pubs in England when he was stationed there. Anyhow, it shows that in 1926, he was moved to Greenville,South Carolina, where he ran with Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen), which is also, questionable. Fuller was born and raised in North, not South Carolina. Tate, as an adolescent, had seen and heard Blind Blake performing in Elberton, and that was his influence to learn to play guitar. By the late '20's, he had taught himself to play it, and with that ability, he formed a trio, including himself, Joe Walker (Willie Walker's brother), and Roosevelt "Baby" Brooks, and worked with them locally, in the Greenville area. Early in '30, up into '32, they performed as The Carolina Blackbirds, both at local spots, and on WFBC radio, which was broadcast from the Jack Tar Hotel. "Jack Tar" is a slang term for a sailor. I believe that, during Tate's time, that that hotel was named The Poinsett Hotel. During the rest of the '30's, Baby mainly worked as a mason, but also at other odd jobs. He was in the Army from c'42 to '46, after which he returned to the Greenville- Spartanburg area, performing in the "club circuit". He claimed that in the '50's, he recorded several tracks for Kapp Records, which were not released. He relocated to Spartanburg, where he performed solo, before he sometimes paired up with Pink Anderson. That working relationship lasted up into the '70's, until Pink was disabled as a result of a stroke. In '62, he recorded his only album -- "Blues of Baby Tate: See What You Done Done", on the Bluesville label. He recorded several tracks, at different sessions, for the Trix label of Peter Lowry, but they were never released. He did record an album with Peg Leg Sam for the Trix label, which was released. He has recorded with many other artists, so his music is out there, ya' just gotta' find it. Baby died from the effects of a heart attack, in the Veteran's Administration Hospital, in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 17, 1972. If you find that one album on c.d., it's a wee might pricey, but so's the one of Peg Leg Sam.
Blues Question For November 2022: Here's another relatively unknown bluesman, this one from Texas. He also worked a lot, as a sideman, for other well-known artists, in the blues, R & B, and R & R genres. He's recorded 7 or so albums of his own, some here in the States, some overseas. One of his good friends for many years, is another bluesman who is quite well-known. The one we're looking for can most definitely play some good blues. Any idea who this one might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) for November 2022: The song is "Flyin' High", (sometimes shown as "Flying High"), and the artist is Johnny Copeland, father of Shemekia, who's a great singer & song writer, on Alligator Records. I picked this one because, for Johnny, it's an oddball, as it's him on a video, sitting, playing an acoustic guitar. He's recorded and performed this particular song, both live and recorded, but always on an electric guitar. I went back and tried to find an acoustic recording he'd done, but no such luck. It's only on this YouTube video. Whatever--Just enjoy it !!
Blues Trivia For November 2022: Well, here we are, again, the Fall season, with lots of color displayed by the trees, as they put on their Winter coats. Also, there are 2 holidays this month: Veteran's Day, on the 11th., and Thanksgiving, on the 24th., the latter aka "Turkey Day:. While I was looking for a suitable song to recognize that day, I found only 1 with Thanksgiving in the title. It was "Thanksgivin' Blues", by Roosevelt Sykes, but it had nothing to do with Turkey Day. Then I ran across a list, well, actually, 3 lists, each one with songs the writer felt had some bearing to or about that holiday. In the third list, which had the largest number of songs listed, was a song -- "Turkey Trot", by Little Eva (Eva Narcissus Boyd), released in 1962. That record made it to #20 on the national charts here in the U.S. You might remember her better for her song that went to #1, both here and in the U.K., a spot it held for awhile, "The LoCo Motion". That song was titled that way to describe her dancing style. The original Turkey Trot was a song and dance from 1908, done in a fast ragtime style, and it had its own dancing style. There have been many cover versions of Little Eva's version done over the years, both by individuals and bands, and I looked/listened to quite a few of them. One that I enjoyed watching was a parody of it, done by a pop-punk group, actually, a band, the Dollyrots, titled "Let's Turkey Trot". What makes it good is that people, and some teachers, sent in videos of their children and/or their students (and some adults, too) doing the dance steps/motions like the ones from 1908. The trivia part is that those 3 lists were put together and posted by one Joe Bonamassa. If you watch-- ENJOY !!
Some November Blues Passings:
- November 4th.,1998-- Sonny Boy Nelson, born as Eugene Powell
- November 18th.,2015-- Robert "Mack" McCormick
- November 27th.,2014-- Curley Nilson Bridges
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