Hope all had a nice, safe, and enjoyable Thanksgiving, even with our current health "situation". Just remember what that particular day was, and is all about, from it's first one forward.
Some December Blues Births:
- Either on the 20th., 1902, or the 4th., 1903 (depends on where you look)--Walter Roland
- on the 16th.,1949--William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons
- on the 27th.,1930--Bob Stroger
Answer To The November 2020 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is John Henry Barbee, born November 14, 1905, in Henning, Tennessee. He claimed he was born as William George Tucker, and the confusion starts. One source states, according to a U.S. Census record, that his parents were father, Beecher Barbee, and mother, Cora Gilford. Another source, however, lists his parents as Becker Tucker, father, and Cora Gilton, mother. The first names are close, so maybe it was just an error in translating the notes from which these entries were made. At any rate, John taught himself how to play guitar at a young age, but his normal work was on his parent's farm. He did play at some house parties and suppers in the area during that time. In the early '30's he travelled around the South, all the way to the Delta. Along those travels, he would work with other bluesmen, such as Big Joe Williams, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, and Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew), through that area and in Memphis. Around the mid-'30's, he was living in Luxora, Arkansas (0.9 sq.miles), most likely with his girlfriend. It's directly north of Memphis, in the northeastern part of Arkansas, and is located next to the old "blues highway", Route 61. He travelled from there, to Chicago, to play the blues. He sometimes performed on the famed Maxwell Street. He did four recordings for Vocalion on September 8, 1939. 2 were released, 2 were not, but the released ones sold well enough that Vocalion wanted him to do some more recording, but he couldn't be found at his last known location, which was Luxora. I don't have exact dates for some of this, other than the recording date. He would later say that he changed his name to John Henry Barbee to pay tribute to his favorite folk song-- "The Ballad of John Henry". Some surmise that he did it to evade detection under his real name, to avoid the legal system. He believed that he had shot and killed his girlfriend's lover, and it wasn't till many years later that he found out that he had only wounded him. He had quit the music business and worked odd jobs instead. He served in the U.S. Army in the early '40's. When the blues revival started in the '60's, Willie Dixon tracked him down, so he could take John on a European tour with The American Folk Blues Festival group. He had been working as an ice cream server somewhere. When he returned to the U.S. after that tour, John used some of the money he had earned from it, to buy his first car. Just 10 days after he bought it, he was involved in an accident in which he ran over and killed a man. While waiting in jail for disposition of the case, he had a heart attack and died on November 3, 1964, 11 days shy of his 59th. birthday. NOTE: Those 4 original songs for Vocalion can be found on Document Records DLP520 vinyl, or DOCD5159 cd, or Wolf Records #107 cd. He also recorded on several smaller labels in the U.S. and Europe, when he was on that tour. The big label he recorded for over there was Storyville. There's a Storyville cd "Blues Masters Vol.3" that has all the studio tracks he recorded for them, it's out of print, but it can be found, used. They also did a live recording of him, along with one of Sleepy John Estes, at a club in Copenhagen, doing a set each, at different times. That one I found new and it's on it's way, and it has both of them on it. The Wolf cd is also on order.
Blues Question For December 2020: This blues person was active for many years. She recorded under four different names, at different times. She worked the streets and parks of Memphis, and was known as "gifted hoodooist". Any idea who this blues lady might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For December 2020: The song is "The Twelve Blue Days of Christmas", and the artist is Jack de Keyzer. Covid or not, 'tis the season!!
Blues Trivia For December 2020: In each month's blog, I put in a list of Blues Births, and Deaths. In last month's blog I had listed in the Births section John Paul Hammond. I noticed when it was published that the Editor had added Jr. to the end of his name, which is O.K., as it's a pretty common thing with Hammond's name. This is not meant to be critical of that, nor trivial, at least to me. I've often wondered about that Sr./Jr. tag, so I thought O.K., time to dig into this. The common thought is that all the name has to be the same: first, middle, and last. What I found is that there is no set rule on what's the correct way to use these tags, but there are ways that are commonly agreed upon for it. John's great grandfather was John Henry Hammond, a general in the Civil War. His son, John Henry Hammond, was a Columbia Law School graduate, who, along with his legal work, also did other jobs to take care of his family. John Henry Hammond II (actually the III, our John's father) was a record producer, a music critic, and a civil rights activist. Even though our John is often tagged with the Jr., according to the commonly accepted way, he's not, since his middle name is Paul. As each generation passes away, the Sr. tag goes to the next in lineage, with the next then being now Jr., instead of III. It goes that way as each generation passes away. If you follow that line of thought, our John would be either Sr. or the First. Again, I'm not being critical, but rather, pointing out how hard I try to get the info I give you, Correct, to the Nth. degree. You can drive yourself a little nuts with some of this. Think about Robert Lockwood Jr. How many times do you see him incorrectly shown as Robert Jr. Lockwood ?
Some December Blues Passings:
- on the 3rd.,1978-- William Grant Still
- on the 17th.,1989-- Johnny "Little Sonny" Jones
- on the 23rd.,1958 Henry "Son" Sims
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