Some December Blues Births:
- December 1st.,1926-- Earl Lacy Forest
- December 13th.,1931-- Wayne Talmadge Bennett
- December 29th.,1947-- Calvin Trevor "Cozy" Powell
Answer To The November 2022 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Joe "Guitar" Hughes, birth name Maurice Hughes, born September 29th.,1937, in Houston, Texas. His style of playing was inspired by both Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, because of their shuffles on the guitar, and their fiery style of playing them. Those two influencers, though, played different styles at different times, so Joe's liking their styles was, I think, only for certain songs or performances and recordings. First band that Joe was in, in the '50's, was The Dukes of Rhythm. There was another guitarist in that band, a lifelong friend of his, a fellow Texan, Johnny Copeland. At different times in the '60's, he worked with Little Richard (Penniman), and with Bobby "Blue" Bland. In the '80's, he started touring/ performing in Europe, where, in '86, he recorded "Texas Guitar Master", on the Double Trouble Records label, a Dutch record company. He would eventually record two more albums for that label. That first album, by the way, also featured a live recording of Joe and "Texas" Pete Mayes. He recorded on four more labels, mostly in the U.S., up to and including his last, in 2001. He passed away from a heart attack, in Houston, Texas, on May 20, 2003.
Blues Question For December 2022: This bluesman started his career in the '50's, when he was in his 30's. Before that, and, sometimes, after that, he worked as a sharecropper, picking vegtables or whatever, a soldier, and, on occasion, a boxer. He worked with many of the big names in the blues, over the years, and you've probably never heard of him, or heard him perform. Any idea who this bluesman might be ???
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For December 2022: It's the month of Christmas, so It's gotta' be a Christmas song. The song is "Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues", and the artist is Sonny Boy Williamson II. This was recorded on Trumpet Records, in Jackson, Mississippi, on August 5, 1951, matrix # DRC 45, catalogue # 145, a 10" 78 rpm disc, the flip side being "Pontiac Blues", #DRC 46, same catalogue # 145.
Blues Trivia For December 2022: This ties in with the above listed record company-- Trumpet Records. In 1949, Willard and Lillian McMurry, bought a building that had housed a hardware store, with the intention of remodeling it and making it their furniture store. It was located at 39 North Farish Street, which was basically at the dividing line of the white owned and run business's, and those owned and run by African-Americans. They were working in the building, when Lillian heard some of the workers playing left- behind records on a record player, also left- behind. One song in particular, really impressed her, as she'd never heard an African- American or "race record" before. That artist was Wynonie Harris, and the song was "All She Wants To Do Is Rock". She had the workers make a list of what was there that she might be able to sell, of those records, and what to order if she chose to sell more. They sold out quickly, which told her they could make money selling records of this type. Before the end of 1950, they had converted an area of the furniture store into a record store, named "Record Mart". She then decided that they needed to record some of these people, who, up to that point, didn't have access to being recorded, or being paid for their work, or getting well- known, so that they could earn a living by playing their music. They added a recording studio in the back of the store, naming their record company Trumpet Records. You'll see on Trumpet's listings of records, the numbers are sometimes preceded by DRC-. The recording studio itself, which was the parent company of Trumpet, was named Diamond Record (sometimes shown as Recording) Company, hence the DRC letters. There's a ton of trivia here, but I'm only going to use some of it. Lillian and Trumpet started the recording careers of many of the big names. One of those was Sonny Boy Williamson II. He'd been on the radio, at KFFA, in Helena Arkansas, since 1941, but no one had recorded him. She tracked him down, and got a contract signed to do so. His very first recording was "Eyesight To The Blind", the A-side, and "Crazy 'Bout You, Baby", on the B-side. They were numbered DRC-15 and DRC-16, respectively. The backing players were: Willie Love on piano, Joe Willie Wilkins on guitar, Elmo (Elmore) James, also on guitar, with Joe Dyson on drums. That was recorded on January 4, 1951, released on a 10", 78 rpm shellac record. Here's another kicker- it was re-recorded on March 12, 1951, with the same players, Sonny Boy, Love, Dyson, James, but minus Wilkins,but adding Henry Reed on double-bass (stand- up bass). The re-recordings were DRC-15-2 and DRC-16-2. Lillian was known to be more than honest in all her business affairs, which was not the case with quite a few of the larger labels. She's also the one who paid for Sonny Boy's headstone, in 1965, long after he had worked with her. His wife, Mattie, also worked at the store back then, for Lillian. Two of his songs, "Pontiac Blues" and "309", were in reference to Lillian's car, which she sometimes let him use, and the 309 song for the address of Trumpet. In the session of August 5, 1951, for Sonny Boy (same session at which he recorded the above listed Song Of The Month and Pontiac Blues), he convinced Elmo James to record a song. As a young man, new to the recording methods of the time, James was afraid of the microphone, but Lillian assured him it was just for practise purposes. She secretly recorded it, at least as some have said, and it made him so mad that he then refused to record any more songs for her, so, no B-side. That song was "Dust My Broom". She then took a song, recorded on July 24, 1951, vocal by Bobo Thomas, "Catfish Blues", and made it the A-side, with James's "Dust My Broom" as the B-side. On the record's label, both sides are credited to Elmo James, incorrectly. She did, after that disagreement, provide a signed copy of the contract for that session and what was going to be done during it, dated before the session actually happened. Anyhow, the A-side was DRC-52, the B-side DRC-53, both under catalogue #146. There were and are some great recordings by some who went on to become well-known from the exposure that those Trumpet recordings gave them. As I said, lots of trivia , on both Lillian and Willard, and what all went into Trumpet's greatness in the music world. I found an out of print book that I've ordered that goes deep into Trumpet's story, including Lillian's work putting it all together.
Some December Blues Passings:
- December 3rd.,1949-- Albert Clifton Ammons
- December 14th.,2006-- Earnestine Jermany, aka Tina Mayfield (Percy's widow)
- December 27th.,1969-- Lemoine "Lemon", "Papa Lemon" Nash, aka "Banjo Boy" (but he actually played a ukulele and kazoo !)
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