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Some January Blues Births:
- January 1st.,1896-- "Mama" Estelle Yancey
- January 15th.,1941-- Captain Beefheart, born Don Vliet, aka Don Van Vliet
- January 31st.,1953-- Big Time Sarah, born Sarah Streeter
Answer to the December 2018 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Bumble Bee Slim, born Admiral Amos Easton, aka Amos/Shelley Armstrong, on May 7th.,1905, in Brunswick, Georgia, one of 6 children. In his youth he worked as a barber. In 1920 he left home to work in the travelling circus of Ringling Brothers. Interested in music early, he then hoboed across the U.S., singing and playing guitar in the streets, at parties, in juke joints, at fish fries, and in parks. He returned to Georgia around 1926 and was briefly married. In 1928 he travelled, on a freight train, to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked in the local juke joints. He lived there until about 1930, when he relocated to Chicago and worked in clubs and juke joints and at parties. While living in Chicago he often toured from Michigan to California. In 1931 he made his first recordings for Paramount Records, in Grafton, Wisconsin. In 1932 he recorded "B & O Blues", which was a hit for Vocalion Records. From 1932 through 1936 he recorded over 150 songs, spread between the Decca, Vocalion, and Bluebird labels. Almost all his recordings are vocals, with backing by others, such as Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker), Memphis Minnie (Lizzie Douglas), Peetie Wheatstraw (William Bunch), and Washboard Sam (Robert Brown), as Slim was not a great guitarist. In 1937 he moved back to Georgia. In the early 1940's he moved to Los Angeles, where he hoped to get into the movies as a songwriter or a comedian. In the period between 1951 and 1962, he recorded on the Fidelity, Marigold, Specialty, and Pacific Jazz labels, none of which met with much success. From 1962 on, he worked mostly outside the music field, but did continue to perform in local Los Angeles clubs until his passing on June 8,1968.
Blues Question for January 2019: This bluesman was a guitarist, born in Mississippi. As far as I can tell, he only recorded once as the lead performer, but recorded many times as a sideman to many of the big names in the blues of his era, both in Memphis and Chicago. He is sometimes credited with creating the guitar sound at the beginning of rock and roll. Any idea who this bluesman might be??
Blues Song(s) and Artist(s) for January 2019: The song is "My Starter Won't Work" and the artist is Lightnin' Slim (Otis Verries Hicks). This was done on the Excello label #1452, on June 2, 1958, by one of the best of the swamp blues players. He did the vocal and played guitar, with Lazy Lester on harp, Guitar Gable, also on guitar, an unknown bassist, and possibly Roosevelt Samples on drums. I thought this song fitting for our normal January weather and its' usual causing of vehicle failures.
Blues Trivia for January 2019: In the August 2018 Blog, I started with a Blues Tidbit, listing Lazy Lester being featured in a Geico Insurance ad. As you should know, the Blog is written in the prior month, in this case, July. By that time, that ad had been running for some time. I must add a little more info on Lester. In his early years he worked outside the music field as a gas station attendant, a woodcutter, and in a grocery store. He was interested in music then and learned to play the harmonica, the guitar and drums. He was lucky enough to find a seat on a bus ride next to Lightnin' Slim, who was headed to the Excello recording studio for his first recording session. The harp player who was supposed to play on that session was a "no show", and Slim and Lester spent the afternoon hunting for him. Not finding him, Lester told Slim that he could play harp. Jay Miller, the producer for Excello, was so impressed by Lester’s' abilities on those recordings with Slim, that he decided to record Lester as a solo performer and to also use him as a session player on harp, guitar, or drums on others', such as Slim Harpo, Katie Webster, and Silas Hogan's recordings. Lester’s' solo recordings were of songs he himself wrote, but they were credited to Miller or Lester & Miller. Here's the trivia part: Lester’s' style was a combination of country, Cajun, and blues (country was his favorite). Knowing that, a session drummer suggested to Miller that he should let Lester record some country songs, to which Miller wouldn't agree and stated to the drummer why __"But look, he's colored". According to Lester, stated in a later interview, "Man, that was the hurtingest thing in the world". Lester also said in that interview that because of the statement by Miller and the fact that he received almost no royalties from Excello, he quit the music business, for about twenty years. Shortly after quitting he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where he lived with Slim Harpo's sister. While there he worked outside the music field, in construction building roads, driving a truck, and as a lumberjack. When he did get back into performing, he moved to California. When he made that Geico ad he was living in Paradise, California, with his girlfriend, Pike Kaksonen. Sadly, I must report that he passed away on August 22, 2018, of cancer, which was the same month of the Blog in which I had listed him.
Some January Blues Passings:
- January 1st.,1984-- Alexis Korner, born Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner
- January 13th.,2013-- Precious Bryant
- January 29th.,1976-- Jesse "Lonecat" Fuller, inventor of the fotdella.
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