Some January Blues Births:
- January 4th.,1948 -- Charles "Charlie" Sayles
- January 14th.,1957 -- Stephen "Steve" Jordan
- January 29th.,1923 -- Eddie "Playboy" Taylor
Answer To The December 2024 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/ is J.D. Short (aka JayDee Short, Jelly Jaw Short, Neckbones, Spider Carter, Ell-Zee Floyd, Joe C Stone (or Stoat), and R.T Hanen) most probably born on a farm near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on December 26,1902, as his parents were migrant farm workers , and farmed in the Hollandale/ Shoals area of the Delta. His father, Preston, was a guitarist. JD was raised and worked on a farm in the Clarksdale area, from 1912 to 1923, learning guitar and piano, playing local house parties and suppers from 1919 into 1923 in the Delta area, until he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1923. There, he worked mostly outside the music business, but on occaision, did gigs and streetwork with Neckbones, Henry Spaulding, and sometimes with either of his cousins, Big Joe Williams, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, up into the '30's. He made his first recordings for Paramount in '30, and some for Vocalion in '32. During those years he also learned to play the harmonica, saxaphone, clarinet, cymbals, and drums. He played these when working with different bands, as a sideman, on whatever instrument was needed. He did this with the Douglas Williams Band in East St. Louis, playing clarinet and/ or sax, from the mid- '30's. I believe JD had some sort of automobile accident, and the injury involved is what ended his ability to play a horn-type instrument. In '37 and '38 he worked with cousin Honeyboy Edwards in local clubs and house parties in St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Army, as a private in the Medical Corp. in '42 and '43. He was given a medical discharge, and then returned to St. Louis, where he worked mostly outside the music field, through the '40's and '50's. He did do some performing with cousin Big Joe Williams in hillbilly bars in St. Louis in the late '50's. One source has him married , first to Pearl, then to Lola Belle. JD himself, died of a heart attack on October 21, 1962, in St. Louis, arriving at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital, D.O.A. . He's buried in the Jefferson Barracks Cemetery, in St. Louis. Also buried there is his wife, Pearl. Her stone shows a December 25,1903 birth date, with a death date of July 12, 1966, a little over three years after JD, of heat exhaustion as shown on her death certificate, which also shows her birth date as July 10, 1910. An item that popped up in Henry Townsend's biography, happened in the '30's. Henry was well known, with a large following in St. Louis, and he said in that bio that JD was playing the same areas, and was jealous of Henry's standing, which led to JD's stabbing Henry twice at a gig. Henry retaliated by shooting JD in the genitals, destroying his testicles. I thought it would be interesting to read that account, which was published in the Guardian, a daily newspaper out of Manchester England, founded in 1821, and brought to the U.S. in the '50's. I'll cover more on all of this in the Trivia section, cause there's lots of it.
Blues Question For January 2025: This bluesman is another one that no one's familiar with, but he was a prominent player with J.D. Miller's recordings in Crowley, Louisiana. Unfortunately, Miller's record- keeping was horrible, and there are many "unknown's" he recorded. As far as I can tell, this player only recorded four songs under his own name, but he was the "go- to" player on many other artist's recordings, people such as B.B.King, Jimmy Reed (Reed used to stay at his house when he was in town to record), Clifton Chenier, and many others. Don't waste your time trying to figure out who this is, as you'll never get it. It took one man, a dedicated hound for finding the whole story, several years to put the history of this one together -- just enjoy when revealed !!
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For January 2025: I'm going to list for you how to find it, as I don't think this was ever put on a record, but done live, some time in the '50's. I used google, so I'll give you that way. Type in youtube, then enter this title "Willie Mea's Blues", then enter Big Mama Thornton, and hit search. That should give you, toward the bottom of the screen three titles, then pick the title I gave you. When you listen to this, remember that this woman also wrote "Ball and Chain", and, of course, the big one that was stolen from her by two under age persons, per the court, "Hound Dog". Enjoy Willie Mae's Blues, as it is the real thing, blues as it should be !!
Blues Trivia For January 2025: If you look at the November Blog, you'll see that the featured artist, Clifford "Granddaddy" Gibson was taken to the same hospital as JD, but donated his body to the med school for study, and is buried in the school's cemetery, where JD was buried in the Jefferson Barracks Cemetery, and that cemetery has a couple of other musicians buried there. One would be Henry James Townsend, JD's nemesis, and the other one has a song written to honor him, song being "Johnny B Goode", written by Chuck Berry for his Rock & Roll piano player, Johnnie Johnson. In 1988, found in the Guardian's newspaper's library storage building, were 700 zinc storage containers, dated from 1930 to 1967. Those containers were built by the newspaper's plumber. They opened the first one, found that the special archival edition was in perfect, pristine condition, and sealed it back up, then put them all in their new storage building. No way now to read Townsend's bio. Port Gibson is actually land locked, and is not on the Mississippi river's banks. In his Vicksburg battles, when he got to Port Gibson, General Ulysses S. Grant was quoted as saying that "this town is too pretty to burn", and made it a temporary headquarters. That's why you can still go see that the town has been well preserved.
Some January Blues Passings:
- January 5th.,2010 -- Laurence Willie Mitchell
- January 16th.,1973 -- Clara Mae Ward
- January 28th.,2007 -- Chico Chisum
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