Some June Blues Births:
- June 3rd.,1916-- Edwin Goodwin "Buster" Pickens
- June 15th.,1938-- Aron Burton
- June 28th.,1947-- Spurling Banks
Answer To The May 2019 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Auburn "Pat" Hare, born December 20,1930, in Cherry Valley, Arkansas. As with many blues performers of the early '50's, there is conflicting information. He is shown as joining "Little Junior" Parker and his Blue Flames' band in 1951, with whom he made his first recordings, on the Duke label with Parker, in December of 1953. The band’s name was listed as Little Junior Parker with Bill Johnson's Blue Flames. I also found that his first recording is shown to be in February of 1952, as a sideman, with "Walter Bradford and the Big City Four", at Sun Records, #176, but a copy of that has never been found, which begs the question, was it ever released? He also did some recordings with Rosco Gordon, on the Duke label, in 1952. In the May 2019 Blog I indicated that he (Hare) made a recording (as a sideman) that is considered to be the main influence to hard rock and heavy metal guitarists. That song would be "Cotton Crop Blues", with James Cotton doing the vocal, Mose Vinson on piano, John Bowers on drums, and Hare on guitar. That was on Sun Records, #206, recorded May 14,1954, in Memphis. In a session later that day he recorded 3 songs; the only ones ever done in his own name. They featured him on vocals and guitar, with Billy "Red" Love on piano, and Israel Franklin on drums. Those were unissued at that time, and I'll get to them shortly. All the rest of his recordings were as a session player or sideman with the fore-mentioned Parker, Gordon, and Cotton, but also with Bobby Blue Bland, Howlin' Wolf, Big Mama Thornton, Big Memphis Ma Rainey (Ma Rainey #2, born Lillie Mae Hardison or Harrison), among others. Now, about those 3 under his own name. The "B" side was "Bonus Pay"(Ain't Gonna Be That Way). The "A" side was 2 different versions of "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby", with the second version titled the same, but also tagged with "Cheating and Lying Blues", which was the title of the original, recorded by Dr. Clayton on November 11,1941. In Hare's case it proved to be prophetic. From '54 to '56 Pat lived in Houston (home of Duke/Peacock records), where he recorded with Gordon and Bland, while playing full-time with Bland at gigs. Bland fired him for legal problems Pat was having (supposedly he was in jail). Then Pat got a call from Cotton, asking him to come to Chicago, to play in the Muddy Waters band. He accepted the offer, but before moving there, he situated his wife, Dorothy Mae, and their 3 children in Cleveland. Once in Chicago, he performed and recorded with Cotton, in Muddy's band. The recordings were on the Chess label, but, unfortunately, Pat didn't get along with Leonard Chess. Consequently, when Leonard would do the mix on Hare's playing in the band, he would move Pat's sound to the rear, while bringing another player's sound to the front. Some records indicate that Muddy fired him, because of Pat's drinking, which rendered him hard to control, and sometimes, unable to play. Anyhow, on Sunday, December 15,1963, Pat had been drinking and was in heated arguments with his then girlfriend, Agnes "Aggie" Winje, 49, at their apartment (Pat was 32 at that time). When shots were heard fired for the second time that day by a neighbor’s girlfriend, she called police to investigate. Officers James E. Hendricks and Chester Langaard responded from a couple blocks away. Once on scene, Hendricks, who was a few steps ahead of his partner, went through the doorway first, and was heard by his partner to say "Give me the gun", right before 3 shots were heard. Langaard went through the doorway and saw Pat standing over his partner, with a gun in his hand. Langaard shot Pat twice, then called for ambulances. The first one took his partner to the hospital, where he was pronounced D O A. The second ambulance took Aggie, who'd been shot twice, and Pat to the hospital. She died on January 22, 1964. Hare was then charged with 2 counts of murder, among other charges. The case went to court on February 19,1964. The trial lasted one day, and he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, was immediately bound over to Stillwater State Prison, in Bayport, near St. Paul, Minnesota. While there, Pat started a band, "Sounds Incarcerated". He passed away September 26,1980, of lung cancer.
Blues Question For June 2019: This blueswoman came from a musical family. She learned to play guitar by the age of 8. At 15, she was playing bass professionally, then switched to guitar. Any idea who this blueswoman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For June 2019: The song is "Take A Look Behind", and the artist is Otis Rush. Recorded in 1971, for Capitol, never released. Otis bought the masters from them and had it released in 1976, on P-Vine, out of Japan. After that, it was released on the Bullfrog label, in the U.S. The title of the album was/is "Right Place, Wrong Time", and is one of his best recordings. It's still available.
Blues Trivia For June 2019: Since the Blues Question answer was so long, I'm going to try to keep this shorter than usual. This ties into that answer, though. When I started researching Hare, I ran into the same thing that I've seen on so many other bluesmen: when looking at bio's of these people, 4,6,8 or however many you run across, all from different people and sources, you'll find that a lot of them are exactly the same. Word for word, sentence for sentence, etc., exactly the same, with some of these people claiming to be the author of said bio. To that I say, I think not! On the info I gathered on Hare, that answer would be 5 times+ longer to document him more accurately. His guitar work on Cotton's 1954 "Cotton Crop Blues" is the first recording of intentionally distorted guitar, using power chords. Yes, others used it during live performances-- I'm talking about recorded. Also, Hare's guitar work on Junior Parker's 1953 recording "Love My Baby", is credited with being one of the big influences on rockabilly guitar. If you talk to or listen to interviews with today's rock or heavy metal guitarists, you'll hear them credit their influence being the first recording of distorted power chord playing, the instrumental "Rumble", by Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray. Not so fast, boys and girls, as that was done in 1958. That recording has been used in movies, on television, and in documentaries, such as The Sopranos, Pulp Fiction, Independence Day, and The Warriors. It's currently being used in Jack Daniels commercials. It's the only instrumental ever banned on radio airplay, in New York and Boston, as "rumble" was a slang term for a gang fight. It was thought that it might glorify juvenile delinquency. Incidentally, Link Wray was of Shawnee Native American descent. Once again, it came from the blues first!!
Some June Blues Passings:
- June 3rd.,2009-- Cora Walton, aka KoKo Taylor
- June 14th.,1995-- William Rory Gallagher
- June 22nd.,2013-- "Little" Willie Littlefield
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