Some March Blues Births:
- March 5 th.,1933-- "Tee" Tommy Tucker (remember his only #1 hit Hi-Heel Sneakers??)
- March 16th.,1931-- Ernest Lane
- March 27th.,1932-- Herman "Little Junior" Parker
Answer to the February 2016 Blues Question: the bluesman we were looking for is/was Willie Love, born November 4th.,1906, in Duncan, Mississippi. As I stated in the question, he was raised on a farm, where he continued to live for almost thirty years. In the mid- 1930's he left home to hobo through the areas around Belzoni, Drew, Tunica and Clarksdale, working in juke joints and barrelhouses. His career from 1938 to 1953 is a little hard to track correctly, but I'll do the best I can. From 1938 to 1940 he toured with the Barber Parker Silver Kings Band. Also in the late 30's he worked with Pinetop Perkins, Doc Ross and sometimes by himself in juke joints, gambling joints and clubs in the Greenville and Indianola areas. He often performed on King Biscuit Time on KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas from 1942 to roughly 1946. He also performed with the King Biscuit Time Boys in jukes and on streets in the area. In the mid 40's he formed his own group, Willie Love and the Three Aces and toured/played from the Tunica/Greenville area to Memphis, Tennessee and through the Delta area. He appeared on WGVM radio in Greenville in 1948-49 with Elmore James. In 1949-50 he toured with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Nix and Joe Willie Wilkins as the "Four Aces". Love appeared on KWEM radio, in West Memphis, Arkansas, with Sonny Boy on the Hadacol Show and also on his own show, The Broadway Furniture Store Show. (Check ot the song "Drinkin Hadacol" by Little Willie Littlefield) He often worked outside the music field from 1949 into the 50's. His first recordings were in January of 1951 as the piano player on Sonny Boy's recordings on Lillian McMurray's Trumpet Records label in Jackson, Mississippi. (Sonny Boy's "Pontiac Blues" was written about Lillian's car) Love also recorded under his own group's name- Willie Love and the Three Aces in December of '51, also on the Trumpet label. A couple of things about "the Three Aces": this group did several recording sessions with Trumpet and, depending on the person who was running a particular session, their Three was written out or just shown as 3, and, secondly, there were 14 different people in that group at different times, on different recordings. The recordings were all done with a mixture of three sidemen. In 1952 Love performed in Detroit, Michigan, with Baby Boy Warren. Also in '52 and into'53, he toured with Sonny Boy, working juke joints in Louisiana and Texas. His last recordings were done on April 14th.,1953, on the Trumpet label, with Sonny Boy, in Houston, Texas. He passed away on August 19th.,1953, in Jackson, Mississippi, of bronchopneumonia. He was an influence to Clayton Love, also a piano player. Willie's brothers, Jasper and Eddie, were also musicians. Andrew Love, not known to be a relative, was a saxophone player who was a session player at Stax Records. Andrew went on to join The Memphis Horns.
Blues Question for March 2016: this bluesman studied classical violin, as a youth, for ten years, then went on to learn guitar, harmonica and piano. Both of his parents were entertainers. He formed his first band at the age of 18. He eventually went on to partner with another individual who also played guitar and piano. This duo wrote and recorded many songs together, but never had a hit record of their own. A number of their songs were recorded by others who did have hits with them. Throughout his/their career, they both performed/toured with some of the biggest names in the music field. Any idea who this bluesman is/was ??
Blues Trivia for March 2016: there are many, many songs in different genres of music, including blues, that have been "borrowed", outright stolen and/or copied by other artists. It's probably happened in blues more than any other field, as many of the early blues artists were illiterate. It even happened to some of the brightest, most well-educated in the field, such as W.C. Handy. Some of the early players couldn't read or write. "Trust me, just make your mark on this line and we’ll have a contract, and I'll take care of everything" was probably heard many times in the early days. By the same token, however, the performers were not always "above board" in their dealings, either. Take the song "I've Got My Mojo Working". If you've been listening to the blues for any length of time and you hear that song, you'd probably think that's a Muddy Waters song. Many moons ago I thought the same thing. As it turns out, we're both wrong, as it was first recorded by Ann Cole and the Suburbans on the Baton label of Sol Rabinowitz, in April of 1956. Muddy recorded his version on December 1st., 1956. Muddy's was the first one released, by Chess Records. Ann's was released in 1957. At that point litigation was started and the court eventually ruled in Ann's favor. The song was actually written by Preston Foster. He was, as of 1998, still receiving the royalties on that song. By the way, it has since been covered/recorded by well over a hundred individuals and/or bands/groups. Never assume, the next time you hear a "blues standard" by a well-known artist, that you are hearing the original. Check it out for yourself-- you might be surprised!!
Some March Blues Passings:
- March 4th.,2010-- Bobby Alexis
- March 16th.,1976-- Arthur Neal Gunter
- March 28th.,2012-- Jerry "Boogie" McCain
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