Just to let you know: The 2020 Blues Calendar with free cd is ordered and should be here around November 22nd.
Some November Blues Births:
- November 1st.,1975-- Hamilton Michael Loomis
- November 19th.,1970-- Mike Zito
- November 28th.,1946-- William Daniel McFalls, aka "Blues Boy Willie"
Answer to the October 2019 Blues Question: The blues artist we were looking for is/was Johnnie Mae Dunson (born Hudson), born March 29, 1921, near Bessemer, Alabama. At the age of two she contracted rheumatic fever, which left her in a weakened state. She spent most of the 4th. and 5th. grade years in bed. At the age of ten, doctors told her mother that she wouldn't make it to 14. Her mother gathered some of her friends from church at their house to pray for Johnnie Mae's health to get better, which it did. Her mother liked fresh spring water and often sent Johnnie Mae and her older sister to get some. To get some they carried a washtub with them. She'd beg her older sister to let her turn over the tub and beat on it with sticks, as she liked the sound and rhythm she could make. As she got older and stronger, she sang in the church choir. Some friends of her mother's from Chicago came to town to visit with her, and some relatives, who also lived in town. They attended church and heard Johnnie Mae and were so impressed with her that they urged her to come to Chicago to perform. She did so in 1943 and got an apartment on the West Side. To make money, she did hair in her kitchen, and performed, for pocket change at the famous Maxwell Street market area, which is where she met quite a few of the big-name Chicago blues performers, who also performed on Maxwell Street. There she would often sing to accompany on old drummer, Eddie "Pork Chop" Hines. She noticed, at one of their sessions, that he wasn't looking too healthy, and she asked for permission to play his drums. To that request, he replied "girl, you gonna' wreck my drums". After hearing and watching her play, he said "don't never stop playin' ". After that, she formed a trio, including Hines, to perform in clubs on the West Side. They became known as the Globetrotters, named after one of the clubs where they most often played-- the Globe Trotter Lounge. By then, she'd become well known and well liked enough that the blues locals often visited at her apartment, to talk about the blues, or get a bite to eat, or get her to help them write songs. If she was cooking gumbo or her pepper steak with gravy, it was a pretty safe bet that Willie Dixon would be there pretty soon. At some point in time, she married Andy Smith. They had a son in 1959, Jimi "Prime Time" Smith, who also became a bluesman, now living in Minneapolis. While he was growing up at home, he learned guitar from some of his mother’s visitors. The one who taught him the basics was Jimmy Reed. Then two other visitors taught/showed him how to develop his own style. Those two were Hubert Sumlin and Eddie "Playboy" Taylor. In the late '50's and early '60's Johnnie Mae was, besides performing, buying buildings, fixing them up, and selling them. According to Jimi, she wasn't afraid to swing a sledgehammer. One of the people in her "orbit" in the '60's was Charlie Musselwhite. Of her, he said that she could really belt out some gut-bucket blues, and she looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with, a sentiment echoed by Jimi. Charlie also said that she carried a ledger-type book, everywhere, with her, that listed all the songs she'd written. When she went somewhere, she would have bluesmen almost begging her to write a song for them. Sadly, that book and other items were lost in a house fire. It has been said that she wrote over 800 songs, a lot of them hits for others, like "Evil" for Muddy Waters, Going Upside Your Head", "Life Won't Last Me Long", and "If You Want It Done Right" for Jimmy Reed. She is also said to have written the original version of "Wang Dang Doodle", which is now credited as being written for KoKo Taylor, by Willie Dixon. She has received almost no credit for what she has written, but she has said that it doesn't matter, as it's all about the music. She quit the music scene in 1973 and wasn't heard from again until around 1983. Her husband, Andy, had a heart attack and passed away, at home, in 1991. She did her first and only album under her own name, in 2000 -- "Big Boss Lady", on the Bogfire label. And, yes, it was in answer to Jimmy Reed's song "Big Boss Man". In the early '70's she had become Jimmy's manager and helped him get off the alcohol. She passed away October 4, 2007, in Chicago, of complications from intestinal problems.
Blues Question for November 2019: This bluesman, primarily known as a sideman, sometimes played lead and did vocals. He performed with many of the best-known blues headliners and bands. He came from a town steeped in blues history. Any idea who this bluesman might be?
Blues Song and Artist for November 2019: The song is "Please Have Mercy On Me", and the artist is Little Richard (Penniman). I picked this one to illustrate, again, that the "founders" of rock and roll came out of the blues, as did rock and roll itself.
Blues Trivia for November 2019: This ties in with the Blue Question answer from earlier, as it references Johnnie Mae Dunson- Smith, Jimmy Reed, and Mary Lee "Mama" Reed (Davis). I had indicated that Johnnie Mae hadn't recorded under her own name, and, for the most part, that's true. However, in 1972, after she'd taken over managing Jimmy's career, she set up an in-studio recording date with the Magic Recording Co., for him. Out of that session came two 7" 45 rpm records, 1 song on each side, for a total of 4 songs. She wrote the songs, did the producing of the recordings, and did vocals on them. Jimmy did the lead vocals and played harmonica, along with Larry Nestor on piano, King Edward (possible last name Antoine?) on guitar, Nolan Struck on bass, and someone listed only as "Rico", on drums. Unknown at the time, these would prove to be Jimmy's last studio recordings. Most all his studio recordings had been done in earlier years on the Vee-Jay label, while his "live" recordings were on a wide variety of labels. It's also widely known that "Mama" Reed wrote many of his songs, and that sometimes she'd have to give him the lyrics, on stage, because he was so drunk that he couldn't remember them. You should also know that she did vocals on most of his hit records from 1959 through 1962. A couple of other small items on this: I found one article that showed that the 4 songs that Johnnie Mae and Jimmy recorded together were done by the Memphis Recording Service. That label was only alive late in '50, all of '51, and a short period of '52, when its name was changed to Sun Records. Possibly that writer meant Magic Recording, and slipped, as we all do sometimes, and wrote Memphis in error? Also, I have 1 of each of those original Magic 45's in my collection. I wanted them because of their rarity, but also because I don't find any of those 4 songs in any compilation of Jimmy's work or added to any of his albums. "Nuff said!
Some Blues Passings for November 2019:
- November 3rd.,2002-- Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegon
- November 17th.,1995-- Peter J. "Pete" Welding
- November 26th.,2006-- Robert Percell "H-Bomb" Ferguson
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