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Joe's Blues Blog October 2019

9/29/2019

1 Comment

 
First, an apology: On the Blues Passings section for August and September. In the August Blog when I listed the first person, I listed the correct date, but the wrong name. Thankfully, that whole first line was omitted. In the September Blog I missed all three listings. I'll keep trying to improve!

Some Blues Births for October:
  • October 3rd.,1951-- William Earl "Billy" Branch
  • October 14th.,1895-- Edna Hicks, aka Mae Alix, Lila Vivian
  • October 27th.,1949-- Clifford Antone

Answer to The September 2019 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/ is Sonny Boy Williamson III. In some records he is shown to have been born as Jeffery "Jeff" Williamson, which has been determined to be incorrect. According to the birth certificate for his son, Charles E. Johnson, his listed name as the father is shown to be Edward William Johnson. This info was found by researchers/ writers Bob Eagle and Alan Balfour. It is also shown in some sources he was known as Sonny "Golden Boy" Williamson. A little note on that one in just a bit. He arrived in Shreveport, coming from New Orleans, Louisiana, wanting to make a record. In the 'phone book, he found a listing for Mira Ann Smith's R A M Records (Royal Audio Music). He called and made arrangements with Mira for an interview and possible recording session. When he got there, he was met by Margaret Lewis, a singer, recording artist, and song writer, who was working with Mira. Lewis would later say of that meeting, that "he was a tall, slim man, who had a Little Richard style pompadour, dyed gold". He was accompanied by his own guitarist/ drummer, a James Moore, from Birmingham, Alabama (no, not James "Slim Harpo" Moore). He was quoted as saying to Lewis that "in New Orleans they call me the Golden Boy". He recorded 4 songs, 2 of which were released, while 2 were not. Yes, he was a harp player. Sometime after that, he moved to East Texas, where he signed with Don Robey's Buffalo Bookings Agency, better known as the owner of Duke and Peacock record labels. It's rumored that this Sonny Boy died sometime between 1964 and 1968, in Houston, after being hospitalized due to an automobile accident. The actual places and dates of both his birth and death, all remain, at this time, unknown. You can hear his 2 released recordings on YouTube, or all 4 on Spotify. On all compilation discs I've seen, only one song comes up: "Mailman, Mailman". There is 1 cd, "Red River Blues: Shreveport Blues from R A M Records", on Ace Records U.K., #CDCHD 725, that has all 4 of his recordings, along with several really obscure artists and labels. It was released in 1999, and now, is out of print. If you can find one, expect to pay a "Collector's Price" for it.

Blues Question for October 2019: This blues artist is another in the barely known group, but certainly should be better-known. After writing hit songs for most all of Chicago's bluesmen, and knowing all of them, and being the most knowledgeable person about the history of Maxwell Street -- well, maybe at sometime, will be recognized. Any idea who this person might be??

Blues Song And Artist(s) for October 2019: The song is "Black Cat Bone", and the artist is Johnny Copeland. This is off the "Showdown!" album, on Alligator Records, featuring Albert Collins and Robert Cray as the other headliners, with Danny Gayden on bass, Allen Batts on organ, and Casey Jones on drums. Picked this one because Halloween is coming, and it fits. If you listen closely, at the beginning of the song, you'll hear Johnny and Albert referring to Harding "Poppa Hop" Wilson, who, along with Ivory Lee Simien, aka "King Ivory Lee", wrote and recorded the original of this song, with the title being "My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone", with Wilson on lap steel and vocal and Simien on drums. There is some debate on the vocals on the original ACA recordings, from which the Poppa Hop version was taken, as poor notes on the masters didn't show that other vocalists at/on this session were none other than Fenton Robinson and/or Larry Davis. The Alligator album, since it's 1985 release, has sold more than 285,000 copies, and has been remastered, with 1 song added, in 2011.

Blues Trivia For October 2019: This ties in with the aforementioned cd "Red River Blues". RAM Records appears to be the featured label, but, if you look closely, you'll see that the included labels of K, Jo, Clif, Speed, and Red River are there too. They were all tied to Mira Smith's RAM Records label. Think about this: she was one of the first women to own a recording company, which was difficult in the male dominated music business of that time. Anyhow, I don't know where the Jo name came from, but the K Records was in recognition of her sister, Katherine. Clif Hagin, a songwriter, teamed up with Mira, and the Clif Records subsidiary of R A M came to be. Speed Records, owned by Oscar Wills, aka T.-V. Slim, also became a subsidiary. There are 5 tracks on the Red River Records label, performed by Jesse "Baby Face" Thomas, who also owned that label. It wasn't a subsidiary of R A M, but rather, another Shreveport bluesman. A couple of other notes here: the recordings on this disc, from Speed Records, featured T.-V. Slim on vocals, Eddie Williams on piano, Jimmy White on drums, and Joe Young on guitars. Young would later move to Chicago, where he went on to be one of the best -- he was then known as "Mighty" Joe Young. Also on this cd are several other artists who recorded for these labels, but obviously didn't own them There were a lot of reasons for the "subsidiary" thing, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Some October Blues Passings:
  • October 1st.,2005-- Paul J. Pena
  • October 18th.,2009== Freddi Robinson, later known as Abu Talib
  • October 25th.,2016-- Robert "Bob" Lowery
1 Comment
mira james
12/4/2019 05:46:09 am

My name is Mira i want to testify about the great spell caster called Dr ojoka, my husband and i have been married for 5 years now we don't have a child and the doctor told us i can't give birth because my womb have been damaged due to wrong drugs prescription this got me so worried and my husband was not happy so he decided to get married to another girl and divorce me i was so sad i told my friend about it she told me about a powerful spell caster she gave me his email address well i never believe in it that much though i just decided to give him a try and he told me it will take 24hrs to get my husband back to me and i will get pregnant i doubted him the 3rd day my husband came back to me and was crying he said he didn't want the divorce anymore 3 weeks after the doctor confirmed that i was pregnant he can also help you contact him at
drojokaspelltemple@gmail .com or WhatsApp +2348144172934  

Reply



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    Joe Vassel

    Proprietor of The Sound of Blue record shop in Kent, Ohio. 

    You are probably familiar with the current crop of blues performers, so the next time you’re at a performance or listening to some sort of broadcast of them, you should wonder and find out what “old-timer” they were/ are influenced by!         


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