Some October Blues Births:
- October 3rd.,1921 -- "Blind" James (Jimmy, Jim) Brewer
- October 14th.,1907 -- Jewell "Babe" Stovall
- October 27th.,1930 -- Benny Turner, younger brother of Freddie (Freddy) King
Answer To The September 2024 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Alexander Donaldson "Papa" George Lightfoot, aka Little Papa Walter, born on March 2, 1924, in Natchez, Mississippi, to parents Andrew L. and Marie (nee; Donaldson) Lightfoot. As a boy, he taught himself to play the harmonica, and as he got a little older, up into the '40's,he worked outside the musicc field, in Natchez. In the late '40's he worked at the Project Bar, and other nearby bars and clubs. In '49 he recorded with the Gondoliers on the Peacock label in Houston, 2 tracks issued, 2 tracks unissued, and 2 tracks recorded under his own name shown as "withdrawn". In 1950 he recorded 2 tracks on the Sultan label of/ in Natchez. In '52 he recorded 5 tracks (1 unissued) on the Aladdin label in New Orleans. He recorded with Champion Jack Dupree, 4 tracks on the King records label on November 30,1953. Most sources show it being done in Cincinnati, Ohio, the home of King Records, but they were actually done in New York City, and were issued in '54. On April 17, 1954, he recorded 4 tracks on the Imperial label, in New Orleans. Some sources indicate that he recorded on the Aladdin label too, in '54, but I could find no listing for that. In around December of '54 he recorded 6 tracks on the Jiffy label, accompanied by Fred Dunn, in West Monroe, Louisiana. On February 22, 1955, he recorded 6 tracks on the Savoy label, with 2 being issued and 4 remaining un-issued. It has been shown, in some sources, that he recorded 2 tracks in Nashville, released on the Excello label, # 2086, under the name "Ole Sonny Boy", but listening to it, you'll know it isn't him. In '56 he appeared in the Jack Davis movie "Spooky Loot", but the current whereabouts of it are unknown. Throughout the '50's, he toured, as a sideman, in package shows with performers such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Fats Domino, and Dinah Washington. During this time, he also toured and performed with Smiley Lewis in Tennessee and Ohio. Also in the late '50's , he worked as a D.J. on a local Natchez radio show, and mostly outside the music field, and many remember him as an ice cream peddler. In 1969 Steve LaVere, a music historian and producer, tracked him down in Natchez, and talked him into recording his last album, on LaVere's Vault Records label, titled "Natchez Trace, # LP-130, released with 4 tracks per side. That recording was done at Malaco Sound Recording Studio in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 21,1969. It featured Papa Lightfoot on vocals and harmonica, Carson Whitsett on piano, Jerry Puckett on guitar, Don Barret (/Ron Johnson) on bass, and Tommy Tate on drums. In '94, ACE Records (UK) put out a c.d., # CDCHD 548, titled "Goin' Back to Natchez Trace". On it, the order of the original songs was changed, with 6 more tracks added to it. Those were from that same recording session as the original, and there are still 5 more tracks from that same session that have not been issued to date. In '70, he performed at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in Michigan. He was scheduled to do a series of tour dates in'71, but he entered the Natchez Charity Hospital where he passed away on November 28,1971, of respiratory and cardiac arrest. He was only 47 !! If you've never heard him, you'll be impressed with both his harp work and vocals.
Blues Question For October 2024: This bluesman is another old- timer who made many recordings in his career, but that's not where he made most of his money in life. A guitarist who favored open tuning and using a capo placed high, an unusual choice for the period and on an acoustic guitar. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For October 2024: The song is "Cotton Crop Blues", and the artist is James Cotton. It was recorded May 14, 1954, at Sun Records in Memphis. Artists on it were James Cotton on vocals, Mose Vinson on piano, Pat Hare on guitar , and John Bowers on drums. It was Sun Records # 206, BMI # U-120 (A side), with the flip side being "Hold Me In Your Arms", BMI # U-121 (B side). On that side Cotton does vocal and percussion.
Blues Trivia For October 2024: This is all from different places in this Blog, so here we go. The Natchez Charity Hospital, Adams County: construction was started in 1849, all documented in 1933, and photographed in 1936. It is now an Historic Site/ Building as recorded by The Library of Congress. On the web you can see 2 pictures of it, a front and rear shot. Prior to the civil war Natchez had the dubious distinction of being the largest slave buying and selling place in Mississippi, at Forks of The Road, the intersection of Liberty Road and Washington Road. It was second largest in the U.S., the only larger market was in New Orleans. Auburn "Pat" Hare, born in Cherry Valley, Arkansas, played on both songs on the James Cotton "Cotton Crop Blues" record. At the same studio, same day, but with different sidemen, Billy "Red" Love on piano and Israel Franklin on drums, Hare cut 3 tracks, doing the vocal and playing guitar. The first 2 were originally recorded by Peter Joe "Doctor"/ "Doc" Clayton on November 11, 1941. The third track was recorded on Sun # SP-104, issued as a single on a 45 R.P.M. record , titled "Bonus Pay" (Ain't gonna be that way). The first track was "I'm Gonna' Murder My Baby" (2:38), and the second track was "Cheating and Lying Blues" (3:11), an alternate take of the first track. These tracks were not issued until many years later, and then it was on compilations. An introvert when sober, he was married to Dorothy Mae Good, and had 2 daughters and 1 son, but he had a serious problem of/ with alcohol abuse, which, most likely, brought an end to that marriage. On all the recordings of his that I've listed, he used a Sears & Roebuck guitar amp, slightly larger than a cereal box, turned to the max volume, until the speaker screamed, which has been credited as the base of all heavy metal sounds to follow, and he did it with just his fingers with two down-strokes and amp, not with an "effects pedal" that are now used -- remember -- this was done 70 years ago !! The first 2 tracks on his own recording turned out to be a double morbid forecast, as in December of '63, Hare shot and killed his girlfriend, and then shot the policeman who came to investigate. He pled guilty to murder and spent his last 16 years of life in Stillwater Prison in Bayport (near St.Paul). In there he started a band "Sounds Incarcerated". While in prison, he developed lung cancer, from which he pessed away on September 26, 1980. He's buried at Stillwater's Fairview Cemetery in Bayport (near St.Paul).
Some October Blues Passings:
- October 6th.,2012 -- Nicholas Michael "Nick" Curran
- October 17th.,2010 -- Dennis Taylor
- October 23rd.,1998 -- Albert Washington
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