Some Blues Births:
- September 4th.,1930-- "Bowling Green" John Cephas
- September 16th.,1931-- "Little" Willie Littelfield
- September 30th.,1925-- Arzell J. Hill, aka Z.Z. Hill (think "Down Home Blues")
Answer To The August 2020 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Henry Stuckey, most well-known birth date is April 11, 1897, and there's the first problem. Different sources list several alternative dates, such as December 12, 1896, March of 1898, and April 11, 1898, but at least they're consistent in showing the place as Bentonia, Mississippi. In 1905, he was taught some chords on the guitar by an older local bluesman, Rich Dickson (or Dixon ?) He was in the military in France in 1917, where he heard a different sound from the guitars of some Black soldiers. They claimed to be from the Caribbean, and used a completely different tuning on their guitars, which they taught him. Upon his discharge, Henry returned to Bentonia, where he, for about the next 6 years, up to c1924, would use that new tuning when playing dances and suppers. During that period there was a young man who attended those gatherings, to watch and listen and to learn from Henry's performing. That young man was Nehemiah "Skippy"/"Skip" James. After they finally met, Henry began to teach Skip, and from that point, they travelled and performed together, up to c1930. Some believed them to be brothers. They played house parties, jukes, and barrelhouses, from Bentonia to Yazoo City, and on down to Jackson. In Jackson, they met and performed with Johnnie "Geechie" Temple. During that travelling time, one of the songs that Henry wrote and that they performed was titled by him as "Devil's Dream". Skip would re- title it as "Devil Got My Woman" when he recorded it in his recording sessions for Paramount, in 1931. It would become James' signature song, the one that is recognized to be the one that made him famous. When Skip returned to Bentonia, disillusioned with the music business, quit that business, and moved to Texas, to become a minister. Henry sold his barrelhouse and moved to Morgan City, where he worked on a plantation, but still performed with local musicians. In '35, Henry moved back to Bentonia, only to find that Skip had returned and was preaching locally. It didn't take long for the pair to get back together and start playing blues again. During the '30's, they performed at a local barrelhouse, now known as the Blue Front Cafe, which is on the "Historic Blues Places Trail of today, with others, such as Cornelius Bright, Rich Griffith, Jack Owens, and the current owner, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, who actually learned guitar from Stuckey. Out of all that, the unrecorded Henry Stuckey, is considered to be the "father of Bentonia blues". Holmes, right now, is considered to be the "last of the Bentonia bluesmen". There was a period when Stuckey played in a local band in Omaha, Nebraska. When he filed for social security in '52, he listed his residence as being in North Platte. I'm not aware of much more info on his time in Nebraska, but it's still being hunted. In Henry's later years, he was living in abject poverty, with a granddaughter, in Satartia, not far from Bentonia. He entered the V.A. hospital in Jackson, where he died of cancer, on March 9, 1966.
Blues Question For September 2020: This bluesman recorded 27 songs that were released, with possibly a few more unreleased. Those recordings were done over a two year period, and on several different labels, and he was only 30 when he died. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) for September 2020: The song is "(You'll Never Find Anyone) To Be a Slave Like Me", and the artist is "T-Bone" Walker. Others on this are Willard Burton on piano, Johnny Copeland on rhythm guitar, Jimmy Jones on bass, with an unknown drummer. I found it listed as first being recorded on the "Wet Soul" label album, #WS-1002, done in 1967. Then I found other listings saying that that date was incorrect, and that it was recorded in 1970 or '71, in Pasadena, Texas. I have an original LP on the way, to hopefully get the correct info on players and date.
Blues Trivia For September 2020: Aaron Thibeaux Walker, had his middle name shortened to a pet name by his mother-- T-Bone. This is the bluesman who gave us "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday's Just As Bad), back in 1949. It has since been covered by just about every blues bar band in history. One of the best versions I've heard was by Cleveland's own P.C. Williams, a bass player with a perfect voice for this song. Like T-Bone, another player who started when young, really didn't get good at the blues, until he made his "deal with the devil"-- Robert Johnson. T-Bone also started early and learned most stringed instruments, plus piano and organ. BUT, his true early start was at age 10, when he was "lead-boy" for Blind Lemon Jefferson, up and down Central Ave., in Dallas, Texas. T-Bone would later be billed as "the Daddy of the Blues", because he was one of the first to play electric guitar, in the '30's.
Some Blues Passings:
- September 3rd., 2003-- Charlie Caldwell
- September 11th., 2004-- Cosimo Vincent Matassa
- September 26th., 1980-- Auburn "Pat" Hare
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