Some March Blues Births:
- March 3rd.,1945-- John Primer
- March 15th.,1947-- Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder
- March; 28th.,1950-- Dennis Brooks
Answer To The February 2020 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/ is Eddie Shaw, born March 20, 1937, in Stringtown, Mississippi. In his teens he played tenor sax with the local blues musicians. When he was 14, he played at/ on a jam session with none other than The Ike Turner Band, in Greenville. In '57 he had a gig in Itta Bena (remember that town's name and some of the great bluesmen to come from there?), where he was spotted, then approached by Muddy Waters, who invited him to play in his Chicago- based band. Once in Chicago he found that he was splitting the sax position in the band with A.C.Reed (real name Aaron Corthen, with Reed being the type of instrument). Shaw then left Muddy's band and went with Howlin Wolf's band in '72, which he would take over the running of, a position he held up to Wolf's death in '76. He would continue to run that band, The Wolf Gang for several years, until it disbanded. In '74 Eddie "inherited" a blues club at which he and Wolf and the band had performed frequently, at that time known as the 1815 Club, which was it's street address on W. Roosevelt Road, on the corner at S. Wood Street. In '70, the club's owner, at that time called the Alex Club, was stabbed to death on the dance floor, while trying to stop a knife fight between two women. Different family members ran it and re- named it the 1815 Club, though they really didn't want to be running it. That's how and why Eddie ended up with it. He then made the Wolf Gang the house band, and re- named it Eddie's Place. Since he was still running the band, which was always touring and performing all over the U.S. and abroad, he wasn't there to manage it, and it went downhill. He decided to close it in '80. As I stated in the Question, he re- opened it almost 10 years later, re- named again as The New 1815 Club, with a new partner, LeRoy Edwards. He sold it shortly thereafter, and it was re- sold several times over the years, until it was bought by a Baptist church in '94, and was named the Howard Chapel Community Church, with the Rev. James Brooks running it. Eddie Vaan Shaw Jr. joined the Wolf Gang, performing with his dad. At that time Vaan used a three- necked Fender guitar. He eventually replaced Hubert Sumlin as the guitarist in the band. His second, younger son, Stan, is a character actor of some note, who lives in Hollywood. Eddie passed away on January 29, 2018, in Chicago, of natural causes.
Blues Question For March 2020: This bluesman is the younger brother of a blues icon. When his older brother died, he quit performing for several years. When he did return, he was mostly performing as a sideman, which he did for years, before going out on his own. He did one album of his brother's songs, as a tribute. Any ideas on who this bluesman might be ?
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For March 2020: The song is "Ain't Got No Rabbit Dog", and the artist is "Smoky Babe" (Robert Brown), accompanied on harmonica by Clyde Causey, recorded in February of '60, in Scotlandville, Louisiana. Possibly, this was based on the song "Uncle Bud", a "rowdy blues" song recorded in '29, by Georgia Tom (Thomas A.Dorsey) and Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker), though neither is credited with writing it.
Blues Trivia For March 2020: You can count this entire section as a collection of trivia, all thrown into the pot. When I was trying to figure out which Smoky Babe song to put in this blog, I did some digging into his recordings history. Turns out, he was recorded at only two sessions, in '60 and '61, by Dr. Harry Oster, yes, the same one who did all the recordings of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola, prisoners. He specialized in field recordings of what he viewed as American folk musics of all types. He started a record company, Folk-Lyric, to gather and sell these recordings, using that income to go out and record more. As it turned out, he was assisted in Smoky's sessions by a young man interested in doing the same thing, born a count in his native Germany, one Christian Alexander Maria "Chris" Strachwitz. When he came to the U.S., he settled in California, but wanted to head to Louisiana to do some recording of locals in small towns. This came about after he had seen the 1934 movie "New Orleans". Chris started the Arhoolie Records company to do these releases, when he would get some recording done. The first album released under that label was one by Mance Lipscomb, which actually had been recorded/ released earlier by another young man by the name of Robert "Mack" McCormick, who would become a musicologist and folklorist of some note. He's the one who suggested the Arhoolie name to Chris, as it was a word used to describe the "field hollar", which is known as "call and response" music, used by field hands to have a cadence while working. It was also used by the prisoners on "chain gangs". Oster's recordings of the blues men and women were later released on the Arhoolie label. The balance of his recordings were of all different types of musics, including Cajun, country, and various other ethnic origins. His company was sold to/ merged with Folkways. Another note: Mack McCormick quit high school to work in the Cedar Point ballroom, taking care of the needs of the musicians. This section of the blog was put together to illustrate how many different things fall into place or come into being, as a result of chance, luck, and sometimes planning and hard work. Hope it gives some food for thought.
Some Blues Passings For March 2020:
- March 2nd.,2008-- Norman Jeffery "Jeff" Healey
- March 18th.,1991-- Narvel Eatmon, aka Cadillac Baby
- March 22nd.,2008-- Reg Isidore
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