Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series - Eddie James Son House

Eddie James “Son” House, Jr. was born in Riverton, Mississippi on March 21, 1902, the middle of three brothers. Around 1909 his parents separated and his mother and the three boys moved to Tallulah, Louisiana. House picked cotton as a teenager and by the age of 15 was preaching sermons in the Baptist Church. By the time he was 20, he was the pastor of a small country church south of Lyon. He left the church to follow a woman (10 years his senior) with whom he had been having an affair.

House was a self-taught guitarist who furthered his ability with the help of a little known local musician named James McCoy. He was inspired by the slide guitar work of Willie Wilson. He developed quickly as a guitarist and within a year was playing with Delta musician Rube Lacy.

In 1928 during a party House shot and killed a man, claiming self-defense, after the man shot him in the leg. He was sentenced to 15 years at Parchman Farm Prison but was released after just 2 years when a Clarksdale judge re-examined the case. The judge advised him to leave the area and he moved to Lula where he met bluesman Charley Patton. In 1930 Patton, House, Willie Brown (guitarist) and Louise Johnson (pianist) gathered in Grafton, Wisconsin for a recording session with Paramount Records.

House continued playing solo and with Brown and Patton (died in 1934) during the thirties. After moving to Robinsonville, Mississippi, he met a young Robert Johnson. After Johnson learned to play the guitar, he began playing with House and Brown, picking up some of their styles. In 1941 House, Brown, Joe Martin, and Leroy Williams were recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. House did not make another commercial record until the “blues revival of the 1960s.

In 1943, House moved to Rochester, New York and worked for the New York Central Railroad. He worked outside of music for sixteen years. In the early and mid 1960s he started playing again. That led to touring and more recording. Among the artists who were influenced by him were Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, and Robert Nighthawk.

From the early 1970s, House was plagued by ill health. His playing became infrequent and then stopped all together in 1974. He moved to Detroit, Michigan and lived out the rest of his life. Son House died on October 19, 1988 from cancer of the larynx. He was buried at the Mt. Hazel Cemetery and members of the Detroit Blues Society held benefit concerts to raise money to put a fitting monument on his grave.

Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series - Robert Johnson

Robert Leroy Johnson was among the most famous of the Mississippi Delta blues musicians. He was born on May 8, 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi to Julia Major Dodds and Noah Johnson. Because they were not married he had his mother’s name, Dodds. His stepfather changed his name to match his, and he used Spencer until his late adolescence when he took the name of his birth father, even though he had never met him. He spent much of his early life in the northern delta region while his parents lived and worked on plantations and then lived in levee camps during construction of the levees.

The family spent four years in Memphis and at the age of seven his stepfather sent him to the Abbay and Leatherman Plantation near Robinsonville, Mississippi. There he learned how to play the Jew’s harp and the harmonica and started hanging around the older blues musicians. Johnson occasionally played with Willie Brown and his partner Charlie Patton. In 1930 Son House was released from Parchman Farm Prison where he served time for killing a man that he claimed was self defense. Johnson was so impressed by House’s guitar playing that he gave up his harmonica and took up the guitar.

He returned to Hazelhurst, married and kept practicing his guitar and learning new songs. He started imitating Ike Zinnerman, a local guitarist. Several months later he returned to Robinsonville playing a combination of shuffling rhythms and slide guitar leads that outshone other musicians. Some believed that he traded his soul for his new found musical ability. He was a traveler and played in many places including taverns, speakeasies, levee camps, and even coal yards. He traveled the Midwest, East Coast and Canada.

Johnson’s first recording was in San Antonio, Texas in November, 1936 and included the songs “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”, “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Cross Road Blues” and Walkin’ Blues” as well as many others. His second recording was in Dallas, Texas in June, 1937. There were a total of twenty nine songs recorded during those two sessions.

His popularity grew quickly after the recordings. His success and his life were cut short after he died on August 16, 1938 from poison at the young age of 27. His music style and original songs have influenced such musicians as Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Johnson was ranked fifth in the Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is also an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series: Howling Wolf

Howling Wolf almost sounds like a name that would be given to an X-Men like Wolverine, a primal force of nature to be reckoned with, however it is a nickname that was given to one Chester Arthur Burnett. As the story goes, Chester was born back in 1910 in Mississippi. His parents worked on a plantation and Chester was raised with 5 other siblings. Growing up, Chester’s grandfather used to tell his grandchildren stories about the wolves in Mississippi. It is said that because of the stories of the wolves his grandpa told, whenever Chester got scared he would run “howling” through the house thus earning him the nick name “Howling Wolf” by his mother.

Maybe it was due to all the howling as a child that gave “howling Wolf” that deep harsh bluesy voice that his fans fell in love with. Regardless of how he came about his voice, between that and his ability to make people feel his words through his harmonica and guitar, few could match his onstage charisma and showmanship.

Wolf didn’t get into the Blues world early in life as most. He received his first guitar at 18 and although he played around with his guitar and had great idols in his life to mirror and learn from, it would not be until his late 30’s before he really put any serious thought into performing. Prior to that Wolf served in the Army during World War 1 and then spent the remainder of this time as a farmer. After his father’s death in 49, Wolf began to take the Blues more seriously. Wolf didn’t read music yet wrote the majority of his works. He played the songs in how the song felt to him. Without sheet music, when using back up p[layers or playing with other artist, Wolf would have to demonstrate what he was looking for until the players “got” it.

Chester Arthur Burnett a.k.a. Howling Wolf, died on January 10, 1976 at the young age of 65 due to kidney disease. Wolf made it in the Blues industry, and made it big, even with his late start. A book about Howling Wolf “Moanin’ at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howling Wolf” by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman was awarded the Blues Hall of Fame Classic of Blues Literature Award in 2008. Annually, since 1996, the Prairie Arts Festival in West Point Mississippi holds a Howlin’ Wolf Blues Festival.

Now for a little Howling Wolf to bring back the yester years ~