Some Blues you Just Have to Hear Series - Mississippi Fred McDowell

Fred McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee to parents who farmed the land. They died when he was fairly young. It is generally believed that he was born in 1904 but there is no documentation of that and he really isn’t sure. By the age of fourteen McDowell was playing the guitar using a slide that was hollowed out of a steer bone. Prior to that he had used a pocket knife for a slide and would later switch to a glass slide for a clearer sound. He played on street corners of Memphis for tips as a teen.

He eventually got tired of wondering around and ended up in Como, Mississippi and started farming. He still played his music on the weekends, performing at house parties and fish fries. It was in this town that musicologist Alan Lomax found McDowell some 30 years after he settled there. Although Lomax was able to convince him to record for the American Folk Music series at Atlantic Records it did little to change his fortune. He continued farming and playing only on the weekends, often on street corners or in front of stores.

Lomax had found a real Delta bluesman that no one had ever heard before since he had never been recorded. McDowell was not an ambitious man, he was content to share his music locally and be a farmer. It was not until Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz went after McDowell and talked him into recording for his label. There were two volumes, Fred McDowell, Vol 1, and Vol 2 that were recorded and released during the mid 1960’s. These homespun country blues made him popular on the festival circuit throughout the 60’s.

His first use of an electric guitar was in 1969 for the recording of I Do Not Play No Rock ‘n’ Roll for Capital Records. McDowell was filmed in 1968’s The Blues Maker, his own documentary in 1969 Fred McDowell, and 1940’s Roots of American Music: Country and Urban Music.

McDowell gave a young Bonnie Raitt lessons on the slide guitar and she has since recorded several of his songs. His songs have been recorded by many others including Bob Dylan, Dan Berth, The Rolling Stones’, Watermelon Slim and the North Mississippi Allstars.

McDowell died of cancer in 1972 and is buried at Hammond Hill Baptist church near Como.

Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series - Skip James

From a son of a servant mother and a bootlegging father turn religion, Nehemiah Curtis James, more commonly known as Skip James life was a 360 event with the blues weaved all the way through. Skip was born in 1902 in Mississippi. Segregation was still in full swing as well as prohibition. Compared to many blues artist, Skip had a tad bit better of an upbringing then most black kids of the times since his mother worked for a wealthy family, however, it still did not come without its share of up’s and downs. Skips father left him at the tender age of five, escaping from the law some say where others say he was running from the IRS. Skips father would re-enter his life two more times, the first time when he was 14 when his mother tried reuniting with him, and then again, when Skip was in his early 30’s. Both reunions were huge turning points in Skip’s life.

At the age 10, Skip’s mom got him a guitar. Henry Stuckey, age 15 at the time, taught Skip how to play the guitar by teaching him the well-known eight bar staple “Drunken Spree”. It was only two years later when Skip would come into contact with his father again when his mother moved them to Sidon, where his father resided at the time. His mom’s 2-year attempt to reunite with his father failed and at the age of 14 Skip ran away from home to return a year later. Skip tried school only to drop out, however did pick up some piano skills from his aunt.

James composed his first song “Illinois Blues” while working on a construction camp. After a series of different jobs in construction and lumber camps, James moved to Arkansas and began working as a lumber grader. It was there that he met up with a well known pimp of the times, Will Crabtree. Crabtree was an excellent pianist who taught young James how to play as well as how to work the women. James continue his fast paced lifestyle of working as a pianist and working the women to support his new interest in having a flashy wardrobe. This worked well for him for a while, but after a dispute with one of the women he had been hustling, James made fast tracks back to his home state.

By this time prohibition had gone to the way side and James started bootlegging to continue to sport the lifestyle he had become accustomed to. The return home was good for James, as he began to play the guitar again and dabble in singing the blues. He quickly picked up his own style of playing the guitar that he coined “cross note tuning” which was a mix of the three finger pick as done by Charlie Patton, Mississippi Hurt, and Bo Carter, in a e-minor tone. This style got him noticed by Paramount Records that lead to James having 26 singles recorded. James may have recorded many more ground braking blues had it not been for the 30-year furlough he took when he found religion with his father. He did not re-enter the music world again until the early 60’s. Skip James died from cancer only 5 years after re-entering the blues world at the age of 67.

Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series - Willie Dixon

William James “Willie” Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. His mother habitually tried to turn everything she said into rhymes and Willie quickly followed suit and carried the habit into his poems and song writings. He first heard the blues at age 12 while he served time on a prison farm for stealing fixtures from a house that had been torn down. He served a second stint the following year for being a vagabond. He learned how to sing harmony from Leo Phelps who was a local carpenter. Phelps had a gospel quartet, the Jubilee Singers, and Dixon sang bass. Dixon wrote poems and often made them into songs, some of which he sold to local music groups.

He headed to Chicago in 1936. Because of his size, he took up boxing. He was 6 foot 6 inches and weighed 250 pounds. He was so good that in 1937 he won the novice division of the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship. He turned pro but left boxing after only four fights because his manager was cheating him out of his money. He worked briefly as a sparring partner to Joe Louis. It was at the boxing gym where he met Leonard “Baby Doo” Caston who was the major influence in getting Dixon to pursue a music career. Caston built Dixon’s first bass out of a tin can and one string. Because Dixon sang bass, playing the bass instrument came easily. He also learned to play the guitar.

Dixon performed with Baby Doo and together they formed the Five Breezes group. They blended blues, jazz, and vocal harmonies. This success was cut short because when he was drafted he refused to go, claiming he was a conscientious objector. He spent the next ten months in prison. After the war, he formed the group Four Jumps of Jive. Dixon then rejoined pianist Caston in 1945, forming the Big Three Trio with guitarist Bernardo Dennis and went on to record for Columbia Records. After a year, Ollie Crawford replaced Dennis.

In 1948 Dixon signed as a recording artist with Chess Records but ended up performing less and getting into the business end of Chess. By 1951, he was working as a producer, A&R talent scout, session musician, and staff songwriter. Although his years there were less than perfect for him, his output and major influence was enormous.

Dixon also worked as a producer for Checker Records where he worked with such greats as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush, and Bo Diddley among others. He performed on many of Chuck Berry’s early recordings further proving his link between the blues and rock and roll.

Dixon is remembered mainly as a songwriter as he wrote around 500 compositions. The biggest boost to his song-writing career happened after he cornered Muddy Waters at a Chicago Club in the men’s room and taught him the hard circumstances and boastful lyrics of Hoochie Coochie Man. Muddy’s voice added a tough bravado to the song. It was a classic case of the right singer, singing the right song at the right time. Some of his other hit songs include Little Red Rooster, Evil, Spoonful, Back Door Man, I Just Want to Make Love to You, I Ain’t Superstitious, My Babe, Wang Dang Doodle and Bring It On Home.

Later in life Dixon became an ambassador of the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners by founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. It worked to preserve the blues legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Dixon put it like this, “The blues are the roots, and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American Music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues.”

Heart failure claimed the life of Willie Dixon on January 29, 1992 in Burbank, California. He is buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Following his death he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the ‘early influences’ category in 1994.

Some Blues you Just Have to Hear Series – Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters reminds me of the Mississippi River after a heavy rain as the water is rushing muddy and very powerful; however, the Muddy Waters I am referring to is none other then the Father of Chicago Blues, McKinley Morganfield, more famously known as Muddy Waters.

Muddy waters was born as McKinley Morganfield back in 1913 or 1914, or 1915, as there is much debate as to when Muddy was actually born. Born into a sharecropper family in Issaquena County, Mississippi, Muddy’s mother died when he was only 5 years old leaving his grandmother, Della Grant to raise him. He had been dubbed Muddy at an early age because he loved to play in the mud. He later added Water to “Muddy” and finally ended up calling himself “Muddy Waters”.

Like most blues artists, he started out playing the harmonica but switched to the guitar. By the age of seventeen, he was playing the guitar at parties imitating two popular blues artists, Son House and Robert Johnson.

In 1940, Waters moved to Chicago but a year later found himself back in Mississippi. In the early 1940’s Waters ran a juke joint complete with gambling, moonshine, and a jukebox, where he often performed himself. In 1943 he went back to Chicago with the hopes of become a full time musician. He drove a truck, worked in a factory during the day, and performed at night. A leading bluesman, Big Bill Broonzy, helped Waters break into the business by allowing him to be the opening act for his shows. In 1945, Waters received his first electric guitar, which allowed him to be heard over the noise of the audience.

The first few times Waters recorded music it wasn’t released. The first recording was for Columbia and later for Aristocrat, which was a new label run by Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1948 two hits, “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home” accelerated his popularity in the clubs. Aristocrat changed their name to “Rollin’ Stone” which was a Waters smash hit directed by Chess.

The Chess brothers tried to keep Waters from using his own musicians but by September 1953, they gave up trying. With Waters playing second guitar and singing he was joined by Little Walter Jacobs on the harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds on drums, and Otis Spann on piano. Bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon helped too. The group recorded a series of classics including ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’, ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’, and ‘I’m Ready.’ These songs were not his usual style but they were so extraordinary that it helped him to break out of the local mold and made him a national star.

By 1954, Waters was at the top of his career. His singing had taken on a shouting quality and the band’s music resembled a throbbing rhythm. As members of his band left for solo careers Waters’ style went with them and continued to evolve. Waters was forced to replace his band members with various studio musicians and some of the magic was lost.

In 1958, he shocked the audiences in England. Patrons, expecting to hear folksy blues, were bombarded with Muddy’s booming loud electric guitar and a deafening beat. At the 1960, Newport Jazz Festival, Muddy’s performance was recorded and released as his first live album. Although it was a hit he was saddened by the fact that his own race were turning their backs on his style of music even though it had the white audience looking at the blues with a new respect. Waters’ sound literally electrified the Delta blues.

On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Bands farewell concert in San Francisco. The following year Waters signed on the Blue Sky label (a Columbia Records subsidiary), and was off and running again with an LP Hard Again. Johnny Winter had convinced Blue Sky to Sign Waters, and he produced his final four albums including Hard Again, ¬I’m Ready, King Bee ¬ and Muddy “Mississippi” Waters – Live.

His influence was notable across a multitude of music types including the blues, rhythm and blues, rock n roll, folk, jazz and country. Because of ill health Waters’ last public performance took place in Florida in the fall of 1982 when he sat in with Eric Clapton’s band during a Clapton concert.

Waters received six Grammy Awards and five Blues Foundation Awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four of his songs in the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Muddy Waters died quietly in his sleep on April 30, 1983 at his home in Westmont, Illinois.

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 - Charlie Patton

In Southern Mississippi in April 1891, Charlie Patton was born to sharecropper parents. When he was nine years old his family moved to the Will Dockery Plantation located in the Delta. The Mississippi Delta is a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The Delta is famous for its fertile soil and extreme poverty making it the ideal location for sharecroppers.

Henry Sloan was an African American musician who moved to the Delta area around the same time as the Patton’s. Although Sloan is considered one of the earliest performers in the history of Delta Blues he never recorded any music. His claim to fame is that he tutored Charlie Patton on the guitar in the ways of the blues. Charlie dogged his every step and played the blues with him for several years.

It was said that Patton defined the life of a bluesman. He had an earthy voice many considered course and it was attributed to hard times and harder living. He drank and smoked excessively. It’s not known for sure but it thought that he had eight wives. He moved around a lot and never stayed in one spot long. He even spent a short time in jail.

Patton made his first recording in June of 1929 for the Paramount label. He recorded fourteen songs for them, all recorded on 78’s. His first session was so successful that he was invited back just four months later and recorded an additional twenty eight tunes.

He played the slide guitar too making it a popular instrument in the playing of the blues. Patton is at the top of the list in blues history. He influenced the style of the blues and the performers in the succeeding generation. Performers that can trace their blues style back to Patton include Son House, Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson. It’s even been suggested that Patton may have been the first rock and roller. He was a real ham while performing on stage, playing the guitar loud and rough while holding it between his knees or behind his back. He jumped around, tapping the body of the guitar or using the back of his guitar as a drum.

In February of 1934, Patton had his last recording session in New York City. That was just two months before his death on April 28, 1934. He is buried in Holly Ridge, Mississippi and his major role in developing the Delta Blues is noted on his tomb stone. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1980.

Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series – John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker, although a blues man, gave blues a different style, he brought the boogie into blues. Who loved him; everyone loved him. He was the inspiration for many rockers such as the Rolling Stones and White Stripes. Born in 1917 in Clarksdale Mississippi, Hooker began singing in his church.

Hooker’s early beginnings started like many of the other Mississippi Delta blues artist, being a son of a Baptist preacher/sharecropper, with 10 siblings of meager belongings. Hooker did not go to a public school, rather was taught in his home by mother. He grew up illiterate. His first introduction to music was the spiritual music that was played religiously. His father (William Hooker) and mother (Minnie Ramsey) divorced when hooker was 4 years old. His mother got married a year later to a blues singer, William Moore. Moore was the one that taught Hooker how to play the guitar as well as Moore’s friends Charlie Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson.

In the early 30’s at the age of 15, Hooker ran away from home, never to look back again. His first destination was Memphis Tennessee, however his luck as a blues artists didn’t pan out as well as he would have liked and he moved on to Cincinnati where he played for a while with a group called the Fairfield Four. Still not making the money he wanted, Hooker found himself drawn to Detroit in the late 40’s due to the work availability in the auto industry for Ford Motors. It was in Detroit where Hooker finally felt at home with his blues style and began to make a name for himself. “Boogie Chillen” was Hookers first hit single. Back in the 50’s, when Hooker started making a name for himself in the Blues Industry, blacks were still paid pennies compared to white artist. Contracts made it impossible for artist to pick up extra recordings so due to the meager earnings hooker was receiving; he would record songs under various aliases like “John Lee Booker”, “Johnny Hooker”, and “Johnny Cooker”.

Hooker went on to record over 100 albums, open the nightclub “John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room”, located in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, and received many awards from having his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame to the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. John Lee Hooker left us at the age of 83. He passed away after taking ill in 2001 however he left behind eight children, 19 grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren, one nephew and an amazing blues music legacy.

Some Blues You Just Have to Hear Series - BB King

Riley B. King, otherwise known as B.B. King to the blues world was one of the strongest influences that helped keep the roots of the Mississippi Delta Blue alive. B.B. King was born in 1925 in Indianola Mississippi. Riley grew up a hard life. His parent’s, tenant farmers, separated when riley was very young. His mom did the best she could to bring Riley up. They attended church where Riley got his first taste of the gospel choir. This was the root beginnings of Riley’s love for the blues music and guitar. After his mothers early demise, Riley at the age of 9 pretty much raised himself. His aunt played a partial role when she could in trying to keep Riley on the straight and narrow. Her love of blues and jazz kept Riley coming back to her throughout his young years to listen to the collection of records she had. At the age of 12, Riley began to play the guitar and started performing on street corners as an early teen to make some money to survive.

Some of Riley’s inspiration he received to play the blues was from artist such as Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, and Bukka White. Bukka White was Riley’s cousin and played a huge role in Riley’s decision to try to take his act on the road. After training under his cousin White, at the age of 21, Riley hitchhiked to Memphis Tennessee and within three years, developed a nice gig playing in clubs and even having some records made. It was also in Memphis that Riley began DJ’ing on the radio. His DJ’ing is where he earned his nickname, B.B. King. He began announcing himself on the radio station as Beale Street Blues Boy, which was later shortened to Blues Boy then to B.B.

B.B. King continued to make a huge name for himself in the Blue’s Industry as well as the music world as a whole. He and “Lucille”, a name he began giving all of his guitars early on in his music career, literally came from what most would consider dirt poor, and rose to the cream of the crop. (Lucille was a woman in BB Kings early career where an incident ensued over a fight for Lucille resulting in a fire where BB almost lost his guitar to the fire over this woman.)

By 1952, B.B. made it to the top of the Billboard Charts for rhythm and blues with his song “Three O’clock Blues”. From then on it was just one hit after another, for six decades and 50 albums later. B.B. is known for his strong guitar tone and his smoky deep vocals in his smooth mix of the traditional blues with a dash of country guitar tone. On the more risky side of B.B. Riley King, it has been reported that he was quite the ladies man in his career singing the blues. B.B. was married twice, both times ending in divorce due to his demanding career, however it has also been said that B.B. fathered 15 children by different women as well as in just one single year, had 341 one-night-stands! I can see where that could make for quite a bit of material for some blues music.