Big Road Blues Show 2/18/24: Runnin’ Wild – Pee Wee Crayton & Pals

ARTISTSONGALBUM
Pee Wee Crayton Blues After Hours Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton Central Avenue Blues Texas Blues Jumpin' in Los Angeles
Pee Wee Crayton Texas Hop Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Ivory Joe Hunter Seventh Street Boogie Ivory Joe Hunter 1945-47
Ivory Joe Hunter Boogin' In The Basement Ivory Joe Hunter 1945-47
Pee Wee Crayton Louella Brown Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton Please Come Back The Modern legacy Vol. 1
Pee Wee Crayton Rockin' the Blues The Modern legacy Vol. 1
Pee Wee Crayton When A Man Has The Blues Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton T for Texas Texas Blues Jumpin' in Los Angeles
Pee Wee Crayton Brand New Woman Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton Rosa LeeBlues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Ike Lloyd Worrying Blues Clyde Bernhardt Vol. 2 1949-1953
Ike Lloyd Boogie On The 88 Clyde Bernhardt Vol. 2 1949-1953
Pee Wee Crayton Answer to Blues After Hours Texas Blues Jumpin' in Los Angeles
Pee Wee Crayton Change Your Way of Lovin' Texas Blues Jumpin' in Los Angeles
Pee Wee Crayton Blues Before Dawn New Orleans Guitar 1953-1955
Pee Wee Crayton When It Rains It Pours California Blues: Dangerous Blues & Terrific Jumps R&B
Pee Wee Crayton Good Little Woman Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton Poppa Stoppa Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Dave Bartholomew Every Night Every Day Dave Bartholomew 1952-1955
Dave Bartholomew Shout Sister Shout! Dave Bartholomew 1952-1955
Pee Wee Crayton I Love Her Still Vee Jay Screaming Blues Guitar
Pee Wee Crayton Huckle Boogie Blues Guitar Magic: The Modern Legacy Vol. 2
Pee Wee Crayton You Know, YeahPee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin And Imperial Recordings
Pee Wee Crayton Do Unto Others Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin And Imperial Recordings
Al "Cake" Wichard Sextette Boogie Woogie Upstairs The Modern Legacy Vol. 1
Dave Bartholomew Another MuleDave Bartholomew 1952-1955
Pee Wee CraytonRunnin' Wild Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin And Imperial Recordings
Pee Wee Crayton Win-O Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin And Imperial Recordings
Pee Wee Crayton The Telephone Is Ringing Vee Jay Screaming Blues Guitar
Pee Wee Crayton I Got News For You Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin And Imperial Recordings
Big Joe Turner Corrine, Corrina In The Evening
Sunset Blues Band Piney Brown Blues Sunset Blues Band
Pee Wee Crayton Git To Gittin' California Blues: Dangerous Blues & Terrific Jumps R&B
Pee Wee Crayton Blues in the Ghetto Johnny Otis Presents: The Best Of R&B Vol. 4
Pee Wee Crayton The Things I Used To Do The Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey

Show Notes:

Pee Wee CraytonThere are certain artists I’ve played often on this program yet have never devoted a full show to them. One of those artists is the terrific Pee Wee Crayton, an outstanding guitarist and singer, who finally gets his proper due on today’s show. Like just about every guitarist from his era, he was influenced by T-Bone Walker but fashioned his own unique style. He was also a fine, smooth voiced singer equally at home on slow ballads and up-tempo numbers. Pee Wee made some records in 1945 and 1947 but came into his own when he signed with Modern in 1948. One of his first recordings was the instrumental “Blues After Hours”, which reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart late that year. He cut a pile of great records for Modern like “Texas Hop”, “Louella Brown”, “Central Avenue Blues”, “Change Your Way of Lovin'” through 1951 when his contract ended. He cut a few sides for other west coast labels like Aladdin before hooking up with Imperial and was in top form on numbers like ”Do Unto Others”, “I Got News for You” and “Runnin’ Wild” among others. He recorded for Imperial through 1955 when things got leaner but he did wax some strong sides during his short stint at Vee Jay. After that he cut a mixed bag of material in the 60s for small labels. Things picked up a bit in the 70s with recordings with Johnny Otis and Vanguard and some work backing Big Joe Turner. After that, Pee Wee’s profile was raised somewhat; he toured and made a few more albums prior to his passing in 1985. Thanks mainly to the Ace label, just about everything he recorded has been reissued. In addition to his own sides, we hear some of his session work backing folks like Ivory Joe Hunter, Ike Lloyd, Dave Bartholomew and others.

Pee Wee Crayton & Little Willie Littlefield

He was born Connie Curtis Crayton on December 18, 1914 in Liberty Hill, near Rockdale, Texas. He was nicknamed Pee Wee by his father. He learned to play trumpet and ukulele and played in his school band. After leaving school he shined shoes, and then pressed clothes at a cleaners in the University of Texas. In 1935 he followed his mother to California. A Modern Records’ press release written in 1950 said: “Delving into the past we’ve learned that Pee Wee spent many sunny days pounding the streets of our fair city looking for a gig as a porter, janitor, or dishwasher, then moved to Oakland where he secured a job at the Naval Supply Depot.”

In Crayton’s own words: ”On my vacation in 1941 I made a trip to Oakland where my brother lived. When war broke out I started working at Mare Island Naval Yards and at that time I started listening to Charlie Christian who played guitar with the Benny Goodman sextet. T-Bone Walker came to town and so I went to see him play [and] we became friends. He showed me how to string up the guitar to get the blues sound out of it.” Around the same time Crayton took lessons from Eddie Young, a guitarist who worked at the Shipyard. Later he met John Collins, who worked with the Nat “King'” Cole Trio. “Collins taught me to play with all four fingers” he recalled. “That’s the reason why I can play big chords.”

Pee Wee Crayton & Band

Crayton got his first musical gig with Count Otis Matthews, a blues pianist who had a four-piece band. In 1946 Crayton joined the Ivory Joe Hunter band and appeared on at least six sides of his Pacific records. In 1947, he made his debut as leader, though his four tracks were shelved until 1949, when they were issued by 4-Star and Gruv-V-Tone. Crayton formed his own trio an worked at various clubs in Oakland including the Clef, and Vellas. They later crossed the bridge to San Francisco and was seen by Tony Vallerio of Melody Sales, a big distributor of Modern’s discs. He called Jules Bihari and asked him to see this act at the New Orleans Swing Club. Bihari liked what he saw and invited Crayton and his pianist down to his studio. The recording ban was on, but at Modern’s new headquarters and pressing plant they had installed a recording studio, and this was where Crayton cut his early sessions that included “Texas Hop”, “Blues After Hours”and ‘”I Love You So.” “Blues After Hours,” a slow-blues instrumental that topped R&B charts for three weeks in November ’48, backed with “I’m Still in Love With You,” a bluesy pop ballad that foreshadowed his crossover tendencies. “Texas Hop,” a shuffling blues romp, was followed by “I Love You So,” a jazz-tinged ballad and his first vocal A side, reaching #5 and #6 respectively in1949.

Pee Wee Crayton

Esther, Pee Wee’s wife, commented “He wasn’t all straight blues, so he had wider appeal than many of the other artists. He could play sweet mellow tunes like ‘I Love You So’ (His biggest hit, a #7 R&B chart entry on 22 July 1949). “At that time he had three popular records going and they appealed to different audiences. ‘Blues After Hours’, his first hit, was straight-ahead blues while ‘Texas Hop’ appealed to people who wanted to jitterbug. He was packing the Downbeat Club every night, and they were turning crowds away.” With an act that featured walking into the audience with a 300-foot guitar cord, he was a favorite performer on Central Avenue and in national blues venues. On June 25, 1950, he appeared at Cavalcade of Jazz, at L.A.’s Wrigley Field alongside Lionel Hampton, Dinah Washington, Roy Milton, and Tiny Davis to a crowd of more than 16,000.

Blues After HoursIn October 1951 the Billboard noted that “Pee Wee Crayton has received his release from Modern Records and was immediately pacted with another local indie, Aladdin. Boss Eddie Mesner will return in a week from the east with material for Crayton to record.” In December 1951 Aladdin had put ads in the trade papers listing his new single “When It Rains It Pours.” The following year he was back at Modern for one more session. In 1953 he cut sides for John Dolphin’s Recorded In Hollywood label.

A new deal with Imperial was inked in 1954, with Lew Judd sending him down to New Orleans to record with Dave Bartholomew at Cosimo Matassa’s studio. He was now recording with his brand new custom-made red Strat, presented to him by Leo Fender. He backed Bartholomew on a few numbers. The guitar gave him extended range on the high notes in classics such as “Wino”, “You Know Yeah” and “Running Wild.” By this time Crayton had dropped his band and he had moved to Detroit to work as a singer and record for the tiny Fox label. In the autumn of 1956, he had cut a new deal with Vee-Jay in Chicago where he cut an all-time classic, “The Telephone Is Ringing.” However, he returned to Los Angeles in 1960, and the Biharis recorded him at the famed Goldstar studios, but those recordings stayed in the can until the Ace label issued the material on the album Memorial Album.

The early 60s saw Crayton making singles for Jamie/Guyden, Smash and Edco, and he also undertook a lot of session work playing guitar on recordings with artists such as Elliott Shavers, Gus Jenkins and others. He was an uncredited part of the Sunset Blues Band; later he featured on the Johnny Otis Live At Monterey Jazz Festival, 1970 LP released on Epic. In the 70s Pee Wee cut albums for Vanguard, Blues Spectrum and Jules Bihari’s new Big Town label, while re-issues appeared on Ace, Route 66 and other labels. He worked on sessions with Joe Turner for Pablo while his last recordings were made for the Murray brothers, who issued several albums.  Crayton died in Los Angeles on June 25, 1985, just after returning from a triumphant return to his hometown of Austin to play at Antone’s. In his honor, a host of the area’s best guitar slingers later gathered to stage the “Pee Wee Crayton Battle of the Blues Guitars.” Crayton was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame by long-time friend Doug MacLeod.

Related Articles
-Blau, Ellen. “Living Blues Interview: Pee Wee Crayton. Pt. 1.” Living Blues no. 56 (Spring 1983): 5–12, 14–16.

-Blau, Ellen. “Living Blues Interview: Pee Wee Crayton. Pt. 2.” Living Blues no. 57 ((Autumn 1983): 6–9, 36–39, 41, 43, 45, 47.

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Big Road Blues Show 2/11/24: Got Four, Five Puppies, One Little Shaggy Hound – Mix Show

ARTISTSONGALBUM
Texas Alexander Tell Me Woman BluesBlues Singers And Hot Bands On Okeh, 1924-1929
Victoria Spivey Organ GrinderThe Essential
Elizabeth Johnson Empty Bed Blues Part 1Blues Singers And Hot Bands On Okeh, 1924-1929
Earl Bostic & His Orchestra w/ Don Byas Hurricane BluesClassic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946
Big Joe Turner w/ Don Byas Watch That JiveClassic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946
Hot Lips Page Orchestra w/ Don Byas Race Horse MamaClassic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946
Blind Lemon Jefferson Booger Rooger BluesClassic Sides
Crying Sam Collins Loving Lady BluesJailhouse Blues
Ishman Bracey Saturday BluesCanned Heat Blues: Masters Of The Delta Blues
King David's Jug Band Rising Sun BluesRuckus Juice & Chitlins, Vol. 2: The Great Jug Bands
Noah LewisBad Luck's My BuddyMemphis Shakedown
Jed Davenport Save Me SomeMemphis Shakedown
Sonny Boy Williamson IYou Got To Step BackThe Original Sonny Boy Williamson Vol. 2
Charles Brown I Want To Go Home Legend!
Otis Rush We So CloseDoor to Door
Junior Wells I’m a Stranger The Best Of Chief Records
James Sherrill Eight Avenue BluesAlabama & The East Coast 1933-1937
James Sherrill Swagger Woman BluesAlabama & The East Coast 1933-1937
Robert McCoy Church Bell BluesBye Bye Baby
Noah LewisGoing to GermanyThe Best of Cannon's Jug Stomp
Geeshie Wiley Last Kind Words Blues Before The Blues Vol. 2
Joel Hopkins Thunder In GermanyRural Blues Vol. 2 1951-1962
Birmingham Jug Band German Blues Jaybird Coleman & The Birmingham Jug Band 1927-1930
Johnnie TempleCounty Jail BluesJohnnie Temple Vol. 1 1935-1938
Champion Jack DupreeCounty Jail SpecialEarly Cuts
Clyde BernhardtBlues Behind BarsBlues Behind Bars
John Lee Hooker Six Little Puppies And Twelve Shaggy HoundsJack O' Diamonds: 1949 Recordings
William 'Do Boy' Diamond Shaggy Hound BluesBlues At Home Vol. 13
Shirley Griffith Shaggy Hound BluesMississippi Blues
Tommy McClennan Cotton Patch BluesBluebird Recordings 1939-1942
Johnny Beck Locked in JailDown Behind the Rise
Bobo Thomas Catfish BluesDown Home Blue Classics 1943-1953
Fats JeffersonMarried Woman BluesNorth Florida Fives

Show Notes:

 Booger Rooger BluesA varied mix show today as we spin some jazzy blues sides featuring King Oliver and Don Byas. Also on tap, we trace the history of a classic blues lyric, hear some songs about Germany, about jail, spin some fine piano blues, some great harp blowers, sides featuring guitarist Earl Hooker and much more.

I’ve always been impressed with Oliver’s pungent, bluesy cornet playing on records by Texas Alexander, Sara Martin among others. I’m a big fan of Oliver’s recordings, particularly his landmark 1923 recordings with his Creole Jazz Band featuring his protege Louis Armstrong,  clarinetist Johnny Dodds, trombonist Honore Dutrey, pianist Lil Harden, and drummer Baby Dodds. Oliver continued to make recordings through 1931 although he seemed to fade from the spotlight not long after his initial recordings. From May to December, 1928, Oliver did some 22 sessions with his old friend, Clarence Williams, who had played with him around Louisiana and who had managed clubs like the Big 25 and Pete Lala’s. Williams had become a music publisher, entrepreneur and early A&R man around New York. Seeing Oliver down on his luck, Williams used him as a backup player for several blues singers. Prior to 1928 Oliver had accompanied artists such as Butterbeans & Susie in 1924 (“Kiss Me Sweet b/w Construction Gang”), Sippie Wallace in 1925 (“Morning Dove Blues b/w “Every Dog Has His Day” and “Devil Dance Blues”), Teddy Peters (“Georgia Man”), Irene Scruggs (“Home Town Blues b/w Sorrow Valley blues”), Georgia Taylor in 1926 (“Jackass Blues”) plus several others. Among the best recordings from this period are his backing of the terrific Elizabeth Johnson, an obscure singer who waxed only four sides at two session in 1928. “Empty Bed Blues Part 1 & 2” has Johnson’s expressive vocals finding a marvelous counterpoint in Oliver’s earthy responses.

We spin a trio of sides with vocalists Earl Bostic, Big Joe Turner and Hot Lips Page all backed by the fine sax work of Don Byas. All these recordings come from a recent 10-CD box set on MosaicEmpty Bed Blues Part 1 titled Classic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946. Byas started to perform in local orchestras at the age of 17. He recorded his first solo record in May 1939 with Timme Rosenkrantz and his Barrelhouse Barons for Victor. He played with the bands of such leaders as Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Edgar Hayes and Benny Carter. He spent about a year in Kirk’s band, recording with him between March 1939 and January 1940. In early 1941, after a short stay with Paul Bascomb, he had his big break when Count Basie chose him to succeed the post of Lester Young. He played in small bands in New York clubs, including the Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, George Wallington, Oscar and Max Roach. He cut sides with small labels like Savoy, Jamboree, National, Disc, Arista, Super, American, Hub, Gotham. In September 1946, Byas began his exile in Europe, recording and working extensively there.

We often trace the history of blues songs and lyrics on these shows and I find unlocking these lyrics offers a deeper insight into the music and culture it came out of. Many lyrics and common blues phrases come from the blues ladies who dominated the blues market in the first half of the 20s. It’s not surprising then, when male solo blues artists started be recorded in 1925, many of them drew on lyrics they first heard from the early blues queens. In 1925 Ida Cox waxed “Lonesome Blues” with the influential line “I’ve got ten little puppies, twelve little shaggy hounds/It takes all twenty-two, to run my good man down.” This is the earliest song I’ve heard the lyric in which has been oft covered in different variations. In April 1927 Crying Sam Collins recorded “Loving Lady Blues” with the line “I got nineteen bird dogs, got one floppy-eared hound/It just take those twenty, run my fair brown down.” In October of that year Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded “Booger Rooger Blues” with the lyric “I got ten little puppies, I got twelve little shaggy hounds.” In 1928 Ishman Bracey cut “Saturday Blues” with the line “Now I got four or five puppies, and got one shaggy hound/It takes all them dogs, to run my woman down.” In 1930 the King David Jug Band used the lyric “I got twelve little puppies, ten big shaggy hounds/It takes all twenty-two, to run my brownskin down” in two numbers: “Rising Sun Blues” and “Sweet Potato Blues.”

Watch That JiveWe’ve aired several topical shows about blues songs about the various wars so it’s not surprising Germany crops up in many lyrics. In the Birmingham Jug Band’s “German Blues” the title may be misspelling for Germantown, on the east side of Memphis. Although, in the song they sing “Go back to Germany, stay in the frozen cold” which sounds like a war reference. The band cut eight sides on December 11, 1930. Geeshie Wiley’s “Last Kind Word Blues” reflects on the singer’s father, who went to serve in World War I and before he left, told her: “If I die in the German war/I want you to send my body, send it to my mother, lord.” Joel Hopkins’, Lightnin’ older half-brother, cut “Thunder In Germany” in 1959. We also spin Noah Lewis’ gorgeous, dreamy “Going to Germany” which some have also claimed may refer to Germantown.

We spin some fine harp blowers today including Sonny Boy Williamson I, Jed Davenport and another one by  Noah Lewis. Lewis was born in Henning, Tennessee, and raised in the vicinity of Ripley. He played in local string bands and brass bands, and began playing in the Ripley and Memphis areas with Gus Cannon. When jug bands became popular in the mid-1920’s, he joined Cannon’s Jug Stompers. He cut seven sides under his own name at sessions in 1929 and 1930. Recording as Noah Lewis’ Jug Band, he was backed on two numbers by Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell with just Estes backing him on two other numbers cut a couple of days apart.

We hear some fine piano work from the largely forgotten Robert McCoy. Between March 3rd and April 7th 1937, ARC (The American Record Company) sent a mobile recording unit on a field trip firstly to visit Hot Springs, Arkansas and, then to Birmingham, Alabama in search of new talent that could be recorded on location instead of transporting the artists to their New York studio. Sometime between 18th and 24th March the unit arrived in Birmingham and, over a two-week period set about recording a number of gospel and blues musicians. Among those were Charlie Campbell, Guitar Slim (George Bedford) and James Sherrill (Peanut the Kidnapper) all of whom were backed by the lively piano of Robert McCoy who did not record under his own name. In 1963 McCoy was recorded by Pat Cather, a teenaged Birmingham blues fan. Cather issued two albums on his Vulcan label: Barrelhouse Blues And Jook Piano and Blues And Boogie Classics. Both albums were cut in extremely small quantities and are very rare. Delmark has reissued some of this material on the CD Bye Bye Baby including some unreleased material. In 1964 Vulcan issued a couple of singles and the same year a couple of singles were issued on the Soul-O label (Robert McCoy and His Five Sins) with McCoy backed by an R&B band in an attempt to update his sound. In later years McCoy became a church Deacon. He passed in 1978.

County Jail BluesWe hear from one of my favorite guitarists today, Earl Hooker. In 1969 Hooker hooked up with ABC-BluesWay churning out several albums for the label in addition to playing on records of Bluesway artists like Andrew Odom, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, Charles Brown, his cousin John Lee Hooker and others. In the summer of 1969 Ed Michel signed up Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon and the duo Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee to Bluesway. Brown and Witherspoon usually worked with pick-up units and Earl Hooker was selected to worked with them. Brown’s album, Legend!, is a real gem with Charles sounding superb featuring Hooker in good form and fine tenor from Red Holloway. We also hear Hooker backing Junior Wells on the excellent “I’m a Stranger.” Hooker recorded extensively for  producer Mel London (owner of Chief and Age) in 1959. For the next four years, he recorded both as sideman and leader for the producer, backing Junior Wells, Bobby Saxton, Lillian Offitt, Ricky Allen, Big Moose Walker and A.C. Reed plus cutting notable instrumentals like “Blue Guitar” and “Blues in D-Natural.”

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Big Road Blues Show 11/5/23: Locked Out Boogie – The Year 1948

ARTISTSONGALBUM
Robert Nighthawk Return Mail BluesProwling With The Nighthawk
Muddy Waters Down South BluesThe Complete Chess Recordings
St. Louis Jimmy So Nice And Kind The Aristocrat Of The Blues
Leroy Foster Locked Out Boogie The Aristocrat Of The Blues
Vera Ward Hall Another Man Done GoneLibrary of Congress
Alex Prison BluesParchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 1947–1959
C. B. Cook with four singers below and six other menRosieLibrary of Congress
Roy Hawkins It's Too Late To ChangeGoing Downtown
Jimmy Wilson Mistake In LifeBob Geddin's Cava-Tone Records Story 1946-1949
Pee Wee Crayton Central Avenue BluesSure Fire Hits On Central Avenue
Roy Milton Hop, Skip & JumpRoy Milton & His Solid Senders
Frankie Lee Sims Single Man BluesDown Behind the Rise
Jesse James Forgive Me BluesDown Home Blue Classics 1943-1953: Texas
John Lee Hooker Drifting From Door To DoorThe Classic Early Years 1948-1951
Jesse Thomas D Double Due Love YouDown Behind the Rise
Rosita (Chicken) Lockhart Mean Mean Woman BluesDown Home Blues: New York, Cincinnati & the Northeastern States
Blue Lu Barker What Did You Do To MeBlue Lu Barker 1946-1949
Viviane Green Bowlegged BluesI'm A Bad, Bad Girl
Snooky Pryor Telephone BluesGonna Pitch a Boogie Woogie
Floyd Jones Stockyard BluesFloyd Jones 1948-1953
Johnny Young My Baby Walked Out On MeDownhome Blues Classics: Chicago
Eddie Boyd Chicago Is Just That WayChicago Is Just That Way
GoldrushAll My Money Is GoneJaxyson Records Story 1948-1949
Hank Kilroy Harlem WomanJuke Joints Vol. 3
Thunder Smith West Coast BluesLightnin' Special Vol. 2
T.J. Fowler Red Hot BluesHam Hocks And Cornbread
Wynonie Harris I Feel That Old Age Coming OnRockin' The Blues
Roy Brown Roy Brown's BoogieRoy Brown 1947-1949
Sherman Williams Weepin' Willow BluesSherman Williams 1947-1951
Lonnie Johnson I Know It's LoveLonnie Johnson 1948-49
Brownie McGhee Brownie's New Worried Life BluesNew York Blues 1946-1948
Mabel Scott Just Give Me A ManMabel Scott 1938-1950
Piney Brown Mourning BluesThe R&B Years 1949
Lowell Fulson River Blues, Pt. 1 Lowell Fulson 1946-47
Lil' Son Jackson Roberta BluesLightnin' Special Vol. 2
Smokey Hogg Suitcase Blues (Aka Low Down Blues)Deep Ellum Rambler
L.C. Williams Hole in the WallLightnin' Special Vol. 2
Lightnin' HopkinsTim Moore's FarmAll the Classic Sides
Walter Mitchell Pet Milk BluesDetroit Ghetto Blues
K.C. Douglas Mercury BoogieThe Bob Geddins Blues Legacy
Leroy Dallas Jump Little Children JumpRalph Willis Vol. 2 1951-1953

Show Notes

Locked Out BoogieToday’s show is the twenty-second installment of an ongoing series of programs built around a particular year. The first year we spotlighted was 1927 which was the beginning of a blues boom that would last until 1930. The Depression had a shattering effect on the pockets of black record buyers and sales of blues records plummeted in the years 1931 through 1933. After a strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942, recording had resumed in 1945 and was up considerably from the previous years and continued it’s upswing in 1946 and into 1947. The year 1948 saw many of the older stars like Tampa Red, Big Maceo, Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy recording less, or not at all. The Chicago blues that would become so popular, saw important artists record such as Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk and the debuts of Floyd Jones, Snooky Pryor and Leroy Foster. There was a mix of uptown blues by T.J. Fowler, Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown and some decidedly down-home blues from popular artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker and lesser knowns such as Thunder Smith, Goldrush and Jesse James. The west coast was well represented with recordings by Pee Wee Crayton, Roy Milton, Roy Hawkins, Jimmy Liggins and others. Boogie Woogie saw it’s popularity waning but with and handful of songs by big names Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons to fine boogie-woogie lades like Camille Howard, Hadda Brooks and others. Very little field recording was done outside a handful of recordings by John Lomax.

Single Man Blues

1948 saw some key records for artists that would mold the sound of post-war Chicago blues, picking up the mantle from the older generation of Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie. Muddy Waters had made his Chicago debut in 1946 backing James Clark and James “Sweet Lucy” Carter. In 1948 he put out classics like “Down South Blues”, “I Can’t Be Satisfied”, “I Feel Like Going Home” and backing artists heard today including Baby Face Leroy and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. In 1948 Robert Nighthawk was back in Chicago and resumed his acquaintance with Muddy Waters who arranged for his recording session with Aristocrat. “I put him on the label” Waters stated.” Foster made his debut for Aristocrat at the end of 1948 with “Locked Out Boogie” b/w “Shady Grove Blues” with the record billed as Leroy Foster and Muddy Waters.

Snooky Pryor got the idea of amplifying his harmonica while serving in the military during World War II, and in 1945 began performing at the Maxwell Street market with portable PA system he purchased at a store at 504 South State. In the late 40’s he cut a batch of great sides for small Chicago labels such as Marvel, Swingmaster and JOB. We hear Pryor back Johnny Young on “My Baby Walked Out On Me.”

Jump blues was big during this period and we hear from blues shouters like Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown. During the 1942–44 musicians’ strike, Harris was unable to pursue a recording career, relying instead on personal appearances. Performing almost continuously, in late 1943 he appeared at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. He was spotted by Lucky Millinder, who asked him to join his band on tour. Harris joined on March 24, 1944 and made his debut with the band a few months later. In July 1945, Harris signed with Philo and went on to record sessions for other labels, including Apollo, Bullet and Aladdin. His greatest success came when he signed for Syd Nathan’s King label, where he enjoyed a series of hits on the U.S. R&B chart in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These included a 1948 cover of Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight.”

It's Too Late To Change

Roy Brown was a fan of blues singer Wynonie Harris. When Harris appeared in town, Brown tried but failed to interest him in listening to “Good Rockin’ Tonight”.  Brown then approached another blues singer, Cecil Gant, who was performing at another club in town. Brown introduced his song, and Gant had him sing it over the telephone to the president of De Luxe Records, Jules Braun, reportedly at 4:00 in the morning. Brown was signed to a recording contract immediately. It was released in 1948 and reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart. Ironically, Harris recorded a cover version of the song, and his version rose to the top of the Billboard R&B chart later in 1948.

There was plenty of fine down-home blues recorded in 1948 from artists such as Frankie Lee Sims, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Jesse Thomas, Goldrush and Thunder Smith among others. On his discharge from the Army, Sims decided to be a musician and made his way to Dallas. There, he made the acquaintance of T-Bone Walker and Smokey Hogg. He was playing with Smokey Hogg at the Empire Room when Blue Bonnet owner Herb Rippa saw their performance and offered each man a contract. In the event, Sims had two singles issued on Blue Bonnet but Hogg’s single was leased to Bullet in Nashville. The following year Sims backed Lightnin’ Hopkins on a handful of Gold Star sides. It wasn’t until March 1953 that Sims recorded for the Specialty label as a leader.

Lola Ann Cullum was instrumental in giving Lightning Hopkins and Thunder Smith their first opportunity as recording artists for Aladdin Records. She took them to California christened Smith ‘Thunder’ for the loudness of his playing and Hopkins ‘Lightning’ for his proficiency as a guitarist. In her mind, Smith would be the star but turned out otherwise.  Smith plays piano behind Hopkins on his first two sessions for Aladdin in 1946 and 1947, never achieving the success that Hopkins did. Hopkins backed Smith on a four-song session for Aladdin in 1946 with Smith cutting one session apiece in 1947 for Gold Star and in 1948 for Down Town.

L.C. Williams was another associate of Lightnin’ Hopkins. He was a singer/tap dancer who also occasionally drummed behind Lightnin’ Hopkins. He arrived in Houston in 1945 and was one of theDrifting From Door To Door many characters who hung around in Lightning’s orbit sitting on stoops drinking beer and wine, shooting the breeze with passers-by. He made his first record in 1947 for with Hopkins on piano and guitar. Hopkins plays guitar on a four-song session for Gold Star in 1948 with Williams making some final sides for Eddie’s and Freedom between 1948-1950. He died in Houston of TB in 1960.

After nearly 15 years since his first visit with his father in 1933, Alan Lomax returned to the Mississippi State Penitentiary, better known as Parchman Farm. Instead of toting their earlier cumbersome disc-cutting machine, he was equipped with a state-of-the-art reel-to-reel tape deck. The blk of the recordings were made in 1947 but these sides were captured in 1948. Hall was first recorded by folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt in 1937. John Lomax became aware of Hall as a result of Tartt’s recordings and then recorded her for the Library of Congress. Alan Lomax also sought her out and made recordings of her in the late 1940s and 1950s. She first recorded “Another Man Done Gone” in 1940

While many of the old stars were fading, Lonnie Johnson had renewed success when he signed with King in 1947, staying with them through 1952. This resulted in close to seventy issued sides. By 1947 he had switched to electric guitar, was incorporating more ballads into his repertoire while the music was in transition from blues to R&B. The prior year he had a massive hit with “Tomorrow Night.”

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Big Road Blues Show 4/2/23: The Midnight Hour Was Shining – Blues After Hours

ARTISTSONGALBUM
Pee Wee Crayton Blues After HoursThe Modern Legacy Vol. 1
Jimmy Coe After Hours Joint Honkers & Bar Walkers Vol. 1
Betty Hall Jones Way After HoursBetty Hall Jones 1947-1954
Willis Jackson Howling At Midnight Willis Jackson 1950-1954
Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell Midnight Hour Blues Whiskey Is My Habit, Women Is All I Crave: The Best of Leroy Carr
Blind Willie McTell & Curley Weaver Wee Midnight HoursPostwar Recordings, 1949-50
Amos Milburn After Midnight Complete Aladdin Recordings
Little Willie Littlefield The Midnight Hour Was Shining The Best Of The Rest: Selected Recordings From Eddie's, Federal & Rhythm 1948-1958
Elmore James Late Hours at Midnight Early Recordings 51-56
Slim Harpo Late Last NightBlues Hangover
Jimmy Anderson It's Half Past MidnightBaton Rouge Blues
Johnny "Guitar" Watson Three Hours Past Midnight Hot Just Like TNT
Rev. Emmett Dickinson You Midnight Joy RidersRev. Emmett Dickinson 1929-1930
Johnny Otis Midnight At The BarrelhouseMidnight At The Barrelhouse
Cecil Gant Midnight On Central Avenue Jiving On Central Avenue: Postwar R&B In Los Angeles Vol. 1
Frank Motley Honkin' At Midnight Honkin' At Midnight
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup Late In The EveningA Music Man Like Nobody Ever Saw
Jimmy Wilson Blues at SundownBob Geddins' Big Town Records Story
Larry Dale Midnight HoursRCA Downhome Blues Vol. 1
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown Midnight HourBoogie Uproar
Lloyd Glenn After Hours, Pt. 1Lloyd Glenn 1954-57
Johnny AceMidnight Hours JourneyJohnny Ace 1951-1954
Willie Nix Midnight Showers of RainSun Records The Blues Years 1950-1958
Homesick James Late Hours After Midnight Chicago Slide Guitar Legend
T-Bone Walker Midnight BluesThe Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker 1940-1954
Billy "Red" Love Way After MidnightSun Records The Blues Years 1950-1958
Lowell Fulson I'm a Night Owl Pt. 1Classic Cuts 1946-53
Baby Calloway Midnight BluesWest Coast Guitar Killers 1951-1965 Vol. 1
Ivory Joe Hunter Blues at MidnightIvory Joe Hunter 1945-47
Jimmy Forrest Night Train Ham Hocks And Cornbread
Champion Jack DupreeAll Night PartyChampion Jack Dupree: Early Cuts
Ida Cox Midnight Hour BluesThe Essential
Lucille Bogan Lonesome Midnight BluesThe Essential
William (Bill) Moore Midnight BluesRagtime Blues Guitar 1927-30
Tampa Red Midnight BoogieTampa Red Vol. 14 1949-1951
Joe Houston All Night Long Blows Crazy!
Roy Brown Boogie At MidnightRoy Brown 1947-1949
Sonny Thompson Blues for The Nightowls Sonny Thompson Vol. 2 1949-1951
Fred Dunn & His Barrelhouse Rhythm The Morning After (The Night Before)Back Alley Boogie
Clarence Smith All Night Long They Play The BluesAll Night Long They Play The Blues
Carl Campbell Between Midnight And Dawn The Freedom R&B Story Vol. 1
Pee Wee Crayton Answer to Blues After Hours West Coast Guitar 1946-1956

Show Notes:

The Midnight Hour Was Shining Today’s show delves into the numerous songs where the setting is “after hours”; whether moody instrumentals like the famous “Blues After Hours” and “Night Train”, or the raucous “Howling At Midnight”, to many late night ruminations (mostly about women of course) like “The Midnight Hour Was Shining”, “Midnight Hours Journey”, “Blues At Sundown” to the fun part of staying up after hours, evocatively conveyed in songs like “Honkin’ At Midnight”, “All Night Party” and “Midnight Boogie.” As usual we spin a slew of lesser-known numbers but also timeless songs by Leroy Carr, Jimmy Forrest, Lloyd Glenn among others. Perhaps one of the most famous songs is our opener, “Blues After Hours”, a number one hit for Pee Wee Crayton and we fittingly close with his sequel, “Answer to Blues After Hours.” Join us as we stay up way past our bedtimes listening to the blues all night long.

Pee Wee Crayton’s 1948 number for Modern, “Blues After Hours” was his first single and the most successful of his three chart entries. The song went to the number one spot on the Billboard magazine’s Race Records charts. According to Crayton, “Blues After Hours” was inspired by T-Bone Walker and developed while he was playing at the New Orleans Swing Club in San Francisco. During his first recording session for Jules Bihari, Crayton began to play the song and Bihari decided to record it. Crayton protested, saying that the song was unfinished. Bihari countered: “Play anything.” “So I started playing and ideas just came. I was making T-Bone’s stuff into what little I knew. That turned out to be one of the biggest records I ever had.” Billy Vera calls “Blues After Hours” “a barely disguised takeoff on ‘After Hours'”, a 1940 instrumental by Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra. “Following this was “After Hours’ Boogie” and Answer to Blues After Hours” cut two years later.

After Hours” is a blues piano number composed by pianist Avery Parrish. The first recording of the song was by Parrish with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, on June 10, 1940 and was released on Bluebird. It was an instant hit, and subsequently became a jazz standard recording by numerous jazz and blues artists. We hear a faithful cover of the song by Lloyd Glenn who waxed “After Hours Pt. 1 & 2 for Swing Time in 1952.

 Blues After Hours

Answer To Blues After Hours

We spin some other notable instrumentals including  Jimmy Forrest’s “Night Train”, Joe Houston’s “All Night Long”, “Johnny Otis’ Midnight At The Barrelhouse”,  Willis Jackson’s “Howling At Midnight” and Sonny Thompson’s “Blues for The Nightowls.” “Night Train” has a long and complicated history. The piece’s opening riff was first recorded in 1940 by a small group led by Duke Ellington sideman Johnny Hodges, under the title “That’s the Blues, Old Man”. Ellington used the same riff as the opening and closing theme of a longer-form composition, “Happy-Go-Lucky Local”, that was itself one of four parts of his Deep South Suite. Forrest was part of Ellington’s band when it performed this composition, which has a long tenor saxophone break in the middle. After leaving Ellington, Forrest recorded “Night Train” on United Records and had a major rhythm & blues hit. While “Night Train” employs the same riff as the earlier recordings, it is used in a much earthier R&B setting. Forrest inserted his own solo over a stop-time rhythm not used in the Ellington composition.

Joe Houston’s early recordings, done in Houston in the 1949-51 timeframe featured him in an essentially blues mode. Joe admits to having been “turned around” by artists like Big Jay McNeely, Hal Singer and Wild Bill Moore. Their influence helped him develop the honking tenor style in which he recorded for Modern and other labels throughout the 50s and well into the 60s. Perhaps his most well-known tune is “All Night Long.” Recorded in Jake Porter’s Combo studio but first released on John Dolphin’s Money label, “All Night Long” was bought a couple of years later by Modern.

The following comes from the book Midnight at the Barrelhouse: “From the moment Johnny Otis first arrived in Los Angeles in 1943, everyday seemed to offer a marvelous new experience. He led the house band at the club Alabam and later opened his own nightclub, the Barrelhouse, in Watts. As a recording artist, he succeeded in placing fifteen songs on the best-seller charts from 1950 to 1952. …As a promoter, producer, and talent scout for Savoy, King , Duke. and other independent record labels, Otis discovered and launched the careers of Etta James, Hank Ballard, Esther Phillips, Jackie Wilson, Big Mama Thornton, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Linda Hopkins, and Little Willie John, among others. He produced big hits for Little Esther, Etta James, and Johnny Ace.” “Midnight At The Barrelhouse” features the searing guitar work of Pete “Guitar” Lewis.”

Midnight On Central Avenue

Among the many themes today are several songs set around midnight by artists such as Leroy Carr, Little Willie Littlefield, Blind Willie McTell, Jimmy Anderson, Amos Milburn, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Larry Dale, Willie Nix, Ivory Joe Hunter, Lucille Bogan, Ida Cox, Roy Brown, a sermon by Rev. Emmett Dickinson among others. Harmonica player Jimmy Anderson lays down the moody “It’s Half Past Midnight.” Anderson modeled his sound on Jimmy Reed and cut all his sessions for Jay Miller circa 1962 and 1964. As John Broven wrote: “Jimmy Anderson, a younger artist from Baton Rouge, was too much in jimmy Reed’s shadow to succeed.”

Little Willie Littlefield was already a veteran when he waxed “K.C. Loving” in 1951, the original version of “Kansas City” although it only charted when Wilbert Harrison picked it up seven years later resulting in a huge smash. After a few sides for Eddie’s and Freedom, Littlefield moved over to the Modern label in 1949, scoring with two major R&B hits, “It’s Midnight” and “Farewell.” Littlefield proved a sensation upon moving to L.A. during his Modern tenure, playing at area clubs and touring with a band that included saxist Maxwell Davis. Today’ show title comes from Littlefield’s 1959 number of the same name.

Not along songs about midnight deal with good times, and if you’re not careful that’s when the blues will sneak up on you as Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell masterfully evoke in “Midnight Hour Blues.” We also hear a lovey version crooned by Blind Willie McTell and his pal Curley Weaver  titled “Wee Midnight Hours.”

In the wee midnight hours, long before the break of day
When the blues creep up on you, and carry your mind away

While I lay in my bed, and cannot go to sleep
While my heart’s in trouble, and my mind is thinking deep

My mind was running, back to days of long ago
And the one I love, I don’t see her anymore

All Night Long

Several other songs perfectly evoke that late night, good time vibe like Jimmy Coe’s slinky “After Hours Joint”, or barn burners like Frank Motley’s raucous “Honkin’ At Midnight”, Willis Jackson’s frenzied “Howling At Midnight” with the refrain “All night long” which echoes Joe Houston’s classic “All Night Long.” Then there’s Tampa Red’s “Midnight Boogie” and Roy Brown’s “Midnight Boogie” which you can leave to your own interpretation.

For something a bit different we hear from Rev. Emmett Dickinson. Between 1929 and 1931, the Rev. Emmett Dickinson recorded over 20 sermons, primarily for the Paramount label. His sermons are unique in that many had references to the blues such as “Is There Harm in Singing the Blues”, “Sermon on Tight Like That” and “Death of Blind Lemon.” In “You Midnight Joy Riders” he rails against those “black hearted, evil minded men and woman, riding for joy at midnight, and all night.”

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