1930's Blues | Big Road Blues

Big Road Blues Show 4/26/26: Fat Man’s Boogie – Pete Brown & His Blues Buddies

April 26, 2026April 11, 2026 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Jimmie Gordon	Get Your Mind Out Of The Gutter	Jimmie Gordon Vol. 3 1939-1946
Jimmie Gordon	The Mojo Blues	Jimmie Gordon Vol. 3 1939-1946
Jimmie Gordon	St. Peter Blues	Jimmie Gordon Vol. 3 1939-1946
Joe Marsala & His Delta Four	Wandering Man Blues	Joe Marsala 1936-1942
Nora Lee King with Pete Brown and his Band	Cannonball	I'm A Bad, Bad Girl
Pete Brown Quintet	Pete Brown's Boogie	Pete Brown 1942-1945
Big Joe Turner & Wynonie Harris	Battle Of The Blues, Part 1 & 2	All the Classic Hits 1938-1952
Cousin Joe	Wedding Day Blues	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Cousin Joe	Desperate G.I. Blues	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Cousin Joe	You Got It Comin' To Ya	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Helen Humes with Pete Brown and his Band	Unlucky Woman	Helen Humes 1927-45
Jimmie Gordon	Do That Thing	Jimmie Gordon Vol. 3 1939-1946
Pete Brown Sextette	Fat Man's Boogie	Pete Brown 1942-1945
Big Joe Turner	Low Down Dog	The Boss of the Blues
Big Joe Turner	Cherry Red	The Boss of the Blues
Big Joe Turner	Roll 'Em, Pete	The Boss of the Blues
Pete Brown's Band	Sunshine Blues	Pete Brown 1942-1945
Clyde Bernhardt	Blues Behind Bars	Clyde Bernhardt 1945-1948
Helen Humes with Pete Brown and his Band	Gonna Buy Me A Telephone	Helen Humes 1927-45
Champion Jack Dupree	My Baby's Like A Clock	Shake Baby Shake
Champion Jack Dupree	Shake Baby Shake	Shake Baby Shake
Clyde Bernhardt	Blues Without Booze	Clyde Bernhardt 1945-1948
Wynonie Harris	You Got To Get Yourself A Job, Girl	Rockin' The Blues
Pete Brown Sextette	Back Talk Boogie	Pete Brown 1942-1945
Cousin Joe	Come Down Baby	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Cousin Joe	Don't Pay Me No Mind	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Cousin Joe	Stoop To Conquer	Cousin Joe 1945-1947
Pete Brown Sextette	Midnite Blues	Pete Brown 1942-1945
Wynonie Harris	Big City Blues	Rockin' The Blues
Wynonie Harris	Hard Ridin' Mama	Rockin' The Blues
Big Joe Turner	Wee Baby Blues	The Boss of the Blues
Big Joe Turner	Piney Brown Blues	The Boss of the Blues
Champion Jack Dupree	Evil Woman	Blues From the Gutter
Champion Jack Dupree	Junker's Blues	Blues From the Gutter
Champion Jack Dupree	Nasty Boogie	Blues From the Gutter

Show Notes:

Pete Brown Sextette - Fat Man's Boogie Several years back I aired a series of shows on forgotten horn men like Buster Bennett, Sax Mallard, King Kolax and Tom Archia among others. One gentleman I overlooked was alto player Pete Brown. I was doing some research for an article and I stumbled upon an issue of Blues & Rhythm magazine which had an article and discography on Brown written by Dave Penny (Unlucky Blues: Dave Penny looks at the career of saxman Pete Brown, No. 100, June-July 1995). Today’s notes and set list are drawn from that article.

As Dave writes: “Pete Brown is one of the unsung heroes of the early days of Rhythm and Blues. Although not strictly an R&B saxman, and definitely not a ‘honker’, Pete’s involvement in a number of important early sessions set the seal on the development of R&B during the late 1940’s. His contribution was as important as that of Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Willis Jackson or Frank Culley. In the late 30’s he was recording with singer Jimmie Gordon on Decca, by the early 40’s he cut a superb early R&B session with Helen Humes and by the late 40’s artists like Cousin Joe and Wynonie Harris were using his talents.” Critic and producer Leonard Feather recalled: “In 1941, I believe it was, I did a date for Decca with some musicians drawn from the 52nd St. clubs. I made Pete Brown leader because I was a tremendous admirer of his, and I took two sidemen out of what was then Benny Carter’s sextet at the Famous Door. …. I always thought he was one of the greatest, underrated musicians, and I still think so.” And as Dave Penny writes: “Pete’s alto style could arguably be held up as the blueprint for R&B and certainly jump blues saxophone, influencing as it did everybody from Louis Jordan and Earl Bostic to Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond taking in Charlie Barnet, Lem Davis and Cannonball Adderley on the way!” Pete did many fine straight jazz sessions but today we mainly hear him backing blues singers with a few of his own items mixed in

Pete was born James Ostend Brown in Baltimore, Maryland, on 9th November 1906. His West Indian father played trombone and his mother was a pianist. He studied at the piano from the age of 8, before turning to trumpet, ukulele and, penultimately, the violin. After some measure of adolescent success with the fiddle, he switched to alto and tenor saxophones at the age of 18 and began working professionally for myriad local jazz bands, starting with The Southern Star Jazz Band, until moving to New York City in June 1927 with Banjo Bernie Robinson. A decade of playing with the local bands of Charlie Skeets and Fred Moore culminated in May 1937 with Pete becoming a founder member of the John Kirby-led Onyx Club Boys. He played in New York City with Bernie Robinson’s orchestra in 1928 and played from 1928 to 1934 with Charlie Skeete. Brown also recorded with Willie “The Lion” Smith, Jimmie Noone, Buster Bailey, Leonard Feather, Joe Marsala, and Maxine Sullivan in the 1930s. He worked on 52nd Street in New York in the 1940s, both as a sideman (with Slim Gaillard, among others). As a bandleader, he was in Allen Eager’s 52nd Street All-Stars in 1946.

In May 1938, leaving John Kirby’s band, Pete formed his own small band and held residencies in famous clubs like Kelly’s Stables, The Onyx, Three Deuces, Jimmy Ryan’s etc, often teaming up with his good friend from the Kirby band, Frankie Newton, with whom he had made some memorable recordings in 1937. His improvisational skills and fresh style made him in demand for recording sessions, and aside from the recordings listed here, he also recorded dates with Jimmy Noone, Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, Maxine Sullivan, Jerry Kruger, Leonard Feather and Sir Charles Thompson. A serious threat to Charlie Parker’s dominance over 52nd Street patronage, even as late as 1947, Pete was also the only musician that Louis Jordan would entrust the Timpani Five to, when Jordan toured the service bases as a solo during the war. On rare occasions, Pete would also cut a vocal side. He had sung in a novelty vein with the Kirby and Newton bands (for example, “The Onyx Hop” from 1937), but his own recordings reveal an adept blues singer on titles like “Lowdown Blues” and “Sunshine Blues.”

Jimmie Gordon And His Vip Vop Band Do That Thing Writer Lloyd Trotman notes that “Pete Brown was by far the most provocative and innovative alto saxophonist of his time, a true “giant” in the music field. Affectionately known Mr. 52nd. St. because of his extended run of appearances at all of the clubs on the strip including the Three Deuces, The Onyx, The Spotlite, Kellys Stables (Nat King Cole’s jumping off spot to stardom) and others. Pete was a large man weighing in at about 400 pounds. He was about 5 feet 9 inches, but looked much shorter because of his obesity. Despite this Pete was a meticulous man. He had handwriting like a legal secretary and could dance like a chorus girl. …In the mid fifties Rock & Roll hit the scene; Pete was a casualty of that happening. Pete tried to ride the storm by switching to tenor sax and honking and sounding bad, but he just could not cope with mediocrity. Pete’s star began to burn out, a victim of the changing quality of music”

In the 1950s, Brown’s health began to fail, and he receded from full-time performance. He played with Joe Wilder (1954), Big Joe Turner (1956), Sammy Price, and Champion Jack Dupree, and appeared at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival with Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge. His last appearance was in 1960 with Dizzy Gillespie. He passed in 1963.

Here’s some background on some of today artists who Pete backed. A 1939 session by Jimmie Gordon are among the earliest sides backing a blues singer. By 1934 Gordon was signed to a recording contract. Apart from one Bluebird side at the beginning of his recording career, all of Gordon’s pre-war work was released by Decca. Gordon’s backing ensembles, sometimes billed as the Vip Vop Band, variously included such notable blues and jazz musicians as Scrapper Blackwell, the brothers Papa Charlie McCoy and Kansas Joe McCoy, members of the Harlem Hamfats, Frankie Newton, Pete Brown, Buster Bennett, and the drummer Zutty Singleton. His most commercially successful number was a song he wrote, “I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water”, in 1936. Even in his own lifetime Gordon was misrepresented. When his record company released “Black Gal” (Decca 7043), early copies credited the work to “Joe Bullum.”

The Cannon Ball

Cousin Joe had success in New York before returning to his hometown of New Orleans were DeLuxe found him. Growing up in New Orleans, Cousin Joe began singing in church before crossing over to the blues. Guitar and ukulele were his first axes. He eventually prioritized the piano instead, playing Crescent City clubs and riverboats. He moved to New York in 1942, gaining entry into the city’s thriving jazz scene (where he played with Dizzy Gillespie, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and a host of other luminaries). He recorded for King, Gotham, Philo (in 1945), Savoy, and Decca along the way, doing well on the latter logo with “Box Car Shorty and Peter Blue” in 1947. After returning to New Orleans in 1948, he recorded for De Luxe and cut a two-part “ABC’s” for Imperial in 1954 as Smilin’ Joe under Dave Bartholomew’s supervision. But by then, his recording career had faded.

Clyde Bernhardt recorded for King, Gotham, Philo (in 1945), Savoy, and Decca along the way, doing well on the latter logo with “Box Car Shorty and Peter Blue” in 1947. After returning to New Orleans in 1948, he recorded for De Luxe and cut a two-part “ABC’s” for Imperial in 1954 as Smilin’ Joe under Dave Bartholomew’s supervision. But by then, his recording career had faded. Pete backed him on a session from 1947.

While performing at Jim Bell’s Club Harlem nightclub with Velda S Shannon, Wynonie Harris began to sing the blues. e began traveling frequently to Kansas City, where he paid close attention to blues shouters, including Jimmy Rushing and Big Joe Turner. His break in Los Angeles was at a nightclub owned by Curtis Mosby. It was here that Harris became known as “Mr. Blues”. 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, when the band was in the middle of a week-long residency at the Regal in Chicago. On May 26, 1944, Harris made his recording debut with Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra. n April 1945, a year after the song was recorded, Decca released “Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well”. It became the group’s biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard R&B chart. In July 1945, Harris signed with Philo. Harris 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”, “Good Morning Judge” and “All She Wants to Do Is Rock.” Pete backs him on a number of fine 1947 sides.

Stoop To Conquer From the 1920s through the 1930s, Big Joe Turner and boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson enjoyed a successful and highly influential collaboration that, following their appearance together at Carnegie Hall on December 23, 1938, helped launch a craze for boogie-woogie in the United States. After the pair separated, Turner continued to experience cross-genre musical success, establishing himself as one of the founders of rock and roll with such smash hits as “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” The Boss of the Blues marks one of the last reunions Turner would have with Johnson, when supported by a number of swing’s best performers including Pete Brown.

Another classic album that Pete appears on is Champion Jack Dupree‘s Blues From the Gutter cut for Atlantic in 1958. The album was cut in New York (in stereo) with a great band that included Pete Brown and guitarist Larry Dale. From the Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings: “A breezy remake of ‘Walking The Blues’ throws the listener off guard before the music plunges into drugs, disease and death. Brown and Dale supply alert commentary, the rhythm section is crisp, and Dupree’s singing, powerful throughout, is hair-raising on ‘Evil Woman’ Blues From The Gutter should be depressing but isn’t; the urban underbelly isn’t glamorized and consequently isn’t trivialized by these songs, which are about
confronting and surviving the dark side of life. It’s the one essential Jack Dupree CD.”

Pete Brown Selected Discography

FRANK NEWTON AND HIS UPTOWN SERENADERS

Frankie Newton, trumpet; Russell Procope, alto sax; Cecil Scott, tenor sax and clarinet; Edmond Hall, baritone sax and clarinet; Don Frye, piano; John Smith, guitar; Richard Fulbright, bass; William “Cozy” Cole, drums; Bulee “Slim” Gaillard, vocals -1.

New York City, 15th April 1937

M402-2 I Found A New Baby Variety 571

M403-2 The Brittwood Stomp Variety 571

M404-2 There’s No Two Ways About It -1 Variety 550

M405-2 ‘Cause My Baby Says It’s So -1 Variety 550

Note: All titles reissued on Classics 643 (Fr) and Affinity CDAFS 1014.

WILLIE SMITH (THE LION) AND HIS CUBS

Frankie Newton, trumpet; William “Buster” Bailey, clarinet; Willie “The Lion” Smith, piano; Jimmy McLin, guitar; John Kirby, bass; O’Neil Spencer, drums and vocals.

New York City, 14th July 1937

62372-A Get Acquainted With Yourself Decca 1380

62373-A Knock Wood Decca 1366

62374-A Peace, Brother, Peace Decca 1366

62375-A The Old Stamping Ground Decca 1380

Same personnel as last session.

New York City, 15th September 1937

62593-A Blues, Why Don’t You Let Me Alone? Decca 1957

62594-A I’ve Got To Think It Over Decca 1957

62595-A Achin’ Hearted Blues Decca 1503

62596-A Honeymoonin’ On A Dime Decca 1503

Note: All titles from above two sessions on Classics 677 (Fr).

PETE BROWN AND HIS JUMP SIX

Bobby Hackett, cornet and guitar; Joe Marsala, clarinet; Benny Carter, alto sax and clarinet; Pete Brown, alto sax and trumpet; Billy Kyle, piano; Hayes Alvis, bass; William “Cozy” Cole, drums.

New York City, 20th April 1939

65439-A Men Of Harlem (aka ‘Tempo di Jump’) Decca 18118A

65440-A Ocean Motion Decca 18118B

Note: Other titles from this session were released under Joe Marsala and Leonard Feather’s names

JIMMIE GORDON WITH HIS VIP VOP BAND

Frankie Newton, trumpet; Sammy Price, piano; Arthur “Zutty” Singleton, drums; Jimmie Gordon, vocals.

New York City, 28th April 1939

65494-A Get Your Mind Out Of The Gutter Decca 7611A, Document DLP 515

65495-A Delhia Decca 7592B, SoB CD 3510-2

65496-A Do That Thing Decca 7611B, SoBCD 3510-2

65497-A The Mojo Blues Decca 7702B, SoB CD 3510-2

65498-A St Peter Blues Decca 7592A, SoB CD 3510-2

65499-A If The Walls Could Talk Decca 7624A, SoB CD 3510-2

Note: Reverse of Decca 7624 and Decca 7702 are both from other Jimmie Gordon sessions not featuring Pete Brown.

JOE MARSALA AND HIS DELTA FOUR

Bill Coleman, trumpet/vocal -1; Joe Marsala, clarinet; Carmen Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, bass; Dell St. John, vocal -2.

New York City, 4th April 1940

R-2796-2 Wandering Man Blues -2 General 1717

R-2797-3 Salty Mama Blues -1 General 1717

R-2798-2 Three O’Clock Jump -2 General 3001, Commodore 1524

R-2799-2 Reunion In Harlem General 3001, Commodore 1524

Note: All titles from above session on Classics 763 (Fr).

HELEN HUMES WITH PETE BROWN AND HIS BAND

John “Dizzy” Gillespie, trumpet; Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet; Sammy Price, piano; Charlie Drayton, bass; Ray Nathan, drums; Helen Humes, vocals.

New York City, 9th February 1942

70299-A Mound Bayou Decca 8613B

70300-A Unlucky Woman [aka ‘Unlucky Blues’] Decca 8613A, 48059A

70301-A Gonna Buy Me A Telephone Decca 8625B, 48059B

Note: All titles reissued on “Sammy Price & The Blues Singers” Wolf WBJ-CD-007(4).

NORA LEE KING WITH PETE BROWN AND HIS BAND

John “Dizzy” Gillespie, trumpet; Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet; Sammy Price, piano; Charlie Drayton, bass; Ray Nathan, drums; Nora Lee King, vocals.

New York City, 9th February 1942

70302-A Cannonball Decca 8625A, Wolf WBJ-CD-007(4)

PETE BROWN QUARTET

Jim “Daddy” Walker, guitar; John Levy, bass; Eddie Nicholson, drums.

Chicago, 23rd April 1944

174 Jim’s Idea Session 12-012

175 Eddie’s Idea Session 12-013

176 Pete’s Idea Session 12-012

177 Jim Daddy Blues Session 12-013

PETE BROWN QUINTETTE

Kenny Watts, piano; Al Casey, guitar; Al Matthews, bass; Eddie Nicholson, drums.

New York City, 11th July 1944

S5480 Ooh-Wee Savoy 523, 644

S5481 Bellevue For You Savoy 522

S5482 Pete Brown’s Boogie Savoy 522, 694

S5483 Moppin’ The Blues Savoy 523

Note: All titles reissued on “The Changing Face Of Harlem” Savoy LP SJL 2208.

PETE BROWN’S ALL STAR QUINTET

Joe Thomas, trumpet; Kenny Kersey, piano; Milt Hinton, bass; J.C. Heard, drums.

New York City: 19th July 1944

HL45-2 It All Depends On You Keynote 1312

HL46-2 That’s My Weakness Now Keynote 18PJ1058(Jap)

HL46-3 That’s My Weakness Now Emarcy MG36018

HL47-1 It’s The Talk Of The Town Keynote 18PJ1058(Jap)

HL47-2 It’s The Talk Of The Town Emarcy EP1-6128

HL48-3 I May Be Wrong Keynote 1312

Note: All tracks from session on Mercury 830.129-1 (US).

PETE BROWN’S BAND

Kenny Watts, piano; Herman “Tiny” Mitchell, guitar; Al Hall, bass; Eddie Nicholson, drums; Pete Brown, vocals -1.

New York City, 1st August 1944

S5495 Boot Zoot Savoy LP SJL 2224

S5496 It’s Great Savoy LP SJL 2224

S5497 Lazy Day Savoy LP SJL 2224

S5498 Sunshine Blues -1 Savoy 644, SJL 2224

PETE BROWN’S SEXTETTE

Ed Lewis, trumpet; Ray Parker, piano; Al Casey, guitar; Al Matthews, bass; Ray Nathan, drums.

New York City, 20th February 1945

S5784 Fat Man’s Boogie [Big Boy Boogie*] Savoy 533 (Savoy 694*)

S5785 That’s The Curfew Savoy 533

S5786 Midnite Blues Savoy 579

S5787 That’s It Savoy 579

Ed Lewis, trumpet; Ray Parker, piano; Billy Moore, guitar; Al Matthews, bass; Ray Nathan, drums.

New York City, 6th March 1945

S5788 Pete’s Treat Savoy 578

S5789 Just Plain Shuffle Savoy 578

S5790 Pushin’ The Mop Savoy 645

S5791 Back Talk Boogie Savoy 645

COUSIN JOE WITH PETE BROWN’S BROOKLYN BLUE BLOWERS

Leonard Hawkins, trumpet; Ray Abrams, tenor sax; Kenny Watts, piano; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; Leonard Gaskin, bass; Arthur Herbert, drums; Pleasant Joseph, vocals.

New York City, 13th February 1946

S5882 Wedding Day Blues Savoy 5527

S5883 Desperate G.I. Blues Savoy 5526

S5884 You Got It Comin’ To Ya Savoy 5527

S5885 Boogie Woogie Hannah Savoy 5526

Note: All titles reissued on “The Changing Face Of Harlem – Volume 2” Savoy LP SJL 2224.

CLYDE BERNHARDT WITH LEONARD FEATHER’S BLUE SIX

Clyde Bernhardt, trombone and vocal; Leonard Feather, piano; Sam Allen, guitar; Al McKibbon, bass; Eddie Dougherty, drums.

New York City, 21st February 1946

5404 Blues Behind Bars Musicraft 506

5405 Blues Without Booze Musicraft 506

5406 Living In A World Of Gloom Musicraft unissued

5407 Blues To End All Blues Musicraft unissued

COUSIN JOE WITH DICKIE WELLS’ BLUE SEVEN

Lester “Shad” Collins, trumpet; Dickie Wells, trombone; Billy Kyle, piano; Danny Barker, guitar; Lloyd Trotman, bass; Woodie Nichols, drums; Pleasant Joseph, vocals.

New York City, June or July 1947

SRC439 Come Down Baby Signature 1013, Riverboat LP 900.265

SRC440 Bachelor’s Blues Signature 1012, Hi-Tone 150, Riverboat LP 900.265

SRC441 Don’t Pay Me No Mind Signature 1013, Riverboat LP 900.265

SRC442 Stoop To Conquer Signature 1012, Hi-Tone 150, Riverboat LP 900.265

SRC443 Blues, part 1 Signature unissued

SRC444 Blues, part 2 Signature unissued

WYNONIE “MR. BLUES” HARRIS & HIS ALL STARS

Unknown trumpets; possibly Pete Brown, alto sax; unknown tenor sax; baritone sax; probably Chester Slater, piano; Billy Butler, guitar; Percy Joell, bass; Dorothea “Dotty” Smith, drums; Wynonie Harris; The Harlemaires (Slater, Butler, Joell and Smith), vocal group -1.

New York City, July 1947

A-4025 You Got To Get Yourself A Job, Girl Aladdin 208, Route 66 Kix-20

A-4026 Hard Ridin’ Mama -1 Aladdin 208, Route 66 Kix-20

A-4027 Big City Blues Aladdin 196, Route 66 Kix-30

A-4028 Ghost Of A Chance -1 Aladdin 196, Route 66 Kix-30

WYNONIE HARRIS & JOE TURNER

Same or similar to last; Wynonie Harris and Big Joe Turner, vocal duets; Ensemble, vocal -1.

New York City, July 1947

A-4077A/ IM-5046A Battle Of The Blues, Part 1 Aladdin 3036, 3184

A-4077B/IM-5046B Battle Of The Blues, Part 1 -1 Imperial LP LM-94002

A-4078/IM-5047 Battle Of The Blues, Part 2 -2 Aladdin 3036, 3184

A-4079/IM-478 Going Home PatheMarconi LP 1561431

A-4080/IM-4786 Blues PatheMarconi LP 1561431

Note: All sides reissued on “Big Joe Turner – The Complete Aladdin & Imperial Recordings” EMI CD E2 99293.

SAM PRICE AND HIS KAYCEE STOMPERS

Jonah Jones, trumpet; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Sammy Price, piano; Milt Hinton, bass; William “Cozy” Cole, drums.

New York City, 20th March 1955

Jumpin’ On 57th Jazztone LP J1207

Pete’s Delta Bound Jazztone LP J1207

Jonah Whales Again (Jonah Whales The Blues) Jazztone LP J1207

Note: Other tracks on Jazztone 10″ LP do not feature Pete Brown.

JOE TURNER AND HIS ALL STARS

Joe Newman, trumpet; Lawrence Brown, trombone; Frank Weiss, tenor sax; Pete Johnson, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Walter Page, bass; Cliff Leeman, drums; Big Joe Turner, vocals.

New York City, 6th March 1956

A-? Testing The Blues KC LP 108

A-1915-4 Low Down Dog KC LP 108

A-1915-? Low Down Dog Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1916-4 Roll ‘Em, Pete KC LP 108

A-1916-5 Roll ‘Em, Pete KC LP 108

A-1916-? Roll ‘Em Pete Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1917-1 Cherry Red KC LP 108

A-1917-2 Cherry Red (incomplete) KC LP 108

A-1917-3 Cherry Red KC LP 108

A-1917-? Cherry Red Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1918-? How Long Blues Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1919-? Piney Brown Blues Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

Lawrence Brown, trombone; Pete Johnson, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Walter Page, bass; Cliff Leeman, drums; Big Joe Turner, vocals.

New York City, 6th March 1956

A-1920-1 Morning Glories KC LP 108

A-1920-4 Morning Glories KC LP 108

A-1920-? Morning Glories Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

Jimmy Nottingham, trumpet; Lawrence Brown, trombone; Seldon Powell, tenor sax; Pete Johnson, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Walter Page, bass; Cliff Leeman, drums; Big Joe Turner, vocals.

New York City, 7th March 1956

A-1921-2 I Want A Little Girl (incomplete) KC LP 108

A-1921-3 I Want A Little Girl KC LP 108

A-1921-? I Want A Little Girl Atlantic 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1922-1 St Louis Blues KC LP 108

A-1922-? St Louis Blues Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1923-1 You’re Driving Me Crazy KC LP 108

A-1923-? You’re Driving Me Crazy Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

A-1924-? Pennies From Heaven Atlantic LP 1332, Atlantic CD 90668

A-1925-? Wee Baby Blues Atlantic LP 1234, Atlantic CD 8812

CHAMPION JACK DUPREE

Pete Brown, alto and tenor saxes; Champion Jack Dupree, piano and vocals; Larry Dale, guitar; Al Lucas, bass; Willie Jones, drums; Ensemble, vocal-1.

RCA Studio 3, New York City, 15th October 1957

H4PW-7500 My Baby’s Like A Clock Detour LP 33-007

H4PW-7501 Hello Darlin’ Detour LP 33-007

H4PW-7502 Lollipop Baby Vik 0304B, Detour LP 33-007

H4PW-7503-1 Shake, Baby, Shake -1 Vik 0304A, Detour LP 33-007

H4PW-7503-3 Shake, Baby, Shake -1 Detour LP 33-007

Note: H4PW-7503 issued with the matrix H4PW-6155-3, suggesting an earlier session, but it was recorded at this session!

Champion Jack Dupree, piano and vocals; Larry Dale, guitar; Wendell Marshall, bass; Willie Jones, drums.

New York City, 4th February 1958

A-2954 T.B. Blues Atlantic LP 8019, 8255

A-2956 Junker’s Blues Atlantic LP 8019, 8255

A-2959 Bad Blood Atlantic LP 8019, 8255

A-2960 Nasty Boogie Atlantic LP 8019, 8255

A-2961 Stack-O-Lee Atlantic LP 8019, 8255

A-2963 Evil Woman Atlantic 2095, LP 8019, 8255

A-2964 Frankie And Johnny Atlantic 2032, LP 8019, 8255

Note: Missing matrices and reverse sides of Atlantic 2032 and 2095 do not feature Pete Brown.

Big Road Blues Show 2/22/26: Fishing Blues – Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music

February 22, 2026February 17, 2026 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Henry Thomas	Old Country Stomp	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Inspiration-About the Anthology and Structure	Interview
Ramblin' Thomas	Poor Boy Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Jim Jackson	Old Dog Blue	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Blind Willie Johnson	John the Revelator	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Anthology Connections	Interview
William and Versey Smith	When That Great Ship Went Down	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation	I'm in the Battle Field for My Lord	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Charlie Patton	Mississippi Boweavil Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Anthology Structure	Interview
Mississippi John Hurt	Frankie	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Furry Lewis	Kassie Jones Pt 1	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Harry Smith and Influence of Anthology	Interview
Blind Lemon Jefferson	See That My Grave Is Kept Clean	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Cannon's Jug Stompers	Minglewood Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Cincinnati Jug Band	Newport Blues	Interview
Rodney Hargis	Liner Notes and Assembly	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Sleepy John Estes & Yank Rachell	Expressman Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Richard Rabbit Brown	James Alley Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Julius Daniels	99 Year Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Part 4 and Influence	Interview
Mississippi John Hurt	Spike Driver Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Cannon's Jug Stompers	Feather Bed	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	More on the Influence	Interview
Memphis Jug Band	K.C. Moan	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Memphis Jug Band	Bob Lee Junior Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Blind Lemon Jefferson	Rabbit Foot Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Rodney Hargis	Research and Structure of Writing	Interview
Henry Thomas	Fishing Blues	Anthology Of American Folk Music
Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band	Cold Iron Bed	Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4
Minnie Wallace	The Cockeyed World	Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4
Jesse James	Southern Casey Jones	Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4

Show Notes:

Today’s show revolves around the groundbreaking and influential Anthology of American Folk Music, first released as a 6-LP set on Folkways Records in 1952. It was compiled by Harry Smith from his own collection of 78 records. It consists of eighty-four recordings of American folk, blues and country music made and issued from 1926 to 1934 by a variety of performers, divided into three categories: ballads, social music, and songs.

I was aware of the Anthology’s influence and had wanted to do a show devoted to it but had never got around to doing the research. In stepped Rodney Hargis who dropped me an email alerting me to some research he had been publishing on his Substack. Rodney’s project is called Anthology Revisited, which is his “attempt to create the definitive resource to the songs and performers that appear on the Harry Smith Anthology. It’s a song-by-song journey through the Anthology, and each article is devoted to a single song, and is divided into sections on the history of the song, the nuances of the performance that appears on Smiths’ collection, and biographic (and discographic) of each performer on the track. Then, the song’s connections to the preceding tracks are examined to showcase Harry Smith’s masterful curation of the set. Finally, other interpretations of the song (and variants thereof) are included, followed by an exhaustive list of sources.”

I am dubious of much of what I find on the internet, particularly about old blues music, which is often filled with half truths, distortions and flat out erroneous information. Rodney’s writing impressed me with its curiosity, research and and for scrupulously citing his sources. I had decided to reach out to Rodney after poking through his writing and we ended up having a great conversation about the project. I’ve edited our chat and included some terrific blues and gospel tracks that appear on the Anthology. Keep in mind that blues are just a small part of the songs in the collection. Rodney has also curated an Anthology playlist on Spotify

The Anthology sold relatively poorly, with little notice outside of a minor mention in Sing Out! in 1958. It eventually became regarded as a landmark and influential release, particularly for the 1950s and 1960s folk and blues revival. In his book Invisible Republic Greil Marcus described the Anthology as the story of “the old, weird America.” As Marcus elaborates: “…Issued in 1952 on Folkways Records of New York City—as an elaborate, dubiously legal bootleg, a compendium of recordings originally released on and generally long forgotten by such still-active labels as Columbia, Paramount, Brunswick, and Victor—it was the founding document of the American folk revival. “Dave Van Ronk stated that “It was the Bible for hundreds of us.” The Anthology was re-released in 1997 on compact disc with expanded notes and essays.

Harry Smith was a West Coast filmmaker, bohemian eccentric. As a teenager he started collecting old blues, jazz, country, Cajun, and gospel records and accumulated a large collection of 78s. In 1947, he met with Moses Asch, with an interest in selling or licensing the collection to Asch’s label, Folkways Records. Smith wrote that he selected recordings from between “1927, when electronic recording made possible accurate music reproduction, and 1932, when the Great Depression halted folk music sales.” Smith himself designed and edited the anthology and wrote the liner notes.

Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 is a two-disc compilation of twenty-eight songs released on 78 between 1927 and 1940, issued in May 2000 on Revenant Records. This was originally compiled by Smith as the fourth album of his Anthology of American Folk Music set from 1952 but it was never completed by Smith himself. In 2020, Dust-to-Digital released a compilation containing the B-sides of the records included on the Anthology entitled The Harry Smith B-Sides.

Henry Thomas (?), from the film Weltstadt in Flegeljahren: Ein Bericht über Chicago, 1931.

I have written and featured all of the artists on today’s show so I won’t provide that much background but wanted to touch on a few of the performers. The title of today’s show is taken from a Henry Thomas song and based on something Rodney mentioned in the interview. Several years ago my friend John Tefteller featured a photo and ad of Thomas on his annual blues calendar. As John wrote in the calendar: “The Blues community was stunned when a very short film clip was discovered in 2021 of an unidentified Vocalion-era Thomas (matching his grainy advertising photo) performing at Chicago’s legendary Maxwell Street Market.” If you look at the YouTube comments of this clip there is a a detailed comment from David Evans about the musician’s guitar technique, which looks exactly what Thomas used on his records. The silent German film is from 1931 and titled Weltstadt in Flegeljahren: Ein Bericht über Chicago (World City in Its Teens: A Report on Chicago, a.k.a. Chicago: A World City Stretches Its Wings) directed by Heinrich Hauser. In the spring and summer of 1931, German writer, traveler, photographer, and filmmaker Hauser made a trip by car through the American Midwest, with Chicago as his main destination. This voyage resulted in a book, Feldwege nach Chicago or Dirt Tracks to Chicago, and the film. There is a very detailed article about about Hauser by Bill Stamets for the Chicago Reader.

Thomas, nicknamed “Ragtime Texas”, was born in 1874 in Big Sandy, Texas by most accounts, a town which lies roughly between Dallas and Shreveport. The 1874 date marks him as one of the eldest-born blues performers on record. The portrait Thomas presents on his twenty-three recordings cut for Vocalion between 1927 to 1929 provides, as Tony Russell notes, “a wholly absorbing picture of black-country music before it was submerged beneath the tidal wave of the blues.”

Mississippi John Hurt’s name come up several time in our chat and he was a pivotal figure in the 60s blues and folk revival. In 1923, Hurt played with the fiddle player Willie Narmour as a substitute for Narmour’s regular partner, Shell Smith. When Narmour won first place in a fiddle contest in 1928 and got a chance to record for Okeh Records, he recommended Hurt. Hurt took part in two recording sessions where he recorded 20 songs, in Memphis and New York City in 1928. In 1952, musicologist Harry Smith included John’s version of “Frankie and Johnny” and “Spike Driver Blues” in his seminal collection The Anthology of American Folk Music which generated considerable interest in locating him. When a copy of his “Avalon Blues” was discovered in 1963, it led musicologist Dick Spottswood to locate Avalon, Mississippi on a map and ask his friend, Tom Hoskins, who was traveling that way, to enquire after Hurt.

Mississippi Boweavil Blues

Like myself, Rodney and I have a particular fondness for Blind Willie Johnson. I did a show devoted to Johnson just a few months ago, inspired by the book The Ballad of “Blind” Willie Johnson: Race, Redemption, and the Soul of an American Artist by Shane Ford. By the time Blind Willie Johnson began his recording career, he was a well-known evangelist. On December 3, 1927, Johnson made his debut for Columbia Records. In the ensuing session, Johnson played six selections, 13 takes in total. Johnson’s debut became a substantial success, as 9,400 copies were pressed, more than the latest release by one of Columbia’s most established stars, Bessie Smith, and an additional pressing of 6,000 copies followed. Johnson, accompanied by Willie B. Harris, returned to Dallas on December 5, 1928 for a second recording session. Another year passed before Johnson recorded again, on December 10 and 11, 1929, the longest sessions of his career. He completed ten sides in 16 takes at Werlein’s Music Store in New Orleans. For his fifth and final recording session, Johnson journeyed to Atlanta, Georgia, with Harris returning to provide vocal harmonies. Ten selections were completed on April 20, 1930.

Big Road Blues Show 2/8/26: God Knows I Can’t Help It – Forgotten Blues Heroes Pt. 33

February 8, 2026February 10, 2026 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
John Henry Barbee	Six Weeks Old Blues	Memphis Blues 1927-1938
John Henry Barbee	God Knows I Can't Help It	Memphis Blues 1927-1938
Richard & Welly Trice	Come On In Here Mama	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Richard & Welly Trice	Let Her Go God Bless Her	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Richard Trice	Come On Baby	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Willie Baker	Mama, Don't Rush Me Blues	Let Me Tell You About The Blues; Atlanta
Willie Baker	Weak Minded Woman	Country Blues: The Essential
Dennis McMillon	Goin' Back Home	Down Home Blues Classics Vol.6: New York & The East Coast States
Dennis McMillon	Woke Up One Morning	Down Home Blues Classics Vol.6: New York & The East Coast States
John Henry Barbee	You'll Work Down to me Someday	Memphis Blues 1927-1938
John Henry Barbee	Against My Will	Memphis Blues 1927-1938
John Henry Barbee w/ Hammie Nixon & Sleepy John Estes	John Henry's Blues	American Folk Blues Festival '64
John Henry Barbee	Your Friend	Guitar Blues
John Henry Barbee	Hey Baby	Portraits in Blues Vol. 9
Richard Trice	Trembling Bed Springs Blues	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Richard Trice	Shake Your Stuff	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Willie Baker	Sweet Patunia Blues	Charley Lincoln & Willie Baker 1927-1930
Willie Baker	Bad Luck Moan	Charley Lincoln & Willie Baker 1927-1930
John Henry Barbee	I Heard My Baby	Portraits in Blues Vol. 9
John Henry Barbee	I Ain't Gonna Pick No More Cotton	Portraits in Blues Vol. 9
John Henry Barbee	John Henry	Portraits in Blues Vol. 9
John Henry Barbee	Early Morning Blues	Portraits in Blues Vol. 9
John Henry Barbee	Tell Me Baby	Chicago Blues - Live at the Fickle Pickle
John Henry Barbee	Baby I Need Your Love	Chicago Blues - Live at the Fickle Pickle
Richard Trice	Pack It Up And Go	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Richard Trice	Blood Red River Blues	Carolina Blues 1937-1945
Willie Baker	Rag Baby	Charley Lincoln & Willie Baker 1927-1930
Willie Baker	No No Blues	Charley Lincoln & Willie Baker 1927-1930
John Henry Barbee	Somebody Done Change The Lock On My Door	Blues Live
John Henry Barbee	Hey, Woman	Blues Live
John Henry Barbee	I Know She Didn't Love Me	Down Home Slide
Willie Trice	-One Dime Blues	45
Willie Trice	Shine On	Blue & Rag'd
Willie Trice	She's Coming on the C & O	Blue & Rag'd
John Henry Barbee	That Ain't It	Chicago Blues - Live at the Fickle Pickle
Dennis McMillon	Paper Wooden Daddy	Down Home Blues Classics Vol.6: New York & The East Coast States

Show Notes:

John Henry Barbee, Munich, Germany, October 12, 1964. Photo Karl Schneider.

Today’s show is part of a semi-regular, long-running feature I call Forgotten Blues Heroes that spotlights great, but little remembered and little recorded blues artists that don’t really fit into my weekly themed shows. Today we spotlight five singers who cut some terrific sides, some in the pre-war era and some during the post-war period. John Henry Barbee cut four exceptional sides for Vocalion in 1938 and had brief comeback in the early 60s, making more records and even appearing at the American Folk Blues Festival. Willie Trice and his brother Richard became close friends with Blind Boy Fuller who took them up to New York where they cut six sides together for Decca in 1937. Richard Trice recorded after the war for Savoy in 1946 as Little Boy Fuller as well as a couple of sides in 1948 and 1952/53. Richard Trice was later recorded by Pete Lowry but those recordings remain unreleased. Willie recorded the full-length record for Pete’s Trix label in the early 70’s. Dennis McMillon waxed just four sides for Regal in 1949. Willie Baker was a contemporary of the Hicks brothers (Barbecue Bob & Charlie Lincoln) and cut ten sides in 1929.

John Henry Barbee was born William George Tucker in Henning, TN on the Fourteenth of November, 1905. Even when he began to be known as a blues singer and guitarist at local country suppers he was still using his given name. His repertoire ranged beyond the blues to embrace the the broader black folk tradition – minstrel and work songs which he picked up from other players he added to his ever-increasing stock of songs. One song that appealed to him was “John Henry.” It became a sort of signature tune and he was soon known by his song as “John Henry.” He traveled widely through the south in the 30’s where he met blues musicians like Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams who he teamed up with for a while. Then in Memphis he met Sunnyland Slim and for a time they formed a guitar-and-piano team working the joints in the Mississippi Delta. Back in Tennessee he met up With Sonny Boy Williamson I.

He was living across the Mississippi River in Luxora, Arkansas. when he got an invitation to record for Vocalion in the early fall of 1938. Ha made the trip to Chicago and recorded four titles, two of which were issued. His initial record sold well enough to cause Vocalion to call on Barbee again, but by that time he had left his last known whereabouts in Arkansas. Barbee explained that this sudden move was due to his evading the law for shooting and killing his girlfriend’s lover. Eventually, when he felt it safe to emerge, he did so, quietly and under an assumed name. When he was asked to give a complete name for his first record and not just his nick-name of ‘John Henry” he said “Barbee”. It was the name he was known for the rest of his life.

Barbee returned to the blues scene during the midst of the blues revival. His earliest sides are from 1963 recorded at the Chicago club the Fickle Pickle. n 1964 he joined the American Folk Blues Festival on a European tour with fellow blues players, including Lightnin’ Hopkins and Howlin’ Wolf. Of his performance, Paul Oliver wrote: “On stage he seemed the most unaffected of all blues singers, the purest of rural artists. His guitar work was superb —greatly admired by Lightnin who really appreciated him — and his vocals were moving and gentle melodic blues.” He was recorded several times in 1964: songs by him appear on a pair of albums on the Spivey label (Chicago Blues – A Bonanza All Star Blues LP & Encore! for the Chicago Blues), several tracks were recorded while in Europe as well as a an excellent full-length album for Storyville issued as Portraits in Blues Vol. 9 and reissued numerous times. In a case of tragic circumstances, Barbee returned to the United States and used the money from the tour to purchase his first automobile. Only ten days after purchasing the car, he accidentally ran over and killed a man. He was locked up in a Chicago jail, and died there of a heart attack a few days later, November 3, 1964, 11 days before his 59th birthday.

Willie Trice and his brother Richard became close friends with Blind Boy Fuller and Fuller took them up to New York where they cut six sides together for Decca in 1937. Richard Trice recorded after the war for Savoy in 1946 as Little Boy Fuller as well as a couple of sides in 1948 and 1952/53. Richard Trice was later recorded by Pete Lowry but those recordings remain unreleased. Richard was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The family had moved to Raleigh by 1920. From a musical family, Trice learned to play the guitar at a young age and in his adolescence partnered with his older brother, Willie Trice, playing at dances. In the 1930s, he and his brother formed a duo.

Willie Trice – Blue & Rag'd

In Durham, North Carolina, the brothers befriended Blind Boy Fuller in 1933, and it was this relationship that led to the Trice brothers entering a recording studio. At least ten years his elder, Fuller was a great influence on Trice. In July 1937, Willie Trice recorded two sides for Decca Records in New York, with Richard playing second guitar. Issued as being by Welly Trice, the tracks were “Come On In Here Mama” and “Let Her Go God Bless Her”. At the same session, Richard Trice recorded his own compositions, “Come On Baby” and “Trembling Bed Springs Blues”, for Decca billed as Rich Trice, although these were not issued for a little while. In the 1940s, he moved to Newark, New Jersey, and in October 1946 Trice recorded two sides billed as Little Boy Fuller for Savoy Records. They were “Shake Your Stuff” and “Lazy Bug Blues”. He recorded several other tracks over the next six years but all of them were unreleased. All issued sides can be found on the Document label’s Carolina Blues (1936-1950).

In the 1950s, Trice relocated back to North Carolina and joined a gospel quartet. Trice performed at house parties, juke joints, and tobacco warehouses until the early 1960s. In 2000, the film Shine On: Richard Trice and the Bull City Blues was released chronicling Trice’s life story. Richard Trice died in April 2000, in Burnsville, North Carolina, at the age of 82. He was placed alongside his brother who had predeceased him in 1976.

Unlike many of his fellow musician friends, Willie always had a day job and it wasn’t until the 1970’s that he recorded again. Blue And Rag’d, his sole album, was released on Trix in 1973. “Willie Trice”, Lowry wrote” was one of those special people – not just in my life, but in the lives of most everyone who chanced to meet him. We had some sort of special, almost mystical connection… I would irregualry just appear unannounced at the door of his mother’s house and he’d be sitting there waiting for me. He would tell me that he had dreamed of me that night and therefore knew that I was going to be there to see him the next day.” Other recordings by Trice include a 45 for Trix and tracks on the anthologies Carolina Country Blues (Flyright), and Orange County Special (Flyright). There is also some video footage of Willie Trice shot by Joan Fenton in the 70s while she was a folklore student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Goin' Back Home Willie Baker was a contemporary of the Hicks brothers (Robert Hicks AKA Barbecue Bob and Charlie Hicks) and cut ten sides in 1929 (two unissued) for Gennett. He was remembered to play around Patterson, Georgia, and it is possible that he saw Robert Hicks play in a medicine show in Waycross, Georgia. Other than that, nothing further is known. Some of the Gennett recordings were later reissued on subsidiary labels, such as Champion and Supertone under the pseudonyms ‘Steamboat Bill and His Guitar’ (Champion label) and ‘Willie Jones and His Guitar’ (Supertone label). Baker’s own identity has been the subject of speculation over the ensuing decades among blues historians. Some puzzled whether Baker was another Gennett Records inspired pseudonym, with both Barbecue Bob and Charley Lincoln the most likely true performers.

Virtually nothing is know of Dennis McMillon who was born ear Lodge, Colleton County, South Carolina and passed in 1965 in Pennsylvania. He cut four sides in 1949 for Regal, two were unissued until 1969 when they saw release on the Biograph anthology, Sugar Mama Blues.

-Oliver, Paul. John Henry Barbee: Portraits in Blues. Vol. 9. Denmark: Storyville SLP–171, 1965.

-Oliver, Paul. John Henry Barbee/Sleepy John Estes: Blues Live! Denmark: Storyvillehttps: SLP 4074, c1987.

-Mills, Fetzer, Jr. “Richard Trice: You Can’t Smoke a Cigarette at Both Ends.” Living Blues no. 141 (Sep/Oct 1998): 44–47.

-Bastin, Bruce. “Willie Trice: North Carolina Blues Man. Pt. 1. & 2” Talking Blues no. 8 (Jan/Feb/Mar 1979): 2–5; & Talking Blues no. 9/10 (1979): 12–17.

-Lowry, Peter B. “Oddenda & Such … No. 9.” Blues & Rhythm no. 129 (Apr 1998): 13.

Big Road Blues Show 1/18/26: I Wanta Tear It All The Time – Hammie Nixon & Pals

January 18, 2026December 29, 2025 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Hammie Nixon	Louise Blues	Living Country Blues USA: Vol. 4 Tennessee Blues
Hammie Nixon	I Can't Afford To Do	Living Country Blues USA: Vol. 4 Tennessee Blues
Hammie Nixon	Potato Digging Man	Mississippi Delta Blues Festival
Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	All Night Long	Brownsville" Son Bonds And Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	Weary Worried Blues	Brownsville" Son Bonds And Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Drop Down Mama	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Hammie Nixon	Corinna, Corinna	Living Country Blues USA – Introduction
Hammie Nixon	New York City Blues	This Is The Blues Harmonica
Hammie Nixon & Memphis Piano Red	Worried Life Blues	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	Back And Side Blues	Brownsville" Son Bonds And Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Down South Blues	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Someday Baby Blues	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Hammie Nixon	Yellow Yam Blues	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Stone Blind	Chicago Boogie
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Stop That Thing	The Legend of Sleepy John Estes
Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	Trouble Trouble Blues	Blues Box 1
Brother Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	I Want To Live So God Can Use Me	Brownsville" Son Bonds And Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	I Wanta Tear It All The Time	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	You Oughtn't Do That	Portraits In Blues Vol. 10
Walter Cooper w/ Hammie Nixon	Baby Please Don't Go, No. 3	Blues At Home 13
Hammie Nixon	Discusses His Music	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Hammie Nixon	Viola Lee Blues	Living Country Blues USA: Vol. 4 Tennessee Blues
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Need More Blues	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Hobo Jungle Blues	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Clean Up At Home	The Blues at Newport 1964
Sleepy John Estes/Yank Rachell/Hammie Nixon	Rocky Mountain Blues	Yank Rachell's Tennessee Jug-Busters
Sleepy John Estes/Yank Rachell/Hammie Nixon	Wadie Green Blues	The Blues at Newport 1964
Hammie Nixon w/ Walter Cooper	Someday Baby	Living Country Blues USA: Vol. 4 Tennessee Blues
Charlie Sangster w/ Hammie Nixon	Moanin The Blues	Living Country Blues USA: Vol. 4 Tennessee Blues
Charlie Pickett w/ Hammie Nixon	Trembling Blues	Blues Box 1
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More	I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
Hammie Nixon	How Many More Years	Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection
Hammie Nixon	Holy Spirit, Don't You Leave Me	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Hammie Nixon	Hammie Nixon's Boogie	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Hammie Nixon	Going Back To Brownsville	Blues At Home 11
Hammie Nixon	Bottle Up and Go	Tappin' That Thing
Hammie Nixon	It's A Good Place to	Tappin' That Thing
Hammie Nixon	So Long	Hammie Nixon: Blues at Home 12
Son Bonds w/ Hammie Nixon	In My Father's House	Brownsville" Son Bonds And Charlie Pickett 1934-1941
Sleepy John Estes w/ Hammie Nixon	Jesus Is On The Mainline	Live In Japan

Show Notes:

Hammie Nixon (L) & Son Bonds (R). Photo from
2015 Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920s.

Today’s show is devoted to harmonica, kazoo, jug, and guitar player Hammie Nixon. As Luigi Monge wrote: “He was a fully developed and very entertaining artist in his own right as well as a major influence on John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson. At about age eleven his life would change when at a picnic he met [Sleepy John] Estes, with whom Nixon would off and on form one of the longest musical partnerships in the history of the blues.” His first sides were with Brownsville “Son” Bonds in 1934 then started recording with Estes at sessions in 1935 and more prolifically in 1937 for Decca. He also backed Lee Green and Charlie Pickett. Nixon accompanied Estes on his Ora Nelle and Ebony recordings in Chicago in the 1940s. Following Estes’s rediscovery in the 1960s, Nixon’s musical career received a new boost. Whether as a duo or with other musicians, Nixon and Estes recorded a series of albums for Delmark and did a session for Bea & Baby. They toured extensively in the US and Canada, playing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964. In Europe, they performed as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, also recording albums overseas. Not until 197os, however, did Nixon record his first album, for the Italian label Albatros. Many concerts with Estes ensued, among the most important of which were tours with the Memphis Blues Caravan and appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Festival of American Folklife. The seventies also saw Estes and Nixon tour Japan. After Estes passed in 1977, he almost retired but was convinced by David Evans to continue. Evans produced the album Tappin’ That Thing in 1984 and he also played gigs and festivals in his local area, and made several national and two overseas tours before passing in 1984.

Hammie Nixon: Tappin' That Thing Nixon was orphaned at a very young age and raised by a white family, who bought him harmonicas and kazoos. “When was eleven years old, [Sleepy] John [Estes] come up my side of town [Brownsville, Tennessee] playing for a picnic. I was blowing my little ten-cent harmonica, and he heard me and I guess he liked it. So he asked me to help him, and I earned me a dollar-fifty. I thought I was a big man. Well, when we got through playing, somebody’d hired him for a dance, so he said, ‘Stick with me. I’ll ask your mother.’ He promised her to bring me back the next day. So he carried me to the dance, and I made another dollar and a half. So we kept on across the river into Arkansas. Well, we had such a big time in Arkansas, that we kept on into Missouri. We sounded pretty good, and he told me I could make it. I was getting better all the time—started blowing jug, too. When he finally brought me back, he told my mother, ‘He’s good now. And I had enough money in my pocket to buy her a big old twenty-four-pound sack of flour. So she wasn’t too mad. So me and him went off again and stayed six months. That was almost fifty years ago, and we been going off together ever since.” Hammie’s last wife was also Estes’s daughter.

Nixon also played with guitarist Hambone Willie Newbern, a cousin of Estes, and learned some harmonica from Noah Lewis. Alongside playing with Estes in the Brownsville area, Hammie often operated between the South and Chicago from the 1930s to the early 1960s. Born to Hattie Newbern and Aaron Bonds, Son Bonds was one of the number of singers to come from the Brownsville, Tennessee, area, and he grew up in that same region where he learned to play guitar and was soon working the streets with other regional musicians. He began his recording career when he and his street-singing partner, harmonicist Hammie Nixon, recorded for Decca in 1934 as ‘‘Brownsville Son Bonds.’’ He recorded four gospel sides as “Brother Son Bonds,” and returned to the studio to cut two final 1934 sides for Decca as “Hammie and Son.”

It wasn’t until the 70s that Nixon saw sides under his own name. In the early 70’s through the early 80’s Gianni Marcucci made five trips to the United States from Italy to document blues with several albums worth of material issued in the the 1970’s. In 1972 and 1976 Hammie Nixon helped finding some of the performers in Tennessee. In 1976 Mary Helen Looper and Jane Abraham helped in the Delta. Marcucci wrote that “On December 1972, with the help of the legendary harmonica player Hammie Nixon, using a professional portable equipment, I had the chance to start recording blues in Memphis.” He recorded sides by Estes and Nixon in 1972 that were issued on an anthology album. Tennessee Blues Vol. 3 was issued in 1976 featuring Hammie Nixon as the main artist. In 2013 Marcucci began issuing his field recordings on a series of CDs, with volume eleven featuring Eastes and Nixon and twelve devoted mainly to Nixon featuring much unissued material.

Other recordings by Nixon come from the Delta Blues Festival in 1979 and 1980 and sides recorded by Siegfried A. Christmann and Axel Küstner in 1980 issued on their Living Country Blues USA series of albums. Axel also made some recordings of Nixon in 1978 but sound quality is not great. After Estes’s death in 1977, Hammie thought about retiring from music but was convinced by David Evans to join a jug band featuring his harmonica playing and till then underrated singing. In this formation and just with David Evans on guitar, Nixon played gigs and festivals in his local area and made several national and two overseas tours. He passed in August of 1984. The full-length Tappin’ That Thing, produced by Evans, was released in 1984 as well as a 45 for the label two years prior.

Sleepy John Estes was born in Ripley, Tennessee, around 1900. Estes first learned to play guitar from his sharecropper father at age twelve. Soon thereafter, while working in the cotton fields with his family, he crafted his own cigar-box guitar and began to hone his skills at local house parties and fish fries. Around 1915, the Estes family moved to Brownsville, Tennessee, which served as Sleepy John’s base residence periodically for the rest of his life. Brownsville was also home to “Hambone” Willie Newbern, an important early influence, as well as Yank Rachell and Hammie Nixon–musicians with whom Estes partnered at local venues and on professional recordings. Other Brownsville musicians who Estes worked with were pianist Lee Brown and guitarists Son Bonds and Charlie Pickett, all who recorded in the 30’s and all who backed Estes on record. Estes teamed with Rachell to play house parties, picnics, and the streets in the Brownsville area from 1919 to 1927. He also partnered with local harmonica player Hammie Nixon, hoboing Arkansas and southern Missouri with him from 1924 to 1927. At this time jug band music was wildly popular, so Estes started the Three J’s Jug Band with Rachell and jug player Jab Jones. The Three J’s played Memphis, where they competed for exposure in a competitive scene dominated by the Memphis Jug Band.

When the Victor recording company sent a field recording unit to Memphis in September 1929, Estes recorded several sides backed by the Three J’s. He was invited to record again for Victor in May 1930. In all the group cut fifteen sides, three were unissued, over the course of eight session in 1929 and 1930. Estes and Nixon moved to Chicago in 1931 where they played parties and the streets. Estes and Nixon did not record until a July 1935 date with the Champion label where the duo cut six sides at two sessions. As Tony Russell remarks: “Nixon is the nightingale of blues harmonica and his parallel melodies echoing Estes singing on “Someday Baby Blues” and “Drop Down Mama”, to mention just the most famous of their duets, are beautiful in their understated melancholy.” The Decca label brought Estes to New York City to record in 1937 and again in 1938 where he cut eighteen songs, laying down some of his most enduring songs. He was backed by Charlie Pickett on guitar and Hammie Nixon on harmonica. Estes was paired with younger guitarist Robert Nighthawk, perhaps to modernize his sound, for his last six song Decca session in 1940 which lack the spark of his collaborations with Nixon.

Sleepy John Estes (Guitar), Hammie Nixon (Harp), Yank Rachell (Mandolin) — Sleepy John Estes, Hammie Nixon, Yank Rachell, Festival of American Folklife, early 1970s. Photo by Donald Vance Cox.

Estes returned to sharecropping in Brownsville in 1941. In 1948, he and Nixon recorded again for the Ora Nelle label (“Harlem Bound” and “Stone Blind Blues”) but the records went unreleased. Estes went completely blind in 1950 and elected to try his hand at recording again. In 1952 he cut four sides for the Sun label. Estes was rediscovered in 1962 during the blues revival. He cut several albums for Delmark and returned to touring with Hammie Nixon before health problems confined him to Brownsville. Sleepy John Estes died June 5, 1977.

As Paul Garon wrote of Son Bonds: “He recorded with Sleepy John Estes for Decca in 1938, but the 1941 sides for Bluebird like ’80 Highway’ and ‘A Hard Pill to Swallow’ are exceptional for their growling tone and clearly articulated guitars. The sides made at the same session but released under Sleepy John Estes’s name are also quite superior, owing in no small quantity to Bonds’ fine guitar work. He and Estes also split the vocals on six exuberant sides made at the same Bluebird session, issued as by ‘The Delta Boys.’ Mistaken for someone else, he was shot and killed while sitting on a front porch in 1947.”

Big Joe Williams & Hammie Nixon, Brownsville, TN, 1980.
Photo by Axel Küstner.

Other associates of Estes were Charlie Picket and Yank Rachell. In 1962, Yank Rachell was re-united with Nixon and Estes, and the three of them began playing college and coffeehouse circuit, recording for Delmark as Yank Rachell’s Tennessee Jug Busters. Pickett cut four sides for Decca in 1937 backed by Hammie Nixon and Lee Brown. Pickett also played guitar behind Estes on 19 numbers at sessions in 1937 and 1938. He or Estes may have played guitar behind pianist Lee Green at a 1937 session.