Category: Blues Ads

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
John Tefteller	Twenty Years of Calendars	Interview 10.7.22
Papa Charlie Jackson	Lexington Kentucky Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Funny Papa Smith	Interview 10.7.22
Funny Paper Smith	Old Rounder's Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Willie Borum	Interview 10.7.22
Memphis Willie Borum	Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Any	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Henry Thomas	Interview 10.7.22
Henry Thomas	Run, Mollie, Run	Blues Images Vol. 20
Axel Küstner	Henry Thomas Film Clip	Interview 10.19.22
Josh White	No More Ball and Chain	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Colored Ads	Interview 10.7.22
Texas Alexander	Blue Devil Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
Edith North Johnson	Beat You Doing It	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Edith North Johnson	Interview 10.7.22
John Tefteller	Irene Scruggs	Interview 10.7.22
Irene Scruggs with Little Brother Montgomery	St. Louis Woman Blues - Test, Take 1	Blues Images Vol. 20
Axel Küstner	Baby Scruggs Background	Interview 10.19.22
Irene Scruggs with Little Brother Montgomery	St. Louis Woman Blues - Test, Take 2	Blues Images Vol. 20
Axel Küstner	Remastering the Record	Interview 10.19.22
Axel Küstner	Settling In Germany	Interview 10.19.22
Irene Scruggs (Chocolate Brown) & Blind Blake	You Got What I Want	Blues Images Vol. 12
Axel Küstner	Dietrich Von Staden/Little Brother/Irene & Baby Scruggs	Interview 10.19.22
Irene Scruggs (Chocolate Brown) & Blind Blake	Cherry Hill	Blues Images Vol. 12
Axel Küstner	Meeting Baby Scruggs	Interview 10.19.22
Axel Küstner	More on Baby Scruggs	Interview 10.19.22
Irene Scruggs	My Back To The Wall	I Can't Be Satisfied: Early American Women Blues Singers
Axel Küstner	Baby's Death and Getting the Records	Interview 10.19.22
Axel Küstner	Little Brother's First Recordings	Interview 10.19.22
Irene Scruggs w/ Blind Blake	Itching Heel	Mama Let Me Lay It On You
Baby Scruggs	Interview Segment	Trierweiler, Germany, Sept. 28, 2011
John Tefteller	Louisiana Red and 4 Star	Interview 10.7.22
Playboy Fuller	Freight Train In The Morning	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	More on Louisiana Red	Interview 10.7.22
Playboy Fuller	Going Back To Mobile	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Pete Franklin	Interview 10.7.22
Pete Franklin	Mr. Charlie	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Ma Rainey	Interview 10.7.22
Ma Rainey	Big Boy Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
Blind Blake	Blake's Worried Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Blind Blake & Blind Lemon	Interview 10.7.22
Blind Lemon Jefferson	Balky Mule Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Joe Bussard & Brother Fullbossum	Interview 10.7.22
Brother Fullbosom	A Sermon on A Silver Dollar	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Charlie Patton and the Calendar Inspiration	Interview 10.7.22
Charlie Patton	Poor Me	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	I'm Going Away and Future Projects	Interview 10.7.22
Frank Stokes	I'm Going Away Blues	Blues Images Vol. 20
John Tefteller	Still Hunting for Records/Final Words	Interview 10.7.22

Show Notes: 

 

 

Today’s program is devoted to record collector, and frequent guest to this show, John Tefteller who’s record collection contains some of the rarest blues 78’s in existence. Every year around this time John, through his Blues Images imprint, publishes his Classic Blues Artwork Calendar with a companion CD that matches the artwork with the songs. It’s always a great day when I come home to find John’s calendar on my porch. The CD’s have also been one of the main places that newly discovered blues records turn up. This one is a bit bittersweet because after twenty years this John’s last calendar. Of course this won’t be the last we hear of John as he has several projects in the works.

Once again John has turned up newly discovered sides which I’ll be featuring today. For the last calendar John has gone out with a bang with several long-lost tracks by Funny Paper Smith, Willie Borum, and newly discovered Paramount’s by Edith North Johnson and Irene Scruggs backed by Little Brother Montgomery. We also get the only known copy of Brother Fullbosom’s lone 78 cut for Paramount from the late Joe Bussard‘s collection. Continuing a trend starting the past several years, is the inclusion of multiple tracks by artists and post-war material. This time we get some of the earliest sides by Louisiana Red and a great Pete Franklin record. The rest of the material is all pre-war blues and gospel including gems by Josh White, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, Ma Rainey, Frank Stokes and others. In addition to interviewing John, we also chat with my friend Axel Küstner who has tells the story of how he obtained the Irene Scruggs test records and some interview segments from Irene’s daughter, Baby Scruggs.

John’s reissues are not only noteworthy for the newly discovered records but also for the quality of the mastering which make these old, often battered 78’s sound so good. For the past six years a brand-new method, using old equipment and new computer technology, has been used to make these records sound even better. And of course, the calendar itself is a thing of beauty, packed with gorgeous blues ads and some never-before-seen photos. These year we get some gorgeous color ads including striking ones by Josh White (“No More Ball And Chain”) and Texas Alexander (“Blue Devil Blues”). John tells that some ads were originally in color although most were in black and white. Occasionally John and his team have colorized the old ads.

Several years ago John uncovered a huge cache of Paramount promotional material. Paramount marketed their “race records”, as they were called, to African-Americans, most notably in the pages of the Chicago Defender, the weekly African-American newspaper, and sent promotional material to record stores and distributors. In later years they created artwork to advertise their records for mail order. John bought a huge cache of this artwork from a pair of journalists who rescued them from the rubbish heap some twenty years previously and has been reprinting the artwork in his annual calendars. When blues finally broke out on record in the early 1920’s the record companies had to find a way to reach black audiences. Since broadcasting was still not generally available, record companies used newspapers and magazines as their principal advertising media. In this period the main vehicles for advertising jazz and blues records were the featured music and theater pages of black newspapers such as the New York Age, New York Amsterdam News, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Baltimore Afro-American and, most notably, the Chicago Defender. Ads and artwork appeared in other places as well including newspaper supplements, magazines, mail order catalogs, record company catalogs plus promotional flyers, advertising banners and dealer’ list of bestselling records all sent to record dealers.

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

“Old Rounder’s Blues” by “Funny Paper” Smith is from his first recording session on Sept. 18, 1930; both “Hobo Blues” and “Old Rounder Blues” cut at that session were unissued. This track came from a one-sided test pressing found in Virginia in in May of this year. John notes in the interview that if you see something listed as unissued in the blues discography there must have been a test pressing made. Whether that test still exists somewhere is another story.

In Mack McCormick & Paul Oliver’s Blues Come to Texas they write the following: “Howling Wolf, the guitarist whom Lowell Fulson replaced as Texas Alexander’s accompanist, was the most elusive of musicians. For so little known a singer, he was surprisingly well recorded, for between September 1930 and April 1931, he made some twenty issued recordings. On these his reputation depends, for although he reappeared in Forth Worth in April 1935 to record nearly as many again, not a single title at the second group of sessions was ever released. …All his records were issued as by ‘Funny Paper Smith,’ and in some instances were followed by the name ‘J.T. Smith’ while the majority of his records bore the sobriquet, ‘The Howling Wolf.’ He took his name, or the name was ascribed, not because of the manner of his singing, but the content of the song: ‘I’m the wolf that howls…can’t you hear me howling baby round your front door.’ This theme he recorded in two parts for his first issued record, again as a further two-part record in January 1931, and the unissued titles made April 23rd 1935 included parts 5 and 6 of ‘Howling Wolf Blues.’” Apparently he was still alive when McCormick was inquiring about him in 1962 in the town of Smithville. From this he learned about his life and that his real name was Otis Cook. McCormick found his sister who had last seen him in 1960. Musicians Leon Benton and Buster Pickens both knew him as well.

Another major find this year is Memphis Willie Borum’s “Ain’t Gonna Worry My Life Any More.” On Sept. 17,1934 Willie Borum cut four sides for Vocalion all of which were unreleased at the time. “Ain’t Gonna Worry My Life Any More” was never issued in the USA but turned up on a Japanese 78 on the Lucky label. The record was incorrectly labeled as a Buddy Moss song. The backstory is that a collector living in Japan, Dave Hignett, found this. Collector Russell Shor acquired it from Dave for consignment, then sold it to John. This flip side is a non descript dance orchestra from 1934. On the same date Borum backed Allen Shaw on three numbers, only two of which was issued. Four days prior, Borum and Shaw backed singer Hattie Hart on five numbers, three sides were issued and Borum helped with the vocal on “Coldest Stuff in Town.” Borum was rediscovered by Sam Charters in 1961, recording two LP albums for Bluesville.

Paramount is the holy grail label for blues collectors and thanks to John we get to to hear some long lost Paramount’s by Edith North Johnson and Irene Scruggs. Johnson married Jesse Johnson, a St. Louis record producer and worked at her husband’s Deluxe Music Store as a saleswoman. Johnson recorded eighteen sides in 1928 and 1929. She started on QRS Records in 1928 then switched to Paramount. “Beat You Doing It b/w Whispering To My Man” comes from a two-sided test pressing. According to John the records was probably issued commercially but no copy has been found. Sam Charters located her in 1961 and recorded her, accompanied by Henry Brown, for the album The Blues in St. Louis, Vol. 2: Henry Brown and Edith Johnson: Barrelhouse Piano and Classic Blues, released by Folkways Records.

The two-sided test pressing of “St. Louis Woman Blues” by Irene Scruggs and Little Brother Montgomery comes from the collection of my friend Axel Küstner. Axel came into possession of this from Irene Scruggs’ daughter, Baby Scruggs who was living in Germany when she died. What follows is the story Axel told me which I’ve edited slightly. “‘Leazar “Baby’ Scruggs was born Feb. 13, 1920 and appeared on shows and revues as a dancer (some of which also featured her mother) as early as 1929 – billed as ‘the child wonder’. Together they came to England in 1952/53 where Baby danced and Irene also performed as a singer (from the photo I have of her from that time with British Jazz bands). While in London she was interviewed in 1953 by the German pioneer Jazz & Blues pianist/collector/researcher Günter Boas (1920 – 1993), who  used this interview for his radio show ‘Blues For Monday’ for station AFN (American Forces Network) at Frankfurt, West Germany. Baby worked as a nightclub dancer all over Europe  from that time until  1970 with her mother as her manager. Baby also had some small acting roles in German movie and TV productions. Her last engagement was in Trier, West Germany and they both wound up living there. In late 1978 they were relocated there by the late German Little Brother Montgomery fanatic Dietrich Von Staden. Irene died in Tier in 1981. Baby continued living in Trier and with the help of a social worker was finally put into a senior citizen’s home at Trierweiler (a couple of miles outside of Trier) in 2008.

Willie Borum 1934 and a Japanese Buddy Moss 78 which is actually Willie Borum’s “Ain’t Gonna Worry My Life Any More.”

My friend Fritz Marschall, an avid Blues & Jazz collector of Frankfurt, relocated Baby Scruggs there in 2011 and in Sept. that same year Fritz and me visited her at the retirement home. She remembered as having been at every recording session of her mother – remembering Blind Blake as a funny character who liked to tell a lot of jokes. I’m sure that  in 2011 she was the only person alive to have been in a recording studio with Blind Blake! We knew about the rumors of possible test pressings of her mother but when we asked her about any old records that she might still have we got a negative response from her. Maybe she was too old to remember or she was distrustful. A few years back I had arranged with the retirement home to have her very few personal belongings sent to me after her death. When they called me after her death on Jan. 16, 2019 (only 4 weeks before her 99th birthday!) I was told that there were also ‘some old gramophone discs’ among her  belongings (mostly her old contracts and a few promo photos of her career as a dancer). Luckily everything arrived here OK and I am now the proud owner of this ultra-rare 2 sided Paramount test of ‘St. Louis Woman Blues’ with vocal by Irene Scruggs and piano by Little Brother Montgomery (which according to the matrix nos. are his very first recordings!).”

As Axel notes, this marks the very first recordings by Little Brother Montgomery as evidenced by the matrix numbers on the 78; Montgomery’s first record under his own name is “Vicksburg Blues (L-502-1) b/w No Special Rider” Blues ((L-501-1). “St. Louis Woman Blues” has matrix number L-495-1-2 which makes his earliest recording because Scrugg’s other records from the same session are “Good Grinding (L-497-2) b/w Must Get Mine In Front” (L-499-2). Axel notes that “the 78s  I got from Baby are the 2-sided, white label (with handwriting) Pm test in V condition (but no gray grooves) & Pm 12978 “You Got What I Want / Cherry Hill Blues” (by Irene Scruggs as “Chocolate Brown” with Blind Blake), with a haircrack in  V+ condition. Probably the 3rd known copy. Also Ristic 7 – a  british reissue of “You’ve Got What I Want / My Back To The Wall” (Gennett 7296 / Supertone 9769) in E condition. The brown paper sleeve of this disc has a handwritten message to  Irene, probably from John R.T. Davies (1927 – 2004), a Jazz musician / producer & famous sound-engineer, who operated the Ristic label from 1949 – 1972.”

Several months back I did a feature on Louisiana Red with help from Axel who was a long-time friend of Red’s. On John’s latest calendar he’s included four songs by Red from a J-V-B master tape in his possession which includes unissued performances. J-V-B was operated by Joe Von Battle out of Detroit. According to one story Louisiana Red met Muddy Waters when he was a teenager when Muddy was passing through Pittsburg and Red got to sit in with him. After Red got discharged from the Army he went to Chicago and reconnected with Muddy. Muddy hooked him up with Chess where Red recorded ten sides for Chess in 1952 under the name Rocky Fuller. Only one coupling came out on Checker: “Soon One Morning b/w Come On Baby Now.” The other sides eventually saw the light of day in the 80s on an LP shared with sides by Forrest City Joe titled Memory Of Sonny Boy. Two of the Chess numbers featured Little Walter on harmonica. In 1953 Red recorded several numbers in Detroit. “Gonna Play My Guitar b/w Sugar Cane Highway”, recorded by John Von Battle, was issued as Playboy Fuller on the Fuller label. Another song, “Boogie Woogie All Night Long” with John Lee Hooker on second guitar first appeared on the 1961 Hooker album Sings the Blues on the Crown label credited to Hooker. “Early Evening Blues” is another track cut by  Joe Von Battle and first surfaced on the 1977 on the Barrelhouse album Blues Guitar Killers Detroit 1950’s.

St. Louis Woman Blues – Test Take 1 & 2 Irene Scruggs with Little Brother Montgomery

An ad for Henry Thomas‘ “Run Mollie Run” graces this year’s calendar cover but the twist is that there’s also a new photo of Thomas. As John writes 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.

Charley Patton has appeared on many of John’s CD’s including the very first one and this time out we get his “Poor Me” from his final session in 1934. It’s fitting Patton is on here because the inspiration for the calendars was when John found a huge cache of blues artwork including a full-body portrait of Patton. That Patton originally graced a calendar that Paramount would send to record dealers. It was that that photo graced the very first blues calendar back in 2004.