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Blues Off the Record

Jan 9, 2021 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

With Sonny Boy Williamson III

12:01 PM		Mississippi Jook Band Hittin' the Bottle Stomp Back to the Crossroads: The Roots of Robert Johnson
12:02 PM		John "Thunder" Byrd Old Timbrook Blues The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of: Super Rarities 2006
12:07 PM		Long "Cleave" Reed The Down Home Boys Original Stack O'Lee Blues The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of: Super Rarities
12:09 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
12:11 PM		Archibald and Dave Bartholomew Stack-A-Lee, Pt. 1 & 2 New Orleans Finest
12:17 PM		Two Poor Boys Take A Look At That Baby American Primitive, Vol. II - Pre-War Revenants 2005
12:20 PM		Bayless Rose Original Blues American Primitive, Vol. II - Pre-War Revenants 2005
12:24 PM		Elder Otis Jones Holy Mountain American Primitive, Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel 1997
12:26 PM		William & Versey Smith Sinner You'll Need King Jesus American Primitive, Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel 1997
12:30 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
12:30 PM		Washington Phillips Paul and Silas In Jail The Key To the Kingdom 2005
12:33 PM		Blind Willie Johnson Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Dark Was the Night (Mojo Workin')
12:35 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
12:39 PM		Unknown That Regal Feeling Savage Rockin' Girls
12:41 PM		Kathy Zee Buzzin' Savage Rockin' Girls
12:43 PM		Toni Dee June, July, and August Savage Rockin' Girls
12:44 PM		Jumpin' Joe Williams with Red Saunders Weekday Blues The Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957
12:47 PM		Pinnochio James Pinnochio's Blues The Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957 Okeh/Legacy/Epic 1993
12:50 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
12:51 PM		The Bill Davis Trio Bring the Money In The Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957 Okeh/Legacy/Epic 1993
12:54 PM		Annie Laurie I'm In the Mood for You The Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957 Okeh/Legacy/Epic 1993
12:55 PM		Bobby "Blue" Bland Turn On Your Love Light Turn On Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings, Vol. 2 Geffen 1994
12:59 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
1:01 PM		Booker White High Fever Blues Parchman Farm
1:02 PM		Ishman Bracey Bust Up Blues Saturday Blues
1:05 PM		Blind Pete & Partner Booker Mississippi Blues & Gospel 1934 - 1942
1:08 PM		Mance Lipscomb So Different Blues You Got to Reap What You Sow The Entertainers 1964
1:12 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
1:12 PM		Blind Boy Fuller I Crave My Pig Meat Blind Boy Fuller Vol. 5 1938 - 1940 1992
1:15 PM		Washboard Sam Hand Reader Blues Washboard Sam Vol. 3 (1938) 2005
1:19 PM		Bumble Bee Slim Bad Gal (Take A) Bumble Bee Slim Vol. 2 1934 2002
1:23 PM		Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Cool Disposition Rock Me Mama 1961
1:26 PM		Georgia Fife & Drum Band Late in the Evening The George Mitchell Collection, Vol. 5 2014
1:27 PM		Lightnin' Hopkins and Billy Bizor Mojo Hand Prestige Profiles: Lightnin' Hopkins
1:30 PM		Juke Boy Bonner Lonesome Ride Back Home The Sonet Blues Story Universal Music AB 1972
1:33 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
1:35 PM		George Carter Ghost Woman Blues Georgia Blues & Gospel 1927–1931
1:41 PM		Furry Lewis Big Chief Blues Furry Lewis - His Best 22 Recordings
1:42 PM		Clara Smith Cold Weather Papa Clara Smith Vol. 2 (1924) 2005
1:44 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
1:44 PM		Sippie Wallace Underworld Blues Sippie Wallace Vol. 1 (1923-1925) 2005
1:48 PM		Sippie Wallace I'm So Glad I'm Brownskin Sippie Wallace Vol. 1 (1923-1925) 2001
1:50 PM		Victora Spivey and Lonnie Johnson Furniture Man Blues (Pt. 2) The Victoria Spivey Collection
1:55 PM		Dinah Washington Homeward Bound The Best In Blues Verve Reissues 1957
1:57 PM		Charles Brown Sail on Blues Trouble Blues Catfish Records 2000
2:02 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
2:02 PM		T-Bone Walker Papa Ain't Salty T-Bone Blues 1959
2:05 PM		Little Walter Lights Out The Complete Chess Masters
2:08 PM		Lowell Fulson Blue Shadows Blues Shadows
2:10 PM		Tampa Red My First Love Blues The Essential Tampa Red RCA/Legacy 1941
2:14 PM		Buddy Moss Someday Baby Buddy Moss Vol. 2 1933 - 1934 1988
2:17 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
2:17 PM		Jimmie Rodgers Gambling Bar Room Blues The Essential Jimmie Rodgers RCA/Legacy 2013
2:20 PM		Cab Calloway Minnie the Moocher (Theme Song) Best of Big Bands: Cab Calloway Columbia 1990
2:24 PM		Slim Harpo Loving You (The Way I Do) The Excello Singles Anthology Universal Music Enterprises 2003
2:27 PM		Fleetwood Mac I Believe My Time Ain't Long The Pious Bird of Good Omen 1967
2:30 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
2:32 PM		Muddy Waters Kind Hearted Woman More Real Folk Blues Geffen 1967
2:34 PM		Johnny Shines You Don't Have To Go (feat. Big Walter Horton) Johnny Shines (feat. Big Walter Horton) HighTone Records 1969
2:37 PM		Howlin' Wolf No Place to Go (You Gonna Wreck My Life) Moanin' in the Moonlight Geffen 1958
2:39 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
2:41 PM		The Holy Modal Rounders Fishing Blues 1 & 2 (Remastered) 1964
2:43 PM		Dave Van Ronk Black Mountain Blues The Folkways Years 1959-1961 1959
2:46 PM		Mississippi John Hurt Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me D.C. Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1 1989
2:49 PM		Ramblin' Jack Elliott Waiting for a Train British Traditional Jazz (At a Tangent), Vol. 2 Lake Records 2012
2:52 PM		Alexis Korner Trouble in Mind British Traditional Jazz (At a Tangent), Vol. 2 Lake Records 2012
2:57 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
2:57 PM		Little Brother Montgomery Just the Blues British Traditional Jazz (At a Tangent), Vol. 2 Lake Records 2012

Chat is archived.

Hey there, DJ... Will ? DJ Sonny Boy ? (I am not sure how you would like to be referred to.-- What I am here to say is that I am very appreciative of what you do. I love how you are giving me an all too short respite from these crazy, disturbing, infuriating times.--Thank you !

Hi Shane! Will, Sonny Boy - either is fine! I really appreciate you saying so! Thanks for listening.

Hi, Sonny Boy. I agree with Shane, you have a great show and I listen every week without fail. There's a RYKO disc; "Get With The Beat: The Mar-Vel' Masters that would fit in in with your show I think. Rock and Roll, country, and some cowboy swing. Keep up the good work and stay safe LG

Hi Lance! Thanks so much -- I'll have a look out for that disc too.

Really enjoying the Okeh Records sides. "Bring the Money In" by the Bill Davis Trio was worth a fortune of enjoyment LOL

Thanks Richard lol! I loved the organ on that number.

This current number is really interesting. Bracey, thought of as a Delta blues singer, is backed here by New Orleans Nehi Boys, featuring Kid Ernest Michall on clarinet and Charles Taylor on piano. A reminder that the musical range of most Delta musicians was a lot wider than their recorded legacy captures.

Yes! As Chris Albertson documented in his landmark biography of Bessie Smith: yes, she was the "Empress of the Blues" but was also a successful musical review producer, and in her shows she'd not only sing but dance with a small troupe of women performers, tell jokes in standup comedy routines, etc. etc. A wide musical and overall performing range!

Hi SBW III welcome to the live remote radio world ! And thanks for the weekly Blues Music education:)

Hi Mark! Thanks for listening :)

Sometime in the 1980s, I saw Sippie Wallace sing on TV with Big Mama Thornton and some younger woman pianist whose name I don’t remember.

Got to love youtube -- could it be this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-fd3cNc8tE

That is definitely it.

Very cool!

Yep, I'd say that "Gambling Bar Room Blues" melody is a ringer for "St. James Infirmary"! I hadn't heard the Jimmie Rodgers recording for ages, so it really makes an impact for that reason.

The lyrics basically confirm it too: "I went down to the corner just to meet my gal" vs "I'm goin' down to St. James Infirmary to see my little baby there" (some version have a frame narrative set in "old Joe's bar-room"). The instrumentation and arrangment is also pretty striking compared to Rodger's earlier recordings.

Yes, indeed, Rodgers made some serious forays into the African American blues (Louis Armstrong himself played on a recording of "Blue Yodel No. 9." But that version of "Gambling Bar Room Blues" has the most ambitious blues arrangement and instrumentation that I've ever heard.

And mega thanks for the YouTube version of the show "Three Generations of the Blues" with Sippie Wallace, Big Mama Thornton and Jeannie Cheatham. I got chills just sampling it quickly. Wow ...

Thanks to David for bringing it to our attention!

Yessir, David, thanks!

The Holy Model Rounders! YAYYYY!!!

Exactly right about the Rounders getting a lot of their early repertoire from the seminal collection The Anthology of American Folk Music, assembled and produced by Harry Smith on Folkways Records. Happily, Rounders fiddler/banjo picker/singer Peter Stampfel has contributed an essay to the booklet included in the wonderful newly-released 4-CD collection The Harry Smith B-Sides on Dust To Digital Records.

I haven't seen that compilation -- though I read the pieces you emailed some months ago about the release and some of the controversy around it. I'll add it to my wish-list!

The B-Sides are typically as good or close to the _A Sides" in Harry Smith's exacting original selections.