A heated discussion on 'Race, Gender & the Blues'

[Louis Erlanger]

Big Jack Johnson played w Conway Twitty, as did Sam Carr. Johnny Copeland liked Hank Williams. Lightning Hopkins &John Lee Hooker recorded country tunes. And what about Ray Charles?

Ricky Stevens <deltabluz@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>My personal experince disagrees with what Hari writes below.
>
>When I was growing up in the Delta most of the older people, black and white, listened to and appreciated musicians like Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, The Carter Family, and Hank Williams.  I've had many discussions with black people from the Delta, both  musicians and non-musicians, who told me about listening to Nashville's WSM Clear Channel 650, home of the Grand Ole Opry.  I remember one older black woman whose personal favorite was Little Jimmy Dickens. 
>
>My wfe's grandfather was a guitar player.  He claimed that his group and WC Handy's group would alternate weekends at some of the local dances in Tunica and Coahoma counties.  He said they played pretty much the same set lists, a mix of whatever was popular on the radio at the time whether big band, blues, or "hillbilly" music as the term country was not then in use.  These gigs included split stage performances with whites dancing on one side of the stage and blacks on the other.
>
>In short, the statement that there was no general interest in country music among the black audience just isn't true, at least not in my part of the Mississippi Delta. 
>
>Ricky Stevens 
>
>Arkabutla, Mississippi
>
>> Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 03:34:50 +0300
>> From: harri.haka@GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Re: A heated discussion on 'Race, Gender & the Blues'
>> To: BLUES-L@LISTSERV.NETHELPS.COM
>> 
>> Like I was saying, there was not a general interest for country music
>> among the wider black audience. It is of course natural for a talent
>> like B.B. King to have studied all genres including country and jazz.
>> But does any of this reflect on his actual playing or singing? He has
>> flirted with U2, Eric Clapton and others in the past years but I hardly
>> find a c&w influence on any of his recordings. Mississippi John Hurt is
>> greatly respected but he was a folk singer and story teller with a
>> natural connection to country music of his time.
>> Harri
>> 
>> 
>> 29.5.2012 2:35, jinxblues@aol.com kirjoitti:
>> >
>> >     Not wanting to take part in the c&w discussion more than to say that
>> >     there was never a general interest in country music within the black
>> >     community.
>> >
>> >     ------------
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     This is absolutely not true.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     Blues people growing up in the south in the 1930s and 1940s all listened to WLAC (Nashville) with its powerful signal.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     B.B.King told me in great detail how he had listen to Gene Autry and Red Foley and Jimmy Rogers.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     Mississippi John Hurt's "Let the Mermaids Flirt with me" is unmistakably Jimmy Rogers'"All Around the Water Tank" a/k/a "Waiting for a Train."
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Dick Waterman
>> > 1601 Buchanan Avenue
>> > Oxford, MS 38655
>> >
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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