Fwd: Re: A heated discussion on 'Race, Gender & the Blues'

Wed May 30 00:36:32 EDT 2012

Joel:

It is good to hear from an expert on pre-war blues in this discussion.
The recordings that made it through the years are only the tip of the
iceberg of what was happening in the rural South before WWII. Record
companies were only interested in artists who might sell records for
them- and lots of them!  As for Robert Johnson it is said that he played
all sorts of music besides blues, but Columbia only wanted to record him
doing blues songs (although he was able to sneak in "They're Red Hot.")

Steve Ahola

On 5/29/2012 9:08 PM, Joel Fritz wrote:
> The most obvious thing I can cite is an almost perfect note for note
> cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues" by a (white) guy named
> Larry Hensley.  Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Rag" became the country
> standard instrumental "Steel Guitar Rag."  Dick Justice's "Cocaine
> Blues" echoes the style of Virginia blues player Luke Jordan.  Kokomo
> Arnold's "Milk Cow Blues" became a country standard in the '30s.  It was
> even covered by Elvis.  On the other hand Casey Bill Weldon and Oscar
> Woods played Hawaiian style guitar very similar to the style that led to
> country steel guitar.  Weldon was very popular in his day.  His biggest
> hit was probably "I'm Going to Move to the Outskirts of Town," which he
> wrote.  "What's the Matter With the Mill" was a standard in the
> repertoire of western swing bands.  A group including Big Bill Broonzy
> and Thomas A. Dorsey recorded a song called "Eagle Riding Papas" that
> was also used, with slightly different lyrics, as Bob Wills' theme
> song.  Starting in New Orleans in the 1890s or so, a tune called "My
> Bucket's Got a Hole in It" was recorded by all sorts of black and white
> players.  It was one of Buddy Bolden's signature tunes.  Some of you may
> remember the version by Ricky Nelson.  :)   I like the Washboard Sam
> version myself.   Sam McGee recorded a few fingerpicking tunes that
> could have just as easily been done by any number of the East Coast
> blues players from the '20s and '30s like Gary Davis, Buddy Moss, Blind
> Boy Fuller, Josh White....
>
> On the other side, Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" was originally called "Ida
> Red."
>
> Fritz Bros Tunes:
> http://www.youtube.com/user/thefritzbrothers?feature=watch
>
>
> On 5/29/2012 2:54 PM, Steve Ahola wrote:
>> Harri:
>>
>> If you go back to the 20's and 30's country and blues artists often
>> played the same songs and I believe that they did influence each other a
>> lot. When we get to the 40's and 50's there was less of a mutual
>> influence as country became C&W and blues became R&B.  (But it was said
>> that when Earl Hooker was touring in the south he would show up at C&W
>> clubs and blow their socks off with his playing.)
>>
>> Steve Ahola
>>
>> On 5/29/2012 2:23 PM, Harri Haka wrote:
>>> I had the priviilige of meeting Willie "Big Eyes" Smith two months
>>> before he died. We talked about white singers with a black voice e.g.
>>> Tom Jones. And Charley Pride and Ray Charles doing c&w. I doubt that
>>> blues musicians were actually influenced by c&w and  all of us can hear
>>> this on recordings and live shows. To be a smart ass, one might say
>>> that
>>> every musician is influenced by Beethoven. But Chuck Berry gave his
>>> answer to that question.
>>> Harri
>>>
>>>
>>> 29.5.2012 6:09, Tom Hyslop kirjoitti:
>>>> Harri,
>>>>
>>>>  Respectfully submitted, your position as stated is simply incorrect.
>>>>
>>>>  Every bluesman of a certain age that I have interviewed - including
>>>> Magic Slim, Phillip Walker, Big Jack Johnson, John Primer, and many
>>>> others - professed a deep and abiding love for country music. Whether
>>>> it was an innate feeling for the style or the fact that it was all
>>>> they heard on the radio, as has been mentioned, does not much matter.
>>>> Howlin' Wolf cited the yodeling of The Singing Brakeman, Jimmie
>>>> Rodgers, as the inspiration for his own vocalizations. Mel Brown
>>>> toured with Tompall Glaser, just as he did with Bobby Bland; Glaser is
>>>> a country artist. You can look it up. Or you can continue to believe
>>>> what you want, rather than to face facts.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>> tom
>>>>
>>>> At 3:34 AM +0300 5/29/12, Harri Haka wrote:
>>>>> 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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