Tale #39.Fannie Mae

9th October 2011

Tale #38.Wang Dang Doodle

2nd October 2011

Tale #37.Booba Barnes Ain'y Gonna Worry

25th Sept

Tale #36.Breakdown in Chicago

Tale #35.Stop This Killing

Tale #34.Drop Down Mama

Tale #33.Trombone Time

Kai Winding played trombone in the jazz bebop idiom, mainly for the Stan Kenton oufit; he told his session arranger, Garry Sherman, that he wanted to try something with a rhythmic harder edge. Garry hooked him up with Jerry Ragavoy who wrote “Time Is On My Side” in about an hour on the afternoon of the 1963 recording. (As an aside his “Cry Baby” for Garnett Mimms took over 18 months to write).

The backing vocalists were Cissy Houston and sisters Dionne and Dee Warwick, all now noted solo artists and the song hints at a gospel passion through the arrangement. It was that aspect which appealed to Irma Thomas for her cover in short order with added lyrics by Jimmy Norman early in 1964 (her version is often wrongly cited as the original).

Within a few weeks (June 1964) the Rolling Stones were touring the States and cut their first version with a short organ intro – issued on their US album called “12X5”. By November the band redid the song with a guitar intro that became their best known version on single and on their second UK album. The guitar intro version is the one found on film soundtracks and compilations of hits. Subsequently the song has been taken on by many singers though none with the commercial success of the Rolling Stones.

Kai Winding went onto solo projects that embraced jazz, country, rock,and classics; he gave jazz clinics and produced trombone instructional materials.

Tale #32.Wilbert gets to Kansas

In 1952 lyricist Jerry Leiber and tunesmith Mike Stoller couldn’t agree on the arrangement for “Kansas City” the song they wrote especially for West Coast artist, Little Willie Littlefield: Mike got his way though the title was changed to “K. C. Lovin’” after producer Ralph Bass thought it had more street cred.

Wilbert Harrison did the song live but it was 1959 before he took it to the studios in Harlem for Bobby Robinson’s Fury label. The arrangement was intended to emulate Littlefields but the solid groove actually came alive through the guitar solo of Wild Jimmy Spruill. So much so the single got to number 1 and sold a million copies, despite three other competing versions released the same week in April 1959.

Shortly after Harrison’s hit version Little Richard combined it with “Well Well Well Well” as a medley for his single version and live act. The medley inspired the remake the Beatles did on their album “For Sale” in 1964. The song has been covered 300 times including by Trini Lopez and by Peggy Lee with subsequent blues versions from Muddy Waters and Albert King. It was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001

Tale #31.Nina's in the House

Like most great stories there’s a fuzzy line at the edge of fact, and though it’s clear this story refers to somewhere in New Orleans the great web out there says it may actually originate as an English Folk song. We’re pretty sure that the musicologist Alan Lomax recorded the song in Kentucky performed by 16 year old Georgia Turner in September 1937. That one set the tone of many later versions by putting the point of view as female in “The House of The Rising Sun”. It had sex, drugs and alcohol it its cautionary lyrics. Put these in the context of a gambling hall or brothel in the Crescent City and things seemed pretty clear cut.

Nina Simone covered the song live in 1961 and may well have been the record that Alan Price heard when he suggested the song to the Animals for their 1964 hit that got to number one here, in the States and in Europe. They moved the focus of the song to a male viewpoint, though they weren’t first. Shortly after Ms Simone, Bob Dylan also did the song though his muse was gotten by copying the version his friend Dave van Ronk already had in his live set. What’s more Dave had his own theory about the House of the Rising Sun.

Dave’s research dug up a photograph of the entrance gates to the New Orleans Parish Women’s prison – complete with motif of a Rising Sun. So the “ball and chain” of the lyrics could be real not a metaphor for the shackles of married life.

Thanks to the Animals, the song is in the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame; Frijid Pink scored another number one with the piece in 1969 and Dolly Parton did it on her 9 to 5 album with additional words. Nina Simone was a classically trained pianist who crossed several musical genres from jazz to pop to gospel. Her nickname was “the High-Priestess of Soul”; an independent thinker with a volatile temperament and strong convictions who campaigned for Civil Rights, Nina found herself on the outside of so much of the Establishment, small wonder she included the outspoken song in her armoury.

Tale #30.Ray Sharpe's stacked to the max

'Cryin' In The Chapel' was written by Artie Glenn and recorded by his son Darrel. They had some spare studio time they gave to Ray Sharpe to let him cut some demo songs on the understanding that they would get some action if the demos lead to a recording contract.

Producers Lee Hazelwood and Lester Still liked what they heard so Ray got a deal with the Jamie label. The subject of his first single was written about a girlfriend of one of his buddies who he later described as “stacked to the max”: Linda Lu. It was one of three songs they did at Audio Sound Studios in Phoenix with Al Casey in the band. There's no truth in the legend that Duane Eddy played guitar on the song.

In those days singles were first put out into strategic markets to test the water before wider distribution. The a-side “Red Sails in the Sunset” got played on radio a few times in New York, Ohio and Miami – the West Coast was different, a dj in Los Angeles flipped it over to play “Linda Lu”. Word got back to the Glenns and they arranged for Jamie to re-press the single with “Linda Lu” on top, together with another of their songs on the b-side instead of “Red Sails”. Further confusion came about due to keeping the same catalogue number for both versions.

Ray Sharpe never repeated his commercial success with “Linda Lu” but he wrote many other songs regarded as rockabilly gems. He didn't stay out west too long before making his way back to his home town of Fort Worth. As with so many of his contemporaries, Ray Sharpe has always been more highly prized on this side of the pond despite once being called the whitest sounding black man...

Tale #29.Buddy Guy's first time

When Eric Clapton left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers he did so with the express intention of emulating Buddy Guy.

With Magic Sam and Otis Rush, Buddy Guy was part of the next generation of blues guitarists that followed Muddy Waters in Chicago blues. It was fate that Guy would gravitate to Waters for advice and underage entry to clubs.

Over on the West Side, Buddy started to build a live reputation as a showman player and got deal with Cobra Records. Two years on, in 1959, he was recording for Chess. He cut four songs on 2^nd March 1960 in Chicago that included “First Time I Met The Blues”. There was a sense of anguish defined by his falsetto pitched vocals and razor sharp guitar. The line-up included both baritone and tenor saxes: tough urban blues – the polar opposite of easy listening. Even today it is at the heart of Buddy’s definitive style – much emulated though rarely equalled.

His flamboyant live act with more than a little tendency to rely on rock star histrionics and rapid-fire licks at high volume simultaneously reinvigorated his fortunes in 1991 and alienated many purists. Few however can argue with his potency aged 74 on his 2010 album “Living Proof”: it won a Grammy in the category of “Best Contemporary Blues” - a full fifty years after he first met the blues

Tale #28.Howlin' Wolf remembers Natchez

The Rhythm Night Club in Natchez was decorated with Spanish moss hanging from the ceiling. Tiny Bradshaw and his orchestra was scheduled to appear on 23^rd April 1940 but was double-booked in Harlem so was replaced at the last minute with Walter Barnes and his Sophisticated Swing Orchestra.

Sometime during the evening the moss was ignited by a stray match or cigarette. The building was made from corrugated metal with a single exit and boarded up windows. Barnes directed his band to carry on playing to calm the crowd as they scrambled to leave. Over 200 people died including Barnes and 9 members of his band. Over 15000 people attended his funeral.

One of the first songs about the tragedy was done by Leonard Baby Doo Caston a few months later, however the best known is the song written by Howlin Wolf : THE NATCHEZ BURNING. The session on 19^th July 1956 had Willie Johnson on guitar , Chess however only released the song in November 1959 presumably to be out in time for any twentieth anniversary remembrance.

Though other artists like John Lee Hooker and Captain Beefheart wrote songs about the fire, it is the Wolf song that defines those terrible events at the club in Natchez.

Tale #27.Drive Em Down from the Crescent City to Halifax

Blues artist Willie Hall was better known as "Drive 'Em Down" and though he never recorded, he left a legacy in the melody called "Junkers Blues". It was a story of drugs and a harsh existence in the notorious Angola Prison. The distinctive riff became part of the New Orleans musical tradition picked up by Champion Jack Dupree in 1940 for a session released by the Okeh label. It was certainly recognised as the first recorded version of this famous piece and it inspired Fats Domino's debut "The Fat Man" in 1949.

Since then you can hear the same motif in "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price and Professor Longhair's "Tipitina" and countless other variations. Though Jack was the quintessential New Orleans barrelhouse player, he moved to Halifax, married a Yorkshire lass and got a major feature in the Sunday Times Colour supplement.

Our STAR BLUES playlist on 10th July took the track from the set of Champion Jack's Okeh recordings and raritiess issued by Columbia/Legacy in the early 1990s.

Tale #26.Little Richard Can't Help It

The 1956 film "The Girl Can't Help It" was, on one level, a vehicle to showcase the curves and comedy of Jayne Mansfield. While the plot wasn't up to much with the happy ending obvious from the start, the soundtrack written by Bobby Troup was outstanding.

Jayne played the girlfriend of small time mobster who was set on her success as a singer, despite there being no obvious signs of talent. He hired a publicist to hawk her around various night clubs where we get to see acts like Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, the Treniers and Little Richard. Each gave a magical performance, none more so than Richard who ripped through the title track: "The Girl Can't Help It". This was a man at the very top of his game on a winning streak of hit singles, his followup was "Lucille".

Our STAR BLUES playlist on 3rd July took the song from a collection of the hits from Richards first spell with Specialty: "The EP Collection". The disc is no longer in print.

Tale #25.Lowell Fulson at Three O'Clock

Lowell Fulson was part Choctaw Indian and was born in March 1921 in Tulsa Oklahoma but became best known as purveyor of both Texan and West Coast blues. After his National Service he returned to Oakland and met up with Bob Geddins, who promised to record Fulson when he had enough material. So it was he did a session for Bob's Down Town label helped by his brother Martin on a self-penned song: "Three O'Clock Blues".

Their version was very different to the cover later done by B B King and Lowell's own style rarely sounded as raw again. (He also did "Everyday I Have the Blues" before B. B. King) His other contributions to late 20th century music were pretty significant, he wrote and recorded "Reconsider Baby" but Elvis Presley had the hit with it; and his song "Tramp" was made more famous by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.

Our Star Blues show on 26th June used the long out-of-print collection of Fulson's earliest recordings issue by Zircon Bleu: "Three O'clock Blues" by Lowell Fulson.

Tale #24.Healing Blues

The urban myth surrounding John Lee Hooker's re-discovery from obscurity by Carlos Santana and Canned Heat is only marginally based on truth. He stayed very active in the blues community: Into the 1980's his Coast to Coast Blues Band worked consistently from its base in San Francisco and John added regular sessions on others' blues albums to his "Jealous" project - as well as that appearance in the Blues Brothers movie. By 1987 he was in the studio with Charlie Musselwhite and three of Canned Heat and a year later with Bonnie Raitt and then with Carlos Santana and his group. Those recordings were put together in Summer 1989 for the "Healer" project that brought John Lee Hooker back into mainstream focus and kick-started an interest in a newly cool genre, blues.

Purists disliked the album and its subsequent projects, decrying Hooker's involvement as cameos on his own albums. Putting those observations on one side he did include some haunting solo pieces as good as any he'd done 40 years earlier. He still approached the music in his own inimitable way with varying bar counts.

STAR BLUES on 19th June 2011 chose the title track of the turning-point album "the Healer" to mark the tenth year since John's death on 21st June 2001.

Tale #23.The Guitar Master's Swing Out Rhythm

The single-stringing style of Lonnie Johnson [rn: Alonzo Johnson, born 1899] was the inspiration for B. B. King, Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. We think it common place for electric rock guitarists but Johnson perfected his technique before going electric and he used his gifts for dozens of jazz, blues and r&b recordings.

Initially he was signed to the Okeh label and he duped many with his pairing with Blind Willie Dunn (in reality white jazz player Eddie Lang). After some commercial success, both solo and as a duo, Okeh dropped him out of the blue and for five years he looked for work outside music. By November 1937 he was in the studio again to record "Swing Out Rhythm" - a piece of dexterous grace and beauty with Joshua Altheimer on piano. It would be another two years before he got chance to record again for labels like RCA Victor and King.

His 1952 song "Tomorrow Night" was a hit for him but he got the big royalty cheques for the versions recorded by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Ironically the coming of rock'n'roll made him seem old-fashioned and he slowly drifted out of music again.

Our STAR BLUES playlist on 5th June took "Swing Out Rhythm" from the 4-disc survey of his career up to 1952 called "Original Guitar Wizard" issued on the Proper label some while ago.

Tale #22.Blind Willie Johnson's last record

Over the space of a couple of days in April 1930 the Columbia recording team were in Atlanta and captured some seminal recordings, including what proved to be the final session from the visiting Blind Willie Johnson [born 22nd January 1897, Texas]. Much of his work had been proven from his street performances and he'd already recorded "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond" under a slightly different title a couple of years earlier. His gruff vocal on this gospel piece is sweetened with a female voice, long thought to be his second wife Angeline though this is now disputed. In a recording career of just three years and thirty sides, his composition credits also include "Nobody's Fault But Mine". "John the Revelator", "Soul Of A Man" and "Dark Was the Night Cold Was the Ground".

"You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond" was covered in 1994 by Eric Bibb for the album "Spirit and the Blues" [Opus3] with deft bottleneck guitar accompaniment from Goran Wennerbrandt. On STAR BLUES on 29th May 2011 we featured both artists as a back-to-back feature. The anthology of Atlanta blues on Fantastic Voyage was the source for Johnson's 1930 version and we went to Eric's album on the audiophile label Opus3.

Tale #21.Bob Dylan's muse from before recorded blues

Bob Dylan's earliest musical memories included songs from the very first days of recorded blues. Most likely he heard the Bo Chatmon version of Corrine Corrina from 1928 or the one by Western Swing maestro Bob Wills in 1940. Actually the song is one of the best selling pieces of sheet music from at least a decade before, published by Roger Graham.

With a bit or artistic licence in the lyrics, Bob put his take on the subject onto side two of his second album "Freewheelin Bob Dylan"; released early in 1963. The piece quickly became a staple favourite for the artists playing in Greenwich Village that year.

The other noted interpretation worth seeking out is the one done by Big Joe Turner for Atlantic. Our selection for STAR BLUES drew the track from the deleted antology of Bo Carter's work that Catfish Records compiled some time ago. There's no readily identified cd issue for "Corrine, Corrina".

Tale #20. At Last

The 1941 original of "At Last" was written for a film called "Orchestra Wives". Etta James cut it in 1960 as the title track of her first album on Chess Records label. Though only a moderate hit at the time it has become an evergreen staple on radio ever since, currently it is being used to accompany an advert for Marks & Spencer.

Others like Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Nicks, Eva Cassidy and Joni Mitchell have done covers though none match Etta's reading of the piece. She was miffed however that Beyonce got to sing it in the film "Cadillac Records" and at President Obama's inauguration early in 2009.

Our STAR BLUES feature on 15th May 2011 used the version on her "At Her Best" cd anthology compiled by MCA/Chess.

Tale #19.A Song About Sex and Cars by Robert Johnson

Between 1932 and 1938 the Hudson Motor Co. of Detroit made an inexpensive but powerful car called the TERRAPLANE (the model had been launched by the flying ace Amelia Earhart.

During his first sessions in November 1936, Robert Johnson used the car as inspiration for a song as a barely disguised metaphor for sex. His urgent guitar and desperate voice saw to that and he had pre-dated Chuck Berry and rock’n’roll in that way by the best part of twenty years. “Terraplane Blues” was backed with “Kind Hearted Woman” for Johnson’s 78rpm release on Vocalion in 1937.

STAR BLUES on 8^th May 2011 was devoted to playing one version of each of all 29 of Robert Johnson’s songs.

Tale #18.Lead Belly's Alabama Bound

Huddie Ledbetter was far from the ignorant thug that was implied by his physique and prison record - an image backed up with tales of being pardoned for murder not once but twice. The musicologist Alan Lomax tried to put up bail for him after an assault charge in 1939 and lead him to a 1940 recording session for RCA with the Golden Gate Quartet. Neither party was keen on the idea but more songs were recorded than could fit onto the resulting album.

"Alabama Bound" was a song from the oral tradition that Huddie would have picked up early in his career, though he had to teach it to the gospel group just before the recordings. Though the album sold slowly at first he pronounced himself happy with the results. Within he weeks he was back to cut more songs that would be part of the historic Library of Congress albums. From there Lead Belly went in search of a career in Hollywood and got as far as doing a screen test. The song was the kickstart to Lonnie Donegan and the British Skiffle Movement - the rest is history.

STAR BLUES chose the song to mark the foul weather currently causing so much devastation in Alabama. We used the volume of Lead Belly recordings issued by Orbis publications in the Blues Collection magazines. Details of a current cd release of this version of the song are not found.

Tale #17.Sublime Christine McVie

The pianist in Chicken Shack - Christine Perfect - had a crush on the guitarist in Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green but in August 1968 she married bass player John McVie instead. Her band had just recorded and released the album "OK Ken". She left the group to set up and run the new family home.

One of the tracks was the cover of a song written by Etta James and her friend Ellington Jordan during her visits to him while in prison. The vocal on Chicken Shack's version caught a different mood to Etta's rendition: a sublime sweetness that only made the pain in the lyrics more intense. The single "I'd Rather Go Blind" got to number 14 in the charts early in 1969 and Christine McVie had to be coaxed back from "retirement". She didn't stay long with them and shortly joined her husband in Fleetwood Mac. That's another story.

STAR BLUES on 24th April 2011 did a special on British artists in blues and again used the 1997 anthology "Blue Horizon Story, vol.1" as source for the track.

Tale #16.Hubert Sumlin in at the start

The lack of take-up for Mike Vernon's R&B combo "The Mojo Men" lead to his new project, the magazine "R&B Monthly". The editorial of the January 1965 issue canvassed for support if the magazine were to issue a 7-inch single with new recordings by Howlin' Wolf's guitarist Hubert Sumlin.

In truth, Sumlin had already been to Mike's home and cut two songs in the living room; the response to the magazine was such that Mike set up the Blue Horizon label in February 1965 to release "Across The Board" b/w "Sumlin Boogie" by Hubert Sumlin (Blue Horizon 1000, rec. 1964) The single was sold by mail order from R&B Monthly magazine for 8/6 plus 1/- post and packing. Just 99 copies were pressed because the threshold for Purchase Tax was 100 - payable at the time of manufacture not after sale. By April they had all been sold.

STAR BLUES on 17th April took the track from the three disc anthology complied by Mike Vernon: "The Blue Horizon Story 1965-1970, Vol. 1" on Columbia.

Tale #15. Chuck checks in with Chess

Former hairdresser, Charles Edward Anderson Berry (born St. Louis October 1926) asked Muddy Waters after a gig how to get started and was told to take his music to Phil and Leonard Chess. In early 1955 he had a country sounding song called "Ida Red" that was good enough provided the title didn't sound like the name of a chicken, though where the name "Maybellene" came from wasn't clear. The single Maybellene / Wee Wee Hours - Chuck Berry (Chess. recorded May 1955) was a huge hit that had one more suprise for Chuck when he got his cheque for royalties: he found he was sharing the proceeds with Alan Freed, a New York dj he'd never met. The Chess label (like other labels at the time) knew the costs of having radio plays and hit records.

STAR BLUES on 10th april 2011 went to the Chess anthology "Chuck Berry: His Best, Vol.1" issued by MCA as part of their Chess Masters series.

Tale #14. A Songster and a Holler

Chris Strachwitz started to love blues from listening to 78s and did some early recordings of Jesse Fuller in 1954. After a spell in the Services, he heard Lightnin' Hopkins and wanted to record him live in a juke joint. His search took him to Navasota with his friend Mack McCormick where they were directed to enquire of Peg-Leg at the railway station. They came across a 65-year old who played in the songster tradition: Mance Lipscomb [born 9th April 1895] - his simple, graceful playing were stylistically far from Hopkins but both McCormick and Strachwitz knew they'd found the debut recordings for a brand new imprint. So it was in November 1970 that Chris and family gatherred round the kitchen table stcking labels and putting albums into sleeves - the album was "Texas Songster", the first of several Lipscomb did in the next few years for the new Arhoolie label.

The name Arhoolie was a mishearing of the answer a singer gave to a question on his music: the nervous stutter of "arw" slurred into "hoolie" meaning holler. STAR BLUES on 3rd April 2011 took the risque track "'Bout A Spoonful" from a label cd sampler "15 Country Blues Classics".

Tale #13. An Alligator and a Hound Dog

The Chicago live blues scene was blessed in 1971 with the energetic Hound Dog Taylor [rn: Theodore Roosevelt Taylor, born 12th April 1915]. The young Bruce Iglauer was impressed enough with a gig he saw to ask his then boss Bob Koester to sign Taylor to the Delmark label. Bob wasn't interested so Bruce himself raised enough to realise the project himself. With $900 and a two track recorder, the album "Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers" was cut and mixed as they went along. The band brought their low-tech euipment from their club gigs, nothing more was needed to capture their unique gifts. So was the birth of the Alligator label, still based in Chicago today. Within a couple of years Taylor was dead but his oft-quoted epitaph was "he couldn't play shit but he sure made it sound good".

On STAR BLUES on 3rd April 2011 we chose "Ain't Got Nobody" from the cd anthology "Hound Dog Taylor - Deluxe Edition" [Alligator].

Week #12. Cleo's got a smooth movement

In July 1929, the Ford Motor Comany sold its 2,000,000th car, though how many of those were driven by young black women is open to question. The 10,000 mile guarantee must have been a lifetime's use if your longest journey was into the nearest town. I doubt however it was automotive power on Cleo Gibson's mind in her song "I've Got Ford Movement In My Hips", recorded during her only session in Atlanta with her three piece band.

Little is known of her aside from a brief mention about a vaudeville turn in Billboard magazine in 1923. Her imperious vocal led many to think it was just a pseudonym for Bessie Smith - something that added to the mystery for Jazz and Blues collectors of the 50's and 60's like George Melly.

The Document label released two volumes in 2005 called "Territory Singers", the track on STAR BLUES was taken from Vol.2.

Week #11. ZZ Hill goes Downhome

"Downhome Blues" was the title track to a million selling album for the Malaco label in 1982. Arzell Hill [born 30th September 1935, Naples, Tx] was first a gospel singer in the vocal group the Spritual Five but he moved to California to record for his brother and then for the Duke label. His work was critically well received, however commercial success didn't follow until 1977 when signed to the Columbia label. By1980 he was at Malaco doing songs written by George Jackson. One was "Downhome Blues" that spwaned a new genre of soul blues and sparked renewed interest in the music for black America.

The track was taken from "Best of ZZ Hill" on Malaco, but neither it nor the eponymous album is currently in print.

Week #10. Willie Dixon's 29 Ways

Willie Dixon [born 1st July 1915, Vicksburg] refused to serve in the Second World War, he formed a vocal group called the Big Three in ironic tribute to Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill. "29 Ways" was a song in their early repertoire, though they never recorded it. The band broke up in 1952 and Dixon joined the Chess label full-time. He was so valuable as session leader, writer and bass-player that Leonard Chess didn't want to let Willie record under his own name (reasoning that any hit would need Willie to go out on tour). Toward the end of Dixon's first stint with Chess, on 27th July 1956, he was joined by Lafayette Leake on piano for a rare chance to record. They chose to cut a version of that early song: "29 Ways". It was released as a single:

"Twenty-Nine Ways" b/w "Pain In My Heart" [Checker 851]

Willie Dixon's next project was over at Cobra Records with a young left hand player that Chess didn't want: Otis Rush. But that's another story. STAR BLUES on 13th March 2011 selected the track from the MCA/Chess anthology "Chess Blues Classics: 1947-1956".

Week #9. Albert King's bad sign

After regional success for labels like Parrot and Bobbin, Albert King [rn: Albert Nelson (Born 25th April 1923)] was newly signed to the Stax label in 1966 when he put out a couple of singles. Those were the core of an album whose title track was written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones to match the vogue for astrology: "Born Under A Bad Sign". The unique combination of King with Booker T and the MGs with the Memphis Horns marked a change in direction for blues at a time the genre was in danger of being centred solely on the white-boy revival. It was also the last time Stax would issue a single with a generic staff production credit, thereafter the actual producer's name was used.

The piece was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985 and has inspired many cover versions. STAR BLUES on 6th March 2011 drew the track from "King of the Blues Guitar" (Rhino) - a survey of Albert King recordings made for Stax and distributed by Atlantic. The cd version of "Born Under A Bad Sign" is still available.

Week #8. Pat Hare sings first, shoots later

Pat Hare – "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" [no release information]

Auburn Hare (born 20^th December 1930, Cherry Valley, Arkansas) was booked by Sam Phillips to play at a James Cotton session in Memphis on 14^th May 1954. His over-amplified guitar sounded aggressive and dangerous – a unique experience in those days before Presley got his start on Sun. Hare stayed on to cut a couple more songs with Billy Love on piano and Israel Franklin on bass. The two sides weren't issued for a couple of years.

He was an affable man, good company when sober; the opposite when not. His guitar skill got him a place in Muddy Waters' band but his temper lost it for him, In December 1963 in Minneapolis the combination of alcohol and a loaded pistol led him into an argument with a woman that ended with her being shot and killed and a policeman very seriously injured. Eeerily he had just fulfilled the prophesy of one of those Memphis sides: “I'm Gonna Murder My Baby”.

Our feature on STAR BLUES on 27^th February 2011 took the track from a 3cd anthology of Memphis music from Fantastic Voyage: “Let Me Tell You About Blues: Memphis”.

Week #7. Blind Willie McTell searching

Blind Willie McTell - "Searching The Desert For The Blues" [Victor 23353]

McTell was the stage name of William Samuel McTier (born 1903, Thomson, GA.). For his RCA session on 22nd February 1932 he turned up with Ruby Glaze who then gave vocal comfort during "Searching The Desert For The Blues". At one time, Glaze was thought to be a pseudonym for Willie's soon-to-be wife Kate; biographer Michael Gray makes a convincing case for the two women to be different people in his book "Hand Me My Traveling Shoes".

It is a charming piece that shows Willie's intricate finger picking of his twelve string guitar. That was his instrument of choice for the powerful sound it could make when needed. Bob Dylan is a huge fan, (there's a song about McTell that Bob wrote) and in Summer 2011 there are plans for a celebration called "Blind Willie: the Musical" down in Statesboro, GA.

I can't identify a current cd with the song, our STAR BLUES show on 20th February 2011 took the track from the Orbis collection series of magazines.

Week #6. Jerry McCain on Rex

"Steady" - Jerry McCain [Rex 1014]

Harp player Jerry McCain was born in Gadsden, Alabama in 1930 and was one of the first artists signed to Lillian McMurray's Trumpet label. From there he went to Excello and then to Johnny Vincent' Rex imprint.

In 1960 he cut a handful of sides in Birmingham Alabama with his brother Walter on drums. "Steady" b/w "She's Tough" was the first single from that date and influenced a number of harp players such as Kim Wilson. (His band the Fabulous Thunderbirds chose to cover "She's Tough" on their debut album).

Jerry's playing is sometimes compared to Little Walter's but he can add a raw passion at times for a rock'n'roll feel where Walter would use control and restraint for blues.

Our feature on the 13th February 2011 STAR BLUES show used both tracks from a deleted anthology compiled for the Westside label from the vaults of Johnny Vincent: "Tuff Enuff, Vol. 3: The Ace Blues Masters". I haven't found a compact disc currently available with these tracks.

Week #5. Guitar Slim on Specialty

"Things I Used To Do" - Guitar Slim [Specialty 482]

Ray Charles is thought to have played piano on this 1953 recording, when issued it reached number#1 on the R&B chart for 6 weeks in 1954. "Well I Done Got Over It" was on the b-side.

Eddie Jones was his given name at birth on 10th December 1926 near Greenwood, Mississippi. After his National service in the second World War he moved to New Orleans and got a deal with Imperial. Two years later, as "Guitar Slim", he was known for extrovert club gigs and signed to Art Rupe's Specialty label. This single was his debut for them and the song has been covered numerous times since by every blues player worth his salt. Jones died a few days after Buddy Holly in 1959.

On STAR BLUES on 6th February 2011 we took the track from the now deleted Blues Encore disc of the same name. The performance is currently on "Things I Used To Do" issued by Ace

Week #4. Lloyd Glenn instrumental

"Chica-Boo" - Lloyd Glenn [Swingtime 254]

The song was recorded during November 1950 and was released as a single in May 1951, it went to number#1 on the R&B chart for 2 weeks. "Jungle Town Jubilee" was on the b-side.

Texan Lloyd Glenn (born 19th November 1909 in San Antonio) moved to California in 1947 and got work as the pianist on sessions for T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson.

This instrumental piece has Billy Hadnott on bass, Bob Harvey on drums and Earl Burton on bongos. The piano style was very influential and can be heard on the earlier records of Ray Charles.

On STAR BLUES on 30th January 2011 we took the track from the four disc anthology called "History of Rhythm & Blues 1942-1952" [RHYTHMandBLUES label]

Week #3. Earl Hooker's Guitar is Blue

"Blue Guitar" - Earl Hooker [Age 29106]

This version was recorded in May 1961, and was released later that year as a single as the b-side of "Swear To Tell The Truth".

Earl Zebedee Hooker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi on 15th January 1930. Though he recorded early in Memphis, he is best known as a Chicago blues player. A session in July 1953 for Sun Records with Pinetop Perkins included the first known recording of "Blue Guitar" - it eventually appeared on the Charly box set "Sun Blues Story". The 1961 featured track has AC Reed on tenor sax and Lafayette Leake on piano - it was produced by Mel London who sold it on to Muddy Waters as a backing track. Willie Dixon added lyrics and Muddy put it out as "You Shook Me", subsequently covered by Led Zeppelin.

Playlist for STAR BLUES of 23rd January 2011 took the track from vol#33 of the "Blues Collection" magazine+cd series published by Orbis c1994. The track is currently available on the Fuel label cd: "Introduction to Earl Hooker"

Week #2. Billy Boy Arnold joins Vee-Jay

"I Wish You Would" - Billy Boy Arnold [Vee-Jay 146]

Recorded May 1955, released as a single b/w "I Was Fooled".

Billy Boy Arnold (rn: William Arnold) was harp player with Bo Diddley. He was born 16th September 1935 and took up the instrument at a very early age; John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an influence. The song was written for Bo Diddley in a slightly different form and Bo suggested Billy Boy rework the piece and record it himself. According to Billy Boy, Leonard Chess didn't like him so he signed to Vee-Jay instead. The distinctive backbeat was provided by Earl Phillips.

Playlist for STAR BLUES of 16th January 2011 took the track from the Various Artists double disc anthology compiled by Charlie Gillet, "The Sound of the City - Chicago"

Week #1. Jimmy Rogers debut single

"That's All Right" - Jimmy Rogers [Chess 1435]

Recorded August 1950, released as a single b/w "Loudella". This was his first record as named artist.

Jimmy Rogers (rn: James A. Lane) was lead guitarist in the dream lineup of Muddy Waters' classic band. He was born 3rd June 1924 and started out as harp player, learning from his friend Snooky Pryor. The song has a clear antecedent in "Ora Nelle Blues" that Othum Brown cut in 1947 with Little Walter.

Playlist from STAR BLUES of 9th January 2011 took track from the Chess double disc set "Complete Chess Recordings"