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.