AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 4 07.11.2013, 17:23 August 10, 1920 was a crucial day for The music presented in this series is a the future of the . That’s when Mamie different kettle of fish, a far more downhome Smith recorded her groundbreaking Crazy one. The next big trend to emerge revolved Blues for OKeh Records, opening the around blues guitarists, virtually all of them floodgates for a plethora of ‘classic blues’ hailing from the rural South. Their approach chanteuses led by Bessie Smith, ‘Ma’ was more closely related to field hollers and Rainey, Lucille Hegamin, Victoria Spivey, work songs than what those stylish ladies were Alberta Hunter, and Ida Cox to register a doing up North. They either recorded in a solo plethora of hits during the 1920s and tour context or with one or two like-minded widely, mainly across the Eastern U.S., on accompanists. Many were veritable virtuosos a regular basis. Their glamorous approach on their instruments. Lonnie Johnson, Blind was solidly based in the vaudeville tradition, Willie McTell, Blind Blake, and Skip James their accompaniment often dominated by mapped out the guitar-dominated longterm jazzy horns and flowery piano. future of the idiom with every 78 they released.

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AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 5 07.11.2013, 17:23 Amplifying their instruments was still in in Memphis, , Dallas, and the future. These giants of the genre made Jackson, Mississippi to record these their nimble fretwork heard over the newcomers on their home turf. Just as many cacophonous din inside the rowdy juke joints made the long trek to New York, Chicago, or where they plied their trade by fretting their Grafton, Wisconsin, home of Paramount instruments with a slide or bottleneck. They Records, to commit their songs to posterity. achieved a fluid, crying sound on their acoustic axes, or pounded the hell out of their The crushing poverty of the Depression boxes with forceful chording. Performers brought the first boom of blues recording to popular enough to afford them acquired a halt at the dawn of the 1930s. But as the flashy steel-bodied National guitars that economy slowly recovered, so did the resonated louder than standard models. industry. The most popular blues guitarists resumed recording, and a new batch of The fledgling record companies of the day standouts emerged as well. Tampa Red, Big realized that a single artist could be more Bill Broonzy, and Memphis Minnie proved profitable than bankrolling an entire band, particularly prolific. As trends shifted, so talent scouts scoured the countryside in successful blues artists changed with them. search of fresh solo talent. Many of these Instrumentation grew more elaborate as the mavericks operated music shops that were decade progressed, yet the guitar reigned springing up in Southern towns. Blind alongside the piano as one of the two main Lemon Jefferson proved a sensation with blues axes. By 1940, electric guitars would rural blacks after he was discovered in Texas begin to alter the playing field. But the first in the mid-‘20s, underscoring the two decades of recorded blues were a commercial potential of downhome blues. veritable goldmine of acoustic guitar Remote recording facilities were set up inside brilliance. This collection offers a splendid hotels and other sonically acceptable sites cross-section of the very best.

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AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 6 07.11.2013, 17:23 AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 7 07.11.2013, 17:23 Probably born in Tallulah, Louisiana in 1904 (his true surname may have been Sheppard or Leonard), Blind Joe wasn’t born that way: he took a shotgun blast to the face midway through the ’20s, rendering him sightless. Fortunately, that violent incident didn’t impair his slide guitar chops or aggressive vocals. Talent scout H. C. Speir sent Reynolds to Paramount’s bucolic Grafton, Wisconsin headquarters in November of 1929 for his first solo session.

Outside Woman Blues, built around a tasty recurring slide riff, was the first thing Paramount unleashed by Reynolds, Nehi Blues adorning the other side (Blind Joe was actually referring to knee-high outfits, not Nehi soda pop). The other pair of sides from the session soon followed (only one copy of Ninety Nine Blues is known to exist, and it didn’t turn up until 2000). Victor caught up with Reynolds a year later, rechristening him Blind Willie Reynolds when issuing two of the four tracks he cut in Memphis. The other two were shelved.

Blind Joe died March 10, 1968 in Monroe, Louisiana. He stuck around just long enough to possibly hear Cream’s thundering rock revival of Outside Woman Blues, released the previous year on their hit LP ‘Disraeli Gears’ (lead vocalist/guitarist Eric Clapton had run across the song on a reissue compilation). Any hope of Joe receiving a taste of long-overdue royalties was dashed when the album gave writer’s credit to one ‘Arthur Reynolds.’ Talk about the blues!

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AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 66 07.11.2013, 17:25 AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 67 07.11.2013, 17:25 1. Sitting On Top Of The World (Vinson-Chatmon) February 17, 1930 OKeh 8784

The exotically named Mississippi Sheiks posted one of the biggest blues hits of the era with their catchy Sitting On Top Of The World in 1930. Fiddler Lonnie Chatmon and vocalist/guitarist Walter Vinson often played for white audiences, and they weren’t averse to allowing their country influences to seep through.

Chatmon hailed from a musical family. Born in the early 1890s in Bolton, Mississippi, his father, Henderson Chatmon, was a talented fiddler, and his kids also included guitarists Armenter (aka ) and . Lonnie learned to read music - a rarity among pre-war bluesmen - and was conversant with fox trots and other Caucasian musical forms. His musical partner Vinson was born February 2, 1901 outside of Live Oak, Mississippi (near Bolton). He started playing guitar at age six and teamed with Lonnie when Walter was only in his mid-teens, often using his mother’s surname of Jacobs.

Record dealer Ralph Lembo spotted the duo in Itta Bena, Mississippi when they played a white square dance and sent them to OKeh A&R man Polk Brockman, who recorded the pair in Shreveport, Louisiana on February 17, 1930. Eight titles in all were cut that day, including their original Sitting On Top Of The World and another classic,

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AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 68 07.11.2013, 17:25 Stop And Listen Blues. Sitting On Top Of The World transcended idiomatic boundaries as the years progressed; Western Swing king Bob Wills cut it, as did bluegrass icon Bill Monroe, a young Ray Charles, ferocious bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, rockabilly ace Carl Perkins, and The Grateful Dead.

Bo joined the Sheiks for their next OKeh date that June in San Antonio, and brother Sam was on guitar as the versatile crew backed singer Texas Alexander. Although Lonnie and Walter were the primary Sheiks on their subsequent OKeh recordings, varying combinations of Chatmons also participated, especially when they recorded for Bluebird in 1934- 35. Those were the aggregation’s last studio dates. Vinson made his own sides in New Orleans for Decca and Bluebird in 1936 before moving to Chicago, where he cut again for Bluebird in ’41. He popped up during the folk-blues revival, assembling The New Mississippi Sheiks with Sam Chatmon to make a 1972 LP for Rounder. Vinson died April 22, 1975 in Chicago. Lonnie returned to Bolton, heart trouble killing him in 1942 or ’43.

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AC 1 Book ALT.pmd 69 07.11.2013, 17:25