Roy Hawkins May Be Gone But The Thrill Lingers On

Roy Hawkins’ name is not one that may be familiar to many who call themselves blues enthusiasts, but this Texas born, West Coast blues singer and piano man had some records on the R&B charts and one of his recordings has become a blues standard when redone by B.B. King. Like Charles Brown, Little Willie Littlefield, Pee Wee Crayton, and others he was among those who traveled to California from Texas and the Southwest and played music and made records. Despite waxing the original recording of The Thrill Is Gone, as Tony Rounce observes in the liner notes to the English Ace CD reissue, Bad Luck Is Falling, an obscure figure and even when B.B. King had a major hit with Hawkins’ song, nothing was found out about him. Still as Rounce says, he “was one of the last unsung heroes of the post-world War II West Coast blues.”

We know that in 1948 he was in Richmond, California in the San Francisco Bay area where he led a combo that played in clubs that included a fine guitarist named Ulysses James. They came to the attention of Bob Geddins who recorded them for his Cava-town and Down Town labels. At some point the Bihari Brothers acquired his contract and four of the sides Geddins issued on Down Town. Rounce speculates that they have seen him as a replacement for Charles Brown who had jumped to Aladdin Records.

In any event, Modern issued the four Down Town sides which were pressed from acetates made from 78s and not from the actual the acetate masters. While the sound is not optimal, the music was excellent. Strange Land, was a doomy Bay Area blues that Johnny Fuller also recorded for Geddins. Hawkins displays his ability as a singer on Strange Land, while the instrumentals issued at this session showcase guitarist James. There was a session in 1949 that produced a terrific blues Sleepless Nights, and a tough instrumental Royal Hawk.

But after this session, Hawkins was in a car crash that resulted in a paralysis that affected his ability to play piano. While he was convalescing, Geddins wrote Why Do Things Happen To Me for him, which Hawkins poignantly sang. It was his biggest hit, reaching #3 on the charts and staying there for almost 5 full months. It is not included on this reissue, but is on the earlier Ace Roy Hawkins reissue, The Thrill is Gone. There are takes from this session that was led by tenor saxophonist Buddy Floyd and included guitarist Chuck Norris with Williard McDaniel on piano. Included on Bad Luck Is Falling is a charming (to quote Rounce) rendition of a non-blues, the standard many know from Jimmy Durante and Frank Sinatra, September Song. An alternate take of the previously reissued Wine Drinkin’ Woman, is also included.

In April 1951, the tenor saxophonist Maxwell Davis replaced Floyd as senior A&R for Modern, a position he would hold for many years. I remember Joe Bihari being interviewed at the Ponderosa Stomp conference referring to Davis as a genius and Clifford Solomon recalled working on sessions that Maxwell Davis ran over decade later. At this first session, The Thrill is Gone was recorded. The issued take (take 4) was reissued on the earlier CD. Reissued here is take 2 which initially was the preferred take, and to these ears is as good as the issued version. This is a classic West Coast piano blues with Hawkins’ strong, moody vocal that has a terrific sax solo from Maxwell Davis.

The Thrill is Gone charted and while not on the charts as long as Why Do Things Happen To Me, it continued to sell for a long time which led to a sequel, The Thrill Hunt, that was one of four sides recoded at his next session which included the instantly recognizable guitar of T-Bone Walker. These sides were recorded right after a Walker session and include the jumping Highway 59 and the moody Doin’ All Right, that wonderfully feature superb backing and strong singing. Then there is a strong Maxwell Davis solo with Walker’s single note runs and chords under the searing sax playing. One problem here was that the original tapes were lost, so they mastered from 45s to which some echo was applied. Still the performance is superb and thee cho is a minor issue. Sound issues also mar the coupling of Bad Luck is Falling, and The Condition I’m In, which is unfortunate as they are real good performances.

One other session at the time produced an attempt to crack the emerging rock and roll market. He would do one session for Don Barkdale’s Rhythm label in 1958 and then a swan song for the Biharis again on their Kent label. This 1960-1961 session produced four sides, the most notable was a terrific new version of Strange Land with some blistering playing from an uncredited guitarist.

I definitely agree with the characterization of Hawkins as an unsung master of post-World War II, West Coast blues. Anyone who loves the rocking work of Little Willie Littlefield, Amos Milburn and Floyd Dixon, will enjoy Hawkins. The earlier reissue, The Thrill is Gone, is the essential Roy Hawkins reissue. While some of the music may be (relatively) substandard, most of what is on Bad Luck Is Falling is exceptional. I believe this is still in print, and bluebeatmusic.com shows this is available and it may be available from amazon or from third-party sellers at amazon.


This blog entry is about CDs I purchased.

K.C. Douglas Mercury Blues and more

One thing about blues is that often a performer with modest talent is still capable of making moving music. One such gentleman was K.C. Douglas. Douglas, a Mississippi native born in 1913 near Jackson, moved to California to work in the Naval shipyards. Growing up he started playing music, first learning from an uncle, and then catch local musicians at Saturday Night getaways. At the same time he started listening to the records of Tommy Johnson whom K.C. met and played with him around 1940 in Jackson. Johnson’s music left its imprint that remained when K.C. moved to California.

After settling in California, he somehow ended up in Bob Geddins’ studios and recorded a song “Mercury Boogie” that was issued on Geddins’ Down Town label and became somewhat of a hit in the Bay area and parts of Texas and Louisiana. This song of course is better known by versions by the Steve Miller Band and Alan Jackson. Geddins though moved on from the downhome blues so it would be a few years before he would record again. At the very beginning of the folk revival he recorded for Cook and then two albums for Bluesville that were produced by Chris Strachwitz. In 1973 and 1974 Strachwitz assembled Douglas with a small group that included Richard Riggins on harmonica, Jim Marshall on drums and Ron Thompson on guitar. The result was an album on Arhoolie, “The Country Boy,” that subsequently has been issued on CD as “Mercury Blues,” with added unissued selections, including some from the early sixties that are solo or with an unidentified band.

The band here plays efficiently and supportively to Douglas’ heartfelt vocals and simple, rhythmic guitar playing. I know little about drummer Marshall. Riggins, who recorded as Harmonica Slim for Trix and Fedora, passed away few years ago while Thompson is still active in the blues world as a first-rate traditionally based multi-instrumentalist. His work on this recording as well with Little Willie Littlefield, Riggins and Schoolboy Cleve for the Blues Connoisseur label were amongst his earliest recordings who also spent several years with John Lee Hooker and Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale.

In any event, “Mercury Blues” is a solid unassuming but easily recommended recording of Mississippi blues performed by Douglas and his ensemble. There is a reworking of his “Mercury Boogie,” along with a nice rendition of “Catfish Blues,” and his original “Woke Up This Morning.” One of several recordings from the 1960s is the fervent “I’m Gonna Build a Web” is a solid, more modern, blues with an emphatic vocal and some nice piano and sax. Then there are three solo tracks including “Make Your Coffee, with some very adroit guitar. another 1960 solo performance, ”Night Shirt Blues,“ is an excellent original built around the ”Catfish Blues,“ and then followed by a fine rendition of Tommy Johnson’s ”Canned Heat Blues.“ Listening to these solo tracks are certainly going to encourage me to try to locate his Bluesville recordings which I believe were reissued as part of the Original Blues Classics series. These solo tracks are a bonus to the fine down home blues group heard here.

I won’t say that the music on ”Mercury Blues“ is essential to a blues collection, but it is strongly performed and delivered from the heart. The music here is certainly equal to anything produced by some of Douglas’ better known contemporaries from Mississippi such as Honeyboy Edwards and Son Thomas. I purchased this on sale from Arhoolie (http://chulasfronteras.com/) and I believe it is on sale (as I write this) at a bargain price but even at regular price is well worth it for folks who love real deal downhome blues.