Born in Tylertown, Mississippi in 1907, Jewell ‘Babe’ Stovall learned music from his brothers and other musicians near Tylertown and included songs from the church as well as string band traditions, and around 1930, the legendary Tommy Johnson came around Tylertown where he got the basis of Big Road Blues. Eventually he moved to New Orleans where he sang on the streets and based on Marc Ryan’s urging, was booked in Boston and Cambridge in 1965 where he and Ryan stayed with David Evans in Evans’ Harvard dorm room.
Evans contributed the liner notes to a new Arcola release of Stovall, The Old Ace, and notes that his repertoire is that of a songster. Included are some familiar blues and gospel numbers including Candy Man, Baby Let Me Follow You Down (which he learned from Bob Dylan but to which he added some traditional verses and Evans suggests also was influenced by Professor Longhair’s 1957 Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand), The Ship is At the Landing, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
There are renditions of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Good Morning Little School Girl, Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues and Leroy Carr’s How Long How Long Blues. Included are some interviews where he talks about family and playing in new Orleans and a medley of Tommy Johnson’s Big Road Blues with Careless Love, in which Johnson’s influence can be heard and felt. Bob West produced these recordings in New Orleans in 1968 and Stovall strongly played his National guitar and sang with verve although he was a bit hoarse for a latter session issued here.
Stovall was not exactly overecorded. Larry Borenstein recorded him in 1961 which was issued on Flyright on vinyl and I do not believe it has become available on cd. Also he recorded for Prestige Bluesville if I remember correctly. These are frankly as good of recordings as I heard him play and the accompanying booklet with Evans notes and some great pictures, including one of him playing with the guitar over his head makes for a most enjoyable set of down home acoustic blues like you do not hear anymore.
This review originally appeared in the May-June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 282). I believe I purchased this CD which should still be readily available. One can check www.arcolarecords.com.
The word ‘great’ is overused, but few would disagree that it is properly applied to the Delta Blues of Eddie “Son” House. House was one of the most riveting blues performers that ever recorded and performed. Dick Waterman, who used to book and manage House after he was discovered in Rochester NY has stated “Son House was the core of greatness of blues artists. There were many who had great talent but Son House was the standard by which they would be measured.” Those words can be found in the booklet to a new release, Son House in Seattle 1968 (Arcola Records).
This is a double CD that is subtitled 2 cds - concert and interview. The first CD is Son in concert in March, 1968 when he appeared under the auspices of the Seattle Folklore Society while the second disc is taken from a radio interview that Bob West conducted with him interspersed with original recordings by Son along with associates like Louise Johnson, Charlie Patton, Willie Brown, Rube Lacy and Robert Johnson.
In the accompanying booklet Bob Groom observes, about the concert performance, that it was unusual in the amount of speaking and story telling the House engages in between the performances of Death Letter Blues, Government Fleet Blues, Empire State, I Want to Live So God Can Use Me, Preachin’ Blues, and Louise McGee. No blues performer was more compelling that Son and he was in top form this day. From his forceful guitar to his vocals that bore open his soul, there are some extraordinary performances including Death Letter and the a capella I Want to Live So God Can Use Me. The lengthy spoken interludes are invaluable in giving a fuller sense of him than the driving musical performances alone. This concert predates Son suffering frostbite in the Winter 1969 that affected his use of fingers in his fretting hand.
The second disc is valuable for his lengthy recollections of his blues contemporaries. Included is a wonderful booklet with Dick Waterman’s cogent recollections of Son and Bob Groom’s lengthy overview of Son’s life and music. While Father of Folk Blues on Columbia (now Sony) remains the essential 1960s Son House release, fans of the deepest Delta blues will obviously want this. Son’s musical fires were burning brightly in Seattle during this 1968 visit and we should be grateful that Arcola has issued this wonderful package. Arcola’s website is www.arcolarecords.com, and www.bluebeatmusic.com and other retailers should have this.
This was reviewed from a CD I purchased.
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