EDDIE CUSIC - LITTLE MILTON WILL TELL YOU 'BOUT HIM

EDDIE CUSIC
LITTLE MILTON WILL TELL YOU 'BOUT HIM

The Blues in its approximately 100 years has been a music found in the back woods as well as the big city. While it's true that it is a music about the facts of life, as the late Willie Dixon might say, it is also a music that is primarily anchored in the communities of its performances and audiences. While many performers would leave their home communities and become celebrities in a region of the country, others played for family and friends, or abandoned musical careers for the purpose of raising a family and earning a solid living. One of those who chose the latter route was Eddie Cusic, a Mississippi bluesmen whose career leading a band was interrupted by the military draft. After time in the armed services, he settled down until after retirement when he resumed playing the blues. I met Eddie Cusic at the Festival of American Folk Life in 1991 when he was one of the artists who participated in The Roots of Rhythm and Blues,The Robert Johnson Era.  Eddie Cusic is a traditionally based delta blues artist whose vigorous interpretations of Catfish Blues and Women in My Life were first-rate. I had the opportunity to speak with him and he told me his story.

Eddie Cusic is from Leland, Mississippi. He was born January 4, 1926 "just down the road from Leland on a plantation called Willman, Willman, Willman, Mississippi." Leland is near Greensville. "I would say about 7 miles from Greensville." The nearest big city is Jackson, the state capital, which is "About a hundred or a hundred twenty-five miles from Leland." Leland is in the "central part in the delta, lowlands, no hills." When l asked, "Hot muggy summers?," he agreed.

Eddie recalled that his parents had come from "Yulah, Alabama, so they told me and that's where they lived down there. Willman Plantation. That's where they raise cotton and corn you know, in other words farm country, you know; and so I was born and raised down there ... and then we moved to Hollyknow Plantation which is a big farm." Eddie was about 7, 8, or 9 when they moved. "So we lived there and I got big enough and all I know was farm. I got big enough to help out with the farm. We raised cotton on a half. They furnished you six months. If you got anything (Left over? Yeah!) If you had anything left over, most times you didn't. And when they settle with  you they'd say, 'Well, you came out of debt. What you gonna need?' That's always 'what you gonna need.' Never give you anything if you a profit. Say you come out of go out to those places, slip out. You call them country work, you wouldn't have nothing. Yeah so we stayed debt. If you didn't pick cotton by the hundred or do day there awhile and then we moved out..." Eddie remembers moving to a "black fellow's place called George Hood. Moved out there and that's where I got up a young sound out there."

"Going on around about 15 or 16 years old, I used to go out to this hose places, slip out. You call this hem country jukes, You know what I mean, out in the country, way out in the country. And the people used to leave town to go to the country to have fun, I reckon. The regular law enforcement was so rough on those people; and if they catch you uptown, they'd say 'Hey boy. Where you. where you live.' [In falsetto] 'On Mr. So and So's Place. "You better get your ass outta town, go on back there' So they would make to those country joints." The country joints would be open on weekends.

"I used to go around those places and the guys would be playing them guitars. You know what I mean." Eddie remembered Jed Sawyer and his sister Fanny Sawyer playing . "She played the mandolin, he played the guitar. Oh they used to have a fine sound. I couldn't play anything then." There were no musicians in Eddie's family. So he learned on his own. "I had to start putting a string upside the wall. You understand what I mean, one string up the wall." He described where he got the wire. "Used to bale hay, used to get the bale, hay wire and get me a piece and put it upside the wall and put a bottle on it, pile a brick or something on top of it at the bottom, and then I take any kind of bottle, used a slide, you know what I mean, that's the way ! make music.A little wire, a little piece of wire sticker or so to keep from hurting my hand or finger.

 Eddie Cusic playing "Cut You Loose" from 1979-1980 field recordings.

"Then I played that awhile and after then I said I seemed to think that wire didn't have enough ring in it. So they had them old switch brooms years ago. They had them old switch brooms. They had a knot with wire tying straws together. I got me a piece of my mothers broom, and I put that up there - - put the wire still upside the wall, between two nails. That sounded a little better. And every place I played, you could tell where I played at. Any house in the country I played, there was one of the wires there. Me and my little friends had a ball. So after then, I must have got pretty good because some of them old guys said, 'Boy, why don't you get you a little guitar.' Went and got a little old ukelele. Got a little ukelele with cat gut strings on. That didn't sound too good to me. So I got old enough and ordered me a Gene Autry guitar out of the Walter Field catalog. Got me a Gene Autry quitar. Mailman brought it out the country on the route, I forget which route, it has been so long, and my mother, she said, 'Boy I don't want you to play no guitar. If you gonna play, play spirituals.' Always though it was best to be on one side of the fence; not straddle the fence. I'd rather the blues. So l got that guitar, and I put it up and I gọt it and used to try to play it, and my fingers got sore. I'd pick it up and l'd put it down." Asked about the first music he tried to play, he said it was so long ago. He did remember going to church and singing in the choir. However he says, 'I still prefer the blues.'

Asked the first time he saw blues, Eddie replied, "Well I couldn't 'call the name of some of them. But some of them were way back with 'Little School Girl," 'Rolling Stone', that's by Muddy Waters, 'Catfish', and all that and, oh, a lot of way back songs, lot of them I done forgot." He started playing the weekend parties. Asked about the first songs he played, Eddie responded, "Well.Really, I going to tell you the truth. It been so long I can't remember. But I know 'Little School Girl,' 'Catfish', and all that."

Eddle's family had a record player, "one of kind where you wind up. ...Yeah, you wind up when it run down I could copy it. They had  hose kind. I didn't know anything about learning no songs from nobody back then, way back Eddie's family had a record player, "one of the old kind where you wind up. ...Yeah, you wind up, when it run down I could copy it. They had one of those kind. I didn't know anything about learning no songs from nobody back then, way back then because we were not able to buy the record, see what I mean and when you get a record, mostly would be church records, you know, and all that and I just went on."

"...I went on and put that down and the guy says, 'Man you sound pretty good. Say why don't you get a big guitar." I got a big guitar, never will forget. Got it from Tatum Music Company in Greensville and it was a Gibson, I think. I played it round and they said, You sound better if you get an amplifier and a guitar and get a guitar." This was back in the 40s and early 50s.

"In the 50s, that's when I got me a little band. I met this Little Milton Campbell who's putting out records they tell me now. I taught him how to play. Years ago. And anywhere you see him, ask him if he knows Eddie Cusic. He would tell you he would, he do." He remembers how he met Little Milton. "I used to be out in the country practicing on my guitar and he strayed across the creek over there. He could always sing; you could hear him always sing, and he'd come and start hanging around with me. He had a guitar, but he couldn't play it. So I used to take his fingers on the chords and what not, showed him and he could tell you himself and that's what I did. So I taught him and learned himself. Usually that's the best, and then when you learn something, they beat you doIng it (laughs) that's pretty good. I went into the service.When I came out, he had made some records, so that's how it was.

And so I had one a little band, got my group together there and in 52, the army drafted me so the group broke up, you know." Eddie's band included "Roosevelt Myers. he's the drummer, he's in California now. ...James McGary, he's out in the country now, he do farm work, he quit playing. And I, just myself, 3 of us. There's another guy I used to have. He followed me around, he named Jim O'Neil. He used to play drums, play guitar, now he's a preacher in my home town." He recalled listening to records and the radio at the time, and "get different sounds and try to imitate them. ...l really liked Muddy Waters, yeah, Little Walter, course he passed. Whole some like that." He remembered King Biscuit Time. " He also wrote some of his own songs. "I don't know music. I play by ear and sound. I play by ear. And I know when its not right and I know a few chords. ...l can tune a guitar before I read music lessons. I never did learn that. I play by ear. They tell me the best kind to play by ear. That's what they tell me."

Drafted in 1952, he served in the army until 1954. "Did my training, went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina and I got my training in Fort Eustice, Virginia, right here. Then I got in the army. I was a handy man ... They have a motor pool, transportation company. 53rd Trucking Company, transportation core, and I did so well at different things, they put me in special services. Stayed there awhile, and then they asked me if I wanted to go overseas. I told them I didn't think I did so well." He was then told he wouldn't be sent overseas. "When we ship you out, you going to California. That's where you get your discharge."

After getting discharged in California, Eddie returned home. "Coming back home, I decided I want to play a little bit again. So I bought me some little instruments, got some guys back together, played awhile went down to Florida,went down there way down, pretty good." For a while, things went fine. At some point the group "wasn't doing right, so we got unorganized. So I left them and I come back. So I went to Stoneville, Mississippi, USDA, Delta Branch Experiment Station. There I worked for 23 years. Have my army time added to that for retirement and so I retired in '88." He explained why he stopped playing music, “So I wasn't get paid for what I was doing, so I thought, really wasn't cause there wasn't enough for each. When you're in town and got a job and not meeting your obligation you have to cut it loose. So I could have got with a record company or something like that, but I didn't now, so I worked on this job and I retired in '88, so I finally stopped playing." After retirement, he started fooling around again and started playing at some of the festivals around home and "found I could make a little money. I decided to go back, so that's it."

Eddie recalls playing a lot of tunes, although he doesn't remember many songs he once played. "When I leave here, I don't be study playing, I be doing something else. Naturally, if you are not as really into something, nothing but that, you understand that, that don't make you as well or do as well as you are interested."Really, I'm not too interested to it. I enjoy myself and get around and reason I like blues somebody else plays, that  will make me want to play. If I was around this all the time, I would be really good."

I asked him if played around house parties around home. "I don't do too much around my home. Others playing. Son Thomas 'bout the only one in the area now and he's sick you know." He has four children. One son, Dale, plays drums and was playing behind rhythm and blues singer Mamie Davis at the Festival of Folk Life. (Lonnie Pitchford played lead guitar in that band for the festival.) While Dale can play a little guitar, he really is a drummer, and playing as much southern funk as blues. Another son, Tracy plays guitar, "[h]e likes that bebop. Must learn him what I know." He indicated an interest in recording as long as "I'd get a little something, you know I wouldn't mind. Get something out of it." 

 While I only heard him perform about five or six different songs over the course of two weeks, that reflected the format of the Festival of Folklife. There was nothing fancy about his renditions of Catfish Blues or Women in My Life.He delivered them in a strong delta manner, with strong vocals and taut instrumental backing. Having given up music for a long period of time, he may not have a large repertoire, but his showcase songs are wonderfully delivered and certainly it would be nice to have some available recordings by him.

This article appeared originally in the Spring 1994 issue of the National Capital Blues Quarterly, a short-lived publication of the DC Blues Society. As indicated, I interviewed Eddie in June-July 1991 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. Eddie was recorded as part of the invaluable Living Country Blues series for the German L&R label. He also had two albums released, I Wanna Boogie on Hightone, and Leland Mississippi Blues on Wolf Records. He died August 11, 2015 at the age of 89. Here is a video of him from a documentary on the Delta Blues.

A Drive Down The Blues Highway

Catfish & Cotton: Driving Down The Blues Highway by brothers Luc & Marc Borms is a self-published, wonderfully illustrated account of their journey to the heart of the delta blues culture through their experiences visiting Delta landmarks and their interviewing artists, merchants, scholars and others involved in the Delta Blues scene today.

The Borms brothers, both blues musicians from Belgium, made this Trans-Atlantic trek to the area that is the heart of the music that has so engrossed them as they (among other things) spent two days in Clarksdale; went to Hopson’s Plantation where Jon Gindick conducts a harmonica camp; visited the grave of Sonny Boy Williamson II; stayed at the Riverside Hotel; spent night’s at the juke joint, “Red’s Lounge”;visited the Delta Blues Museum and Cat Head and had a beer at the Ground Zero Club; Helena, Arkansas; Memphis and Beale Street: Oxford, Mississippi; Leland Mississippi; and Avalon Mississippi.

The brothers interviewed Jon Gindick, who has become well known for his harmonica instructional material to describe the camp he holds; Frank ‘Rat’ Ratliff, owner of the Riverside Hotel which was a hospital prior to becoming a hotel; Roger Stolle, who operates Cat Head , a store of folk art as well as a record label, Broke & Hungry; Heidi Hockenhauer, MC of the Delta Family Gospel Festival held in Helena; Blind Mississippi Morris, blues harmonica player and singer; Laurie Montalnaro, staff member of the Memphis Rock’n’Soul Museum; ‘Sunshine’ Sonny Payne, longtime host of the King Biscuit Time Radio Show; Cristen Craven Barnard, painter and mural artist; Adam Gussow, harmonica player and educator; Bill Abel, guitar builder and player; Randy Magee of the Highway 61 Museum; Eddie Cusic, Delta blues musician; Super Chikan, blues musician and others. I was particularly pleased to see the interview of Cusic, who I myself interviewed in 1991 when I saw him life Festival at the Smithsonian FolkLife Festival who is such a strong performer of classic Delta blues.

This book is wonderfully illustrated by the brothers’ photography of various blues landmarks, persons and some performance shops. Illustrations and inserts give information on towns and cities, landmarks including Hopson’s Plantation; the Riverside Hotel Cherry Street in Helena; Sonny Boy Williamson II’s grave; the Homemade Jamz Band and more. I was particularly moved by pictures of Pat Thomas, including one of him holding a guitar and singing while sitting in front of the grave of his father, James ‘Son’ Thomas. And they weave their narrative in which the interviews, and other materials are placed. 

The layout of all this material is quite attractive and reading is enhanced by the layout and use of 4 column text where text is printed. It will be valuable as a guide book for places one might wish to visit when one travels in the Delta as well as a document of the music today and the community in which it persists and thrives in. It is a marvelous book that will appeal to anybody with an interest in the blues and the land from which it sprung.

I became aware of this book from participation in The Real Blues Forum, a Facebook Group that Marc participates. The link for this book is www.catfish-and-cotton.com, which will take you the brothers store on lulu.com, the website that allows books to be self-published. The brother’s store link is http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/infoatcatfishandcottondotcom and can choose from a standard Black and White Edition, or the more expensive Deluxe Edition which is published in color. It is a 184 page, perfect bound book, 9 inches wide by 7 inches tall. I purchased the more expensive paperback edition. I have included for this blog a couple of the sample pages that you can view at lulu.com website for this book.

Here is a little clip of Eddie Cusic & Luc Borms filmed during the Catfish & Cotton tour.

Remembering Robert Johnson

In 1991, the Smithsonian Institution's annual Folklife Festival presented, as one of the featured presentations of the Festival, The Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era. I was fortunate enough to attend and had the pleasure to see a number of captivating workshops and performances. I still recall folklorist and scholar Worth Long asking Robert Lockwood and Johnny Shines about songs Robert Johnson performed but never recorded. That was the first time I heard of Hacksaw Harney who Robert Lockwood Jr said was one of the few guitarists other than his step-father who impressed Lockwood. There was marvelous music whether Ruth Brown on the first day singing accompanied by Robert Lockwood, or Vernell Townsend (accompanied by husband Henry) singing Stormy Monday as if Walter Davis had recorded that number. Of the artists I had not heard previously, Eddie Cusic stood out with his straight-ahead Delta style blues. Some music from that festival was issued on a Sony-Legacy album which only hinted at the music performed and collected. I reviewed it back in 1992 and here is my review as printed in Jazz and Blues Report out of Cleveland. (www.jazz-blues.org)

Roots Of Rhythm And Blues A Tribute To The Robert Johnson Era

Sony - Columbia

This release from Sony/Columbia, in conjunction with Smithsonian/Folkways, documents the program that was part of the 1991 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Those fortunate enough to attend the festival will remember some of these performances and the workshops, oral history and performers not represented here. In addition to associates of Robert Johnson, like the late Johnny “Ned” Shines, Robert Jr. Lockwood, David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and Henry Townsend, a variety of delta blues and traditional African American performers were presented including Lonnie Pitchford, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and others. In addition to festival performers, there are ringers here. While Phil Wiggins appeared at the Festival, John Cephas did not. While I originally thought Cephas and Wiggins’ fine Brownsville Blues was from an earlier festival, I have been told this is a studio performance with dubbed-in applause. Toshi Reagon is heard on another studio recording, albeit without dubbed crowd noise. The centerpiece of the performances are several loose jams credited to Johnny “Ned” Shines (with these being his last “official recordings”) and ensemble. The ensemble includes Townsend on piano, Lockwood on guitar, Shines’ young associate Kent DuChaine on guitar, Lonnie Pitchford on bass guitar and Phil Wiggins on harmonica. There was another jam session with Honeyboy and Larry Wise replacing Lockwood and Wiggins, but nothing from that jam is represented here. Certainly the jam recordings are historic, although the music has some rough edges, with Pitchfords’s bass, Townsend’s piano and Lockwood’s strong authoritative playing keep things from getting too chaotic. The album opens with a very ragged Sweet Home Chicago, on which Shines’ singing sounded tired. The other songs, including his B.B. King influenced Loved and Lost (a retitled version of Have to Pay the Cost) are better performances. Also interesting are Shines’ three short acappella performances including a street vendor’s cry, Watermelons, and the traditional Tell Me How You Want Your Rolling Done. Documentation of these archaic song forms is invaluable whether by Shines, former Parchman Farm inmate David Savage, heard on two field hollers, or some retired railroad workers singing while demonstrating lining tracks. Lockwood and Edwards turn in workmanlike solo performances, Lonnie Pitchford’s three Robert Johnson numbers are adeptly performed, but solo performances by Henry Townsend (sounding like Walter Davis on the superb All My Money’s Gone on piano), and Jessie Mae Hemphill (a very strong Train, Train) stand out. Also included is a solo harmonica feature by Phil Wiggins, and several religious performances from the Moving Star Hall Singers. There were a number of strongly delivered performances not included, ostensively because of technical problems attributable to the hot, humid weather that made keeping in tune a real adventure. Barry Lee Pearson and Bernice Reagon places the performances in their social and historic context. While not indispensable, this makes available a variety of performances and performers not otherwise likely to be found on a major label, and has value beyond that of a festival souvenir.