A Playlist of Christmas Blues Recordings

Blues (and Jazz) artists have been recording blues about the holidays almost as long as such music has been recorded. Here are a few gems to help celebrate the holiday. Here Blind Lemon Jefferson sings Christmas Eve Blues.

Here is Charlie Jordan singing Christmas Christmas Blues and that is (unless I am deaf) the Devil's Son-in-Law, Peetie Wheatstraw on piano.

And now the great Blind Blake singing Lonesome Christmas Blues.

Moving a head a few decades we get the second Sonny Boy Williamson's, Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues.

Lightnin' Hopkins gives his take on Merry Christmas.

Now Freddie King has Christmas Tears.

But Eddie C. Campbell has found out that Santa's Messin' With the Kid.

But Denise Lasalle says that Santa's Got the Christmas Blues.

This is my favorite Louis Armstrong Christmas song, 'Zat You, Santa Claus?

No Charles Brown today (I will hold his holiday songs for Christmas Day itself. As Marvn Sease say, may you have  a Funky Christmas.

Survivor: The Benny Turner Story

Survivor: The Benny Turner Story
Bill Dahl and Benny Turner
Nola Blue, Inc.
2017: 238 + xiv pages

This is a little gem of a book where Benny Turner, with Bill Dahl's assistance, tells his fascinating story from growing up in Texas along with half-brother Freddie King, moving to Chicago where he worked with his half-brother, along with various gospel, rhythm and blues and Chicago blues legends, spending time with Mighty Joe Young after Freddie passed until Young had medical issues, then spending years leading Marva Wright's Band, and after her passing taking up the spotlight as a leader and recording and performing under his own name.

The story begins as Turner goes into his family background, noting Freddie's real father who abandoned him and how he became King while Benny is named after his father. They grew up in Jim Crow Texas although it wasn't until several years passed that he experienced the humiliation blacks could be subjected to. While his father did not play, his mother did as did several uncles including Uncle Leon. Benny states his mother and Uncle Leon played songs from Robert Johnson and Leadbelly, which I take allegorically (as to songs similar to those of Johnson and Leadbelly) and not literally. What is more important than this is the closeness of his family, including his relationship with his half-brother and he helped Freddie in the cotton fields, although he was accidentally injured once and still has a four inch scar from it, and the accidental death of Uncle Leon. His mother also lay down the discipline as he was growing up.

The family moved to Chicago in 1950 with his father getting a job with a steel company assisting with molten steel and tipping buckets into molds. It was a whole new world of experiences including electric lights, indoor plumbing and Freddie wanting to see a refrigerator make ice and also getting enrolled in school and the like, with Benny initially enrolled in a predominantly white school where he faced racist bullying and after fighting out of a situation was enrolled in a black school, but even here he had to fight himself out of a similar situation except here it was neighborhood kids, but he also recalled experiences of police harassment simply walking back home form a movie theater.

Besides recalling some of the interesting characters in the neighborhood and other situations, he starting singing doo-wop with classmates and after awhile they even went to Chess Records hoping to record and met Rice 'Sonny Boy Williamson' Miller who they watched record with Turner recalling the interaction between the Miller and Leonard Chess. Benny would next cross paths with Miller while playing with his brother. Turner recounts his experiences auditioning for gospel groups and other vocal groups, and day jobs after his father was disabled after being hit by a car. He started playing guitar in a gospel group, the Kindly Shepherds with whom Turner traveled and made his first recordings. He recounts experiences traveling with them including harassment from police down south.

While his career was starting, brother Freddie's career was taking off. Turner notes the influences of Jimmy Rogers and Robert Lockwood on King's guitar style as well as King's admiration of Earl Hooker while also noting folks like Jimmy Lee Robinson that were in King's bands. He recalls Freddie taking him to see Howlin' Wolf who put King under his wing, and recalls Freddie recording "Spoonful" with the Wolf, a recollection that will bring back the controversy of decades ago on Freddie's claim of having recorded that backing Wolf. He also recalls Freddie playing with Robert 'Mojo' Elem and T.J. McNulty who Luther Allison would front after Freddie started going on the road (Luther told me this years ago and Turner includes a picture of a very young Luther with McNulty here).

The detail I have provided is incomplete but indicates the contents of this wonderful memoir that details his own musical career that included touring with Dee Clark which he spends some detail on and later he would play bass with The Soul Stirrers (the first electric bassist with a gospel group) as well playing with various Chicago blues and soul legends including Freddie in a band that included Little Johnnie Jones and Abb Locke. Later he would return to Freddie's band after his time playing with the Soul Stirrers though also spent time with Jimmy Reed and others before rejoining Freddie who he remained with until his passing detailing concerts, recording sessions and the like. And he was with Freddie until the end, remembering some conversations between the brothers, the last performance and the aftermath of his death.

After his brother's death, Mighty Joe Young got him into his band with whom he would play with until surgery intended to fix a pinched neck in his neck, instead left unable to play with that arm. Around this time, he moved to New Orleans although remaining close with Young until Young passed away in 1999. In New Orleans he started playing at the Old Absinthe Bar which unfortunately now is a daiquiri shop. Interweaving his experiences living in New Orleans was his hooking up with Marva Wright, who was a church-going woman starting as a blues singer although beginning her career singing blues. At the time Marva had a band of jazz players which she didn't like (in fact hated it), when she hooked up with Turner which was fine as he really preferred working with just one person like he had with Freddie and Joe Young. It was the beginning of a lengthy time as he became her band leader. There are recollections of her powerful singing, especially with the bishop, organist Sammy Berfect who passed in 1999, of a plane ride in Europe where all the band members were scared for their lives and being reunited with Tyrone Davis in New Orleans who he had not seen in years, and then seeing James Cotton in Brazil who he had last seen when Cotton had been in Muddy Waters' band. Hurricane Katrina of course interrupted Turner's life as it did Marva. Marva relocated to Baltimore, and Benny flew in to play a benefit for Marva at the now closed Bangkok Blues in Falls Church, Virginia a Washington DC suburb, that Benny includes a photo of himself from on page 197 (it was likely my photo although uncredited but I recognize the location), noting it was his 1st post-Katrina performance. Marva eventually came back to New Orleans and Benny rejoined her until she suffered a stroke in 2009 and passed in 2010.

After Marva's passing, Turner took the spotlight at last and the last chapter details some of the events such as going up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her niece Wanda when Freddie King was inducted, as well as paying a musical tribute to Marva Wright at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and later at the Rock'n'Bowl in New Orleans. Then he ran into an old friend, Sallie Bengtson, with whom he has partnered to release a number of recordings as a leader and this memoir, and recounts his tours over the past several years such as running into old friends, former Muddy Waters band-member Bob Margolin and Mark Wenner of the Nighthawks.

As Turner states near the book's end, he still has plenty to say and play and one certainly hopes that he does for many years to come. He shares here some observations on the state of the music today. He  may be a blues survivor, but he remains today a terrific musician who continues to enrich us today with his performances, recordings and this book. The lively text is also copiously illustrated with photos from Turner's entire life. This is highly recommended to all fans of blues music.




I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the September-October 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 374).

Blues Unlimited: Essential Interviews From The Original Blues Magazine

Blues Unlimited: Essential Interviews From The Original Blues Magazine
Edited by Bill Greensmith, Mike Rowe and Mark Camarigg
University of Illinois Press

Part of the "Music in American Life" series this new volume contains a number of important interviews from this pioneering publication which I was a subscriber to (and even made a few modest contributions to over four decades ago). Bill Greensmith and Mike Rowe were important contributors to Blues Unlimited and Mark Camarigg played an important role in the production of this volume. The editors provide an overview of the publication's history and the various artists whose interviews are reprinted here. They also update and correct some of the interviews here. They note that they have not included some interviews where they were superseded by interviews elsewhere.

Included are interviews with some legendary figures as well as others who likely are not as well known among those who are blues fans today. The volume is split up regionally with the first part (and lengthiest part) devoted to Chicago with interviews of Freddie King, Jimmy Walker, Louis Myers, Red Holloway, Fred Below, and Moody Jones, Floyd Jones and Snooky Pryor. While King and Cotton are the best known of these performers, there is plenty of blues history to be learned here. Most intriguing among the Detroit artists considered is the piece on the great pianist, Big Maceo based on Rowe's interviews with Maceo's widow and pianist Boogie Woogie Red.

The lengthiest interview here is with Jimmy Thomas and goes into his lengthy time with Ike Turner starting in St. Louis. Another St. Louis artist interviewed was Fontella Bass, recalling her days with Oliver Sain and recording "Rescue Me." Arguably the most significant interview with Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup is included. Blues Unlimited played a major role in promoting Houston one-man band, Weldon 'Juke Boy' Bonner, so it is not a surprise to find his interview here, and many will find the 1979 interview of Albert Collins of great interest (I know I did). There is also an interview with Johnny Otis (although one wishes they had reprinted the series of interviews Otis did for the publication), Roy Brown, and two pioneering record men, Henry Glover and Ralph Bass.

This is an invaluable publication with over 400 pages of blues history source material in a large page format. It is an understatement to state this is a major addition to the blues bookshelf and if you have any serious blues lover, it would make a terrific gift.

I purchased this book. This is one of a number of short reviews I have written for the 2015 Holiday Gift Guide edition of Jazz & Blues Report which is available to download at jazz-blues.com.

Cookie McGee's Right Place

With all the attention being given some of the emerging female singer-guitarists, I would be hard-pressed to find a release as consistently satisfying both vocally and instrumentally as the debut album by Dallas, Texas’ Cookie McGee. Once again it is John Stedman and his JSP label who is responsible for releasing her Right Place.

McGee grew up as neighbors to the Freddie King family, and played in various bands with Freddie‘s kids, including Freddie Jr. after King passed away. She played in and around Dallas for several years. spent 1986 in New Orleans playing with Ernie K-Doe and Jean Knight until tiring of the musical rat race and laying down her guitar for several years. It was Tutu Jones that asked her to pick up her guitar for the 1997 Freddie King birthday tribute which resulted in Right Place which was produced by Andrew “Jr. Boy” Jones.

While Freddie King may have been an obvious influence, this writer hears more of B.B. King‘s influence than Freddie. The tight backing group here also evokes the sound of B.B.‘s recordings from the late sixties and early seventies, not simply because of McGee‘s solid, incisive guitar, but the splendid backing she receives Ron Mason‘s keyboards being particularly noteworthy as he fills out the bottom as well as contributes some telling solos. She matches her fretwork with a natural, appealing vocal style that renders her tales of relationships gone bad quite believable.

She contributes four originals including the opening One Way Ticket, which she got for her mistreating man and the crisp instrumental, Groovin‘ in Garland. The other songs are covers songs by other JSP artists including a very soulful reading of Percy Strother‘s Your So Called Friends, where she entreats her man not to let his friends break them apart; producer Jones’ amusing You‘re a Dog, with drummer Tommy Hill providing an amusing second voice to respond to the lyrics, and Jimmy Morella‘s Blueswoman for Life, a rocking shuffle that Roy Gaines also recorded on his recent JSP release. The album closes with a topical blues, Bottom‘s Falling Out, a commentary about the hard times for some now that the politicians in D.C. have basically eliminated the safety net.

The superior material along with the strong performance turned in by Ms. McGee make Right Place a most auspicious debut. Like her fellow Dallas blues players, Jr. Boy Jones and Tutu Jones, one suspects that she will be the latest JSP discovery‘ to capture the attention of one of the major American labels. She‘s got the talent and the voice that deserves to be heard.

The above review appeared in the DC Blues Calendar, either in December 1998 or early 1999. Unfortunately this release did not lead to her capturing the attention of other labels. It would be over a decade before she would have another release, One Way Ticket, on the Austrian Wolf label. Both CDs are available as well as available as downloads. I do not recall if I received a review copy or purchased this. Here is Cookie performing.

Freddie King Was Electrifying Live Performer

Freddie King was one of the greatest of the post-war Chicago bluesmen. A formidable singer and a highly important guitarist, he had a number of records on the charts and was a major influence on many blues and rock guitarists including Luther Allison (who took over King’s Chicago band and gigs when King toured), Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. While Bear Family has issued all of King’s commercial recordings on two box sets containing twelve CDs of music, King also had some significant live recordings. The following review appeared originally in the March 2006 DC Blues Calendar and the March-April 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (issue (280). I made minor stylistic changes in this review.


Its been three decades since the great Freddie King passed away, and the late blues guitar’s reputation has perhaps been lessened with the passing of time, which is unfortunate because few of the guitarists today play with his mix of passion and imagination.


Shout Factory has just issued Live at the Electric Ballroom, 1974, part of the label’s reconstruction of the Black Top label catalog. Recorded two years before his death, King rips through Women Across the River, which he recorded with Leon Russell; as well as blues chestnuts like Key to the Highway, Earl King’s Let the Good Times Roll, Ain’t Nobody’s Business, which he cut for Atlantic’s Cotillion subsidiary, Sweet Home Chicago and Dust My , before ending this set with Hide Away Medley.


This disc also includes an interview with him and two acoustic performances, perhaps his only acoustic recordings. King probably had the most immediate impact on rock guitar (Eric Clapton among others was heavily influenced by King’s muscular playing), and he was also a first rate singer who brought plenty of soul to his music. This is so nice to have available again.

I likely received this from a publicist for Shout Factory’s releases. This is still in print and should be readily available.

Jeff Golub's Tribute to Three Blues Kings

Veteran of tours with Rod Stewart, and Billy Squier as well as spending time in the James Montgomery band, Jeff Golub has distinguished in recent years as a jazz guitarist. His most recent album has him heading back to the blues with a tribute recording The Three Kings (Entertainment One), a tribute to Albert, B.B., and Freddie King. As he states, "When you look at the modern blues and rock vocabulary, it's almost impossible for anyone to play something that doesn't reflect their influence somehow. Featured on this disc is Henry Butler on keyboards and vocals, who co-produced it with Golub, Andy Hess on bass, and Josh Dion on drums, percussion and vocals. Special guests include Sonny Landreth and Robben Ford, while others in the studio include Chris Palmaro on Hammond B3, and horns and synth strings are heard as well.

There is a mix of covers and some originals that make for an entertaining collection of performances. Butler helps things start with the opening rendition of Let The Good Times Roll, and Born Under a Bad Sign, both solidly sung by Butler, but modeled on the recordings by B.B. and Albert respectively. Golub's instrumental "I Plain Sight, enables him to escape the shadows of both while also allowing Landreth to add a sharp slide guitar solo. Help the Poor, is not an overly familiar part of B.B.'s repertoire and Dion takes a fine vocal with a fresh arrangement. It is followed by Freddie King's instrumental Side Tracked, with Robben Ford adding a solo on a nice rendition with some nice twists in the backing.


Oh Pretty Woman, sounds slowed down slightly from Albert King's original and has a fine vocal from Butler with solid guitar and followed by a hot shuffle rendition Every Day I Have the Blues, with Dion taking another fine vocal. After Golub's hot solo, Butler takes a rollicking piano solo. Then a couple more of Freddie King's songs are tackled with Butler singing Have You Loved a Woman, and Dion on I'm Tore Up. with Golub's hard-edged guitar sounding like a mix of Freddie and Albert in his very solid playing."Freddie's Midnite Dream, a Sonny Thompson penned instrumental from his Cotillion recordings follows, and its lazy feel contrasts with many of King's better known instrumentals with Golub varying in intensity against the light background.


Stumblin' Home is an original instrumental based on The Stumble with nice use of the lower range. Butler wrote the original Three Kings with his celebration of Albert, Freddie and B.B., with a slight New Orleans funk rhythm and punchy horns to support Golub's driving guitar. The disc closes with an instrumental rendition of The Thrill Is Gone, but one is surprised to see that B.B. is credited as composer of the Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins penned classic (and Hawkins 1951 original made the R&B charts). Golub's playing is pretty solid with judicious use of sustain along with Butler’s jazzy piano.


The Three Kings is a very enjoyable collection of blues performances. While most of the disc is comprised of covers, they are not slavish copies although most will be overshadowed by the originals. Drummer Josh Dion was a revelation as a vocalist on his three selections and the originals stand out in the set of solid blues performances.

My review copy was provided by a publicist.

Andrew Jones Gets Real

Its been a few years since Andrew ‘Jr. Boy’ Jones has had a new release out. The Canadian Electro-Fi label has just released the Texas guitar slinger’s latest disc, Gettin’ Real, with some muscular guitar and husky vocals from the one-time Freddie King band member. His first release was for JSP and led to a solid subsequent release for Bullseye Blues. Having this new release from him is certainly welcome.

Jones makes no attempt to break new ground by recycling blues-rock as rock here. Instead what we have on this collection is some straight-ahead Texas blues along with two jazz-inflected soul-funk instrumentals. The opening Struggle, sets the table here with an insistent vocal of a lyric about losing his job and things being unsettled on the home front accompanied by some searing guitar. John Street’s keyboards add to the feel of the People Say I’m Crazy, as Jr. Boy sings about how this woman breaks his heart so many times yet still crazy to love his woman. He tells his lady his tired of her Negative Talkin’, as Cheryl Arena adds some down home harmonica with Street rollicking on piano. The rest of the rhythm, bassist, Tommy Tucker and drummer, Jamie Byrom keep things in the pocket.

The old Wilson Picket groover Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You, is given a driving instrumental treatment as Jr. Boy opens with some tasty mix of jazzy chording and single note runs which would be interesting if he also employed this approach backing some of his vocals here. Don’t Get It Twisted, has a slow funky groove with a melody suggestive of Mustang Sally, as Andrew wonders who is driving his new car and wearing his new suit. A nice change of pace is afforded by the soulful ballad Good Lovin’. This varied and entertaining disc closes with some more jazz-inflected playing on an instrumental rendition of What’s Going On.

Given what passes for blues today, it is refreshing to listen to such a strong, straight-forward blues recording that doesn’t claim to break new ground. All it does is deliver straight blues to the listener.


I likely received my review copy from Electro-Fi. This review was written in late 2009. This should be readily available.

Outstanding Vintage Blues Recordings of 2010

First in my List of Outstanding Jazz and Blues Recordings of 2010. I start with Vintage Blues Recordings which includes not simply reissues but also releases primarily consisting of older material.

Junior Wells & the Aces Live in Boston 1966 (Delmark). The release of a sixties club performance by Junior Wells with the Aces (Louis and Dave Myers as well as drummer Fred Below) captures Wells in top form and displays the manner Wells interacted with his primarily white college audience was not far removed from how he interacted with the folks at Pepper’s Lounge.

Albert King / Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session (Stax). While the music has been available from the legendary encounter on CD, this combined deluxe DVD and CD includes much unissued video by the two. Tremendous meeting of two legends.


Little Smokey Smothers & Elvin Bishop Chicago Blues Buddies (Brown Derby). Compiled as a fundraiser for Smokey, who recently passed away, I wrote “a solid retrospective of a wonderful partnership with the release of the first-rate 1993 Chicago Blues Festival performances particularly welcome as are the tracks that Alligator and Black Magic graciously lent to this project … .”

Otis Redding Live on the Sunset Strip (Stax) The classic live recordings which include the full sets of a legendary performance. “Over four decades later, Otis Redding’s music remains as gripping as when he performed on the Whiskey’s stage. Obviously those having the earlier reissues may not need this, but others who love “Sweet Soul Music,” will want this.”

Luther Allison Songs From the Road (Ruf) CD and DVD of previously unissued performances by one of the greatest live blues performers ever. “What a joy to listen and watch previously unissued performances by Luther Allison after all these years. It doesn’t get much better than this release which is quite reasonably priced and should be available from itunes or amazon and better retailers.”

Sista Monica Soul Blues & Ballads (Mo Muscle Records). A terrific retrospective for which I wrote, ‘There is a generous amount of music here with thirteen outstanding performances for about 70 minutes by one of the blues and R&B world’s finest singers here. I add that she could have selected from her earlier recordings, a dozen different performances and had as compelling a recording. She is just that dynamic and soulful. For those lacking anything by the Sista, here is a good place to start.”

Freddie King Texas Flyer (Bear Family). This is the second Bear Family box sets that has also tyhe commercially issued recordings by the legendary blues singer and guitarist. This set also has the live recordings he did for RSO and much previously unissued live performances. Between the two sets on Bear Family (The 7CD Taking Care of Business is the earlier one) one has about 15 hours of guitar blues of the highest level and one can reevaluate some of the stuff that one might have dismissed four decades ago.  Special note should be made of the hard cover book with Bill Dahl's biographical and musical notes and pianist Dave Maxwell's recollections of working with King. The book also has some incredible photographs and full discographical information.



Little Willie John Mister Little Willie John + Talk To Me (HooDoo Records) Two early albums by the great rhythm and blues singer who died way too soon with a number of his classic songs including Fever, Talk to Me, Home at Last, All Around the World, and Drive Me Home.

Christine Kittrell, Call Her Name:Complete Recordings 51-65 (Bear Family). Nashville was once known as much for its Rhythm and Blues scene as hillbilly music, and the queen of that scene was Christine Kittrell. Bear Family has compiled all of her recordings from 1951 to 1965 (many produced by legendary songwriter-producer Ted Jarrett) that shows a terrific singer that had some mostly regional success but was the equal of some of her better known contemporaries. On one selection, a John Coltrane rips out a sax solo that stands out.


Big Walter Horton Blues Harmonia Giant (JSP) 3-CD box that reissues this important harmonica masters early recordings for a variety of labels along with some of his choice accompaniments and a bonus CD of a live 70's performance with his primary disciple, Carey Bell. I blogged extensively on this reissue.


Bob Corritore Harmonica Blues (Delta Groove). Harmonica player Bob Corritore has championed traditionally styled Chicago blues for decades. This Delta Groove release showcases his considerable skills on the harmonica with a number of blues legends, a number of whom are no longer with us including Robert Lockwood, Nappy Brown and Koko taylor as well as Eddie Shaw, Louisiana Red, Big Pete Pearson and others. There is enough older material to place this in the Vintage category as opposed to a straight new release.

The Blues Side of Ike and Tina

 When I was in college back in the latter part of the sixties, I purchased a copy of the album, “Outta Season” by Ike and Tina Turner on Blue Thumb. It has a gatefold cover showing the two in whiteface eating watermelons which may have been controversial back then. It was a collection of mostly blues including a terrific rendition of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” I had known of Ike and Tina from Murray the K playing the heck outta of the Phil Spector produced single “River Deep, Mountain High,” but getting this album was a revelation since at that time I was unaware of Ike’s legendary role in the post-war Delta blues scene as well as is the St. Louis music scene of the late fifties and sixties.

My musical education continued when the succeeding album, “The Hunter” came out a year or so later, with some really superb guitar by Albert Collins on many of the tracks. Of course after some major crossover hits, the relationship between Ike & Tina turned very sour and Tina became perhaps an even bigger star than in earlier years. Ike himself produced and played on a number of blues recordings that displayed he was still quite the musician.

Several years ago, the Spanish Blue Moon label reissued the Blue Thump albums on CD, “The Hunter and Outta Season,” which was, and is, available as an import. More recently, the American Acrobat Music label, issued an abridged reissue of the two albums that I reviewed in the November 2010 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 310-with my photo of McCoy Tyner on the cover) which can be downloaded at jazz-blues.com. Here is that review of the American Acrobat reissue. Both reissues are still available, with the import being a bit more expensive.

Among its initial releases, the American Acrobat Music has issued Ike & Tina Turner “ Sings the Blues.” This album is compiled from the two albums that they had issued on Blue Thump, “Outta Season,” and “The Hunter” but unlike a Spanish reissue of the two albums of a few years back, this release only makes available 11 of the 13 songs on the first album and 7 of the 9 on the second release, which is unfortunately, since the full contents of both do fit on a single CD. One other serious shortcoming is the liner notes make no mention that Albert Collins, not Turner, was guitarist on much of “The Hunter,” which is not to say that Turner’s own guitar work is not worthy of praise as he was a first-rate and distinctive string bender as well as bandleader and Svengali. That all said, the music still resonates as fresh as it was four decades ago (I still have my vinyl LPs).

Tina was, and remains, a superb singer, able to touch one’s gut with her expressiveness whether its her nailing Otis Redding’s “I've Been Loving You Too Long,” or her take of “Three O'clock in the Morning Blues,” taken from B.B. King’s recording with some terrific guitar around her vocal from Ike, or her down-in-the-alley take of “Five Long Years.” “Grumbling” is an instrumental where Ike evokes Freddy King’s “The Stumble.”

Tina’s vocal shines even more brightly on the spiritual “ I Am a Motherless Child,” with its spare backing. Albert Collins’ stinging guitar should be immediately recognizable on her strong take of the Albert King blues, “The Hunter,” and it certainly sounds like Collins, although somewhat restrained in the solo, on the Jimmy Reed Classic “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” titled here as “You Got Me Running.” Ike is on guitar on the funky “Bold Soul Sister,” but Collins is laying it down on his Telecaster for the Bobby Bland classic, I Smell Trouble,” and also on “Early in the Morning,” a version of Junior Parker’s “Mother-in-Law Blues.”

I already mentioned the two main flaws in this reissue, its omission of songs and inaccuracies in its annotation. The music that is made available on this is compelling and highly recommended.

For FTC purposes, I received a review copy from a publicist for this issue.

King of the Queen City is Important Label History

King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records
Jon Hartley Fox
University of Illinois Press
(280 pages, 23 photographs)

This writer have long been a fan of many of rhythm’n’blues artists that recorded for the King family of labels. These include Roy Brown, Wyonnie Harris, Ivory Joe Hunter, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, Freddie King, Little Willie John, Esther Phillips, The Five Royales, Billy Ward & the Dominoes and James Brown, to name a small part of the musical legacy of Syd Nathan’s Cincinnati based group of labels that included Queen and Federal. King was a pioneering label in more ways than one as this very welcome history of the label and overview of the extensive recordings that were made for it makes clear.

“King of the Queen City” expands upon a public radio series of the same title that Fox did in 1986 and is a history of the label that Syd Nathan launched in 1943, which became a company that Fox observes was “one of the most, important successful and influential record companies in history. During the almost twenty-five years Nathan was at the helm, King recorded — and introduced to the American public — a stunning array of musical giants, from country stars Merle Travis and Grandpa Jones and bluegrass greats Don Reno and Red Smiley to blues guitarist Freddie King and R&B and soul stars Hank Ballard and James Brown.” Furthermore, while one of hundreds of independent labels to emerge during the forties, none of these matched “King for variety, innovation, depth of catalog and sheer moxie.” It changed not only how music was recorded but also the music itself and whereas almost all other independent labels concentrated on one type of music, King was active in virtually all genres of American vernacular music and did not simply dabble in these styles but had many top stars and some of the biggest records in these styles. It was music and records for “the little man,” as Nathan often put it.

King did more than simply pioneer in the music it recorded and issued. King Records under Syd Nathan pioneered in other ways. It was a record company that had an integrated staff, in what really was a southern city at the time. Nathan started the record company during the middle of World War II when there was a shellac shortage and during the first Petrillo recording ban, may not have been what one might have been instructed in business school. Despite these circumstances Syd Nathan developed King into pioneering record company. He recorded his artists in his studios, manufactured his records (which entailed learning how to master and manufacture records) and using a national promotion force under his control. Other companies may have had their own studio, or perhaps manufacturing plant, but they would not also have their own promotion staff, rather relying on regionally based independent promotion staff. And one cannot emphasize enough his pioneering in hiring individuals on merit, not on the basis of race or other matters.

King also pioneered in having his R&B acts record songs penned by his country stars and vice versa (such as Wyonnie Harris “Bloodshot Eyes”), therefore enabling the exploitation of the songs in the music catalog the label cultivated and owned in addition to the recordings. Overseeing many of the sessions (whether country and R&B) was Henry Glover, Nathan’s first Artist & Repertoire Director. Glover was probably only the second black man to hold an executive position with a United States record label and helped produce some of the label’s early hits like those by Bull Moose Jackson and Harris. Fox, in telling the story of King Records, notes the unheralded and pioneering role that Glover, and also Ralph Bass played in the development of American music of the past 65 years, and notes how few of these have received the recognition they deserve.

Nathan had a strong personality and could get into intense arguments with his staff. The book recounts the legendary story of Nathan’s reaction to James Brown & the Famous Flames’ “Please, Please, Please,” that Ralph Bass recorded, spewing “This is the worse piece of shit I’ve ever heard in my life. …” The earliest acts on King were country acts like Grandpa Jones, the Delmore Brothers and Merle Travis and King would build a distinguished country catalog that included Hawksaw Hawkins, Hank Penny and the great rocking honky tonk piano pioneer, Moon Mullican and then rockabilly sessions with such pioneers as Charlie Feathers. And there would be the countless blues and vocal groups as well as gospel sessions held under the eyes of Glover, Bass and others. Lets not forget such important popular instrumental performers as Earl Bostic and Bill Doggett. Is there anyone reading this who has never heard “Honky Tonk?” The recordings story along with that of Doggett, saxophonist Clifford Scott and guitarist Billy Butler is among those recounted here. This is just to give a small flavor of what the King Catalog represented. King Records passed along with Syd Nathan when he died. The label’s catalog was purchased as was the music publishing. and Fox discusses the various reissues of King recordings and other matters that have happened over the four decades since Syd Nathan passed away.

Fox weaves the label’s history around a discussion of the many performers and musical styles the label touched on and even one familiar with a number of the artists will discover much new. This is not to say there are not omissions in discussing artists, especially after they left King. For example, the discussion of Esther Phillips sort of dismisses her post-King years, ignoring the fact that the Beatles invited her to England because of her recording “And I Love Him,” and one year Aretha handed Esther Phillips a Grammy one year when Aretha won over Esther’s classic album “From a Whisper to a Scream. Its his superficial summary discussion of her and Johnny “Guitar’ Watson, that have me wondering what has he missed on performers who I am less familiar with. This does seem a minor point as his achievement is compiling so much information on the King Records story and artists and recordings of King and associated labels. The label’s story is perhaps not as integrated with the narrative of the performers, but that is a function of what he has attempted here. 


If not a perfect book, it is a remarkable achievement and Fox makes the case for the recognition to folks like Henry Glover, Ralph Bass and Syd Nathan himself by popular music historians. Their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should have been secured years ago, and hopefully this volume will lead to that belated recognition. To the extent these folks are not in The Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame, that oversight should be immediately addressed. Jon Hartley Fox is to be thanked for his impressive addition to the popular music literature. “King of the Queen City” is highly recommended for anyone seriously interested in American vernacular music.

To comply with FTC regulations that may or may not be applicable, I obtained a review copy of this book from either the publisher or someone doing publicity for the publisher.