Take 5 With Leroy Carr

Leroy Carr was one of the most influential blues artists who ever lived.  A singer-pianist and songwriter, he had some of the biggest-selling blues records of his time and many of his songs became blues standards. his duets with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell also were highly influential as well.

Our initial recording on our playlist is probably his most famous song, "How Long, How Long Blues." It is true other songs anticipate his recording. Still, the impact of this recording was felt decades later in recordings and performances by so many including Tampa Red, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Lou Rawls, and B.B. King.

It should be known that Carr's melodies would be adapted by Robert Johnson. One such song was "Midnight Hour Blues" that Johnson used for "Four Until Late."

Elmore James was a fan of Carr, having recorded renditions of several Carr songs. One song that Elmore performed was "Blues Before Sunrise."

Unusual is this bouncy song relating to the circus, "Carried Water For the Elephants."

Little Johnnie Jones was one of a number of blues artists who have recorded "Prison Bound Blues" with its haunting lyrics.

That is the fifth and final song for this Take 5. I previously did a blog post on Carr's classic, "In The Evening," which is linked here and includes a number of interpretations of that song.

Leroy Carr's In The Evening

Leroy Carr's legacy is perhaps not as appreciated today as it once was. A major recording star, his duets with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell, are classic blues recordings. Furthermore, he contributed countless classic blues songs that have become standards. Today we have an "In the Evening" playlist kicking off with his original recording.

While Ray Charles has also recorded this, let us not forget Charles Brown, who was an early influence on Brother Ray.

Big Bill Broonzy did this as hear here.

Robert Lockwood had a fondness for Leroy Carr as did most folks of his generation. Here he is playing his 12 string guitar and singing this classic.

Big Joe Turner did a nice rendition of this.

Here is Jimmy Witherspoon with a band that included Jay McShann on piano and was led by former Basie-ite, Budddy Tate.

Here is Ella Fitzgerald singing it for Decca Records,

Here is a Count Basie trio recording of this classic.

Here is Big Joe Williams and his 9-string guitar.

And here is the shouter Joe Williams at Newport in 1963 with a band including Howard McGhee and Clark Terry.

Here is Ernestine Anderson with Milt Jackson and others.

Then there is Gary Clark Jr. at the White House doing it.

Then there is Yusef Lateef's recording on the oboe.

I could include many more renditions, but here is a ringer to close this post with.  I wonder if the Carr estate gets royalties for Robert Johnson's recording, Love in Vain, that uses Carr's music.

How Long How Long Blues

One of the most celebrated blues recording is " How Long How Long Blues," most famous from Leroy Carr's recording. It was so popular, Carr recorded a number of sequels. Today, we explore a variety of recordings and performances of this number starting with Carr's hit.

It derives somewhat from Ida Cox's "How Long Daddy" by the great Ida Cox with Papa Charlie Jackson on the accompaniment.

Here is T-Bone Walker doing this classic.

Jimmy Yancey may be my favorite blues and boogie-woogie pianist. Here is his poetical version.

Count Basie with Jimmy Rushing singing.

Here is one by Big Joe Turner, who recorded the song several times.

The great slide guitar master, Kokomo Arnold, an influence on Robert Johnson, recorded this.

The late Lou Rawls did a marvelous rendition.

Last up for this playlist is Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Leadbelly.

There are many I could have selected, but this gives an idea of the range of interpretations.

How Long How Long Blues

Today's blog is devoted to simply presenting a number of renditions of a song most associated with Leroy Carr, How Long, How Long Blues. This was a major hot for Carr and became one of the true blues classics.

First up is Carr's original recording

Second is Tampa Red although I wish we just had the music, not the video and audio of a 78 playing.

Ida Cox's How Long Daddy speaks about that southbound train. It predates Carr's recording. Cox was one of the early blues greatest talents.

Kokomo Arnold also did a terrific rendition of this

Let us not forget some superb instrumental piano renditions including Count Basie

And no instrumemntal rendition touches me as much as that by the great Jimmy Yancey.

A year before he died, Jimmy Yancey did this with Mama Yancey singing wonderfully

Carr' song was a favorite of blues shouters like Jimmy Rushing, Jimmy Witherspoon and Big Joe Turner. Here is the Boss of the Blues singing it from the essential album The Boss of the Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz.

Other singer-pianists have done including Memphis Slim and Champion Jack Dupree. I have included Dupree's rendition from 1945.

It has been a song that jazz performers have interpreted such as Coleman Hawkins. There is a superb duet performance by Archie Shepp and pianist Horace Parlan on the terrific album Trouble in Mind. Here is Coleman Hawkins.

Among recent blues renditions, I consider the best to be from pianist Butch Thompson and guitarist Pat Donohue. Here is Thompson channeling Jimmy Yancey as I close this blog post.

Butch Thompson and Pat Donohue Have The Vicksburg Blues.

Vicksburg Blues (Red House Records) is the first collaboration between pianist and clarinetist Butch Thompson and singer-guitarist Pat Donohue. The two have been staples of the blues, jazz and folk scenes in the Twin Cities, and have been regular performers for several decades on the national radio show, A Prairie Home Companion.

Donohue is one of the leading fingerstyle guitarists alive, while Thompson is amongst the leading interpreters of traditional jazz and ragtime piano. Thompson, mentored by the late Little Brother Montgomery, shows himself here to be quite a fine blues pianist, while Donohue got to see Big Joe Williams, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jesse Fuller in the seventies before becoming one of the most accomplished guitarists in the tradition of a Blind Blake and Big Bill Broonzy, both of whom were comfortable playing with jazz musicians. Blake for example recorded with the likes of Johnny Dodds.

The album has them interpreting a number of classic blues from Leroy Carr, Blake, Jelly roll Morton and Little Brother Montgomery as well as early jazz numbers from Clarence Williams and Clarence Johnson, and King Oliver. The pair also contribute five originals as well as a composition Thompson collaborated with Little Brother. From the opening moments of Carr’s Midnight Hour Blues to the closing Thompson original Yancey Blues, their deft and imaginative playing and Donohue’s natural and heartfelt singing make for a truly delightful recording.

The opening Midnight Hour Blues certainly displays the empathy the two have four each other (and the melody was lifted by Robert Johnson for From Four Until Late). Its followed by Carr’s most famous song, How Long, How Long Blues with Thompson’s playing evidencing his love for Jimmy Yancey’s wistful style. The vocal and playing on Blind Blake’s gambling blues, Poker Woman (“I won a woman in a poker game, I lost her to another just the same”) evokes to me some of Big Bill Broonzy’s recordings with pianist Black Bob. Thompson conjures up Little Brother Montgomery’s piano style for Vicksburg Blues with Donohue singing strongly and sparely adding his guitar here.

Thompson’s velvety clarinet comes to the fore on If I Had You, while another Leroy Carr, Papa’s On the Housetop is a playful and rollicking performance, true to the spirit of the eighty year old original recording and followed by the pensive rendition of Jelly Roll Morton’s 219 Blues. Better Days is a lively feature for Donohue’s fluid playing followed by his Blues For Two, where he plays National Resonator style guitar in the vein of Tampa Red with Thompson adding his solid piano. Sunday Rag is a lovely original rag that Thompson and Montgomery co-wrote. Thompson plays straight ragtime here with Donohue’s complimenting him in a fashion I think Reverend Gary davis would have approved of. More lovely clarinet is heard from Thompson on James P. Johnson’s You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart.

Instrumentals, such as King Oliver’s Workingman Blues, takes us back to the early twenties with the interesting, if subdued playing. After the lively original “That D Strain,” the album closes with the melancholy Yancey Blues, Thompson’s tribute to the legendary Jimmy Yancey. It concludes this truly splendid album of traditionally oriented blues and jazz. This is simply the finest album of blues piano and guitar duets in a number of years and certainly one of the finest new blues albums I have heard in 2012.

I received my review copy from Red House Records.  This is scheduled for release on August 14. Here is Butch Thompson doing an instrumental How Long, How Long Blues in the vein of Jimmy Yancey and then Pat Donohue doing Mississippi John Hurt's Spike Driver Blues.

Country Blues Classics by Ellis Elis and Cohen

Eleanor Ellis is a local DC treasure being perhaps the most gifted female purveyor of old time blues in the area. She has championed the likes of the late Flora Molton and Archie Edwards, helped found the DC Blues Society and similarly helped with the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation after Archie passed. She has recorded infrequently, often in a supporting role, so when long-unavailable recordings of her with Bill Ellis (no relation) and Andy Cohen became available, it was cause for celebration.


The CD is Preachin’ in the Wilderness, Country Blues Classics on Cohen’s Riverlark label was made possible after the widow of Larry McBride of Merimack (who issued these originally on cassette) provided the DAT source tapes. There are twenty two performances included with all three taking vocals. Cohen gets to display his mastery of Rev. Gary Davis’ fingerstyle guitar and other pre-war blues styles. Bill Ellis takes the lead on several as well as contributes originals. Eleanor handles Memphis Minnie’s In My Girlish Days, duets with Bill Ellis on Leroy Carr’s Midnight Hour Blues, and handles Sleepy John Estes’ Leaving Trunk.


Other performances on this derive from recordings by Casey Bill Weldon, Washington Phillips, Ragtime Texas Henry Thomas, Simmie Dooley & Pink Anderson, Larry Johnson, Brownie McGhee, Gus Cannon and the wonderful Hungry Blues, words by Langston Hughes and music from James P. Johnson and wonderfully sung by Eleanor with Bill on guitar and Andy on piano. The level of the musicianship is marvelous and perhaps the best known of these songs may be Spoonful, taken from Mance Lipscomb’s Arhoolie recording although it is familiar from renditions by John Hurt and Charlie Patton. Amazingly, or thankfully, there were no covers of Robert Johnson tunes although I suspect any could do one that would actually be worth hearing.


Cohen has other recordings on Riverlark while William Lee Ellis has a new release on Yellow Dog. Eleanor is still criminally underrepresented on disc, but alas we have this marvelous disc to savor.


Since writing this review, which appeared in the July-August 2006 DC Blues Calendar, then the Dc Blues Society’s newsletter. Eleanor finally has a terrific CD on Patuxent and Andy had a terrific CD in 2010 on Earwig. I have linked my reviews of those. I purchased this CD from cdbaby.com.

Robert Lockwood's Solo Blues Mastery

My last post examining some of the classic recordings of Robert Lockwood, Jr., involves two solo recordings. Delta Crossroads was reviewed in the September-October 2000 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 247) while The Legend Live was reviewed in the March April issue (Issue 267). It is ironic because Lockwood, when I met him in 1970, was not very interested in performing in a somewhat archaic musical style. Yet for someone not fond of performing solo, he did make fine recordings in this vein. I have made minor editorial changes from the originally published reviews. Both of these recordings are still in print. 

Delta Crossroads  Robert Lockwood, Jr., remains a national blues treasure who still sounds as fresh and vital today as he did decades ago. Telarc has issued a new cd, Delta Crossroads, which is surprising in that it is a solo acoustic album with Robert rendering fine performances of a number of his stepfather, Robert Johnson’s songs, along with several other blues standards and some of his own originals. This is not his first album as an acoustic blues performer. He recorded Plays Robert & Robert on a French label which since has been reissued in the US on Evidence. Lockwood has included tracks on prior albums in this vein. Robert has recorded most of these songs in the past, although perhaps under different titles. For example, his This Little Girl of Mine was recorded with his band as Hold Everything on Lockwood’s first Trix album and this writer is familiar with other renditions by him of most of the Robert Johnson songs. Johnson’s 32-20 Blues that opens this album may be the one song I have not heard him record before, but he recorded Dust My Broom even prior to Elmore James, although it never got issued, and he did Rambling on My Mind on his Steady Rolling Man album for Delmark. Lockwood plays with his usual skill and sings straightforwardly and without any artifice. Its nice to hear renditions of performances of such classics he regularly performs as C.C. Rider and Leroy Carr’s Mean Mistreater and In the Evening. The latter number is juxtaposed with a rendition of Love In Vain, which uses the latter tune’s melody. This is beautifully recorded and produced by Joe Harley and is a worthy addition to his growing body of recordings. I hope Telarc (or another label) does not keep us waiting too long for a full album of Robert and his great band. The Legend Live This brand-new Robert Lockwood, Jr. album on MC Records, The Legend Live, is a solo performance recorded at The Rhythm Room in Phoenix last July. There is little in the way of surprises in the material covered, which ranges from a quartet of Robert Johnson songs (including Sweet Home Chicago, Love in Vain and Rambling on My Mind), and several blues standards including Leroy Carr’s How Long Blues and In the Evening, plus Johnny Temple’s Big Legged Woman. Lockwood was a sideman when Roosevelt Sykes waxed Feel Like Blowin’ My Horn for Delmark, and he brings a bit of panache to this along with the swing classic Exactly like You. Having played the twelve string nearly thirty years, it is no wonder that he is able to get such a distinctive sound to match his unique, sophisticated playing while his vocals give no indication that he was 88 when he recorded this. This is another excellent addition to his discography. It’s two bad that the wonderful live Japanese recordings he made with the Aces in the 70’s, along with a superb 90’s Japanese album are currently unavailable in the US, but this will have to suffice for those wanting a document of his marvelous live performances. Tomorrow, I will post the obituary I wrote of Robert Lockwood Jr., after his passing. I likely received review copies for these from Jazz & Blues Report.

Little Joe McLerran Strong Traditional Blues

Listening to the opening field holler inspired fragment “Ratty,” followed by some Delta to Chicago slide guitar “Believe I’ll Make a Change,” was this person’s introduction to the music of Little Joe McLerran, and it certainly caught my attention. McLerran was the 2009 winner of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in the solo-duo category, and his latest recording on Roots Born Reborn, “Believe I’ll Make a Change.”

McLerran was originally from the Boulder area and started playing in a band at the age of 9 playing Beatles, Bob Markey and old-time blues from Big Bill, Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt. When the family moved to Tulsa, his music grew resulting in several recordings as well as winning the IBC. The present recording includes several solo performances as well as several with his band. I appreciate his splendid musicianship as well as his creative use of older material and his band that subtly embellishes his lead.

Just like the title track is a nice adaptation of an old Casey Bill Weldon number, “Down at the Village Store” is a lively, mellow Washboard Sam shuffle, with Dexter Payne’s reed adding a bass line, while Jack Wolfe’s restrained and subdued organ adds to the performance’s swing. Special kudos must be given to drummer Ron McRorey, who uses brushes on the last number. “Cocktails For Two,” is a solid Piedmont -blues styled original with McLerran’s Blind Boy Fuller-ish guitar runs complemented by Payne’s harmonica. The low-key reworking of Leroy Carr’s “Blues Before Sunrise,” is striking again because of the down-home trio and his relaxed, moving, vocal. A bit of old-time blues is provided by the interpretation of the Delmore Brothers’ “Blue Railroad Train,” indicating his wide ears for strong material as well as a being an additional showcase for his adept finger-style guitar.

On “Duck Yas,” Payne’s slap-tongue sax and bluesy clarinet adds a bit of traditional jazz to this delightful piece of hokum blues, while the traditional gospel number“Jesus Make Up My Dyin’ Bed,” is taken at a lively tempo set by McRorey, with McLerran playing some nice, precise slide runs. It is followed by a lovely small group rendition of Blind Willie McTell’s “B&O Blues,” with Payne’s harp in the musical mix. The band is a bit more energized on a rocking rendition of Homesick James’ “Baby Please Set a Date,” and again it is striking how with how much restraint he plays with avoiding the sometimes hyperactive renditions of say a George Thorogood. After an unusual original blues ballad about a Memphis policeman on the beat, and a Big Bill inspired “She’s Got Something,” where he celebrates his “sweet wife,” Little Joe closes with another field holler. It is a fitting close to a gem of a recording.

Little Joe McLerran understands that the mere possession of formidable musical technique does not translate into strong blues performances and he understands the value of restraint, both vocally and instrumentally, in putting together strong musical performances. He is also familiar and respectful of the blues tradition, yet places his own stamp on that tradition resulting in this gem of a recording. Recommended.


This review originally appeared in the January15-March 1, 2010 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 323) on page 8. Minor stylistic changes have been made.


For FTC regulations purposes, my review copy was supplied by a publicist for this artist or recording label.