Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920s - Vol. 17

Various
Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920s - Vol. 17
Blues Images

This is the latest Blues Calendar put together by collector John Tefteller. Like past editions, this Calendar for 2020 brings together for each month twelve stellar images taken from rare photographs and record company ads. For each month, the accompanying CD includes a recording by the artist depicted by the picture or ad. There is also brief biographical information for that artist. The CD also includes recordings from other artists that are from rare 78s or test recordings that never been issued before.

Until recently, this series of recordings had a focus on pre-World War II recordings. This year includes a good number of post-World War II rarifies. The cover photo for this year's Calendar is a previously unseen photo of B.B. King at the microphone of WDIA. The accompanying CD opens with one of the King's early recordings, "Got the Blues." There are also publicity photos of Queen Victoria Spivey and Jim Jackson from the set of King Vidor's "Hallelujah." Spivey is represented by a superb "Blood Thirsty Blues" with Lonnie Johnson on guitar, while Jackson's two-part 78, "I'm Going To Move to Kansas City," is included.

Others included on the CD are The Mississippi Sheiks, Bo Carter, Texas Alexander, Charlie Spand, Leola Wilson with Blind Blake on guitar, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Bessie Jackson, and Mississippi Sarah and Daddy Stovepipe. The music includes many superb blues, including the Sheiks blues waltz "Baby Keeps Stealin' Love On Me," Carter's "Howling Tom Cat Blues," pianist Spand's "Ain't Gonna Stand For It," and Jefferson's "Bad Luck Blues." Also heard is Lonnie Johnson's "She's Making Whoopee in Hell Tonight" (with spectacular guitar) and the issued recording of "Shave 'Em Dry" by Lucille Bogan (released under the name Bessie Jackson).

Included on CD are additional selections including three previously unissued demonstration records by Juke Boy Bonner under the name Juke Boy Barner, including two versions of a solid slow blues, "Life is a Cheater," and the lively "I Go Hip To It." Then there is early Virginia songster Willie Moore's "Tillie Lee," along with the other sides of 78s by Leola Wilson with Blind Blake and the Mississippi Sheiks. Then there are both sides of 78s by Blues Boy Bill and Joe Stone. I was not familiar with Blues Boy Bill, but his songs "Come On Baby," and "Little Boy Blue," are well-performed covers of recordings Robert Lockwood had recorded on Bluebird. "Come On Baby" is a rebranded rendition of "Take a Little Walk With Me." Joe Stone is a name for Jaydee Short, and the release of the recently discovered 78 by him is an event. The music by this St. Louis bluesman is top-notch. "It's Hard Time" is a driving performance based on a guitar riff familiar to some from Henry Spaulding's "Cairo Blues." The other side of the 78, "Back Door Blues" is an equally compelling down-home blues performance.

The sound on most of these songs is flawless as Tefteller employed the system employed in the "American Epic" television series to extract every nuanced audio from the original recordings. There are a couple of songs such as Moore's "Tillie Lee," where there is some background hiss. This is because of the condition of source 78s, but this is a minor hindrance, and Moore's actual performance is easy to appreciate. The Calendar includes information on previous Calendars, CDs from those Calendars, posters, T-shirts, and other items for sale. I do wish that information was included on the performers of the artists who are not included in the Calendar. This is a minor complaint about what is another stellar Calendar and CD. This will be a wonderful gift for the blues lover on your gift list as well as a gift to yourself.

This is available from various mail-order sources as well as direct from BluesImages.com.

I purchased my copy.

Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute to the Music of The Mississippi Sheiks

One of the most celebrated African-American recording acts of the thirties was The Mississippi Sheiks. Comprised mostly of members of the Chatmon family (Lonnie, Sam, Bo and others) along with Walter Vinson, they had a very wide repertoire and considerable influence on both black and white performers. They introduced the standard “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” (which has been performed by Howlin’ Wolf, the Grateful Dead, Western Swing and bluegrass bands), “Stop and Listen Blues,” and several songs like “Yodeling, Fiddling Blues,” suggestive of Jimmie Rodgers, the Father of Country Music. The Sheiks recorded 70 odd recordings ranging from blues, waltzes, topical songs and hokum. Some members of the Chatmon family recorded outside the Sheiks extensively. Bo Chatmon was better known as Bo Carter and had a remarkable recording career that included more than a few risqué lyrics while Sam Chatmon had a productive recording career after the sixties blues revival before he passed in 1983. The Sheiks music has been in recent years been revived by artists as diverse as Alvin Youngblood Hart and Bob Dylan.

“Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute to the Music of The Mississippi Sheiks” (Black Hen Music) came as a surprise when it arrived. Put together by Steve Dawson, much of this was recorded over two days in Seattle and/or Vancouver, but some was recorded in other locations. They brought together a variety of performers, some who perform closer to the Sheiks’ recordings such as the lively North Mississippi Allstars rendition of “Its Backfirin’ Now,” John Hammond’s “Stop and Listen,” and the Carolina Chocolate Drops rendition of “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” Others are not as tied to the originals. Vancouver singer-songwriter Ndidi Onukwilu, supported by the project’s house band, on the title track which employs the same melody as “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” but has a different flavor due to some blues-rock accents in the accompaniment. Bruce Cockburn’s vocal on “Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Round,” vocally evokes the late Piedmont master, John Jackson, although the performance has a bit of country flavor. I do find it hard to agree with the sometimes pretentious liner notes that this is an essential track, no matter how much of a Canadian treasure Cockburn is.

Pretentious is how I might describe the artsy Van Dyke Parks arrangement used on Oh Susanna’s rendition of “Bootlegger’s Blues.” This is a shame as she does a real nice job on the vocal. Danny Barnes (an Austin legend who I never heard of before), is too country sounding for “Too Long,” and probably should have been given the more country flavored “Jailbird Love Song,” to record. Guitarist Bill Frisell is heard on a duet with trombone of the instrumental “That’s It,” while on “Please Baby,” Madeleine Peyroux sounds like a Billie Holiday wannabe.

Producer Dawson himself sings in a neutral manner on a blues-rock adaptation of “Lonely One In This Town.” The stronger tracks include Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks (with Stephen Bruton on guitar and Johnny Nicholas on mandolin) on “The World Is Going Wrong,” with a highlight being his a robust vocal and a great fiddle solo from Suzi Thompson. Del Ray, who was mentored by Sam Chatmon does a lovely “We Are Both Feeling Good Right Now,” supported by her adept guitar and a pair of clarinets. Bob Brozman may be a marvelous guitarist but on “Somebody’s Gotta Help You,” shows he is not a very good singer

As suggested, this is a mixed bag. There is nothing poor here, and the tracks make for enjoyable listening with several tracks being exceptional. I do agree with the decision to not simply give us an album of straight covers, but I do find that the relatively few performers of color here odd. I have no idea how performers were selected, and who had been asked and unavailable. But one cannot say that such contemporary African-American performers such as Corey Harris, Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis, or Taj Mahal would not have made significant contributions here.

Upon getting word of a new Alligator Records Blind Willie Johnson tribute album coming in 2016, I noted the absence in this forthcoming release of performers of color other than the Five Blind Boys. It struck me as yet another case of so-called Americana tributes of Black American Music having myopic understanding of the full range of music out their today. It reminded me of tributes to the Missiisppi Sheiks that Steve Dawson did in 2009 and 2010. This review of “Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute to the Music of The Mississippi Sheiks”originally appeared in the Oct. 15 - Dec. 1, 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 321) and expressed my concerns in the last paragraph. I also reviewed, and posted the review on the blog, the subsequent “The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert.” I likely received the review copy from a publicist.  

Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert Salutes Pioneering Band

Following the very successful CD “Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute to the Music of The Mississippi Sheiks”, Black Hen Music has just released a DVD, “The MIssissippi Sheiks Tribute Concert,” featuring some of the performers who appeared on the CD along with some who didn’t. Some performers from the album like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Madeline Peyroux, North Mississippi All Stars, Kelly Joe Phelps and Bruce Cockburn. Some performers like John Hammond and the Vancouver gospel trio, The Sojourners, perform different songs than on the original CD and Van Dyke Parks who arranged O Susanna’s performance on the CD is a performer here.


The concert was filmed over two nights at the Capillano Performing Arts Theatre in North Vancouver, British Columbia resulting in this nearly 80 minute DVD. Steve Dawson put together a house band for all the performances here which is in contrast to the original recording which used a house band for some sessions but not for all and one result is a sameness in feeling among some of the selections. The opening of the video is Dawson discussing how this happened followed by an opening scene when some autobiographical comments by the late Sam Chatmon are read to a string band accompaniment of “Sitting on Top of the World.” Performances vary by artist opening with O Susanna’s rendition of “Things About Comin’ My Way,” which did not sound completely convincing to these ears, and the very strong “Who’s Been Here,” by dave Alvin and Christy McWilson.” The Sojourners perform “Sweet Maggie,” a somewhat unsatisfactory rendition of a song similar to “Corrine Corrina.” Geoff Muldaur on banjo leads the band on a rendition of “Poor Boy,” that strikes me as owing as much to Gus Cannon as the Chatmon family but he sounds comfortable in the very busy accompaniment.


Dawson himself does a reflective country-flavored rendition of “Gulf Coast bay,” far remove from the old time string band. Of course that is one of Dawson’s aims, to take the songs and appreciate them as such, more so then the performances. Bob Brozman’s contributions as a sideman on several tracks as well as his rendition of “Church Bell Blues,” strikes me as stronger than his contribution to the CD. John Hammond adds harp here and a couple more performances. Robin Holcolb’s rendition of “I’ve Got Blood in My Eyes For You,” comes off as overly melodramatic which Alvin ‘Youngblood’ Hart’s “Livin’ In a Strain,” is a fine rendition of a song that Kelly Joe Phelps handled on the CD. Colin James nice a nice job on the mid-tempo blues “Keep On Tryin’,” but one wishes for a bit sparer backing. John Hammond’s rendition of “Kind Treatment,” does not strike me as strong a vocal as his fine “Stop on Listen” on the disc, and its odd that one of what some who call the group’s signature tunes is not presented on this disc. Hammond’s performance is not bad, just a little mannered.


No doubt most will find these performances entertaining (and they are). However, with respect to the CD, I observed the relatively few performers of color and that is even more evident here. Even more important, the logistics of the concert including the use of a house band leads to the music here having less of the flavor of an African-American string band. I certainly do not dispute not having a collection of covers, and allowing performers to bring there own personality, but this DVD would have been more satisfying if several of the performances had a different spin to them.

This DVD was provided by the publicity firm for Black Hen Records.