Blues Before Sunrise's Enlightening Blues Interviews

Blues Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews
Steve Cushing
2010: University of Illinois


Steve Cushing hosts a long-running, syndicated blues radio program. "Blues Before Sunrise" on WBEZ on Chicago and he has compiled a collection of interviews on that program that should be of interest to anyone interested in the blues. What sets this book of interviews apart is that he does not focus on persons that were household names or written about extensively. What is valuable also is the depth that many of the interviews here are in the fashion of some of the interviews that were in living Blues in that publication's glory days. There is a common format to each of interviews as Cushing discusses the circumstances of how the interviews took place.


This book is divided into three parts. The first is entitled "Ancient Age" and includes interviews with Yank Rachell, Jesse Thomas, Alberta Hunter and The Grey Ghost. There is insight about their personalities as well as their career. Rachell provides insights on John Estes, Sonny Boy Williamson I, as well as his own style. Alberta Hunter's has her talk about some of her associates and some of the facts of her career while Jesse Thomas talks about T-Bone (and how T-Bone got some guitar stuff from him), Lloyd Glenn and his various recordings, both pre-war and post-war. Pianist Grey Ghost was part of a vibrant Texas piano blues tradition and reminiscences about life and some of his contemporaries. Neither Thomas not The Grey Ghost are presented extensively in interviews (my friend Eleanor Ellis did do one with Thomas) so having these available are invaluable.


Part Two is entitled "Postwar Glory" and has lengthy interviews with John and Grace Brim, Jody Williams. Rev. Johnny Williams and Little Hudson. Of these Jody Williams revived his musical career in the past several years, while the Brims provide insight into the scene in Gary, as well as a recording career that took them to Detroit with Big maceo and Chicago where they did sides with Little Walter. Jody Williams is among the most significant blues guitarists though was disgusted by the industry after he was ripped off of composer credits for "Love Is Strange." He chronicles his time with Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley here as well as his own choice recordings. With the late blues mandolinist/guitarist, Johnny Williams made among the earliest recordings in the post-war Chicago scene and provided recollections of numerous artists on the scene. Little Hudson is among a number of artists like Big Boy Spires and Moody Jones who made some memorable recordings but never became big names.


Part 3 is entitled "Esoterica" and has interviews with Tommy brown, Ralph Bass, Cadillac Baby and Richard Stamz. Tommy brown is still with us and regales Cushing and us with a flamboyant story of his career as a blues shouter, comedian and more. There are some tall tales as represented by a claim to have spoken with Otis Redding the night before he died. The problem with this is Brown claims Redding came to the DeLisa to see him, but Redding performed in Leo's Casino in Cleveland before taking his fatal flight. Brown is not the only interviewee who has embellished his career, and while one can appreciate his music, some of his claims here may be overstated. Ralph Bass discusses his lengthy career in recording and while I was familiar with his time with King Records, I was unaware of his prior stint at Black & White and his role with "Open The Door Richard," as well as recording T-Bone Walker, Jack McVea and Helen Humes. Cadillac Baby was another character detailing his club and recoding activities while Stamz was a very popular Chicago radio host I was totally unfamiliar with.


Living Blues Co-Founder Jim O'Neal provides a cogent foreword to the interviews here. Cushing concludes the book with a brief history of the radio show and how it has changed from the early days when he conducted it live he developed a relationship with many of his listeners and how syndication and time has changed aspects of this. It is the coda on a fascinating selection of interviews. One wonders what other interviews Steve might have included.  One might only hope sales of this would encourage a follow-up volume. "Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews" is highly recommended.


I purchased my copy.

Lil Greenwood, Former Ellington Vocalist Passed Away At 86.

Lil Greenwood at 2009 Ponderosa Stomp. House of Blues, New Orleans
Photo © Ron Weinstock

Lil Greenwood, who once sang with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well as recorded for the Modern and Federal labels, died on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at the age of 86 in her native Alabama. She had suffered a stroke in Fall 2010 and had been in declining health since then.


A preacher's daughter from Pritchard, Alabama, who moved to the San Francisco Bay area where she found work as a nightclub singer and entertainer. In the early fifties, she spent three years with Roy Milton and His Solid Senders and her sessions for Modern Records were cut with this band with her first release being the June 1950 issued blues belter "Heart Full Of Pain," that was coupled with the up-tempo "Boogie All Night Long," that featured Jackie Kelso on alto sax and Camille Howard on piano. The Modern sides also included a live pair of songs recorded at Gene Norman's "Blues Jubilee."


She then recorded for Federal Records, a subsidiary of the Cincinnati based King Records. Her sessions were recorded in Los Angeles under the direction of legendary producer Ralph Bass (who produced among other things James Brown's first recordings. These sides were often with vocal backing by the likes of the Four Jacks or Thurston Harris and the Lamplighters along with "Monday Morning Blues," a vocal duet with Little Willie Littlefield.

All of the Modern and Federal recordings were issued on a wonderful English Ace reissue, "Walking and Singing the Blues." After these recordings she returned to the San Francisco area returning to nightclubs and where her manager got Duke Ellington to listen to her. Ellington was quoted, in the April 1960 Ebony Magazine, about her, “This girl has a voice that’s a mixture of Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson; and I don’t know but what she’s better on spirituals than when she’s walking and singing the blues." It led her to singing with the Ellington Orchestra from 1956 to the early sixties.


Eventually she returned to Alabama to take care of relatives and dropped from public view. Her career enjoyed a renaissance after 2000 as she received awards, had her early recordings reissued and recorded a new album, "Back to My Roots" with composer David Amram and others. She was much beloved and there was a concert in her honor this past Sunday which she was unable to attend.

I had the pleasure to see her as part of the Ponderosa Stomp in late April 2009 and she was terrific. Still a singer of great style and feeling, she brought perhaps a more uptown sheen to her performances than most of those that night. There is an you tube video of her singing "Summertime" from that performance. It was my only opportunity to see her perform but a memorable one. Her legacy is perhaps not as known as it should have been, but she touched many over the years.


In drafting this blog entry, I have drawn heavily on (and paraphrased) material from her website, http://www.lilgreenwood.net/, along with the Ace Records website entry on her reissue, http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=813, and the Press-Register blog on her passing, http://blog.al.com/entertainment-press-register/2011/07/memorial_services_thursday_fri.html.