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Post by muddylives on Apr 8, 2013 15:22:23 GMT -5
There are an astonishing number of highly distinctive artists in the blues who had little opportunity to record. There are those of legendary status who, as far as we know, never recorded at all. That includes Henry Sloan, who apparently had a strong influence in Charlie Patton, and Willie Moore, from where John Lee Hooker claimed he got his style. There are many other artists who only left us a few or handful of tracks, but it was enough to earn them a place in the Blues Pantheon. I would like to dedicate this thread to these artists. I would like to begin with Wright Holmes, the legendary Texas bluesman who left us only three recordings, but some of the most astonishing and original tracks in all of recorded blues. I thought of Wright Holmes because, as I was browsing through Stefan Wirz' tremendous blues web site, I came across something I didn't even realize existed - a picture of Wright Holmes. At any rate, this is apparently the man himself: The three tracks that Wright Holmes left us can be found on Youtube: Good Road Blues, Drove From Home Blues, and Alley Special, all recorded in 1947. The picture is apparently from 1967, which made we wonder. Wright Holmes was still alive and active in 1967! Yet nobody thought to record him again after 1947. It boggles the mind. The discography lists one other record made for Gold Star in 1947: My Own Lonesome Blues and another version of Alley Special. It has still never been found. A biographical sketch claims that Gold Star wasn't interested in Wright Holmes because he sounded too much like Lightnin' Hopkins. Really? The fact is, Wright Holmes sounds like absolutely nobody but Wright Holmes. Yes, he shares with Lightnin' Hopkins the fact that he is deep in the Texas tradition. But that is it. If you are listening to Wright Holmes for the first time, the guitar accompaniment to Good Road Blues will knock you sideways. Here is an artist who, like Thelonious Monk, just walks to a different drummer. The rhythm is hard driving and compelling, but the accents are utterly unique. The note choice also defies convention in a number of places. But "Alley Special" is my favorite of the three songs. Here Wright Holmes' vocal phrasing is every bit as unique as the guitar phrasing, deep deep blues, but approached in a completely different way. The lyrics are also amazing. Since the first day that I heard this song, it has lived and echoed inside of me.
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Post by AlanB on Apr 9, 2013 2:02:11 GMT -5
Larry Skoog in the summer of 1967 interviewed Holmes and took that photo (and others). The interview appeared in Blues Unlimited 45, August 1967 under the heading "Alley Blues: The Story of Wright Holmes." When asked how old he was he gave the date July 4, 1905 with the comment "Makes me a patriotic baby"
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Post by muddylives on Apr 9, 2013 3:33:11 GMT -5
Thanks for that information, Alan.
So I wonder why nobody recorded him singing gospel?
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Post by Admin on Apr 9, 2013 5:24:52 GMT -5
Now, this is a great thread!
There are three blues greats that come to mind...
Bo "Carter" Chatmon is one that was part of the Mississippi Sheiks and had a few recordings after his minstrel days.
Then there's Rufus "Tee Tot" Payne, who mentored Hank Williams and is responsible for teaching him the Blues. I can't find a single recording of his.
And out of that same Minstrel era, there was Perry Bradford who wrote Crazy Blues, was a great piano player but what I believe is under-recorded.
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Post by AlanB on Apr 9, 2013 5:33:05 GMT -5
Thanks for that information, Alan. So I wonder why nobody recorded him singing gospel? Dunno. This discussion has prompted me to unearth the BU from 45 years ago and I've OCR'd it. I'm glad I did because what I said about his losing a leg wasn't so. It was a playing partner of his. Hope I've caught all scan glitches. ================================= Alley Blues: The Story of Wright Holmes The musical career of Wright Holmes spans almost 30 years of the Texas blues. From his early days of performing for the whores, gambler and sweet back men at Bob London's notorious 'Hoosh Pad' speakeasy in Houston's Fifth Ward, through a brief but exciting recording career in the forties, on up to today, singing for church services and evangelistic meetings, Wright has lost none of the elemental flavour that characterises his blues. Wright Holmes was born in Hightower, Texas on July 4, 1905 "Makes me a patriotic baby". He moved to Houston in 1930 at the height of the Depression, when jobs for Negroes were few and far between, but was more fortunate than most for he could play guitar and sing blues. Bob London's speakeasy was, more or less, the central watering place for the Houston bluesmen of the thirties and his white mule bootleg whiskey was the best in town. Here there was always a game of Georgia Skin or Yoker to enliven the evening and the shady ladies would be around, using Bob's place as a rendezvous and pick up spot for tricks. This was the environment that nurtured bluesmen like 'Tibu', 'Mobile' and Texas Alexander who would come in to sing for tips until the day that Bob London got a jukebox. One evening Wright came in and began to sing and play but was told to stop. "The Music Box" was now the allowed entertainment. Wright left and so did most of the clientele causing Bob to change his tune in a hurry. Guitars and Wright Holmes in particular were always welcome thereafter. World War Two took Wright, like thousands of other Southern Negroes to Detroit and Chicago to work in the defense plants (perhaps the single most important event in the popularisation of the blues and Negro music), but when the War was over he returned to Houston and resumed his musical activities, playing at the 'Club De Lisa', 'The Whispering Pines' and the 'Ebony Club' on Dowling Street. He also was featured on various shows broadcasted by KT RH, then owned by Jesse H. Jones, a Houston business tycoon and Government official, along with many other Negro artists, both blues and spiritual. In 1947, Wright went to the Gold Star studio on Houston's Southside arid recorded 'Alley Blues' and 'My Own Lonesome Blues' for Bill Quinn, receiving the usual 75 dollars. Wright still remembers calling Bill repeatedly, only to finally learn that his record would not be released. When asked about the session, Bill's facile memory brought it clearly to mind. "Wright Holmes, I recorded a fellow named Holmes, but he sounded too much like Lightnin' Hopkins, so I never released it". Later that year, Wright was heard by Abe Conley who owned a small studio off Lyons Avenue. At the O.K. studio Wright cut 'Alley Blues', 'Gone From Home Blues', 'Good Road Blues' and 'The Midnight Rambler'. Conley sold the material to Miltone Records on the Coast and three sides eventually turned up on Gotham Records. Like so many performers, Wright received no royalties for his efforts. This fact, plus a desire to settle down, convinced him to give up the bluesman's life in 1950. In the early part of 1967, I found Wright through Bill 'Guitar Papa' Barnes. He had lost his right leg to gangrene and walked on crutches. His Gibson guitar was worn and had the look of a well used tool, while his voice still had power and dignity. Wright had worked hard since 1950, owning an attractive cottage in a good neighbourhood in Houston's Northsjde. He and his wife, Elzadie, live frugally on their Social Security cheque, which Wright supplements with Church jobs. When Mike and I went to meet him, he was playing at the Universal Evangelistic Temple on Bell Street, the Temple being only a small part of the Universal Community Place run by Evangelistic Connie Martin, 'Evangelistic Prophetees of the South West' and 'purveyor of Consecrated Oils for Healing and Success'. The Place also offers 'Neatly furnished rooms and apartments, reasonable and reliable, in and out guests', under the general supervision of Bishop Martin, Connie's husband. Wright had been asked to supply the music for 'Founder's Week' services and was eager to return to the comforts of home. After a brief service in the 8' x 20' chapel, highlighted by a large picture of Jesus, illuminated by a red bulb, we took Wright back to his cottage under the cool pines of Kashmere Gardens, where he could think back to the times when Bob London made the best whiskey in Houston and one could listen to bluesmen like Luther Stoneham, Tibu, Mobile, Thunder Smith, Bob Richardson and Texas Alexander. Larry Skoog, (Blues Unlimited 45, August 1967 pps 13 & 16)
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Post by muddylives on Apr 9, 2013 5:46:33 GMT -5
Very nice! Thanks, Alan. I had no idea that there was this much information about Wright Holmes.
I would interpret this text to mean that it was indeed Wright Holmes who lost his leg, i.e. "HE had lost his right leg to gangrene and walked on crutches. HIS Gibson guitar was worn ... HIS voice still had power..."
No?
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Post by AlanB on Apr 9, 2013 6:06:21 GMT -5
Very nice! Thanks, Alan. I had no idea that there was this much information about Wright Holmes. I would interpret this text to mean that it was indeed Wright Holmes who lost his leg, i.e. "HE had lost his right leg to gangrene and walked on crutches. HIS Gibson guitar was worn ... HIS voice still had power..." No? Yes, you are correct. Me misreading on a second read. Oh there's lots of info on all manner of artist interviews buried in those ancient blues mags of a bygone age.
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Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2013 3:04:12 GMT -5
Charlie (AKA Dan) Pickett
Reissuers have unearthed little information about Dan Pickett: He may have come from Alabama, he played a nice slide guitar in a Southeastern blues style, and he did one recording session for the Philadelphia-based Gotham label in 1949. That session produced five singles, all of which have now been compiled along with four previously unreleased sides on a reissue album that purports to contain Pickett's entire recorded output -- unless, of course, as some reviewers have speculated, Dan Pickett happens also to be Charlie Pickett, the Tennessee guitarist who recorded for Decca in 1937. As Tony Russell observed in Juke Blues, both Picketts recorded blues about lemon-squeezing, and Dan uses the name Charlie twice in the lyrics to "Decoration Day." 'Tis from such mystery and speculation that the minds of blues collectors do dissolve.
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Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2013 3:40:25 GMT -5
Louise Johnson traveled with Charley Patton, Son House, and Willie Brown from the Mississippi Delta to Grafton, WI, to participate in a famed country blues recording session for Paramount Records held on May 28, 1930. On that day, Johnson cut her only known tracks, four pieces of barrelhouse piano blues, including the brazen and lusty "On the Wall." Clarence Lofton has claimed to be the piano player on these tracks, while Son House (who provided spoken interjections for Johnson's recordings, although some say it was actually Willie Brown who did the speaking) has maintained that Johnson did her own playing on all four songs, and it seems likely that she did. In a further bit of blues soap opera, Johnson reportedly started the journey to Grafton as Patton's girlfriend, only to return to Mississippi as the girlfriend of Son House, a turn of events that Patton turned into the song "Joe Kirby Blues" (Johnson lived on the Joe Kirby plantation north of Robinsonville, MS, at the time). Johnson was a sexy and fiery singer and an adept pianist, and one wishes she could have recorded more than four songs, but her performance on that day in Wisconsin provides at least a glimpse of her style.
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Post by muddylives on Apr 24, 2013 7:14:15 GMT -5
Dan Pickett and Louise Johnson are great choices for this thread, Jim! Thanks.
That picture is not Louise Johnson, however, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can't recall ever seeing a picture of Louis Johnson. I wonder if one exists?
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Post by AlanB on Apr 24, 2013 8:13:19 GMT -5
Charlie (AKA Dan) Pickett Reissuers have unearthed little information about Dan Pickett: He may have come from Alabama, he played a nice slide guitar in a Southeastern blues style, and he did one recording session for the Philadelphia-based Gotham label in 1949. That session produced five singles, all of which have now been compiled along with four previously unreleased sides on a reissue album that purports to contain Pickett's entire recorded output -- unless, of course, as some reviewers have speculated, Dan Pickett happens also to be Charlie Pickett, the Tennessee guitarist who recorded for Decca in 1937. As Tony Russell observed in Juke Blues, both Picketts recorded blues about lemon-squeezing, and Dan uses the name Charlie twice in the lyrics to "Decoration Day." 'Tis from such mystery and speculation that the minds of blues collectors do dissolve. About 15 years ago it was known that Dan's name was James Founty and nothing whatsoever to do with Charlie Pickett. Axel Kustner tracked down his relatives about a decade ago who provided him with a photo of Dan Picket and with family. I think he wrote about it in Blues & Rhythm. Photo can be seen viewed here. www.wirz.de/music/pickdfrm.htm
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Post by AlanB on Apr 24, 2013 8:20:08 GMT -5
That picture is not Louise Johnson, however, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can't recall ever seeing a picture of Louis Johnson. I wonder if one exists? I wonder how that misidentification came about? No photos of Louis e Johnson, just Son House's descriptions of her using his failing memory.
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Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2013 8:56:32 GMT -5
That picture is not Louise Johnson, however, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can't recall ever seeing a picture of Louis Johnson. I wonder if one exists? I wonder how that misidentification came about? No photos of Louis e Johnson, just Son House's descriptions of her using his failing memory. That wasn't meant to depict Louise Johnson. That was the album cover of an album that contained some of her works.
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Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2013 9:00:24 GMT -5
That picture is not Louise Johnson, however, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can't recall ever seeing a picture of Louis Johnson. I wonder if one exists? I wonder how that misidentification came about? No photos of Louis e Johnson, just Son House's descriptions of her using his failing memory. So Alan, does anyone have more information on Charlie Pickett? A greater discography perhaps?
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Post by AlanB on Apr 24, 2013 10:54:30 GMT -5
So Alan, does anyone have more information on Charlie Pickett? A greater discography perhaps? Only that born 09-09-1911, Henning, Tn died 13-07-1978, Los Angeles, Ca. If memory serves correct this info was gleaned from census/birth records not that long ago probably during last decade. Can't recall. Hammie Nixon was an informant on the life and times of Pickett - such as it was. See sundayblues.org/archives/tag/charlie-pickett
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