Show 22 - Henry Townsend Appreciation

Show 22 - Henry Townsend Appreciation

An appreciation of bluesman Henry Townsend who died Sunday, September 24, 2006 at age 96.

Story from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Songs:
Doctor, Oh Doctor - Henry Townsend
Long Ago Blues - Henry Townsend
Henry's Worry Blues - Henry Townsend
Poor Man Blues - Henry Townsend
A Ramblin' Mind - Henry Townsend
Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub - Henry Townsend

Show 21 - What the Chinaman Told the Jew

Show 21 - What the Chinaman Told the Jew

I decided to put an episode together with these songs that mention ethnic groups and nationalities after my ears repeatedly perking up when I heard lyrics about "what the Chinaman told the Jew" in these and some later blues songs. The Willie Blackwell song comes from a different place that includes a strange mix of patriotism, violence, and proud fatherhood. It has disturbing lyrics about a man preparing bringing home a Japanese skull during World War II for a newborn son. There's a good discussion of the song from Jim O'Neal at his Bluesoterica site. Though its the only one that features that kind of viciousness towards different people, I thought it was thought provoking regarding how others are thought of at different times.

Songs:
14th Street Blues - Blind Joe Taggart
Bullfrog Blues - William Harris
Barbecue Blues - Barbecue Bob
Memphis Boy Blues - Memphis Jug Band
Junior's, A Jap Girl's Christmas for Her Santa Claus - Willie '61' Blackwell

Show 20 - Death Tributes

Show 20 - Death Tributes

Songs:
Death of Leroy Carr - Bumble Bee Slim and Scrapper Blackwell
Death of Blind Boy Fuller - Brownie McGhee
Oh Death - Charley Patton and Bertha Lee
Death of Walter Barnes - Leonard 'Baby Doo' Caston
Death of Holmes' Mule - Charlie Turner and Winston Holmes
Death of Sonny Boy Williamson - Peck Curtis and Houston Stackhouse

Show 19- Bootlegger's Blues

Show 19- Bootlegger's Blues

Bootleg Rum Dum Blues - Blind Blake
Bootleggers' Blues - Mississippi Sheiks
Jones Law Blues - James "Stump" Johnson
Sloppy Drunk Blues - Leroy Carr
Good Whiskey Blues - Peetie Wheatstraw
Bootleggin' Ain't No Good No More - Blind Teddy Darby
Alley Bound Blues - Curtis Jones

Show 18 - Joe Louis is the Man

Show 18 - Joe Louis is the Man



Many songs were written about Joe Louis over his career from 1934 into the fifties. The songs reflect Louis’ status as a kind of a folk hero to black America and eventually to all of America. Louis was born Joe Louis Barrow to a family of sharecroppers in Alabama. He moved as a child with his family to Detroit. Louis was a popular fighter well before he became the champ. His 4th round knockout of former champ Max Baer made him famous. But the fight that made him a hero to millions of African-Americans was in 1935 against the giant Primo Carnera. Louis fought the Italian as the world was becoming aware that Mussolini’s Italy was about to invade Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia. As one of the few African nations remaining uncolonized, Ethiopia was a point of pride for the black world. Joe Louis came to represent Ethiopian strength in America. People throughout the U.S. rejoiced when Louis handled Carnera easily knocking him out in the sixth round. That same year, Memphis Minnie recorded two songs about the Brown Bomber and pianist Joe Pullum recorded “Joe Louis is the Man.”

Joe Louis had become a hero in the ring with his frequent victories. But in 1936 he suffered a devastating loss to German Max Schmeling. Despite the loss, the next year, Louis managed to become heavyweight champion by defeating Cinderella Man Jim Braddock. Even with the belt, the loss to Schmeling weighed on Louis and he never felt like the true champion. In 1938, Louis got his rematch against Schmeling. In the years since the first fight the exploits of Adolph Hitler had become common headlines and once again Louis was thrust into the role of representing American values and strength against an enemy. This time, Louis became the hope of not just African-Americans but virtually the whole country. Louis destroyed Schmeling. A new hero, Joe Louis became one of the country’s biggest celebrities.

Joe Louis enhanced his status as American hero when he joined the army to serve during World War II (which some referred to as Louis-Schmeling III). He appeared constantly in newspapers, magazines, and elsewhere. The importance of a black man achieving this iconic status at that time in America cannot be overstated.

Despite deteriorating abilities in the ring, Louis’ career continued into the fifties, largely because of tremendous financial difficulties. He owed millions to the IRS. His last professional fight was his 1951 loss to Rocky Marciano. After his death in 1981, the champ received a hero’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery. What Louis did along with other athletes like his friends Jesse Owens and later Jackie Robinson changed the attitudes of millions. His reception presented a stark contrast to that of the last black champion, Jack Johnson. This was reflected in the blues songs as well as songs by Sonny Count Basie, Cab Calloway and others. Louis’ life and career through the Second World War made him perhaps the most important athlete in American history and a natural hero in the world of the blues.


Songs:
Joe Louis is the Man - Joe Pullum
Joe Louis Strut - Memphis Minnie
He's In the Ring (Doing That Same Old Thing) - Memphis Minnie
Joe Louis Special - Jack Kelly
Joe Louis Blues - Carl Martin

Show 17 - Northbound Blues

Show 17 - Northbound Blues

Beginning around the period of the First World War, millions of black Southerners moved North to cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York. Known as the Great Migration, this movement changed the course of American history. People left the South to escape the oppressive racist system in the South, but most importantly because of the job opportunities and promise of economic security in Northern cities.

Blind Blake sang about getting a job at Mr. Ford’s place in Detroit Bound Blues. Jobs in the automotive industry were an important factor pulling African-Americans to Detroit. And cars and trains provided transportation to the North. Many from Alabama headed to Detroit via railroad as many from Mississippi and Tennessee headed to Chicago. From Gerogia and the Carolinas, they went to DC or New York. The route of the migration patterns was often identical to that of the large railroad lines.

Tennessee native Bessie Smith sang about missing her man who had caught the train to Chicago in her song Chicago Bound Blues. In this song, she references the Chicago Defender newspaper. The Defender actively encouraged African-Americans in the South to come to Northern cities and was very successful.

Though the traffic of the Great Migration was largely one way, at times economic opportunity dictated a return down south (in recent years moving back down has become even more common). In 1948, Roosevelt Sykes sang of a time when cotton prices made working in the Southern fields more profitable than the Northern factories.

From around 1914 – 1950, the Great Migration changed the demographics of the country and altered the way Americans lives. In several waves, millions of black Southerners arrived in Northern cities. The transition from the acoustic Delta blues of the 20s and 30s to electric Chicago blues is one of the easily observable manifestations of the Great Migration. The life of Muddy Waters is often given as an example. But the migration changed more than music, it changed race relations, economics, and living conditions for millions. And as often was the case, blues musicians were some of the best observers of their own lives and the changes in the world around them.

Songs:
Detroit Bound Blues - Blind Blake
Chicago Bound Blues - Bessie Smith
Cotton Belt Blues - Lizzie Miles
Cotton Patch Blues - Tommy McLennan
Southern Blues - Roosevelt Sykes

Show 16 - New Music for 75 Years Ago

Show 16 - New Music for 75 Years Ago



Songs from The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of:
Clarksdale Moan - Son House
If I Call You Mama - Luke Jordan
Mississippi County Farm Blues - Son House
I'm Going Back Home - Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy
Married Man's Blues - Wade Ward