Robert Johnson grew up with his mother in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, but eventually, he moved to Memphis to live with his father. That is a question that goes around in my mind. 104 talking about this. Jefferson born on October 26, 1894, or at least that's what he wrote on his World War I draft registration . Eric Clapton was born in March of 1945 in Surrey England. How did the blues begin as a musical genre. Vocally, it is the most speechlike, and the guitar accompaniment is rhythmic and percussive; a slide or bottleneck is often used. How has your music career been impacted by the pandemic? Two years later, Lowell Fulson had a big hit with Reconsider Baby. By 1955, Chess had expanded still further, as well as crossing over into the white rocknroll market with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Eunice Kathleen Waymon was born in 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina. The person who was hired to run the blues channel at Sirius saw something in me that he thought would translate well to radio. British rock musicians in the 1960s, especially the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and John Mayall, were strongly influenced by the blues, as were such American rock musicians as Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and the Allman Brothers Band. The rural blues developed in three principal regions, Georgia and the Carolinas, Texas, and Mississippi. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Crazy Blues sold well. In 1950, his family moved to the Windy City where he started regularly attending local blues clubs. Following their early success with Mamie Smith, in 1922 they hired Clarence Williams as director of race recordings for their New York studio. Robert Johnson. The first blues recordings were made in the 1920s by Black women, beginning with Mamie Smith. The blues form is characterized by a call-and-response pattern. Required fields are marked *. He has maintained a legendary career ever since. Continue with Recommended Cookies. and backing vocalist Colleen Messina. She won four Grammy awards posthumously and is generally regarded as one of the greatest female jazz singers of all time. ARC (American Record Corporation) was formed in 1929 and began their field recording trips in 1934. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. He hosts a daily program from 3pm-9pm eastern time Monday through Friday and Saturday & Sunday from 6pm to midnight eastern. With the new name came a rash of new signings, including Jimmy Rogers (a key player in Muddys band), Eddie Boyd And His Chess Men, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, and Howlin Wolf. He decided to drop his surname around 1950 in part out of respect for the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and in part to create a persona that people would easily remember. He was., In 1942, the musicians union called a strike against the recording industry. -:. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Kings Bluesville on Sirius XM? Independent record companies were soon springing up all over America. Johnson's best work can be heard on "King of the Delta Blues Singers,"the 1961 album that influenced the decade's entire blues revival. OKeh Records has already popped up frequently in the early days of the recorded blues. Egbert (Bert) Williams, who starred in the Ziegfield Follies, was one of the biggest black artists of the early 20th Century, and veteran recording star, when he recorded Unlucky Blues, in April 1920, for Columbia Records. Its records were cheap and their quality was often poor, with high surface noise, and the label withdrew from recording in 1932, a victim of the Great Depression. The passing on of folk music and the blues is folk music is a complex process; without TV, radio, CDs, records, cassettes, or any other process for hearing recorded blues music, it was spread literally by word of mouth.. Muddy Waters, byname of McKinley Morganfield, (born April 4, 1913?, near Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S.died April 30, 1983, Westmont, Illinois), dynamic American blues guitarist and singer who played a major role in creating the post-World War II electric blues. I believe that I will now be freer to tour. Most guitar players thinking this way are not imaginative enough as players to hold my interest for any length of time. She soon made a name for herself there and changed her name to Nina Simone. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Rock and Roll Hall of fame three years later. It also marked a sea change for the music industry, with the need for men, machinery, and raw materials creating change throughout the entertainment industry. Blues and jazz are closely related; such seminal jazzmen as Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong employed blues elements in their music. Paramount lasted for 10 years and released over 1,100 records, many of which are much prized by collectors today (often because they originally sold in such small numbers). Black writers such as Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, and Jean Toomer valued the blues as an indigenous art form of oppressed people, a secular equivalent of the spirituals, and an antidote to bourgeois Black assimilationism. She signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1958 but died a year later at the young age of only forty-four. But, tragically, only four days after recording this record on December 10th, 1967, Redding died in a Wisconsin plane crash. Though legends remain, the official cause of death was syphilis. I have to build my base around the country. When satellite radio was first getting formed there were two companies. From simply going by a nickname to adopting a name to solidify a particular persona, below you'll find a definitive list of the real names of all major blues artists (including some who crossed over into soul, R&B, and rock). Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. King was reared in the Mississippi Delta, and gospel music in church was the earliest influence on his . Early Times switches back to an acoustic on the folksy Someone Help Mary or she aint long for this place. He adopted the stage name Memphis Slim in 1940 and released his first hit single, Beer Drinkin Woman, soon after. He brought with him to Chicago a traditional style of Delta blues learned on the Stovall Plantation where he grew up, incorporating elements from the new urban terrain. At seventy-two, Hooker released the most successful album of his career. A strong, independent woman and a powerful vocalist who could sing in both jazz andblues styles, Smith was the most commercially successful of the era's singers. Patton introduced House to his contacts atParamount Records. Jefferson remains a favorite among musicians who appreciate the artist's simple country blues. His solos were imaginative. The label favored Texas in their search for talent and recorded Texas Alexander, Black Boy Shine and, in 1936, captured Robert Johnson for the first time, in San Antonio. Early Times operates Manhattan Recording and Dealers Choice Records out of his New York studio. He was a friend and colleague of Charley Patton, and the two often traveled together. For a lot of years I have been tied to the radio, so I havent been able to tour. With my music the influences are buried in a little more and are more subliminal. Born Huddie Ledbetter in Louisiana, Leadbelly's music and tumultuous life had a profound effect on blues and folk musicians alike. The earliest references to blues date back to the 1890s and early 1900s. Your email address will not be published. I need to figure out what it is going to be. King, (born September 16, 1925, near Itta Bena, Mississippi, U.S.died May 14, 2015, Las Vegas, Nevada), American guitarist and singer who was a principal figure in the development of blues and from whose style leading popular musicians drew inspiration. As far as my influences for , What I dont like are guys that just want to play guitar solos for every single song and the song becomes secondary. For me, being on the radio was an accident and something that I didnt pursue. A charismatic performer with a flashy style, talented fretwork, and flamboyant showmanship, he inspired a legion of bluesmen and rockers, from Son House and RobertJohnsonto Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. A singer and guitarist, Johnson is considered to be one of the greatest blues . She started vocal lessons at the tender age of five and soon became the star of her church choir. I used to tour but I have been tied to the radio station for a lot of years which means I have to be in NYC which is not a bad place to be. He saw something in me and he gave me my break. Albert Nelson was born in 1923 on a cotton plantation in Mississippi. Rhythm and blues is a form of Black dance music that has its origins in the post-World War II era (1939-1945); the term itself is attributed to Jerry Wexler, a writer for Billboard, who coined it in 1949 for the magazine's Black music chart to replace the term "Race Music" (a term in use since 1920).Rhythm and blues performers encompass hybrid jazz/blues combos, trios, and vocal . Re-taught his signature guitar licks byfanand future Canned Heat founder Al Wilson, House became part of the decade's folk-blues revival, performing live into the early 1970s and even returning to recording. I think it contributes to giving it the distant kind of Doors vibe. Paramount used field scouts to seek out new talent, though this is a somewhat grand name for men the likes of HC Speir, who ran stores in the south and simply kept an eye out for local musicians. A few years after he gained an early release, he was convicted on an assault charge and sentenced to a term in Louisiana's Angola Penitentiary. He plays an acoustic guitar on Do What She Do and sings here comes Mary in a cha-cha hat, her mama says shes going straight to hell wearing that, Mary dont care she dont worry about that, shes gonna do what she do, what she do. Shes About To Lose Her Mind features guitarist Popa Chubby with a stinging lead and extended solo. 1 with Messin Around in 1948. By 1939 there were 225,000 jukeboxes in America, which prompted the president of the American Federation Of Musicians to declare that records were the number one scab. He and his members felt record companies were taking work away from musicians. She joined a band called Big Brother and the Holding Company. Early went on to tour nationally and in Greece with E.C. Early blues songs were sung by slaves, ex-slaves, and their descendants. He hosts a daily program from 3pm-9pm eastern time Monday through Friday and Saturday & Sunday from 6pm to midnight eastern. He moved to St. Louis Missouri in 1953 and started recording for two different record labels where he churned out a handful of hit songs siuch as Dont Throw Your Love on Me So Strong and Thats What the Blues Is All About.. Scott albums for the Blind Pig label, touring internationally as her lead guitarist. Leadbelly's temper often landed him in trouble, however, and after killing a man in Texas, he was sentenced to the notorious state prison in Huntsville. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. At first I turned it down and they called me again. Born 1942 in Seattle, he was first called Johnny Allen Hendrix and then James Marshall Hendrix. We dig deep to find out the fascinating history of recorded blues. The blues of Georgia and the Carolinas is noted for its clarity of enunciation and regularity of rhythm. It is the title track to the album. If you listen to , Canadian Folk-Rock Icon Gordon Lightfoot Dies Aged 84, From Rage to Sage, William Bell Caps His Career with One Day Closer to Home, Raul Malo, GRAMMY-winning Leader of The Mavericks, to Release Instrumental Album, The Lone Bellow Confirm Tour Dates, Share Performance Video For Goodness, Yola Releases Video For New Single Stand For Myself, Holy Moly & The Crackers Live at The Boiler Shop in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Early rock singers such as Elvis Presley often used blues material. Born in Baltimore in 1915, Eleanora Fagan knew from an early age that she wanted to be a singer. In 1942 they signed T-Bone Walker, and he became the featured guitarist with Freddie Slack and his Orchestra. Out on the West Coast, the Rene brothers, Leon and Otis, started the Excelsior label around the same time as Savoy. When he was only six years old, Charles was rendered blind due to glaucoma. There are different moods to the songs and as you know sometimes you listen to certain artists because the mood they created is how you want to feel at that moment. He soon began playing the blues himself and eventually dropped out of college to pursue his musical dreams. The Great Depression and the World Wars caused the geographic dispersal of the blues as millions of Blacks left the South for the cities of the North. Early Times grew up in Sacramento, CA and lives in New York. "The Guitar Wizard"collects the best of Red's early hokum and blues sides, including "It's Tight Like That" and "Turpentine Blues.". In 1965 he recorded the seminal album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul in just one day. Kings relentless touring strengthened his claim to the title of undisputed king of the blues, and he was a regular fixture on the Billboard charts through the mid-1980s. Getting its start in the deep south after the end of the Civil War, blues music originated from African American work songs and spiritual hymns only to explode in popularity in the 1920s. Lee Hildebrands (SF Chronicle) 4-star review of Hard Act to Follow declared: Featured throughout is the scorching guitar work of a Sacramento musician by the name of Early Times.. She recorded a song called Crazy Blues which is widely considered to be the first-ever recorded blues song. He made his way north to Chicago in 1943. Influenced by ragtime and white folk music, it is more melodic than the Texas and Mississippi styles. Her records sold tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of copies, an unheard of level for those days. Early Times is especially rockin on the instrumental Rosies Herbs N Ting. OKeh recorded him on one of the first field recording trips, in late March/early April 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia. King's name stands for "Blues Boy." His parents divorced when he was young, and Burnett ended up being raised by his alcoholic uncle. I do have distribution and a record label for the new album. As a teenager, he was heavily inspired by the sounds coming from the Chicago blues scene. Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938. The channel at the time was called Sirius blues and I did that for the entire run until the merger happened with XM. His follow-up recordings include 1993s Hobo-Deluxe; and 1995s The Comedown. Sylvester Weaver, from Louisville, Kentucky, went to OKehs New York studio sometime in October 1923 to back Sara Martin on a couple of songs. Not for one second did they think they were about to make history. In 1912 Black bandleader W.C. Handys composition Memphis Blues was published.