This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And today a set on the Freedom label from Houston, TX, one of the centers of the Rhythm & Blues that may not have been as famous and hot as Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, but it was hot and happening but unfortunately not so well-covered by the recording business. The Freedom label was a local label and well information on the label or even a neat and complete discography may be hard to get by but the music was well-preserved and a great deal of the output of the label has been re-released in some way.
So let's start with a young local guitarist whose name got nearly a synonym for the label - Goree Carter. He made name as one of the great forerunners of Rock 'n Roll but he did quite some real neat blues too. Listen to his Sweet Ole Woman's Blues on Freedom number 1502 that was the very first issue of the label.
01 - 1502 - Goree Carter - Sweet Ole Woman's Blues
02 - 1509 - Leroy 'Country' Johnson - Log House On the Hill
The Log House On The Hill and you heard the obscure Leroy 'Country' Johnson on Freedom issue number 1509. Freedom is the label that I feature today here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Actually, this is the second set on this label and if you still remember the first one, well then you're not only one of my most faithful listeners but also you got a great memory. I run this show for the third year now and it was somewhere in the first that I did the first set on this label. It's not a re-send of that old show though, and none of the tracks that I played back then are in today's set.
Next Jesse 'Babyface' Thomas, a bluesman and he wasn't based in Houston. He spent most of his time in Louisiana and on the West Coast. Now Freedom did record some more musicians that passed by - most notably Joe Turner of course and we'll get him later today in this show.
Jesse Thomas was the younger brother of Willard, better known as Ramblin' Thomas who recorded in the late twenties and early thirties for Paramount and Victor.
Here is Jesse Thomas with Let's Have Some Fun.
03 - 1513 - Jesse Thomas - Let's Have Some Fun
04 - 1517 - L.C. Williams - Shout Baby Shout
(jingle)
05 - 1518 - Goree Carter - She's Just Old Fashioned
06 - 1519 - Lonnie Lyons - Down In The Groovy
And in these four-in-a-row, after Jesse Thomas you got Shout Baby Shout of L.C. Williams and this L.C. was just his given name. In interviews Williams always said that L.C. stood for Love Crazy but it might well have been for the cause of his death in 1960, a lung collapse.
Then after the jingle you got one more of Goree Carter titled She's Just Old Fashioned and finally Lonnie Lyons with Down In The Groovy. This somewhat messy take has the band of saxophonist Conrad Johnson on it, somewhat the house band of the Freedom label, under the name of Connie's Combo in several spellings, and in today's set many of the backing is done by his band.
Next another Connie - Conny McBooker, a Houston pianist and here he's got a recording for his own, where most of his output was session work for - among others - B.B. King, Junior Parker, Hank Ballard and L.C. Williams. From him, on Freedom number 1520, here is Loretta.
07 - 1520 - Connie McBooker - Loretta
08 - 1522 - Goree Carter - She's My Best Bet
She's My Best Bet - for the third time that was bluesman Goree Carter who jumped into the Freedom studio at the age of 18 to become a great influentce for guitarists of the rock 'n roll era, most notably to Chuck Berry. He left the music business after only five years with no hits and when his recognition came later he did some occational gigs in his hometown Houston. He played with B.B. King in 1970.
Next another one of Lonnie Lyons. On Freedom 1523 this is Betrayed.
09 - 1523 - Lonnie Lyons - Betrayed
10 - 1524 - L.C williams - Louisiana Boogie
And that was one more of L.C. Willians, on Freedom 1524 the Louisiana Boogie.
Next saxophonist Joe Houston and he'd been touring all around the West Coast and the Midwest when he settled in Baton Rouge, LA and there he started a band to back up Big Joe Turner on his tours. One of these tours led to Houston where they did a session in the studio for the Freedom label. We'll get to the Joe Turner takes later in this show. He also recorded some material under his own name without Turner. Now we know Joe Houston for his frantic honker Blow Joe Blow, that he also recorded in the town that bore his name, for the Macy's label, and that got a hit when the Modern label bought the master and released it. Before that, he was a more regular blues saxophonist and in that quality, here he is, on Freedom 1526 with Way Cross Mama.
11 - 1526 - Joe Houston - Way Cross Mama
12 - 1529 - L.C. Williams - Mean And Evil
Mean and Evil, and with that you got a third one of L.C. Williams on issue number 1529 of the Freedom label that I feature today, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.
The label was founded by Saul Kahal, a man who had his roots in the Tin Pan Alley in New York. I also found an entry in a compendium of record labes telling that Conrad Johnson - the leader of the house band - did the A&R work. Now for a forties label that was of such importance, even just locally, it's surprisingly difficult to find information. There's an incomplete and somewhat inaccurate listing on one of my main sources of discographical information, the Online 78 rpm discographical project, and then there's a website on Earthlink of J.C. Marion from 1999, that's got a few lines in eye-hurting red with white text, and that's mainly another incomplete discography. Then there's a small article in Billboard magazine of April 1 of 1950 announcing that the label is launching a hillbilly series, and basically that's it for Billboard, not even ads for the label's releases.
And so the story of how the label got founded, who were involved, how well - or not - the company ran, and what caused it demise remain undocumented. The J.C. Marion article from '99 somewhat suggests that some of the artists moving on to California caused the label to close, but even that, I read it between the lines. Many local Texas stars in Rhythm & Blues indeed made the move to Los Angeles that had the name to be hipper and more happening than Houston, that's right. But even then, the only one explicitly named in this suggestion was Joe Turner - and he wasn't part of the local scene, he just passed by.
Others stayed in Houston, but they moved on to other record labels when Freedom closed its doors. And where most record bosses pop up somewhere else in the business after their label folded, there's no trace of documentation on the whereabouts of this Saul Kahal, whose name often got misspelled, after 1952.
You'd rather forget that between all these question marks, there's great music to be played. So let's return to Joe Houston on Freedom 1535 with Your Little Girl Is Gone.
13 - 1535 - Joe Houston - Your Little Girl Is Gone
14 - 1537 - Big Joe Turner - Just A Travelin' Man
Big Joe Turner backed up by the band of Joe Houston with a great blues. This is Rhythm & Blues as it's supposed to be. You heard Just A Travelin' Man.
Now here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman, I always have some person or story that is surrounded with myths. Well today that sure must be Alger 'Texas' Alexander. He was in the aftermath of his career when he did his session for Freedom and before he had disappeared off the radar for about six years. Many biographies say that he served this time in prison for murdering his wife, but no records exist to confirm that and well, six years is pretty short for a capital offense. More likely is the story that he has been forced to work on a country farm for his sometimes obscene lyrics that he performed in public - a story that fits well in the Jim Crow era in the Deep South. Well quite in style with his legendary status, he died of syfillis.
This blues may sound a bit messy to your ears. You can hear that the pianist and guitarist have a hard time to follow the odd timing of Texas Alexander. Quite some times you hear that the guitarist suddenly has to stop because Alexander starts his next sentence earlier than expected or sudden gaps fall in where he was expected to sing, but he didn't. Playing with him must have been quite a challenge.
Here he is. Texas Alexander with Crossroads.
15 - 1538 - Texas Alexander - Crossroads
16 - 1540 - Big Joe Turner - Feeling Happy
17 - 1545 - Big Joe Turner - Midnigt Is Here Again a.k.a Dawn is Breakin' Through
Two more of Joe Turner end this special on the Freedom label of Houston, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. You got Midnigt Is Here Again a.k.a Dawn is Breakin' Through on Freedom 1545 and before that, Freedom 1540 and that was Feeling Happy. Like so many of his old hits, he re-recorded this Feeling Happy for the Atlantic label in 1957 in quite a good version that had a mood that actually better fits the lyrics. Funny detail is that the big fat mama in this blues apparently lost a lotta weight 'cause in '57, she resurfaces as a tall skinny mama of only 50 pounds.
With that, I have to end this episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. If you want to read back what I told you today or review the playlist, you can go to my web site and the easiest way to get there is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once there, look for show number 128 - that's this one. Then of course you can let me know what you thought of the show, and send me an e-mail, the address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
Today, my time's up so have a rocking day and remember, dontcha get them blues, just listen to 'em. See you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!