This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
Yeah! Thank you, Thank you Lola - what better introduction can you get than this. Listeners, today is my 150st show and we're gonna celebrate that with some great Rhythm & Blues from albums that I got myself recently. And to start with, a double-sider of Percy Mayfield that he recorded for the Gru-V-Tone label in 1947. That was Gru-V-Tone number 101 - the next single was an early recording from that same session of his famous Two Years Of Torture that he re-recorded for the Supreme label.
But for now that double-sider - Percy Mayfield with Jack You Ain't Nowhere.
01 - Percy Mayfield - Jack, You Ain't Nowhere
02 - Johnny Otis feat. Mel Walker - Cry Baby
From 1950 on the Regent label that was Johnny Otis with Cry Baby and that voice of course was Mel Walker. Melvin Lightsey as his real name was, he worked with Johnny Otis from '49 to '53, but his drug addiction brought him in jail, and in '64 he was found dead in a Los Angeles alley after an overdose.
Next a late recording of Helen Humes for the Dootone label. Humes had recordings in the mid-forties for the Philo label, the forerunner of Aladdin, and I think these are her best. In '55 she did a session for Dootone and this Real Fine Daddy, still very much her style, was one of the outcomes, that unfortunately didn't get a release on the label. Here she is - Helen Humes.
03 - Helen Humes - Real Fine Daddy
04 - Dickie Thompson and his Blue Five - Taylor-Made Gal
(jingle)
05 - Walter 'Sandman' Howard - Willow Tree Blues
06 - Bob Merrill - Low Down Groove
Four in a row - after Helen Humes you got Dickie Thompson singing the blues of the Tailor Made Gal, and that tenor sax was John Hardee. It was released on the Signature label and it got a nice review in Billboard Magazine of August 17 of '46.
Then the unknown Walter 'Sandman' Howard with what seems to be his only release, the Willow Tree Blues, a single from 1951 on the Derby label. I found it on a CD titled Obscure Blues Shouters, and indeed, that's what he is.
Then finally Bob Merrill backed by Sam Taylor and his band, on the Abbey label from '49, with the Low Down Groove. Merrill was a fine blues shouter but is name isn't remembered like for instance Eddie Vinson, Roy Brown or Wynonie Harris. Still he recorded enough for a whole CD with his output, fronting great bands such as Jay McShann, Cootie Williams, Dallas Bartley and - on this one - Sam Taylor.
Next from 1952 on the RPM label the great B.B. King and his Boogie Woogie Woman.
07 - B. B. King - Boogie Woogie Woman
08 - Chris Powell - Last Saturday Night
A cover - and I think a pretty bleak one - of the Cabbage Head Blues that the Chicago comedian Jo Jo Adams did together with Tom Archia. This version was Chris Powell, and the song tells the story of a man who comes home drunk every day, thinks he sees proof of his wife cheating on him, but she always gets away with her bizarre explanations. And throughout the song you keep on wondering if the woman's right and these are just phantoms of her man's delirious mind, or she's really fooling him and he's just so drunk that she gets away with it.
Next from 1950 on the MGM label, Ivory Joe Hunter with another blues on the mistrust of men towards women. Here is Don't you believe her.
09 - Ivory Joe Hunter - Don't You Believe Her
10 - Pee Wee Crayton - When It Rains It Pours
When It Rains It Pours - I guess that's like describing Florida weather. But that wasn't what this blues of guitarist Pee Wee Crayton is about - it was recorded in Los Angeles in May of 1951. A great guitarist, he is best remembered for his Blues After Hours from '48 that he had half written, half improvised and inspired on Erskine Hawkins' After Hours from 1940. Crayton also is believed to be the first bluesman to play the iconic Fender Stratocaster that he got from guitar manufacturer Leo Fender personally.
Next from 1947 Bill Samuels with his Cats 'n Jammer Three with One For The Money. The phrase One For The Money comes from an old children's rhyme that must have been around since the second half of the nineteenth century and maybe a lot older, and it found its origin in the horse races. Now it got a fair review in Billboard of December 13 of '47, 'an uptempo modern blues with tasty instrumental bits and fair vocal'.
Well here it is, on the Mercury label, Bill Samuels.
11 - Bill Samuels - One For The Money
12 - J.B. Lenoir - People Are Meddling
J.B. Lenoir with People Are Meddling In Our Affairs and that was on the Chicago-based J.O.B label. The always well-informed web site of the Red Saunders Research Foundation mentions Sunnyland Slim on the piano and Alfred Wallace on drums. It was recorded in the Windy City in October of 1951 in the Modern Recording Studio.
J.B. were not initials but his given name, and when in '49 he moved to Chicago he was introduced in the blues scene by Big Bill Broonzy where the following years he performed as a great showman, in zebra-striped suits. Some of his songs were political like his Eisenhower blues and others protesting against racism and the Korean war. And where he now is recognized as an influential bluesman, in his days he couldn't live from the music and had to take jobs like a dishwasher in the kitchen of the University of Illinois.
Next from November of 1947 the Back Water Blues of Jimmy Witherspoon and that was on the Supreme label.
13 - Jimmy Witherspoon - Back Water Blues
14 - Big Maceo - Maceo's 32 20
Maceo's 32-20 - that was Big Maceo Merriweather and he recorded that in 1946 - the year a stroke hit him at the young age of 41 and that effectively put a halt on his career. He died in '53 of heart failure. In his short career he had become a blues pianist of note and his debut single, the Worried Life blues was among the first hits that were inducted in the blues hall of fame, still a blues classic.
Next up, from 1949 Paula Watson who, after the lost court case of Supreme records against Decca on their cover of her song A Little Bird Told Me, moved the the defendant and signed with Decca. There she got blues to sing instead of the novelty songs that she'd done so succesful and this is just one of them. Here is I Want A Short, Squat, Big Fat Papa.
15 - Paula Watson - I Want A Short, Squat, Big Fat Papa
16 - Memphis Minnie - Kidman Blues
17 - Lil Green - No Good Man
And Lil Green ends this 150th show of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman with her No Good Man that she did in '46 for RCA Victor and before that you got Memphis Minnie with a 1950 recording that also features Sunniland Slim on the piano - that was the Kidman Blues. And with that my time is done for today. Well you can provide feedback and let me know what you thought of today's selection, you can mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
And today's story and playlist is on my web site, that you can easily find searching the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once in, all about this show is found in show 150 in the list of episodes that I already did. You can of course also take a peek what's on the menu for the next week - and you'll have to wait for that I'm afraid. In the meanwhile, don't get the blues, just have a rocking time. See you next week, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!