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 I'll bring you the story of the beginnings of the Peacock label, one of the rare and succesful black-owned labels of the early fifties, and it was owned by the colorful Don Robey - notorious gambler, entrepreneur, nightclub owner and gangster in Houston, TX.
Today releases from the very first year of the label and that was primarily started to record Clarence Gatemouth Brown. So here he is on the very first one of the catalog, number 1500. This is Didn't Reach My Goal.
1500 - Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Didn't Reach My Goal
1502 - Bea Johnson - No Letter Blues
The obscure Bea Johnson with her No Letter Blues on Peacock 1502 and it was backed by Glad You Let Me Go and I promise to play that goodie in a future episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.
Now I told you that the Peacock label was primarily started to bring Gatemouth Brown to the spotlights. Somewhere in 1947 he attended a gig of T-Bone Walker at the Bronze Peacock, a nightclub in Houston's Fifth Ward when Walker became ill and he couldn't play further. Gatemouth stood up and filled in for the gap and that brought him to the attention of the club owner, Don Robey. For Robey it was the first time he decided to be an artist's manager and he first tried to get the singles released at the Aladdin label - but they got little attention. And so Robey decided to start his own label, named after his famous nightclub. I'll tell you more about this illustrous man later.
It'll be no surprise that many of the early releases are recordings of Clarence Gatemouth Brown. I won't be playing them all - but here are two more of him: the succesful Mary's Fine and the gloomy blues Two O'Clock in the Morning.
1504 - Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Mary's Fine
1505 - Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Two O'Clock in the Morning
(jingle)
1506 - Sherman Williams feat. Skippy Brooks - Across the Country Blues
1509 - Lavarda Durst - Hattie Green
Lavarda Durst - the local DJ better known als Doctor Hepcat and he used that name on KVET of Austin, TX to present a jazz program that he commented in jive language. Here you heard him under his real name with Hattie Green.
Before that you got Skippy Brooks fronting the band of Sherman Williams and they brought you the Across The Country Blues, on Peacock number 1509.
I promised you to tell some more on Don Robey, the owner of the label. This son of a white woman and a black father dropped out of school to start a gambling career. His nightclub ownership started in Houston's Fifth Ward, where he lived and worked for most of his life, with a venue that opened doors in 1933. The Sweet Dreams Cafe soon got followed up by the Lenox Club and the Harlem Grill and they hired top notch bands for the entertainment of his clientele.
The Bronze Peacock Dinner Club opened in 1945 and brought Ruth Brown, Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton and T-Bone Walker - and a fine menu cooked by some of the best chefs. He started the Peacock label in 1949 though, according to his business manager Evelyn Johnson, he couldn't tell a record from a hubcap. The label later merged with the Memphis based Duke records, making it the largest black-owned record business before Berry Gordy's Motown.
For his practices as a business man, well, most of his artists are very positive. Songwriters though tell another story. He bought the songs for a few bucks and claimed copyright for himself under the name of Deadric Malone. Now that wasn't a practice unique to Robey - but he made a fortune with it. Robey wasn't afraid of intimidating people with his gun that he always had on hand, violence, or the threat to kill people. In negociations he always laid his gun on the table - just to make a statement.
Much of Robey's success is due to the lack of competition though. There just weren't any record companies in the near area half as strong as this Peacock-Duke combination.
Not all of the early artists were a succes. The catalog has a lot of very obscure local names. Next is number 1510 on the catalog, some Silver Cooks backed by a few musicians going by the name of the Gondoliers. Here is their Coming Back Home.
1510 - Silver Cooks & The Gondoliers - Coming Back Home
1513 - R.B. Thibadeaux - R.B. Boogie
The R.B. Boogie of R.B. Thibadeaux - another local man who hasn't made a permanent mark on Rhythm & Blues I'm afraid. And the same counts for the next one, new Orleans born blues guitarist Edgar Blanchard and apparently the leader of the Gondoliers that you heard before. Blanchard's group reportedly recorded with Ray Charles in 1953 in New Orleans. From him, the Creole Gal Blues that made it to release number 1514 of the Peacock catalog.
1514 - Edgar Blanchard - Creole Gal Blues
1517 - Memphis Slim - The Girl I Love
Memphis Slim, disguised under the name of L.C. Frazier and that was The Girl I love on Peacock number 1517. By 1950 Slim was under contract with the Miracle label and that explains for the name he chose.
For the next one we go to the band of Eric Von Schlitz and he was fronted by the Indianapolis born singer Iona Wade or Iona Harlin. They made several recordings for the label, judging from the master numbers in the discography of the label, from two sessions. The songs are hard to find except for this one that made it to several compilation albums including one especially dedicated to the Peacock label.
Here they are with Come On In and Drink Some Gin.
1526 - Iona Wade - Come On In (Drink Some Gin)
1528 - Floyd Dixon - Let's Dance
Jay Riggins Jr. says the label and that is the real name of Floyd Dixon. Later Peacock records just mention Floyd Dixon and the records have been released both on Peacock and Aladdin - the label Dixon was signed. So it doesn't explain why this wasn't released on his far more known stage name. Anyhow - you heard Let's Dance.
Next, once more the band of Eric Von Schlitz, this time fronted by an obscure bluesman named Willie Holiday. Here is I've Played This Town.
1531 - Willie Holiday - I've Played This Town
1537 - Elmore Nixon - Alabama Blues
The young blues pianist Elmore or Elmo Nixon, at the age of seventeen with the Alabama Blues. It wasn't the first time in the studio for Nixon - he'd been backing Peppermint Harris on *his* first single, for the Gold Star label when he was thirteen years old and in 1949 as a member of Henry Hayes' Four Kings, for the Sitting In With label.
Now in 1950 Henry Hayes recorded for Peacock as well and the next one was taken in the same session. On this his band he is fronted by Carl Campbell, the owner of Carl's Blues Club in Houston. Here is Traveling On.
1538 - Carl Campbell with Henry Hayes & his four Kings - Traveling On
1542 - Floyd Dixon - I'm So Worried
I'm So Worried of Floyd Dixon - a blues also released on Aladdin but this was Peacock number 1542.
Now I did the first year of Peacock and in that year, nothing really spectacular happened - it just brought out good Rhythm & Blues. That would change soon. In 1952 Don Robey's label merged with a new label from Memphis, Duke and from the beginning it had two greats on board - Roscoe Gordon and hit maker Johnny Ace. In 1953 Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton laid down her greatest hit, and the best selling for Peacock up to then, Hound Dog, written by the white teenagers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
They had a good feeling for what the blues sounded like. In the first take, Thornton was crooning the song and wasn't what the two youngsters had intended it for - and they told her so. Now Thornton was a big salty chick that could well intimidate these two and she snapped 'White boy don'tcha be telling me how to sing the blues'. But despite, she caught the vibe and laid down that memorable performance that we all know.
The Duke-Peacock combination was less lucky with Johnny Ace - on Christmas eve of 1954 he shot himself in the head in a game of Russian roulette. There are different accounts on what exactly happened that night - but the label lost a promising hit maker. Duke made it well into the soul era with greats such as Bobby Bland and O.V. Wright while Peacock specialized in gospel - that the label had been issuing from the beginning.
Don Robey remained at the steering wheel until 1973 when he sold the company to ABC-Dunhill. Like so many of the things Robey did, this deal was surrounded by controversy, as it may well have been that it had to pay for a huge gambling debt Robey had. He was an avid gambler - and should we believe all the stories, a cheater in gambling as well. One story includes a race horse that he made disappear forever when suspicions rose they the animal was doped. There's also the story of a lawsuit that he lost in appeal when it was found out he had backdated a contract. Robey also dealt closely with local organized crime - like most people involved in the entertainment business.
I got time for one more to play. Here is Peacock 1544 with one more of Floyd Dixon - the Sad Journey Blues.
1544 - Floyd Dixon - Sad Journey Blues
And that marks the end of today's Legends of the Rocking Dutchman, dedicated to the Peacock label and its colorful boss, Don Robey, who managed to build the biggest black-owned recording business before Berry Gordy's Motown. And I hope you liked the story, now of course you can let me know. Any feedback is welcome at rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
And today's story, you can find it on my website, do a Google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and it will show up first. In that long list of episodes, this is show number 156. Of course you can also see what will be on for next week, 'cause you'll have to wait that long for your next shot of Rhythm & Blues. Until then, don't get the blues. See you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!