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's selection is made up of artists who have nothing in common but a place in their name - a state or city that they come from, that they got famous, or that they just don't have anything to do with but it's still in their name.
I'll tell you more about that, and how the places got in their name, but first comes the music. And definitely from Detroit is Detroit Count. This is recorded in 1948 I think for the local JVB label but more masters ended up at King of Cincinnatti. Here he is with Little Tillie Willie.
01 - Detroit Count - Little Tillie Willie
02 - St. Louis Jimmy Oden - I'm Sorry Now
St. Louis Jimmy Oden on the Miracle label with I'm Sorry Now. James Burke Oden was born in Nashville TN, an as a teenager he went to St. Louis and there he worked with Roosevelt Sykes. In 1933 Sykes and Oden went to Chicago and it's there where he was dubbed St. Louis Jimmy.
Today on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman I only play musicians who have a city or state in their name, often telling where they came from, and sometimes not - just for that it sounded nice. The next bluesman indeed came from Texas as his name states. Alger Alexander used the stage name of Texas Alexander. He never played an instrument and that is pretty rare for male blues singers. Recorded in 1928 for OKeh, here he is with his Tell Me Woman Blues.
03 - Texas Alexander - Tell Me Woman Blues
04 - Florida Kid - I'm Going Back On The Farm
(jingle)
05 - Birmingham Junior & his Lover Boys - You're too bad
06 - Louisiana Johnny & Kid Beecher - Three-Six-Nine Blues
Three tracks from pretty obscure blues artists - and what you just heard I found it on a various artists CD on the Document label, the 3-6-9 Blues of Louisiana Johnny and Kid Beecher - it was done in Chicago somewhere between '34 and '37, and not sure if the guitarist was Big Bill Broonzy. Beecher did the 88s and this Louisiana Johnny sang. The CD contains ten tracks of the two.
Before that, Birmingham Junior with a 1954 Chicago recording for J. Mayo Williams' Ebony label, a very rare record and apparently inspired on Little Walther's hits from the early fifties.
And then there was that song before the jingle, that was the bluesman named Florida Kid - his real name Ernest Blunt - unknown if he indeed was from the Sunshine State. He recorded a few sides for the Bluebird label but this one didn't make it to a 78 back in the early forties.
Well definitely born in Memphis is John Len Chatman, professionally known as Memphis Slim. He settled in Chicago in '39 and teamed up with Big Bill Broonzy. It was producer Lester Melrose who gave him the name of Memphis Slim. Well here he is with Life Is Like That on the Miracle label.
07 - Memphis Slim - Life Is Like That
08 - Memphis Minnie - I'm Not A Bad Gal
Memphis Minnie was that with I'm Not A Bad Gal on the Okeh label. The song was written by her third husband Ernest Lawlars - professionally known as Little Son Joe. Minnie's real name was Lizzie Douglas, and it was the Columbia producer she recorded for in 1929 together with her second husband Joe McCoy who gave her her stage name. Well by then the two busked Beale Street in Memphis - Minnie done that from her early teenage years. So her Memphis moniker definitely made sense.
But that wasn't for Joe McCoy - Minnie's second husband. His real name was Wilbur and nowhere in his biography Kansas City or the state of Kansas comes up - but the same Columbia record executive who came up with Memphis Minnie, he dubbed him Kansas Joe McCoy.
Here he is with the Dresser Drawer Blues.
09 - Kansas Joe - Dresser Drawer Blues
10 - Mississippi Mudder - Sweet Jelly Rollin'
Sweet Jelly Rollin' of the Mississippi Mudder - and that was one of the other pseudonyms Kansas Joe McCoy used. Now McCoy was born in Mississippi so the name makes more sense than Kansas Joe.
Many of these city or state monikers came when the musicians moved up North - to cities like Chicago or New York. The use of the place of origin not only tells where they're from - more important the southern place was like a quality seal, for original and genuine Delta blues influences, to make the records sell better or draw more people to their gigs.
So when in 1920 Hudson Whittaker moved to Chicago, he took the name of Tampa Red, after the place where he was raised but not born. Tampa Red got his breakthrough as a pianist for Ma Rainey and together with Georgia Tom as the Hokum Boys.
We'll get to Georgia Tom later, here is Tampa Red with a 1940 recording for the Bluebird label - What Am I Going To Do.
11 - Tampa Red - What Am I Going To Do
12 - Georgia Tom - You Got Me In This Mess
I mentioned him earlier on the show - Georgia Tom was that with You Got Me In This Mess - and Georgia indeed is what Thomas Dorsey came from. Now as Georgia Tom we know him primarily for his raunchy blues that he did with Tampa Red as the Hokum Boys but for gospel affectionados the reverend Thomas A. Dorsey is one of the greatest of gospel composers. He's the composer of immortal gospels such as Take My Hand, Precious Lord and Peace In The Valley - and in any hymnal of English speaking churches all around the world you will find songs composed by Dorsey.
Now quite some bluesmen converted to gospel later in life, often refusing to have anything to do anymore with the devil's music, as the blues are often named. Well instead, Georgia Tom kept on doing blues and hokum during the twenties alongside gospel, but from 1932 he specialized on the music for the Lord.
Georgia Tom can also be heard also on this duet with an obscure blueswoman calling herself Kansas City Kitty - after the popular song Kitty from Kansas City. There's some that assume she was either Mozelle Alderson or Addie 'Sweet Peas' Spivey, the sister of Victoria Spivey, but it's likely she was neither of them. So we won't find out if there's any relationship to Kansas City.
Anyhow here are Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom with the Fish House Blues.
13 - Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom - Fish House Blues
14 - Lovin' Sam From Down In Bam - Huggin' And Kissin' And Gwine On
Lovin' Sam Theard, often credited as Lovin' Sam from Down In Bam, after the popular song Loving Sam from Alabam or even Loving Sam, the Sheik of Alabam. Sam Theard was not from Alabama, but from New Orleans.
Next a bluesman calling himself Sam Hill from Louisville. Files from the Brunswick label suggest he would be Walter Vinson, known from the Mississippi Sheiks. But that's not on the liner notes of the Document CD that I took this from, that states Vinson played the guitar on this one and Sam Hill singing and guitar.
Often details are lost to history, I'm afraid. Here is It's Gonna Stare You In the Face.
15 - Sam Hill From Louisville - It's Gonna Stare You In the Face
16 - Carolina Slim - Rag Mama
17 - Harlem Hamfats - Move Your Hand
Move Your Hand and you got the Harlem Hamfats and none of the musicians in this Chicago based studio band came from Harlem - the name was made up by J. Mayo Williams, the Decca producer who later set up his own record labels, one of them named Chicago with on the imprint Harlem Series and the Southern Record Company - all on one label. Guess only he could think of that.
Before that the Rag Mama of Carolina Slim and he indeed was born in North Carolina, so his name did make sense. And that was an hour of artists with a state or city in their name - and some did, others didn't come from there, and quite some of these names have not been made up by the bluesmen and women themselves, but by the record executives - and that's how they're remembered now, for their records.
Hope you liked today's selection and well of course you can let me know and send me an e-mail - the address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And feedback is greatly appreciated.
Then all of today's story, you can find it back at my website and easiest way to get there is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and it'll show up first. Scroll down to show number 227 in that list of episodes you'll get.
You will get more great music from me next week. Until then, keep your head up high - see you next week here, on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!