Vol. 01 No. 10

Roots, Rock ‘n Blues News

Volume 1, Number 10

Devil Music…or not

In the early days of the 20th century when the blues was still evolving from field hollers, there were actually two lines of musical evolution. One was gospel music, which was obviously inspired by the teachings of the Christian churches. The other was blues, which was much more the music of roadhouses and juke joints. Not exactly places God-fearing people tended to hang out, at least not so they’d admit it! Not surprisingly, the blues became known as “the Devil’s music”, partly because of the venues in which it was often played, and partly because of references to selling one’s soul to the Devil and other topics not intended for tender ears.

Many blues players and singers started out with gospel music because their parents wouldn’t let them play the blues. They had to wait until they were older to go over to the “dark side.” Some sneaked out to blues clubs to play and sing without their parents’ knowledge, and had such success that they couldn’t keep the secret for long. Probably as much because it was forbidden fruit as in spite of it, the blues continued to evolve into what we know today. Gospel is still around, as well, and both have their devotees.

I started thinking about this recently when I was digging through my bookshelf and found my copy of “Chasin’ That Devil Music: Searching for the Blues” by Gayle Dean Wardlow. This is a great book for blues fans, record collectors, and historians interested in the early days of the blues in the Deep South. Wardlow is a record collector who started out collecting Roy Acuff records and got into “race records”, records made by black musicians for black buyers. His collection eventually included every well known Delta blues artist along with many more obscure players. The book describes his journeys through the South looking for records and later as a journalist gathering information for his writings about the early blues players.

The book comes with a CD that includes 19 rare blues cuts by Charlie Patton, Son House, Skip James and others as well as interviews with the musicians and those who knew them. The recordings range from the late 1920′s to the early 60′s, the majority being from the 20′s and 30′s.

Having been a record collector myself, I enjoyed reading about Wardlow’s hunting expeditions through the South and his finds of some extremely rare recordings. Wardlow began collecting in the early 50′s when most records were still the very fragile 10-inch 78 RPM format. 45′s were beginning to take over the market by then, but only new recordings were being pressed on the 7-inch disks. I know from experience that you can break a 78 with a hard look, so it’s easy to see why they were so difficult to come by in any sort of decent condition.

Columbia Records started a major revival of interest in early blues with its reissue of the legendary Robert Johnson’s The Complete Recordings in 1990. Since then, there have been many collections of early blues issued by various labels and more and more people have become familiar with the legends of Delta blues. It’s fascinating to me to listen to those early recordings and realize just how much they rock, especially considering that many of them were solo performances. Blues bands are a relatively modern invention. Back in the day, it was usually a solo or duo kicking butt in the juke joints and rocking the places with no amps or PAs.

We are extremely fortunate today that scholars and researchers like Wardlow spent so much time and effort hunting down recordings and the musicians themselves to put together a history of the blues. Understanding the culture of the times helps to understand where the music came from and how it evolved, but best of all, many of the classic recordings have been reissued within the last 15-20 years so that we now have an incredible catalog of seminal blues from the 20′s and 30′s. Thanks to historians like Wardlow, enough interest was generated for the record companies to deem it worthwhile to reissue the old recordings. Thanks to those reissues, we can hear the real deal and get a better feel for where today’s blues and rock came from.

I get a big kick out of hearing an old recording and realizing that I’ve heard the same lyrics or tune many times from other more recent musicians’ recordings. Bluesmen were never shy about using somebody else’s material. If it was a good song, you can be sure it was recorded by a number of musicians each adding their own unique twist to it. John Lee Williamson, the first Sonny Boy, is a good example. Listen to Junior Wells and many of the other Chicago greats, then go back and listen to John Lee and you’ll hear where Junior got much of his early material. Robert Johnson wrote “Sweet Home Chicago”, but look it up and you’ll find a number of the Chicago bluesmen claiming they wrote their version. Back in the 40′s and 50′s, musicians could claim a song as their own easily because they weren’t heard as widely as they are today. Records tended to be regional hits so it might be all over the radio in Memphis, but nobody in Chicago ever heard it until somebody local recorded a version and passed it off as their own. Unless the Chicago version somehow got popular in Memphis, no one was the wiser.

The ultimate “borrowing” was when musicians billed themselves as somebody more popular or better known to audiences that didn’t know any better. George “Harmonica” Smith was legendary for playing gigs in California as “Little Walter”, for example. Then, there was the famous Sonny Boy Williamson controversy. John Lee Williamson was the original Sonny Boy, but Rice Miller also toured as Sonny Boy Williamson. Some claim that he used Sonny Boy Williams, but now they’re known as Sonny Boy I and Sonny Boy II, respectively. It’s a lot more difficult to do things like that today when a sneeze is heard around the world!

In any case, books like Wardlow’s reveal all kinds of fascinating facts about the early musicians and add greatly to the enjoyment of our favorite music. Let us know what some of your favorite blues and roots music books are.

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CD of the Week

Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings

While not the first reissue of early blues recordings, this collection was a watershed event in roots music history as it provided in one collection every recording made by the legendary Robert Johnson. This 2-CD set includes all 41 of his known recordings including 12 alternate takes recorded in two sessions, the first in 1936 and the second in 1937. The first session alone produced “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom,” “Sweet Home Chicago,” “Cross Road Blues,” and “Walkin’ Blues,” four all-time blues classics which have since been recorded and made popular by numerous blues acts.

This is the box set that introduced many people to the original Delta blues after endorsements by Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, among others. One thing for which I’ve always respected the British blues-rockers was their willingness to acknowledge where their influences came from. Blues and roots music was extremely popular in Europe well before most of us on this side of the pond had a clue about it and many American blues musicians became huge stars in Europe while being pretty much ignored here outside the black community. Robert Johnson died well before he had that opportunity, but his influence is still felt today on both sides of the water.

Web Site of the Week

Blind Pig Records

One of the premier independent American blues and roots music labels in the world, Blind Pig has an amazing catalog of recordings by many of the top artists recording today. Pretty much every well known blues artist has recorded at least once for Blind Pig. Their site features free MP3 downloads, free catalog, email newsletter, and much more.

See you next time!