Featuring J.D. Short, the Rev. Gary Davis, the David Nelson Band, and the Flying Other Brothers with special guests G.E. Smith, Jorma Kaukonen, and Jack Casady, with excerpts by Son House, Robert Johnson, and Sonny Boy Williamson II.
Performances:
J.D. Short: “Slidin’ Delta”
David Nelson Band: “Slidin’ Delta”
Robert Johnson: Excerpt from “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”
Sonny Boy Williamson II: Excerpt from “Eyesight to the Blind”
G.E. Smith with the Flying Other Brothers: “Eyesight to the Blind”
Son House: Excerpt from “Walkin’ Blues”
Robert Johnson: Excerpt from “Walkin’ Blues”
Son House: Excerpt from “Empire State Blues”
G.E. Smith with the Flying Other Brothers: “Empire State”
Rev. Gary Davis: “Hesitation Blues (Instrumental)”
Rev. Gary Davis: Excerpt from “Hesitation Blues”
Flying Other Brothers with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady: “Hesitation Blues”
No form of music is more genuinely American than the blues, which is embodied within early jazz and became the basis for rhythm and blues and eventually rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, and hard rock…. even metal, funk, rap, and hip-hop. What we now know as “the blues” developed separately in three different regions of the South: the Mississippi Delta and eastern Texas at the turn of the century, and in the Piedmont ten years later. These rural blues were carried from the plantations and prison farms to urban areas such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles — where it evolved into the electric blues and rhythm and blues.
The blues grew out of a West African tradition known as “griots” — the libraries of African tribes. Griots carried the history and culture of their tribe in song and passed that knowledge on to future generations. It emerged in the U.S. in the late 1800s, influenced by spirituals, worksongs, field hollers and arhoolies, combining African cross-rhythms and vocal techniques, Anglo-American melodies, and thematic material from fables and folktales, along with tales of personal experience on plantations and prison farms. The emergence of the blues coincided with the worsening of the social and economic conditions for freed blacks in the South after the Civil War, who struggled to support themselves working on plantations as sharecroppers or tenant farmers.
This episode focuses on the Mississippi Delta blues, which sprung from an area that stretches from Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south to Memphis, Tennessee in the north and from central Mississippi in the east to the Ozark plateau of Arkansas in the west. Cotton grew well in the fertile soil of the Delta, and the lumber industry boomed as well. After the slaves were freed, blacks continued to move into the region to work on the plantations, and this influx continued until World War I, when blacks outnumbered whites four to one. Country music and the blues come together in the rich, fertile land of the Mississippi Delta. If you trace back the origins of most blues songs and stylings, you find the country blues of Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, and individual stylists like Mississippi John Hurt.
The show also dives into the blues of the Piedmont region of the South, which stretches from Atlanta, Georgia to Richmond, Virginia, with the Appalachian Mountains as its western border. Tobacco and cotton were the key crops of this region. The blues music of the Piedmont emerged in recorded form about ten years after the Delta blues artists were recorded. Much of Piedmont blues is based on rural folk music, and techniques that had been used on the banjo were transferred to the guitar. Another influence was ragtime, which put African-style cross-rhythms underneath European melodies, creating a new type of music. Ragtime became a large part of Piedmont blues, as evidenced in our selection from the great Piedmont artist Rev. Gary Davis.
“Slidin’ Delta” (Mississippi John Hurt) by J.D. Short
“Slidin Delta” performed by J.D. Short, from the recording entitled Blues — Music from the Documentary Film: By Sam Charters (Folkways ASCH101), provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright (c) 1967. Used by Permission.
This recording, from the film “The Blues” by Sam Charters (released in 1963), demonstrates an acoustic country form of the Delta blues that found its way up the Mississippi River to Memphis, where it influenced later rockabilly performers. While the song “Slidin’ Delta” is credited to Mississippi John Hurt, who recorded it in 1963 when he was rediscovered during the urban folk revival of the 1960s, variations occur much earlier. Several early blues musicians, many of whom grew up around trains and rode the rails from town to town, sang about the train as a living force that could embody the sentiments of the humans it rode past.
In J.D. Short’s “Slidin’ Delta,” the train’s sounds and actions personify the singer’s emotions. He sings about a train that was so slow it was almost “slidin'” — like a turtle. It had what Short called the “little hoot” in it, which, according to Sam Charters, “could have been a train whistle. The singing is pure Delta, but with the unique vibrato he had that made his music so individual.”
J.D. Short was born and raised in Mississippi. He played a bass drum with his foot, and two harmonicas mounted on his guitar, while singing and playing the guitar. He was a frequent performer at house parties before he moved to St. Louis in the ’20s. Short played with the Neckbones, Henry Spaulding, Honeyboy Edwards, Douglas Williams, and Big Joe Williams from the ’30s until the early ’60s. He recorded for Vocalion, Delmark, Folkways, and Sonet.
Hurt first recorded in 1928 for the Okeh label, but disappeared from the music business for about 35 years, tilling fields and playing in the old style. He was rediscovered in 1963 at the height of the urban folk revival and achieved national recognition. He had a few recording sessions, and played a good number of festivals, including the now famous Newport Folk Festival in 1964, at age 72. Self-taught, Hurt developed a distinctive three-finger style and a ragtime approach to his repertoire.
“Slidin’ Delta” (J.D. Short)
Oh, Slidin’ Delta done been here and gone,
Hear me cryin’ – I ain’t got –
Oh, Slidin’ Delta done been here and gone.
It make me think about my baby, ooah, ooah, ooah.Oh, early this mornin’, creepin’ through my door,
Now don’t you a-hear me cryin’, pretty mama,
Early this mornin’, crying through my door.
Well, I hear that whistle blow and she won’t blow here no mo’.Oh, slow down train now, bring my baby back home,
Now don’t you a-hear me cryin’, pretty mama,
Slow down train, bring my baby back home.
Well, she been gone so long, ooah, make my poor heart burn.…Oh, thought I heard freight train whistle blow,
Now don’t you a-hear me cryin’, pretty mama,
Thought I heard freight train whistle blow,
And she blowed just like ooah, ooah, ooah
“Slidin’ Delta” (Mississippi John Hurt) by the David Nelson Band
Performed by the David Nelson Band at the Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville, CA on 7/3/05. Featuring David Nelson (guitar), Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar), Pete Sears (bass), Charlie Crane (drums), Mookie Siegel (keyboards), and TBone Tony Bove (harmonica).
Rock bands often cover blues songs, especially songs from the Mississippi Delta, and copy the blues guitar picking styles, such as the three-finger picking of Mississippi John Hurt, who first recorded in 1928. Self-taught, Hurt developed a distinctive three-finger style and a ragtime approach to his repertoire. The David Nelson Band demonstrate this style in a faithful rendition of his “Slidin’ Delta”. Hurt first recorded in 1928 for the Okeh label, but disappeared from the music business for about 35 years, tilling fields and playing in the old style. He was rediscovered in 1963 at the height of the urban folk revival and achieved national recognition. He had a few recording sessions, and played a good number of festivals, including the now famous Newport Folk Festival in 1964, at age 72.
The David Nelson Band temporarily lost its bass player Billy Laymon due to illness, so Pete Sears (Flying Other Brothers, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Rod Stewart, solo performer, and guest artist with a hundred other performers) stepped in to play bass, and Tony Bove (yours truly) played harmonica. The David Nelson Band has been on the road for over 13 years. David Nelson, an old friend of Jerry Garcia’s and one of the founders of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, also worked with the Grateful Dead on the Dead’s Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty albums. He played with Robert Hunter and Garcia in the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers (in 1962).
“I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” (traditional, arranged by Robert Johnson)
This excerpt is performed by Robert Johnson, recorded in 1936. Source: The Complete Recordings. Born May 8, 1911, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Robert Johnson has been called the father of modern rock and roll; he certainly could be considered its elder bluesman grandfather. Although he did not live long enough to become as popular as many of the other earlier blues artists — only eleven 78 rpm records were issued during his lifetime and one posthumously — his music has influenced a number of musicians who dramatically changed music history.
Popular covers of his songs have been recorded by hundreds of top-notch bluesmen including Elmore James and Muddy Waters, and thousands of rockers including Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones. By the time of his only recordings in 1936, Johnson had been a professional musician for quite a few years. He was very well known all through the Delta areas and had followings in southern Mississippi and eastern Tennessee until his death in 1938. As a singer, a composer, and as a guitarist of considerable skills, Robert Johnson produced some of the genre’s best and most influential music, and in 1990 a two-CD box set was released by Sony with every scrap of Johnson material in existence, and including the only two known photographs of the man himself.
Johnson demonstrates one form of the Delta country blues with “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”, recorded in San Antonio, Texas in 1936, playing guitar and singing in one take. Though Johnson is usually credited with writing it, there were previous versions such as “I Believe I’ll Make A Change” by Pinetop and Lindberg (actually Aaron and Milton Sparks) and versions by Leroy Carr and Josh White. This form is traditional and Johnson probably learned it from Charlie Patton, Willie Brown, or Son House. There are thousands of cover versions in blues and rock, including Elmore James’ seminal “Dust My Broom” and notable covers of the James arrangement, such as “I Believe My Time Ain’t Long” by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (around 1968). This form is clearly the template for Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Eyesight to the Blind”.
“Eyesight to the Blind” (Rice Miller a.k.a. Sonny Boy Williamson II) by Sonny Boy Williamson II
This excerpt was performed by Sonny Boy Williamson II in 1951. Featuring Willie Love (piano), Henry Reed (bass), Joe Dison (drums). Source: Sonny Boy Williamson: King Biscuit Time (Arhoolie).
Bluesman and radio personality Aleck “Rice” Miller, more well known as Sonny Boy Williamson II, supposedly took his musical moniker from the short-lived blues singer John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. However, Miller claimed that he had been the first to use the stage name “Sonny Boy Williamson” and that John Lee had stolen the name from him when Lee recorded “Good Morning Little School Girl” in 1937.
An escaped convict, Miller a.k.a. Sonny Boy II began performing in the 1920s, but the Mississippi singer/harmonica player is best known for his pioneering Chicago-style work in the ’50s, which influenced Chicago blues singers and harmonica players in equal measure. Sonny Boy II was playing amplified harp with an electric guitarist on KFFA radio’s “King Biscuit Time” as early as 1941 — while Muddy Waters was recording acoustically for the Library of Congress (making Sonny Boy II a more likely candidate for Father of the Chicago Blues). He lived long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the beginning of his career (and was supposedly with Johnson when Johnson was poisoned), and with Eric Clapton at the end. In the ’60s, he was one of the influential blues musicians embraced by British rockers, and he recorded with the Yardbirds, the Animals, and others before his death in 1965. He even jammed a bit with Levon & The Hawks (an early version of The Band), and according to a memorable interview segment of “The Last Waltz”, Sonny Boy died before he could have toured with The Hawks — right before The Hawks joined Bob Dylan.
Sonny Boy II takes the “Dust My Broom” form, but replaces the slide guitar response part with piano and harmonica. He sings in a free style over the rhythm in his own distinctive style.
“Eyesight to the Blind” (Rice Miller a.k.a. Sonny Boy Williamson II)
You’ve talking about your woman, I wish to God, man, that you could see mine
You’re talking about your woman, I wish to God that you could see mine
Every time the little girl start to loving, she bring eyesight to the blindLord, her daddy must been a millionaire, ’cause I can tell by the way she walk
Her daddy must been a millionaire, because I can tell by the way she walk
Every time she start to loving, the deaf and dumb begin to talkI remember one Friday morning, we was lying down across the bed
Man in the next room a-dying, stopped dying and lift up his head, and said,
“Lord, ain’t she pretty, and the whole state know she fine!”Every time she start to loving, she bring eyesight to the blind
(Spoken: All right and all right, now. Lay it on me, lay it on me, lay it on me
Oh lordy, what a woman, what a woman!)Yes, I declare she’s pretty and the whole state knows she’s fine
Man, I declare she’s pretty, God knows I declare she’s fine
Every time she starts to loving, whoo, she brings eyesight to the blind
(I’ve got to get out of here, now, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go now)
“Eyesight to the Blind” (Rice Miller a.k.a. Sonny Boy Williamson II) by the Flying Other Brothers
“Eyesight to the Blind” (Rice Miller a.k.a. Sonny Boy Williamson II) as performed by the Flying Other Brothers with G.E. Smith, Hangar-on-the-Wharf, Juneau, Alaska, 8/21/2006. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica), Bert Keely (guitar), Ann McNamee (vocals, percussion), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Pete Sears (keyboards), Barry Sless (2nd lead guitar), and G.E. Smith (lead guitar, vocals).
G.E. Smith is one of the most in-demand blues/rock guitarists in the world. Millions of TV viewers know him from his 10 years (1985-1995) of fronting the Saturday Night Live (SNL) band. He played lead guitar for Hall and Oates, racking up hit after hit with songs like “Private Eyes”, “Man Eater”, “Kiss On My List” and others. G.E. also worked with Mick Jagger on his first solo album She’s the Boss and played on Jagger’s Primitive Cool.
In the midst of his SNL tenure Smith toured for almost four years with Bob Dylan. He also was the musical director for many events including the 1988 Emmy Awards, the 1993 Rhythm and Blues Foundation Awards, and the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden. On this track he is backed by the Flying Other Brothers at the Hangar-on-the-Wharf in Juneau, Alaska.
The Flying Other Brothers are from Northern California and include the legendary Pete Sears on keyboards (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Rod Stewart, John Lee Hooker, and many others). The FOBs have played with Country Joe, Mickey Hart, Steve Kimock, Leftover Salmon, Little Feat, David Nelson, String Cheese Incident, and Bob Weir. Tony Bove (yours truly) takes a harmonica solo, followed by Pete Sears on keyboards, G.E. Smith on lead guitar, and Barry Sless on 2nd lead guitar.
“Walkin’ Blues” (Son House) by Son House
This excerpt was performed by Son House in 1930. Source: Son House and the Great Delta Blues Singers, 1928-1930 (Document).
Blues singer and guitarist Eddie James “Son” House, Jr., is best known as the Delta country blues icon who mentored the young Robert Johnson. Born near Lyon, Mississippi in 1902, Son House chopped cotton as a teenager while developing a passion for the Baptist church. He developed quickly as a guitarist playing with Delta musician Rube Lacy and began emulating his slide guitar style. House shot and killed a man during a house party in 1928 and was sentenced to work on Parchman Farm, but was released within two years after a judge in Clarksdale re-examined the case. House relocated to Lula and there met bluesman Charley Patton while playing at the Lula railroad depot for tips. With Patton, House recorded on Paramount Records with guitarist Willie Brown and pianist Louise Johnson. House’s “Preachin’ The Blues Part I & II” served as inspiration for Robert Johnson’s “Preaching Blues” and “Walking Blues.” House’s powerful vocals and slashing slide guitar style established him as a giant of the Delta blues. This slower version of “Walkin’ Blues” by Son House influenced Robert Johnson and others to follow.
“Walkin’ Blues” (Son House), second verse:
I woke up this mornin’, feelin’ round for my shoes
I woke up this mornin’, feelin’ round, whoo! for my shoes
But you know ’bout it people, you know I got these old walkin’ bluesWell, good morning blues, blues how do you do
Well, good morning blues, blues how do you do
Well now just come here mama, I’ll have a few words with you.
“Walkin’ Blues” (traditional, arranged by Robert Johnson) by Robert Johnson
“Walkin’ Blues” is performed by Robert Johnson. Source: The Complete Recordings.
Robert Johnson’s celebrated “Walkin’ Blues”, recorded during his session on November 27, 1936 in San Antonio, demonstrates Johnson’s style of melodic invention on the upper strings combined with a different vocal line — something he may have learned from Son House, even though Johnson’s influences were wide and included Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Skip James. While he certainly was not the inventor of this type of music, Robert Johnson inspired the mainly white (and mainly British) rockers of the early 1960s.
Note: The “Elgin movement” in this song refers to an Elgin pocket timepiece. The Elgin Watch Co. of Elgin, Illinois, was famous for watches made with the special Elgin Movement, guaranteed for 20 years. These watches were symbols of America’s emergence from an agricultural country into an industrial power.
“Walkin’ Blues” (traditional, arranged by Robert Johnson)
I woke up this mornin’, feelin’ round for my shoes
Know ’bout ‘at I got these, old walkin’ blues, whoa
Woke up this mornin’, feelin’ round for my shoes
But you know ’bout ‘at I, got these old walkin’ bluesLord, I feel like blowin’ my woh old lonesome horn
Got up this mornin’, my little Bernice, she was gone
Lord, I feel like blow ooohn’ my lonesome horn
Well I got up this mornin’ woh all I had was goneWell ah leave this morn’ of I have to, woh,
ride the blind, ah I’ve feel mistreated and I don’t mind dyin’
Leavin’ this morn’ ah, I have to ride a blind
Babe, I been mistreated, baby, and I don’t mind dyin’Well, some people tell me that the worried, blues ain’t bad
Worst old feelin’ I most ever had, some
People tell me that these old worried old blues ain’t bad
It’s the worst old feelin’, I most ever hadShe got an Elgin movement from her head down to her toes
Break in on a dollar most anywhere she goes, oooh ooooh
(spoken: To her head down to her toes, oh, honey)
Lord, she break in on a dollar, most anywhere she goes
“Empire State Blues” (Son House) performed by Son House
This excerpt is performed by Son House in 1965. Featuring Al Wilson (guitar). Source: Son House: The Original Delta Blues (Columbia/Legacy).
In 1965, Son House, at the time a New York Central Railroad employee, recorded “Empire State Express” at the New York Folk Festival. Son House played a steel-bodied National guitar along with Al Wilson on second guitar.
The Empire State Express was one of the named passenger trains and onetime flagship of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad). It became the world’s first high-speed passenger train on September 14, 1891, when it covered the 436 miles between New York City and Buffalo in just 7 hours and 6 minutes (including stops). The train averaged 61.4 miles-per-hour, a new world speed record in rail travel. In short order, the train would gain worldwide celebrity, and its route would stretch to almost 1,000 miles, with Chicago, Illinois as its western terminus.
“Empire State” (Son House)
Went down to the station,
Leaned against the door.
Went down to the station,
I…leaned against the door.
I knew it was the Empire State,
Can tell by the way she blows.Asked the depot agent,
“Please let me ride the blinds”.
Asked the depot agent,
“Please let me ride the blinds”.
He said, “Son, I like to help you…you know,
But the Empire State ain’t mine”.The Empire State…you know she,
Rides on Eastern time.
The Empire State,
She rides on Eastern time,
She’s the “rollingest” baby,
On the New York Central line.It was a mean ol’ fireman,
And a low-down engineer.
It was a cruel fireman,
A low-down engineer.
That took my baby away,
Left poor me sitting here.Engineer blew the whistle,
The fireman rang the bell.
The engineer blew the whistle,
The fireman rang the bell.
My woman’s on board,
She’s was waving me fair-well.I’m gonna tell you what that,
Mean ol’ train will do.
I’m gonna tell you,
What that mean ol’ train will do.
Take your woman away,
And shoot back black smoke back at you.They’ll take your woman away,
And shoot black smoke back at you.
Take your woman away,
And shoot black smoke back at you.
Let’s go…
“Empire State” (Son House) performed by the Flying Other Brothers
“Empire State” is performed by the Flying Other Brothers with G.E. Smith at B.B. King’s in New York City, 7/29/2006. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica), Bert Keely (guitar), Ann McNamee (vocals, percussion), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Pete Sears (keyboards), Barry Sless (pedal steel), and G.E. Smith (lead guitar, vocals).
We (the Flying Other Brothers) were touring the East Coast and we came to Rochester, NY, to play a free show in a city market next to the old Rochester railroad station. G.E., on the tour with us, decided to launch into this song although the band didn’t know it. It turns out that Son House had moved to Rochester and had written this song about the railroad; Rochester was Son House’s stop on the line. We did a serviceable version of the song.
The next night we played B.B. King’s club in New York City and finally got a handle on it. Barry Sless (formerly with Cowboy Jazz, Kingfish, David Nelson Band, and Phil & Friends) starts off with a pedal steel solo, then G.E. Smith and Pete Sears take it on out.
“Hesitation Blues” (Davis) by Rev. Gary Davis
“Hesitation Blues” performed by Rev. Gary Davis, from the recording entitled Pure Religion and Bad Company, provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright (c) 1991. Used by Permission.
You know about those Hesitation Blues, right? Or you may know it by other titles. WC Handy’s “Hesitating Blues” recorded in 1915, or Charlie Poole’s “If the River Was Whiskey” in 1930. But the definitive version for the band Hot Tuna was “Hesitation Blues” by the Rev. Gary Davis. As a finger-style guitarist the Rev. Davis developed a complex yet swinging approach to picking that has influenced generations of players, including Jerry Garcia, Ry Cooder, Dave Van Ronk, Jorma Kaukonen and Stefan Grossman. And as a composer of religious and secular music he created a substantial body of work that has been recorded by, among others, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Peter Paul & Mary and the Grateful Dead.
Born April 30, 1896 in Laurens, South Carolina, Davis toured as a singing gospel preacher and also sang on the streets, mostly in Durham. During this period he crossed paths and eventually recorded with Blind Boy Fuller and other Piedmont-style musicians, including Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Davis was one of the most renowned practitioners of the Piedmont school of ragtime-blues guitar. Blind at birth, he taught himself the guitar at age six, and developed one of the most advanced guitar techniques of anyone in blues, influenced by gospel, marches, ragtime, jazz, and minstrel hokum.
“Hesitation Blues (Live)” (Davis) by Rev. Gary Davis
This version of “Hesitation Blues” was performed live by Rev. Gary Davis in 1962. Source: Rev. Gary Davis: Blues and Ragtime (Guitar Artistry).
This charming excerpt from a concert he gave in 1962 demonstrates the “talking blues” style that is most likely derived from vaudeville and minstrel hokum. Tex Williams was most well known for his talking blues, and the style was later adapted by Woody Guthrie, who wrote a number of talking blues songs that influenced Bob Dylan. The Rev. Davis became an important mentor to the early 1960s folk music revival, and eventually performed at many festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and others.
“Hesitation Blues” by the Flying Other Brothers and friends
“Hesitation Blues” performed by the Flying Other Brothers with Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, G.E. Smith, and Pete Sears, live at the Last Day Saloon in San Francisco, 2001. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass), Jack Casady (bass), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar), Bert Keely (guitar), Larry Marcus (drums), Corinne Marcus (percussion), Ann McNamee (percussion), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Pete Sears (keyboards), and G.E. Smith (lead guitar, vocals).
Jorma Kaukonen demonstrates the Rev.’s finger-picking style in many songs, and the Flying Other Brothers had the opportunity to play “Hesitation Blues” with Jorma and legendary bassist Jack Casady at the Last Day Saloon in San Francisco. Jorma Kaukonen is one of the most important guitarists of our time with a body of work lasting over three decades. His brilliant finger-picked fretwork and songwriting, a compelling blend of rock, blues, folk and country influences, has, along with Jack Casady’s outstanding bass, distinguished Jefferson Airplane and its equally legendary (and still active) spinoff band Hot Tuna. See the first album for their version of “Hesitation Blues” (RCA).
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