Today
in Blues History
September 28
In 1910, Houston
Stackhouse was born Houston Goff, in Wesson, Mississippi, and was the son of
Garfield Goff. He was raised by James Wade Stackhouse on the Randall Ford
Plantation. Stackhouse learned the details of his parentage only when he
applied for a passport later in his life. In his teenage years he relocated
with his family to Crystal Springs, Mississippi. He became inspired listening
to local musicians and records by Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie
Johnson. By the late 1930s, Stackhouse had played guitar around the Delta
states and worked with members of the Mississippi Sheiks, Robert Johnson, Charlie
McCoy and Walter Vinson. He also teamed up with his distant cousin Robert
Nighthawk, whom he taught to play the guitar. In 1946, Stackhouse moved to
Helena, Arkansas, to live near Nighthawk and for a time was a member of
Nighthawk’s band, playing on KFFA radio.
Cool Drink
Of Water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pthoBuj1tqo
In 1928, Cora
Walton was born on a farm in Shelby County, TN. The world would eventually know
her as Koko Taylor, “The Queen of the Blues.” Her style encompassed many
genres. including Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul
blues. She was known for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings.
She left Tennessee for Chicago in 1952 with her husband, Robert "Pops"
Taylor, a truck driver. In the late 1950s she began singing in blues clubs in
Chicago. She was spotted by Willie Dixon in 1962, and this led to more
opportunities for performing and her first recording contract, in 1965, with
Checker Records, a label owned by Chess Records, for which she recorded Wang Dang Doodle, a song written by Dixon
and recorded by Howlin' Wolf five years earlier. The record became a hit,
reaching number four on the R&B chart and number 58 on the pop chart in
1966, and selling a million copies. She recorded several versions of the song
over the years, including a live rendition at the 1967 American Folk Blues
Festival, with the harmonica player Little Walter and the guitarist Hound Dog
Taylor. Taylor became better known by touring in the U.S. in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, and she became accessible to a wider record-buying public when she
signed with Alligator Records in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator,
eight of which were nominated for Grammy Awards, and came to dominate ranks of
female blues singers, winning twenty-five W. C. Handy Awards (more than any
other artist).
Wang
Dang Doodle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w6IY0v-0pA
This date in
1963 recorded the passing of Charley Lincoln. Also known as Charley Hicks or
Laughing Charley, Lincoln was Barbecue Bob's brother and was born Charlie Hicks,
Jr. He was an early American country blues musician who often recorded with his
brother. Hicks was born in Lithonia, Georgia. In his teens he was taught to
play the guitar by Savannah Weaver, the mother of Curley Weaver, and performed
in the Lithonia area until 1920. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and worked
outside the field of music, occasionally performing with his brother. He
recorded with his brother for Columbia Records from 1927 to 1930. An example is
the duet It Won't Be Long Now, with
crosstalk, which the brothers recorded in Atlanta on November 5, 1927. After
Robert's early death in 1931, Lincoln continued to perform into the 1950s. From
1955 to 1963 he was imprisoned for murder in Cairo, Georgia, where he became a
prisoner trustee. He died there of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 28, 1963.
Mojoe (sic)
Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um1JFaKdQns
No comments:
Post a Comment