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Not old-time country blues. Those are nice, but I mean electric blues musicians playing songs associated with country music, like Ray Charles did with his many forays into that, beginning with with his Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music in 1962, or songs that sound like they’re country songs.
With all of the country licks Brian has been introducing to us, I’ve been thinking about ways to assimilate them and with that thought, I organized this week’s topic. Please add the ones I’ve missed.
I’ve always liked Earl Hooker’s forays into country. When he was playing the Chitlin’ Circuit (early ’50s), he spent a few months sitting in with an otherwise-white country band in the South (I don’t remember the year or the place but the answer to those questions can be found in Sebastian Danchin’s book, Earl Hooker, Blues Master).
Earl Hooker, “Steel Guitar Rag,” recorded July 15, 1953, in Memphis, TN, with prob. Willie Nix (drums), second guitar and bassist unknown (aka “Guitar Rag,” Earl Hooker recorded this song twice and the other version is below, this version is among his first recordings).
Earl Hooker, “Guitar Rag,” from Hooker and Steve, recorded 1969
Earl Hooker, “Walking the Floor Over You,” recorded at the American Folk Blues Festival, 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp_oMGF8K8gEarl Hooker, “Walking the Floor,” from There’s a Fungus Amung Us, recorded 1964 in Sauk City, WI; Earl Hooker (gittar), A.C. Reed (tenor sax, organ, bass), Bobby Little (drums)
Otis Redding, “Down in the Valley,” 1965
Ray Charles, “Ring of Fire,” February 1, 1973 on The Flip Wilson Show
Roy Clark and Clarence Gatemouth Brown “Four O’Clock in the Morning”
Roy Clark and Clarence Gatemouth Brown “Busted”
Magic Slim, “Black Tornado,” 1998
Homesick James, “I Got to Move,” from Shake Your Money Maker, 1997
Chuck Berry, “Maybelline”
Eddie Taylor, “Looking for Trouble”
J.B. Hutto & the New Hawks “Tumbleweed” from Keeper Of The Flame (aside from the title, it doesn’t really belong, but I like J.B. Hutto and couldn’t find his version of “Your Cheating Heart”).
Don D.
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Hi Ron, Tim,
Thanks for listening and your comments. Since you can find everything online, I don’t have to tell you that Homesick James Williamson was Elmore James’s cousin (but as you can see, James wasn’t James Williamson’s last name), and a frequent accompanist who claimed to have shown Elmore James some of the licks that he went on to be known for.
Clarence Gatemouth Brown, at some point in his life before I began listening in the ’80s, had rejected the title of “blues musician” and said he was an American musician who played American music. I think it was experiences like the one with Roy Clark that led him to this (speaking of Roy Clark, check out his “Yesterday [When I Was Young]” sometime, his version and Lena Horne’s, with Gabor Szabo on guitar, both tear me up).
Since no one complained, I guess Eddie Taylor’s song was some kind of country song and not just me looking for trouble.
Hope you’re having a nice weekend!
Don D.
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Two more by Earl Zebedee Hooker.
“Lotta Lovin’,” with A.C. Reed (vocal; his birth name was Aaron Corthen, he usually played tenor sax), Johnny “Big Moose” Walker (keyboards). If and when I find out the rest of the people on this, I’ll let you know. Please do the same. Thanks!
“Universal Rock,” with Junior Wells (harp), Jarrett Gibson (tenor), Donald Hankins (baritone) Johnny “Big Moose” Walker (organ), Kack Myers (bass, wonder if this is s’posed to say Jack or Dave Myers), Fred Below (drums) October 17, 1960. This is kind of a stretch, certainly not “pure” country or pure anything, it contains some riffs that sound country-ish to me, they would certainly fit into lots of things I’d consider country. What do you think?
Don D.
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You can’t miss it on this one. This is exactly the kind of blues I was talking about when I started this post.
“Tell Me, Mama,” Jimmy Lee Robinson
Don D.
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