I'm Shakin - Little Willie John

William Edward John (November 15, 1937 - May 26, 1968), better known by his stage name Little Willie John, was an American R&B singer who performed in the 1950s and early 1960s. Many sources erroneously give his middle name as Edgar. He is best known for his popular music chart successes with songs such as, "All Around the World" (1955), "Need Your Love So Bad" (1956) and "Fever" the same year, the latter covered in 1958 by Peggy Lee.An important figure in early R&B music, Little Willie John was a 1996 Inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was born in Cullendale, Arkansas, one of ten children, his family moving to Detroit, Michigan when he was four so that his father could pursue factory work. In the late 1940s, the eldest children, including Willie, formed a gospel singing group, and Willie also performed in talent shows, which brought him to the notice of Johnny Otis and, later, musician and producer Henry Glover. After seeing him sing with the Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams orchestra, Glover signed him to a recording contract with King Records in 1955. He was nicknamed "Little Willie" John for his short stature. His first recording, a version of Titus Turner's "All Around the World", was a hit, reaching # 5 on the Billboard R&B chart. He followed up with a string of R&B hits, including the original version of "Need Your Love So Bad", written by his elder brother Mertis John Jr. One of his biggest hits, "Fever" (1956) (Pop #24), was more famously covered by Peggy Lee in 1958. However, John's version alone sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Another song, "Talk to Me, Talk to Me" recorded in 1958, reached #5 in the R&B chart and #20 in the Pop chart, and also sold over one million. A few years later it was a hit once again by Sunny & the Sunglows. He also recorded "I'm Shakin'" by Rudy Toombs, "Suffering With The Blues", and "Sleep" (1960) (Pop #13). In all, John made the Billboard Hot 100 a total of fourteen times. A cover version of "Need Your Love So Bad" by Fleetwood Mac was also a hit in Europe. Another of his songs to be covered was "Leave My Kitten Alone", (1959). The Beatles recorded a version in 1964, intended for their Beatles for Sale album, but it went unreleased until 1995. Willie John was known for his short temper and propensity to abuse alcohol, and was dropped by his record company in 1963. In 1966, he was convicted of manslaughter and sent to Washington State Penitentiary for a fatal knifing incident following a show in Seattle. He appealed against his conviction and was released while the case was reconsidered, during which time he recorded what was intended to be his comeback album, but owing to contractual wrangling and the decline of his appeal, it was not released until 2008 (as Nineteen Sixty Six). Little Willie John died in 1968 at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. Despite counter claims, the official cause of death was listed in his death certificate as a heart attack. His interment was in Warren, Michigan's Detroit Memorial Park East. Little Willie John was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He was the brother of singer Mable John, who recorded for Motown and Stax, and the father of Keith John, a long time backing vocalist for Stevie Wonder. James Brown, who early in his career had opened shows for John, recorded a tribute album, Thinking about Little Willie John... and a Few Nice Things. Robbie Robertson, former lead guitarist for The Band, referenced John in a song on his 1987 self-titled album titled "Somewhere Down the Crazy River." He was also referenced in Tom Russell's "Blue Wing." A biography, Fever: Little Willie John; A Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul, written by Susan Whitall with Kevin John (another son of Little Willie John) was released in 2011 by Titan Books. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Phantom Black Snake - Washboard Sam

Robert Brown (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966), known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues singer and musician. Born in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, United States, and reputedly the half-brother of Big Bill Broonzy, Brown moved to Memphis, Tennessee in the 1920s, performing as a street musician with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. He then moved to Chicago in 1932, performing regularly with Broonzy, and appearing with him and other musicians including Memphis Slim and Tampa Red on innumerable recording sessions for Lester Melrose of Bluebird Records. In 1935 he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records, becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s, selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. Between 1935 and 1949 he recorded over 160 sides, including such popular numbers as "Mama Don't Allow", "Back Door" and "Diggin' My Potatoes." His strong voice and talent for creating new songs overcame his stylistic limitations. By the 1950s, his audience began to shrink, largely because he had difficulty adapting to the new electric blues. His final recording session for RCA Victor was held in 1949, he retired from music for several years, and became a Chicago police officer. He recorded a session in 1953 with Broonzy and Memphis Slim, and in 1959 Samuel Charters included his "I've Been Treated Wrong" on the compilation The Country Blues for Folkways Records. Brown made a modest but short-lived comeback as a live performer in the early 1960s. He died of heart disease in Chicago, in November 1966, and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois. A September 18, 2009 concert held by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the Killer Blues organization raised monies to place a headstone on Washboard Sam's grave. The show was a success and a headstone was placed in October 2009. The concert was held at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. It was recorded by Vinyl Wall Productions and filmed for television broadcast in the mid-Michigan area by a television crew from the Central Michigan University. The concert featured musical artists such as Washboard Jo, R.B. and Co. and was headlined by the Big House Blues Band If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

CRYING - BLUE SMITTY

Claude "Blue Smitty" Smith, b Nov 26, 1924, in Marietta, Arkansas allegedly taught Muddy Waters, already an accomplished slide guitar player in the 1940s, how to finger the fretboard of his instrument. Smitty's lightning runs on "Crying" are simply breathtaking, and "Sad Story" possesses a sophistication that was rare for the label at that time. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

ANNA LEE - ROBERT NIGHTHAWK

Robert Lee McCollum (November 30, 1909 – November 5, 1967) was an American blues musician, who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk. Born in Helena, Arkansas, he left home at an early age to become a busking musician, and after a period wandering through southern Mississippi, settled for a time in Memphis, Tennessee where he played with local orchestras and musicians, such as the Memphis Jug Band. A particular influence during this period was Houston Stackhouse, from whom he learnt to play slide guitar, and with whom he appeared on the radio in Jackson, Mississippi. After further travels through Mississippi, he found it advisable to take his mother's name, and as Robert Lee McCoy moved to St. Louis, Missouri in the mid 1930s. Local musicians with whom he played included Henry Townsend, Big Joe Williams, and Sonny Boy Williamson. This led to two recording dates in 1937, the four musicians recording together at the Victor Records studio in Aurora, Illinois as well as recordings under his own name, including "Prowling Night-Hawk" (recorded 5 May 1937), from which he was take his later pseudonym. These sessions led to Chicago blues careers for the other musicians, though not, however, for McCoy, who continued his rambling life, playing and recording (for Victor/Bluebird and Decca) solo and with various musicians, under various names. He also became a familiar voice on local radio stations; then Robert Lee McCoy disappeared. Within a few years, he resurfaced as the electric slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk, and began recording for Aristocrat and Chess Records, the latter of which was also Muddy Waters' label; in 1949 and 1950, the two men's styles were close enough that they were in competition for promotional activity; as Waters was the more marketable commodity, being more reliable and a more confident stage communicator, he received the attention. Though Nighthawk continued to perform and to record, taking up with United and States 1951 and 1952, he failed to achieve great commercial success. In 1963, Nighthawk was rediscovered busking in Chicago and this led to further recording sessions and club dates, and to his return to Arkansas, where he appeared on the King Biscuit Time radio programme on KFFA. As late as 1964, Nighthawk could be found playing on Chicago's Maxwell Street. He had a stroke followed by a heart attack, and died of heart failure at his home in Helena. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

Hot Pants Baby / I Got Money - Detroit Jr.

Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams, Jr. (October 26, 1931 – August 9, 2005) was an American Chicago blues pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is known for songs such as "So Unhappy", "Call My Job", "If I Hadn't Been High", "Ella" and "Money Tree". His songs have been covered by Koko Taylor, Albert King and other blues artists. Born in Haynes, Arkansas, United States,[2] Detroit recorded his first single, "Money Tree" with the Bea & Baby label in 1960. His first full album, Chicago Urban Blues, was released in the early 1970s on the Blues on Blues label. He also has recordings on Alligator, Blue Suit, The Sirens Records, and Delmark. Detroit Junior began his career in Detroit, Michigan, backing touring musicians such as Eddie Boyd, John Lee Hooker, and Amos Milburn. Boyd brought him to Chicago, Illinois in 1956, where he spent the next twelve years. In the early 1970s, Detroit toured and recorded with Howlin' Wolf. After the death of Wolf in 1976, Detroit returned to Chicago, where he lived and performed until his death from heart failure in 2005. He was survived by his wife Ella, and brothers Keith and Kenneth H. Williams. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Coal Black Baby - CROWNPRINCE WATERFORD

Charles Waterford, 21 October 1919, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA. Waterford’s parents, who were both musicians, taught their son to sing. His first professional jobs were with Andy Kirk’s 12 Clouds Of Joy and Leslie Sheffield’s Rhythmaires. Waterford became known as ‘the Crown Prince Of The Blues’ during his brief stay with Jay McShann’s Orchestra, during which time he recorded for Philo/Aladdin and Premier/ Mercury. Usurped by Jimmy Witherspoon, Waterford went solo in 1946 to record in Chicago for Hy-Tone, and the following year recorded his most celebrated tracks in Los Angeles for Capitol Records with Pete Johnson’s band. These included the salacious ‘Move Your Hand Baby’. Waterford rejoined McShann at a 1949 recording session for Jack Lauderdale and made four superb tracks for King with young Harold Land And His All-Stars, and another four with the Joe Thomas Orchestra. A mid-50s session for Excello Records resulted in two tracks of prime blues shouting, but later records for Orbit and Stampede tried to appeal to the twist craze and sank into obscurity. By contrast, Waterford’s earlier sides show him to be an original blues singer; most of his songs were self-penned and featured highly original and evocative lyrics. Waterford is still alive, and much of his time over the past 30 years had been devoted to the church until 2003, when he recorded an all-new album. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

Mary Lane

Arkansas-born Lane began singing blues barely into her teens. Soon she was working with slide guitar master Robert Nighthawk. "I was about 16 or 17 when I did a few shows with him in a place called Marvell, Ark.," she says. "It was fun to me. It was beautiful. I was just out there being wild!" Lane came north in 1957, settling in north suburban Waukegan. There she met guitarist Morris Pejoe, who had recorded for Chess and Vee-Jay. She moved to Chicago in 1961, playing the West Side, and she and Pejoe had three daughters (including singer Lynne Lane, who shares Saturday's bill at the Zodiac). “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

For You My Love - Eddie Shaw & Abb Locke

Abb Locke is one of the most legendary saxmen of the blues, born in Cottonplant, Arkansas. Picked cotton as a young boy but had a dream to play the sax. He struggled throughout his childhood, living on his own and working his way to fullfill his dream. He came from the cotton fields to Carnegie Hall. This came true when he played with Albert Collins. He has recorded and worked with Buddy Guy (see the Chess box set), Willie Mabon. Earl Hooker, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, Magic Sam, Eddie Clearwater, Lonnie Brooks, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin Wolf (three or four years in the band and Abb is featured in Wolf's new biography), the Rolling Stones, and many more. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Mark Sallings and The Famous Unknowns

Mark Sallings was born on April 11, 1952 and began performing at 14 years old and never stopped. He began with a small local band,along the"Chitlin Circuit", in clubs like The White Swan in Newport, Arkansas, where BB King and Albert King put down their licks as they traveled the Blues Highway. Mark spent years in the recording and music industry in Memphis, working with many of the studios and developing his own musical style. The Famous Unknowns was a tongue in cheek poke at being the backup band for a lot of big blues artists. The Famous Unknowns were the first house band at BB King's in Memphis Tenn. Mark Sallings tragically died in a two-vehicle accident on February 25, 2009 while driving to a casino gig in Tunica, Mississippi. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Red Hot - Billy Lee Riley

Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American rockabilly musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. His most memorable recordings included "Rock With Me Baby," and "Red Hot" Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After 4 years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement and Slim Wallace. Sam Phillips obtained the rights and he released "Trouble Bound" b/w "Rock With Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" b/w "I Want You Baby" released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260) with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis, after which he recorded "Red Hot" b/w "Pearly Lee" released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277). "Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a big hit record, but Sam Phillips pulled the promotion and switched it to "Great Balls Of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Riley felt that his own chances of chart success were compromised by Phillips diverting resources to Lewis' career. He had other Sun recordings and they, likewise, did not have a lot of sales as his promotion had stopped. Like other artists such as Sonny Burgess, Hayden Thompson, Ray Harris and Warren Smith, chart success largely eluded him. Considered good looking and with wild stage moves, Riley had a brief solo career with his backing band "The Little Green Men". Riley and his Little Green Men were the main Sun studio band. They were Riley, Roland Janes, J.M. Van Eaton, Marvin Pepper, and Jimmy Wilson, later joined by Martin Willis. In 1960, he left Sun, and started Rita Record label with Roland Janes. They produced the national hit record "Mountain Of Love" by Harold Dorman. He later started two other labels Nita and Mojo. In 1962, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician with Dean Martin, the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert, Sammy Davis Jr. and others, as well as recording under various aliases. In the early 1970s, Riley quit music to return to Arkansas to begin his own construction business. In 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon and Link Wray, which led to a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979, the success of which led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing. Rediscovered by Bob Dylan in 1992, who had been a fan since 1956, Riley played rock and roll, blues and country-blues. His album Hot Damn! (Capricorn, 1997) was nominated for a Grammy Award. He was injured falling on a slippery department store floor in 2005, requiring two surgeries as a result. In 2006, he released a country CD, Hillbilly Rockin' Man. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame reported in summer 2009 that Riley was in poor health, battling stage four colon cancer. His last public performance came in June 2009 at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis, when he took part in "Petefest 2009," honoring historian Pete Daniel, who had befriended Riley while helping launch the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum. Supported by a walker, Billy Lee rocked out on "My Gal" and other of his old hits. He succumbed to colon cancer on August 2, 2009, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Left at Lula - The Shannon Boshears Band

Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Shannon Boshears has been a musical favorite on the scene where the blues was born and raised, in the south. Her distinctive and gutsy vocal ability is a showcase of her love for various soul, blues, and rock styles on which she accompanies herself on guitar. Depending on the venue, you can find her playing from small, intimate bars to large music festivals like the Arkansas River Blues Festival and The King Biscuit Blues Festival. Boshears has carved out her own musical groove that can be seen and heard on any given night on which she is performing. In 2001, she released her first full length CD, “Chicksinger.” She showcased twelve original tracks that featured blues/rock, guitar driven songs with as much diversity as her musical tastes. From that CD, the track “If Anybody Asks You (Callin’)” was picked up on the soundtrack to the Ashley Judd film, “Come Early Morning” which was released nationwide in theaters and released on a soundtrack alongside giants such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris and Billy Joe Shaver. Boshears released her second CD, “Black Mascara” in 2008. Another diverse release, she delivers 11 tracks showing her southern roots of blues, rock, country and gospel. “I’m very inspired by the south and all the area that surrounds me here. I tend to draw on it a lot for my writing,” she explains. “Growing up in Arkansas, the landscape was washed with blues, country, rock and gospel music. It’s all of these genres are found in the songs that come out of me.” She explains, “All of that music is the same to me, really. It’s such a fine line – even though they may sound different, they each produce the same effect. I get the same feeling from blues music that I do from gospel – it’s a yearning for something else, something that no person or thing can satisfy in me.” If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

My Head Is Bald - Tail Dragger with Jimmy Dawkins and Lurrie Bell

James Yancy Jones, aka Tail Dragger, was born in Altheimer, AR, in 1940. He was brought up by his grandparents and was influenced as a child by the electric Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and especially Chester Burnett, the Howlin' Wolf. Jones was a Howlin' Wolf devotee, right down to his deep, gruff voice. After moving to Chicago in the '60s, he began playing with blues legends on the West Side and South Side. It was Howlin' Wolf who gave Jones the title "Tail Dragger" because of his habit of showing up late to gigs. When Jones first appeared on the Chicago blues circuit he was known as Crawlin' James. A number of local West Side and South Side blues artists, including Hubert Sumlin, Carey Bell, Eddie Shaw, Mack Simmons, and Willie Kent, got their start playing in Tail Dragger's bands. American People The difficult lifestyle that contributes to many blues lyrics caught up with Tail Dragger in 1993 when he shot and killed fellow bluesman Boston Blackie, supposedly over profits owed from a show. Jones spent 17 months in an Illinois jail. Following years of playing juke joints and releasing a handful of singles, his first full-length disc, Crawlin' Kingsnake, was released in 1996. Three years later he returned with American People on the legendary Chicago blues and jazz label Delmark. My Head Is Bald: Live at Vern's Friendly Lounge followed in 2005 on Delmark, which also released a DVD of the show under the same title. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

I'm Gonna Murder My Baby - Pat Hare

Auburn "Pat" Hare (December 20, 1930 - September 26, 1980) was an American electric Memphis blues guitarist and singer.His heavily distorted, power chord-driven electric guitar music in the early 1950s is considered an important precursor to heavy metal music. His guitar work with Little Junior's Blue Flames had a major influence on the rockabilly style, while his guitar playing on blues records by artists such as Muddy Waters was influential among 1960s British Invasion blues rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds He was born in Cherry Valley, Arkansas. He recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, serving as a sideman for Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland and other artists. Hare was one of the first guitarists to purposely use the effects of distortion in his playing. In 1951, he joined a blues band formed by Junior Parker, called Little Junior's Blue Flames. He played the electric guitar solo on "Love My Baby" (1953), which later inspired the rockabilly style.One of their biggest hits was "Next Time You See Me" which in 1957 reached #5 on the Billboard R&B charts and #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. His guitar solo on James Cotton's electric blues record "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954) was the first record to use heavily distorted power chords, anticipating elements of heavy metal music. According to Robert Palmer: "Rarely has a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound been captured on record, before or since, and Hare's repeated use of a rapid series of two downward-modulating power chords, the second of which is allowed to hang menacingly in the air, is a kind of hook or structural glue. The first heavy metal record? I'd say yes, with tongue only slightly in cheek." The other side of the single was "Hold Me in Your Arms"; both songs "featured a guitar sound so overdriven that with the historical distance of several decades, it now sounds like a direct line to the coarse, distorted tones favored by modern rock players." According to Allmusic, "what is now easily attainable by 16-year-old kids on modern-day effects pedals just by stomping on a switch, Hare was accomplishing with his fingers and turning the volume knob on his Sears & Roebuck cereal-box-sized amp all the way to the right until the speaker was screaming." Reported to have been an unassuming man in private (once married to Dorothy Mae Good, with whom he had three children — a son and two daughters); however, he had serious, and ultimately fatal, drinking problems. Shortly after the "Cotton Crop Blues" recording, he recorded a version of the early 1940s Doctor Clayton song "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" on May 14, 1954, which has since been released on the 1990 Rhino Records compilation album, Blue Flames: A Sun Blues Collection. The record also features power chords, which remains "most fundamental in modern rock" as "the basic structure for riff-building in heavy metal bands." According to Robert Palmer, the song is "as heavy metal as it gets." According to the album liner notes, "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby", "is doubly morbid because he did just that" in 1962 after a domestic dispute and also murdered a policeman sent to investigate. At the time of his arrest, he was playing in the blues band of Muddy Waters. He was replaced in the band by guitarist James "Pee Wee" Madison. Hare spent the last 16 years of his life in prison, before succumbing to lung cancer in 1980. He died in St. Paul, Minnesota If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

My Sweet Woman - Drifting Slim

Elmon Mickle
Profile:
Blues musician, singer and harmonica player, born 1919 Arkansas, died 1977.
Aliases:
Elmon Mickle, Model "T" Slim
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Hoochie Coochie Man - Jim McCarty & Mystery Train w/Willie D. Warren

Willie D. Warren (September 11, 1924 – December 30, 2000) was an American electric blues guitarist, bass player and singer. In a long career, he worked with Otis Rush, Al Benson, Little Sonny Cooper, David Honeyboy Edwards, Baby Boy Warren, Guitar Slim, Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, Morris Pejoe, Bobo Jenkins and Jim McCarty. One of Warren's better known recordings was "Baby Likes to Boogie".

He was described by Allmusic journalist, Michael G. Nastos, as "one of the Midwest's true blues treasures"
Warren was born in Stamps, Arkansas, but moved with his family at the age of thirteen to Lake Village, Arkansas. He was taught by Caleb King to play the guitar, and played in his own blues ensemble around the Mississippi Delta. His band's singer, Guitar Slim was, in turn, taught guitar playing techniques by Warren, and they toured around Louisiana in the latter half of the 1940s.

Warren relocated to Chicago by the early 1950s and joined Otis Rush's band. He later played alongside Freddie King and Jimmy Reed, plus he also backed Morris Pejoe, when Pejoe recorded tracks for Chess Records.

Warren formed the House Rockers back in Arkansas in 1959, and by the early 1970s had moved to Detroit to work and record with Bobo Jenkins. From 1974 to 1976 he was also a featured performer, along with Baby Boy Warren (no relation), with the Progressive Blues Band, a popular blues band that played in many of Detroit's best blues venues. When Baby Boy died in 1977, Wille D. Warren took up the band's frontman duties.

In 1977, Warren finally recorded his debut solo album, which was released on Jenkins' Big Star label. In addition, Warren turned songwriter, penning the lyrics to two songs ("Door Lock Blues" and "Detroit Jump") that Jenkins himself recorded for his own Detroit All Purpose Blues album. Warren's own work then appeared on a small number of compilation albums. His live album, Live, for the No Cover Productions label, was not released until after Warren's death. His then backing band, Mystery Train, included his old friend Jim McCarty.

Warren died in Detroit, in December 2000, at the age of 76. He left one son, Willie Hairston.

The Detroit Blues Society posthumously recognized Warren's contribution to the blues with a lifetime achievement award in 2011
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Beale Street Shuffle - Joe Dobbins

Dobbins was born in Brinkley, AR. on September 9, 1901. After his debut disc he never recorded again until he teamed up with guitarist Mike Stewart (Backwards Sam Firk) recording as a duet at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis for Adelphi Records for two recordings in 1970. Dobbin died in Memphis later that year in December.
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Past Forty Blues - Jimmy Witherspoon with Art Pepper

Jimmy Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer
James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945. In 1949, recording under his own name with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business," a song which came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him: "No Rollin' Blues", "Big Fine Girl", as well as "Failing By Degrees" and "New Orleans Woman" recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra which included Herman Washington and Don Hill on the Modern Records label. These were recorded from a live performance on May 10, 1949 at a "Just Jazz" concert Pasadena, CA sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is "Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough".

Witherspoon's style of blues - that of the "blues shouter" - became unfashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album, Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which featured Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Mel Lewis, among others. He later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes and T-Bone Walker
In 1961 he toured Europe with Buck Clayton and returned to the UK on many occasions, featuring on a mid-sixties live UK recording Spoon Sings and Swings (1966) with tenor sax player Dick Morrissey's quartet. In 1970, he appeared on Brother Jack McDuff's London Blue Note recording To Seek a New Home together with British jazz musicians, including Terry Smith and Dick Morrissey. In the 1970s he also recorded the album Guilty! (later released on CD as Black & White Blues) with Eric Burdon and featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band. He then toured with a band of his own featuring Robben Ford and Russ Ferrante. A recording from this period, Spoonful, featured 'Spoon' accompanied by Robben Ford, Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones and Bernard Purdie. He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.

Other performers with whom Witherspoon recorded include Jimmy Rowles, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wiggins, John Clayton, Paul Humphrey, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Smith, Long John Baldry, Junior Mance, Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Mullen, Count Basie, Van Morrison, Gene Gilbeaux and others.
Witherspoon died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1997.
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Don't Answer The Door - Ed Bowman and the Cruize Brothers

Welcome to the Cruize Brothers. Three of the current members of the Cruize Brothers are in the Blues Hall of Fame. A legendary band that started back in the 70's in San Diego, California, and has lasted over 40 years in one form or another. I've been really blessed to have played with some really talented, and great musicians over my half a century of playing blues guitar. The Cruize Brothers are now based out of Arkansas. Please visit some of our many friends worldwide on our web site www.mikedollins.biz. Photos and MP3's from the KABF 88.3 FM radio music fest at Parrot Beach Cafe, in North
Little Rock, Arkansas. From along the banks of the Arkansas River, check out our renderings of Arkansas Delta style of R&B.



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I Can Dig It Baby - Little Beaver

Willie Hale (born August 15, 1945), often known by the name Little Beaver, is an American R&B guitarist, singer and songwriter featured on many hit records since the 1960s.

Hale was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, and acquired the nickname "Little Beaver" as a child because of his prominent teeth. He became a virtuoso guitarist at an early age. In the early 1960s he moved to Florida, and in 1969 was signed by songwriter and producer Willie Clarke to the Cat label, an offshoot of Henry Stone’s TK Records.

As a session musician, his characteristic guitar sound was soon heard on many hit TK recordings, including Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman”. (However, contrary to some sources, he was not featured on George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby", which featured Jerome Smith of KC & the Sunshine Band).

In 1972 he launched a solo career with the single “Joey”. His biggest solo hit came in 1974 with “Party Down”, which made # 2 on the US R&B chart. He also released five albums as Little Beaver in the 1970s, a mixture of blues, soul and funk. However, he lost out commercially at the height of the disco boom. Many of his records featured other key Florida R&B musicians including Wright, pianist Benny Latimore, and organist Timmy Thomas. His 1974 album Party Down also featured, on one track, bassist Jaco Pastorius, credited as Nelson "Jocko" Padron.

After ending his recording career in the late 1970s, he was recruited by Betty Wright in 2003 to play on Joss Stone’s albums The Soul Sessions and Mind, Body & Soul.

Some of his tracks have been sampled by hip-hop artists in recent years. The Los Angeles hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs sampled "Get into the Party Life" and "I Can Dig It Baby," for two tracks on their 2002 album O.S.T., and titled the songs "Suite For Beaver, Part 1" and "Suite For Beaver, Part 2," respectively, as a tribute. "Get into the Party Life" was also later sampled on Jay-Z's track "Party Life" from his American Gangster album.

American fingerstyle guitarist Leo Kottke's instrumental tune "Little Beaver" (A Shout Toward Noon, 1986 Private Music) is named for Willie Hale, and Kottke's rhythmic style in the tune is an homage to Hale.
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On my Knees - Son Seals

Frank "Son" Seals (August 14, 1942 – December 20, 2004) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.
He was born in Osceola, Arkansas where his father, Jim "Son" Seals, owned a small juke joint. He began performing professionally by the age of 13, first as a drummer with Robert Nighthawk, and later as a guitarist. At age 16, he began to play at the T-99, a local upper echelon club, with Walter Jefferson, “Little Walter”, who was his brother in law. At the T-99, he played with many other musicians, such as Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, and Rosco Gordon. Their varying styles contributed to the development of Seals' own playing techniques. While playing at the T-99, he was also introduced to country-western music by Jimmy Grubbs, who would ask Seals to gig with his group every now and then on both drums and guitar. At 19 years old, he formed his own band to fill in at a local club in Osceola called the Rebel Club. Shortly thereafter, a man from Little Rock, Arkansas came to find “Little Walter” for a gig at his club, but when he turned it down the offer went to Seals. The band members were “Old man Horse” (Johnny Moore) on piano, Alvin Goodberry on either drums, guitar, bass, or piano, “Little Bob” (Robinson) on vocals, and Walter Lee “Skinny Dynamo” Harris on piano. The band’s name was “Son Seals and the Upsetters.”

In 1971, Seals moved to Chicago. His career took off after he was discovered by Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records at the 'Flamingo Club' in Chicago's South Side. His debut album, The Son Seals Blues Band, was released in 1973. The album included "Your Love Is Like a Cancer" and "Hot Sauce". Seals followed up with 1976's Midnight Son and 1978's Live and Burning. He continued releasing albums throughout the next two decades, all but one on Alligator Records. These included Chicago Fire (1980), Bad Axe (1984), Living in the Danger Zone (1991), Nothing But the Truth and Live-Spontaneous Combustion (1996). He received the W.C. Handy Award in 1985, 1987, and 2001.

Author Andrew Vachss was a friend of Seals, and used his influence to promote Seals' music. Vachss gave Seals several cameo appearances in his novels and co-wrote songs with him for his 2000 album, Lettin' Go. Vachss dedicated the novel Mask Market to Seals' memory.

In 2002, Seals was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album, Hey Bo Diddley - A Tribute!, performing the song "My Story" (aka "Story of Bo Diddley").

Seals had a number of problems in his life. He survived all but one of his fourteen siblings; and he was shot in the jaw by his wife. Also, in 1999 part of his left leg was amputated, due to complications from diabetes. He lost belongings in a fire that destroyed his home while he was away performing live, and several of his prized guitars were stolen from his home. After his health problems Seals used a number of different accompanying bands, such as James Soleberg's, Jimmy Vivino's, and Big Jim Kohler's, while on the road.

The band Phish performed Seal's song "Funky Bitch", and brought him on stage on multiple occasions.

Seals died in 2004, at the age of 62, from complications of diabetes; he was survived by his sister and fourteen children.
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