Bman's Blues Report

Extracts of a writing by Mike Leadbitter: CRITTENDEN COUNTY, Arkansas, has the Mississippi River for its eastern border - a border that extends north to Frenchman's Bayou and south to Horseshoe Lake. The county's major town is West Memphis and two highways can speed one's progress through the countryside: Highway 55, pointing north to Blytheville and Missouri, and Highway 40 which runs west to Little R7ock via Forrest City. Crittenden County is deep in the cotton-belt and here Joe Bennie Pugh was born on July 10th, 1926. Joe's exact birthplace is uncertain but it was definitely in the area south of West Memphis near Horseshoe Lake and Hughes. His parents, Moses Pugh and Mary Walker, were plantation workers and they raised their child in a world devoted to the production of cotton Joe grew up to be an uneducated field-hand and spent his early life working on the land or the nearby Mississippi levees. Somehow or other he became involved in the musical activities of his co...

Blues harpist Forest City Joe was heavily influenced by John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. He not only played like him, but sang like him as well. Unlike his idol, however, who was murdered on June 1, 1948, Joe lived long enough to record for the Chess brothers in the early days of their activities, when Chess was known as Aristocrat. Joe was remembered as a "great harp player" by Muddy Waters, who only missed playing at Joe's one major Chess recording session on December 2, 1948, when Joe was only 21. Joe had more of a country sound than most Chicago artists of the period, so it's surprising that the Chess brothers paired him up with J.C. Coles, a jazz guitarist of no seeming special account, who added little to a session but a few barely audible chords. Joe Bennie Pugh was born in Hughes, AR, on July 10, 1926, to Moses Pugh and Mary Walker. He was raised in the area around Hughes and West Memphis, AR, and even as a boy played the local juke joints in the are...