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Papa Charlie McCoy May 26, 1909 - July 26, 1950 Papa Charlie McCoy was a Delta blues guitarist, mandolin player and songwriter, who became one of the major blues accompanists of his time. Born Charles McCoy in Jackson, Mississippi on May 26, 1909, he first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1928 in a two-day session backing Rosie Mae Moore, Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey. Later that year, he played on the first recording of "Corrine Corrina" with Bo Carter and Walter Vincson, who were friends from the Jackson, Mississippi area. McCoy recorded several sides with Bo Carter as the "Mississippi Mud Steppers." McCoy and Carter recorded two variations of Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues." The first, an instrumental, was released as "The Jackson Stomp," and the second, with lyrics and vocals by McCoy, as "The Lonesome Train That Took My Girl From Town." They also wrote and recorded "The Vicksburg Stomp," which was resurrected and recorded by Mike Compton, of O Brother, Where Art Thou? fame. By 1930 McCoy was recording regularly with Carter and Vincson as the Mississippi Hot Footers or the Mississippi Sheiks, switching between mandolin and guitar. Papa Charlie McCoy recorded duets with his brother, Kansas Joe McCoy, for many years and they released records as The McCoy Brothers. The two also played together in Jed Davenport's Beale Street Jug Band. Charlie McCoy sat in with Rubin Lacy, Son Spand and many other Delta bluesmen who passed through the Jackson area in the years that followed. Papa Charlie McCoy made a few solo recordings, such as "Keep On Trying," playing a delta-style slide guitar, and released them under pseudonyms such as Tampa Kid, Papa Charlie, Georgia Pine Boy and The Mississippi Mudder. His composition "Too Long" has been frequently covered. By the mid-1930s, Charlie McCoy had followed Joe to Chicago where he organized two bands, "Papa Charlie's Boys" and, with Joe, the Harlem Hamfats, where he blended an attacking mandolin style with their swing rhythms and jazz horns. He and Joe would sometimes play polkas with Johnny Temple in a string band that entertained mobster Al Capone. Charlie also backed his then sister-in-law, Memphis Minnie, in the mid-'30s. Papa Charlie McCoy also contributed mandolin to recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson, Peetie Wheatstraw, Big Bill Broonzy and Casey Bill Weldon. He again teamed up with his brother in Big Joe's Washboard Band and Big Joe and His Rhythm in the early 1940s. However, service with the United States Army during World War II cut his career short. In the late 1940s, McCoy was institutionalized with neurosyphilis. Papa Charlie McCoy died on July 26, 1950, just a few months after his older brother. They are both buried in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.  __________________________________________________________________ Until next time, "Remember to Help Keep The Blues Alive". MUSICIAN by Night  |
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