Part IVe: Postwar Blues:
Name Birth Year Death Year
Smoky Babe (1927 – June 20, 1975) was an American acoustic blues guitarist and singer. He is variously described as a Louisiana blues, Piedmont blues and blues revival musician, whose recording career was restricted to a couple of recording sessions in the early 1960s. His most noteworthy recordings were "Going Downtown Boogie," and "Ain't Got No Rabbit Dog."
He was born Robert Brown, in Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States. Smoky Babe was recorded by Harry Oster of Louisiana State University in 1960 and 1961, and the results were released by the Folk Lyric, Bluesville and Storyville labels.
Outside of his recordings little is known of his life. The definite circumstances concerning his demise in June 1975 are also unclear.
His song, "Boogy," was included on the compilation album, Blues Roots: Give Me The Blues (1979); whilst "Hottest Brand Goin'" and "Locomotive Blues" appeared on the 1998 collection, The Bluesville Years, Vol. 9: Down the Country Way.
Smoky Babe 1927 1975
Houston Stackhouse (September 28, 1910 – September 23, 1980) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association and work with Robert Nighthawk. Although Stackhouse was not especially noted as a guitarist nor singer, Nighthawk showed gratitude for being taught to play by Stackhouse, by backing him on a number of recordings in the late 1960s. Apart from a tour to Europe, Stackhouse confined his performing around the Mississippi Delta.
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, and Stackhouse only learned the details of his parentage when he applied for a passport in later life.
Relocating in his teenage years with his family to Crystal Springs, Mississippi, he became inspired listening to records by Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, and by local musicians. By the late 1930s, Stackhouse had played guitar around the Delta states and worked with members of the Mississippi Sheiks, plus Robert Johnson, Charlie McCoy and Walter Vinson He also teamed up with his distant cousin, Robert Nighthawk whom he taught how to play guitar. Originally a fan of Tommy Johnson, Stackhouse often covered his songs. In 1946, Stackhouse moved to Helena, Arkansas to live near to Nighthawk, and for a time was a member of Nighthawk’s band, playing on KFFA radio.
He split from Nighthawk in 1947 and alongside the drummer James "Peck" Curtis, appeared on KFFA's "King Biscuit Time" programmer, with the guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins plus pianists Pinetop Perkins and Robert Traylor. Sonny Boy Williamson II then rejoined the show, and that combo performed across the Delta, using their radio presence to advertise their concert performances.
Stackhouse tutored both Jimmy Rogers and Sammy Lawhorn on guitar techniques. Between 1948 and 1954, Stackhouse worked during the day at the Chrysler plant in West Memphis, Arkansas, and played the blues in his leisure time. He did not move from the South, unlike many of his contemporaries, and continued to perform locally into the 1960s with Frank Frost, Boyd Gilmore and Baby Face Turner. In May 1965, Sonny Boy Williamson II, who was by then back on "King Biscuit Time", utilized Stackhouse when he was recorded in concert by Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records. The recording was issued under Williamson's name, titled King Biscuit Time. Shortly afterwards, Williamson died, but Stackhouse continued briefly on the radio program, back in tandem with Nighthawk.
In 1967, George Mitchell recorded Stackhouse in Dundee, Mississippi. Named the Blues Rhythm Boys, Stackhouse was joined by both Curtis and Nighthawk, although the latter died shortly after the recording was made. Another field researcher, David Evans, recorded Stackhouse in Crystal Springs, but by 1970 following the deaths of both Curtis and Mason, Stackhouse had moved on to Memphis, Tennessee. There he resided with his old friend Joe Willie Wilkins and his wife Carrie. At the height of the blues revival Stackhouse toured with Wilkins, and the Memphis Blues Caravan, and appeared at various music festivals. His lone trip overseas saw Stackhouse play in 1976 in Vienna, Austria.
Earlier in February 1972, Stackhouse recorded an album titled Cryin' Won't Help You. It was released on CD in 1994.
Stackhouse returned to Helena, where he died in September 1980, at the age of 69. A son, Houston Stackhouse Jr., survived him.
The acoustic stage at the annual Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival is named after Stackhouse.
Houston Stackhouse 1910 1980
Lonesome Sundown, (December 12, 1928 - April 23, 1995) was a Louisiana blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his late 1950s and early '60s swamp blues output on Excello Records.
Born Cornelius Green on the Dugas Plantation near Donaldsville, Louisiana on December 12, 1928, he moved to New Orleans at the age of 18 and worked as a porter at the New Southport Club, a casino in Jefferson Parish. Two years later he returned to Donaldsville and, inspired by Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, started taking guitar lessons from his cousin.
Green worked for a brief period as a truck driver in Jeanerette, Louisiana, before moving to Port Arthur, Texas in 1953 to work at the Gulf Oil Refinery. He started sitting in on jams at local clubs, and in 1955 was invited by Clifton Chenier to sit in with his Zydeco Ramblers at the Blue Moon Club in Lake Charles. Chenier offered him a second guitarist position next to his lead guitarist, Phillip Walker.
Cornelius Green toured with the Zydeco Ramblers as far north as Chicago and as far west as Los Angeles, where Chenier's recording of "The Cat's Dreaming" was inspired by Green falling asleep during a session. He auditioned for record producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell in Los Angeles, but failed to land a contract.
In late 1955, Green left the Zydeco Ramblers, got married, and moved to Opelousas, Louisiana, where he began playing with Lloyd Reynauld and writing his own songs. He recorded a demo tape that he submitted to record producer Joseph Denton "Jay" Miller in Crowley, Louisiana. Impressed with the material, Miller came up with the stage name “Lonesome Sundown” and recorded his debut single, "Leave My Money Alone" b/w "Lost Without Love," which he leased to Excello Records in 1956.
Sundown's follow-up, "Lonesome Whistler" b/w "My Home Is A Prison," saw greater success and Sundown joined Miller's roster of Louisiana musicians. Sundown never had a chart hit, but his records sold well enough that Miller recorded him for eight years, including the songs "Don’t Say A Word" (featuring Lazy Lester on harmonica), "I'm A Mojo Man," "I'm A Samplin' Man," "I Stood By (And Watched Another Man Steal My Gal)," "My Home Ain't Here," "My Home Is A Prison," "You Know I Love You," and the classic "Gonna Stick To You Baby." In 1964 he recorded "Hoo Doo Woman Blues" b/w "I’ve Got A Broken Heart," which have been described as among "the last ethnic down-home blues 45s aimed exclusively at the Negro market."
But by 1965, Lonesome Sundown, who had become disillusioned with his limited success and had suffered through a traumatic divorce, retired from the music industry to work as a laborer and joined the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith Fellowship Throughout the World Church, where he eventually became a minister.
Lonesome Sundown was persuaded to return to the recording studio in 1977 to record the blues album Been Gone Too Long for Joliet Records, co-produced by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker. Despite the quality of the material, sales were disappointing, even after a reissue on Alligator Records. His final single, "I Betcha," was released in 1977. He appeared at scattered live performances, including the 1979 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and tours of Sweden and Japan with Phillip Walker, before finally giving up music for good.
Lonesome Sundown suffered a stroke in 1994 and lost his ability to speak. He died in Gonzales, Louisiana on April 23, 1995, at the age of 66.
Lonesome Sundown was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 2000.
Lonesome Sundown 1928 1995
Lavelle White (born July 3, 1929) is an American Texas blues and soul blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. After performing most of her adult lifetime, White released three albums, the first of which was issued in 1994 when she was aged 65.
White was born in Amite City, Louisiana, United States, the daughter of sharecropper parents.
She started to write poetry at the age of 12, which led her to song writing, and singing gospel songs. White relocated to Houston, Texas, at the age of 15, and started to perform in that city's blues clubs with the guitarist Clarence Hollimon. Her break came when Johnny Copeland recommended her to Don Robey, the owner of the Duke and Peacock record labels. She was then billed as 'Miss La-Vell'. White recorded fourteen tracks, released as a number of singles on Duke, between 1958 and 1964. These included "If I Could Be with You," "Just Look at You Fool," "Stop These Teardrops," and "The Tide of Love." Several of her songs were self penned, a process of writing that has lasted most of her lifetime. Under the pseudonym of Deadric Malone, White also wrote Bobby Bland's "Lead Me On", which was a hit in 1960. She appeared in local revues up to the late 1960s.
She toured across the United States when her recording contract expired. In the 1960s White shared musical stages with many musicians including Bland, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Junior Parker, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler. White moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1978, where she appeared at various clubs and worked with Junior Wells, Lonnie Brooks and Buddy Guy, before returning to Houston eight years later. White was later voted Houston's Blues Artist Of The Year. She relocated again and became a regular performer around the Austin, Texas area, including a residency at Antone's.
However, her debut album was not released until 1994, when Miss Lavelle was issued on the Antone's label. It was her first recording for almost 30 years. White appeared at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1995. She has also performed at the Houston International Festival. Her second album was “It Haven't Been Easy (1997).” Both albums featured guitar work from her former performing colleague, Clarence Hollimon. The same year, White appeared with Delbert McClinton on the television program, Austin City Limits. Her third album, Into the Mystic, was released in 2003.
She has been nominated four times for a Blues Music Award, and in 2006 was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame. The same year her ensemble was voted the Best Blues Band in The Austin Chronicle Music Awards.
White recently appeared at the Ponderosa Stomp music festival.
Lavelle White 1929
Joe Willie Wilkins (January 7, 1921 – March 28, 1981) was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Whilst he influenced contemporaries such as Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Jimmy Rogers, Wilkins' bigger impact was on up and coming guitarists, including Little Milton, B.B. King, and Albert King. Joe Willie’s songs included "Hard Headed Woman" and "It's Too Bad."
Wilkins was born in Davenport, Coahoma County, Mississippi. He grew up on a plantation near Bobo. His father, Papa Frank Wilkins, was a local sharecropper and guitarist, whose friend was the country bluesman, Charley Patton. Young Wilkins learned to play guitar, harmonica and accordion. His early proficiency of the guitar, and slavish devotion to learning from records, earned him the nickname of "Walking Seeburg".
Becoming a well-known musician in the Mississippi Delta, by the early 1940s Wilkins took over from Robert Lockwood, Jr. in Sonny Boy Williamson II's band. In 1941, Wilkins relocated to Helena, Arkansas, and joined both Williamson and Lockwood on KFFA Radio's "King Biscuit Time". Through the 1940s Wilkins broadcast regularly playing alongside Williamson, Willie Love, Robert Nighthawk, Elmore James, Memphis Slim, Houston Stackhouse and Howlin' Wolf. His guitar playing appeared on several recordings by Williamson, Love and Big Joe Williams, for the latter of whom he played bass.
For Muddy Waters, Wilkins was noted as the first guitarist from the Delta who played single string guitar riffs without a slide. Later on Waters stated
“
"The man is great, the man is stone great. For blues, like I say, he's the best."
”
Forming The Three Aces with Willie Nix and Love in 1950, he rejoined Williamson at KWEM Radio, which led on to Wilkin's becoming part of the studio band at Sun Records. He was also utilized by Trumpet Records, and as a prominent sideman, Wilkins recorded with Williamson, Love, Nix, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter, Mose Vinson, Joe Hill Louis, Elmore James, and Floyd Jones.
Charley Booker's final recording was as a guest with Wilkins at a 1973 blues festival at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The same year, Mimosa Records released a single of Wilkin's debut vocal performance. Adamo Records later issued a live album of some of his concert dates.
His working relationship and friendship with Houston Stackhouse endured over the years, with Stackhouse at one time living in the same premises as Wilkins and his wife. Wilkins and Stackhouse played at various blues music festivals, and were part of the traveling Memphis Blues Caravan. After undergoing a colostomy in the late 1970s, Wilkins still continued to perform until his final East Coast tour in 1981.
Wilkins is buried near Memphis in the Galilee Memorial Gardens.
Confusion over dates
There is some confusion over both the precise date of birth, and death, for Wilkins. Various sources quote 1923 as his year of birth, and many cite 1979 for his death. However, in the latter respect Allmusic stated "his final performances were an East Coast tour in 1981, and he died in the week following these engagements.”
Joe Willie Wilkins 1921 1981
Lester Williams (June 24, 1920 – November 13, 1990) was an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his songs, "Winter Time Blues" and "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use". His main influence was T-Bone Walker.
Williams released several singles in the 1950s, but remained a stalwart of the Houston blues circuit for decades. His recording career lasted from 1949 to 1956.
Williams was born in Groveton, Texas, United States, although when he was a young boy his family relocated to Houston. After serving in World War II, Williams sang at Houston's Eldorado Ballroom, but quit and enrolled at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, to study piano and voice. He did not graduate, and returned to Houston where he taught himself to play guitar and started to write songs. Walker's influence inspired Williams, who said to himself "I could learn to play guitar and pull in some of that money that T-Bone made". Having formed his own group in 1949, he wrote "Winter Time Blues", which came from his own life experience of his wife and daughter travelling to Los Angeles for the summer, and leaving Williams to contemplate the winter alone. The song's lyrics included the lines "Winter without your baby, you might as well be dead".
He signed a recording contract with Macy's Records, and Steve Poncio produced "Winter Time Blues" which was a regional hit. His next few releases did not fare well commercially and, by 1951, Williams had moved to Specialty Records. His first disc for them was his biggest success, "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use" (1952). His notability rose to the extent that he appeared in February 1953 on a Carnegie Hall, New York bill, which also included Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine and Nat King Cole. The song "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use" was covered a decade later by B.B. King.
His success was short-lived as subsequent releases did not sell but, by 1954, Williams started to perform on a regular basis on Houston's radio station, KLVL, and began a constant touring regime across the South. Further single releases appeared on both Duke and Imperial, the latter in 1956.
For the ensuing decades, Williams continued to perform around Houston and beyond, and he undertook a tour of Europe in 1986.
Williams died in November 1990, in Houston, at the age of 70.
Lester Williams 1920 1990
Smokey Wilson (born Robert Lee Wilson, July 11, 1936, Glen Allan, Mississippi, United States) is an American West Coast blues guitarist. He has spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and Juke Joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He has recorded at least eleven albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records. His career got off to a late start, with international recognition eluding him until the 1990s.
Wilson played alongside Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, Big Jack Johnson, and Frank Frost, before his move to Los Angeles in 1970. He opened the Pioneer Club in Watts, where he was the frontman of their house band. In addition his duties included booking blues musicians to appear at the club, which included Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Pee Wee Crayton and Albert Collins. His down to earth guitar playing is typical of his Mississippi Delta background. "I bring the cotton-field with me," he said, "and I got the juke-joint inside."
Wilson released two albums on Big Town Records in the 1970s. His 1983 album, 88th Street Blues, for the Murray Brothers label (later re-issued on Blind Pig Records) had contributions from Rod Piazza (harmonica and record producer) and Hollywood Fats (rhythm guitar). Wilson has performed three times at the Long Beach Blues Festival, in 1980, 1981 and 1999; having earlier appeared at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1978.
Smoke N' Fire (1993) and The Real Deal (1995) followed, as Wilson's reputation began to grow as he reached his sixtieth year.
Smokey Wilson 1936
U.P. Wilson (September 4, 1934 – September 22, 2004) was an African American electric blues guitarist and singer who performed Texas blues. He recorded five albums for JSP Records, the first being Boogie Boy! The Texas Guitar Tornado Returns!, and was known for playing a style of deep Southern soul blues that was gospel inflected.
Huary Perry Wilson was born on a farm in Catto Parish, Shreveport, Louisiana, to parents Carrie Lee and Tommy Wilson. Raised in West Dallas, Wilson learned the blues from ZuZu Bollin, Cat Man Fleming, Frankie Lee Sims, Mercy Baby and Nappy "Chin" Evans. Wilson later relocated from Dallas to Fort Worth and formed a duo, the Boogie Chillun Boys, with the drummer and vocalist, Robert Ealey. Later he worked with Cornell Dupree before Dupree left to become a session musician. The Boogie Chillun Boys provided inspiration to fellow Texan singer and guitarist Ray Sharpe.
From 1967 onwards he raised his family, and worked in Fort Worth during the day as a school janitor. At night, Wilson performed as a sideman in local nightclubs. By the late 1970s, Wilson and Ealey played at a Fort Worth club named The New Bluebird, where they attracted crowds of Texas blues fans. By 1987, Wilson had began solo recording, and touring around Texas. However, he subsequently rejoined Ealey in his new band, The Lovers, the following year.
Music journalist, Tony Russell, noted that Wilson put on a show, playing one-handed while drinking, smoking and greeting his fans, but behind the tricks and the hyped language used in his billings ('Texas Tornado', 'Atomic Guitar' etc.,) Wilson was a musician with a talent for more than just getting boys to boogie down. His peculiar decision to sing in falsetto flawed his 1995 release This Is U.P. Wilson, but subsequent releases re-discovered his blend of Texas shuffles and low-down blues
For most of the last decade of his life, Wilson toured both the European blues circuit and throughout the United States. Activities included appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival, and playing accompaniment to Albert Collins. Wilson was imprisoned for six months in the John R.L. Jacksboro State Penitentiary for cocaine possession between 1997 and 1998, and on his release moved to live in Paris, France.
Wilson went to hospital in Paris for surgery, and he died there on September 22, 2004, at the age of 70. His wife Rosie, predeceased him, and he was survived by two daughters and a son.
U.P. Wilson 1934 2004
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 Vinegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes and T-Bone Walker.
Jimmy Witherspoon 1923 1997
Well we’ve come to the end of Section IV: POSTWAR BLUES and we’re moving ahead to the Section V: Kansas City Blues in our next installment of this series. I don’t know about all of you, but I am learning an awful lot about all the unknown blues artists that shared in developing the blues genre to what it is today. If they all were alive, they certainly deserve a Grammy for their pioneering efforts and musical signature.
So, until next time;
Musician By Night . . .
