This Week In The Blues: Dec 1 - Dec 7, 2024

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of Dec 1 - Dec 7, 2024.

Some of the highlights include blues harp player Sonny Boy Williamson II, the day Muddy Waters recorded his version of "Got My Mojo Working", and blues and boogie-woogie pianist Blind John Davis.

We just covered some of the highlights here. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:
https://bigtrainblues.com
https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Photo credits (if known) and past episodes are posted on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@BigTrainBlues

Here are links to a few of the artists or songs we've referenced in this week's episode:

Sonny Boy Williamson - "Nine Below Zero" 1963 - https://youtu.be/JO88meallgA?si=1Cv-DqJKKJuo1GLn

Muddy Waters - "Got My Mojo Workin'" - https://youtu.be/8hEYwk0bypY?si=x_EI74WpO4yjyW_L

Larry Davis - "Texas Flood" - https://youtu.be/boulE-ihcoY?si=U9QUHroTNpkbdr6p

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We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!

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If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:

https://bigtrainblues.com

https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Transcript

This Week In The Blues: Dec 1 – Dec 7, 2024

on December 1, 1956, Muddy Waters recorded his version of "Got My Mojo Working". As the title indicates, the lyrics mention a “mojo” and “mojo hand”.  A mojo consists of a flannel bag containing one or more magical items like animal bones, graveyard dirt, bible verses, and roots or herbs. It is a "prayer in a bag", or a spell that can be carried with or on the host's body. Waters' rendition is included on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at number 359. In 1999, it received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and it is identified as one of the "Songs of the Century"

On December 3, 1927, Blind Willie Johnson recorded his immortal "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" in Dallas, Texas. The recordings turn Johnson into one of the most popular musical acts of HIS time. He performed the song with no discernible lyrics and instead used a series of hums, moans, and pained cries transcending language. Whether Johnson was aiming for it or whether he was simply practicing a type of "unison moaning," the result is an immortal piece of art that speaks across all times and peoples. It is also one of the many music tracks included on the golden album that was shot across space aboard the Voyager space probe.

Texas blues guitarist Larry Davis born December 4 in 1936. He is best known for co-writing the song "Texas Flood", later recorded to greater commercial success by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Anyone who associates “Texas Flood” only with Vaughan needs to listen to Larry Davis’ 1958 version. Davis grew up in Little Rock, AR, and was signed to the Duke label on the recommendation of Bobby Bland. Davis lived in St. Louis for a while and learned the guitar from Albert King while playing bass in King’s band. A handful of solo singles were released before a serious motorcycle accident in 1972 temporarily paralyzed the left side of his body.

blues singer/guitarist “Little” Jimmy King was born December 4, 1964. Born Emmanuel Lynn Gales he created his stage name in deference to his two musical heroes, Jimi Hendrix and Albert King. He is best known for his tracks "Win, Lose or Draw" and "Upside Down and Backwards". He was the frontman of Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors. He also worked with Albert King and with his brothers Eric and Eugene Gales.

Blues harp player Sonny Boy Williamson II was born on December 5 in 1912 (we think). While there’s some confusion about his birth date (and year), you can't dispute what a charismatic talent he was!  Sonny Boy Williamson II was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hoboed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim and simply wrote, played and sang some of the greatest blues tracks ever recorded.

Texas blues singer Robert Ealey born December 6, 1925, and he released a couple of albums for Black Top Records in the 1990s, including "One Love One Kiss" and "Turn Out the Lights". Ealey was born in Texarkana, Texas and began singing in his local church at age 15 with a quartet group. Later in his career he joined the Ft Worth group Boogie Chillen Boys and eventually became a featured vocalist at the Blue Bird Club there. After singing there for 20 years, Ealey bought the Blue Bird Club and ran it for the next decade.

Here's another "Mississippi Ghost Story" although this one is from Texas. Robert Cooper was a Texas blues pianist and was part of the 'Santa Fe Group', which a loose group of blues piano players who played in the many juke joints that were next to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway In the 1920s and 1930s. Cooper’s style was a blend of dance music, boogie-woogie, ragtime and blues. In 1934, he was the first of that 'Santa Fe Group' to record, and played on a number of tracks between 1934 and 1936. Cooper's recordings often had a ragtime component, especially on the recording under his name, like "West Dallas Drag". I’ll include a link to it in the show notes.

blues and boogie-woogie pianist Blind John Davis was born December 7, 1913! He is best remembered for his recordings, including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie".  Although he was world-renowned as a blues pianist, he was proud of his innate ability to play ragtime, a little jazz, even a schmaltzy Tin Pan Alley ditty or two. He was born in Hattiesburg, MS, and his family moved to Chicago when he was 2. He lost his eyesight after stepping on a nail when he was nine, but that didn’t stop him from learning the piano when he was in his teens. He used his talent to pick up a few bucks by playing in his father’s “sporting houses.”

On December 7, 1965, Willie Dixon brought Koko Taylor to Chess Records where she recorded "Wang Dang Doodle". The story goes that Dixon called Taylor up at 1 in the morning and insisted that she come down to Chess Records right then and there to record it. Her version was released in early 1966 and peaked at number four on Billboard magazine's R&B singles chart and number 58 on the Hot 100. Taylor's rendition was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame

Thomas "Grey Ghost" Williams born December 7, 1903. This Texas blues pianist had a 70-year career spanning from the 1920s through the 1990s. He often traveled to the area dances and roadhouses by riding empty boxcars. He says he got the name Grey Ghost back when he was hired to play in various small towns. Someone would meet every arriving train or bus, but Williams was never aboard--yet mysteriously he would show up in time to perform. Williams said he was “like a ghost, I come up out of the ground, and then I was gone," he continued that “I would put overalls over my suit and tie, and that's the way I traveled."

Well blues fans, while this was a pretty full show, we just covered some of the highlights here. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to follow our social media pages or visit our website at Big Train Blues.com. We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!