This Week In The Blues: Dec 22 - Dec 28, 2024

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of Dec 22 - Dec 28, 2024.

Some of the highlights include Chicago blues singer and songwriter Lil Green, blues bass guitarist Bob Stroger, and Mississippi delta bluesman Josh ‘Razorblade’ Stewart.

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:

Lil Green - "Why don't you do right", 1941 - https://youtu.be/0x6tCSnaffQ?si=aoszmakKV9Vdajid

Bob Stroger - "Blind man blues" - https://youtu.be/f6Q7T8J2bNo?si=l-2RVlpYON1OY388

Join me every weekday from 12:15pm-12:45pm CT to watch a live stream on Facebook of the longest running blues radio show program. https://www.facebook.com/DeltaCulturalCenter

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

ARE YOU A FAN OF BLUES HISTORY? US TOO!

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 22 – Dec 28 2024

Chicago blues singer and songwriter Lil Green born December 22 1919. She was among the leading female rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s, with a sensual soprano voice. She was born somewhere in Mississippi, no specific location is specified. After the early deaths of her parents, she began performing in her teens and, having honed her craft in the church performing gospel, she sang in Mississippi jukes. In 1929 she moved to Chicago, where she would make all of her recordings. Green was noted for her superb timing and a rich and sinuous voice.

Mississippi delta bluesman Josh ‘Razorblade’ Stewart was born December 22, 1946 in Jonestown, Mississippi. Stewart taught himself to play music as a young child. He learned how to read music as a member of the Coahoma County Agricultural High School and College Band where he played for six years and became accomplished at slide trombone, saxophone, trumpet, and piano. Returning in 1970 after serving in Vietnam, he joined brothers Harvell and Deon Thomas as members of James “Super Chikan” Johnson’s original band, “The Fighting Cocks.” Stewart would go on to mentor the youth of Clarksdale, Mississippi, teaching them the fundamentals of the blues.

Blues, jazz, ragtime and boogie-woogie pianist Will Ezell was born December 23, 1892.  By 1926, Ezell started work for Paramount in Chicago, because they provided regular work for black musicians, which was not always available elsewhere. He regularly contributed to recordings made by Paramount Records in the late 1920s and early 1930s and was a technically brilliant pianist, showing the strong influence of jazz as well as blues. Ezell's "Pitchin' Boogie" and Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues" were amongst the earliest boogie-woogie recordings. In addition to his musical input, Ezell's duties with Paramount were pretty varied. In December 1929, he escorted the body of Blind Lemon Jefferson, who had been one of the Paramount’s best selling artists, by railroad back to Jefferson's home state of Texas for burial.

blues guitarist Leroy Dallas born December 24, 1909! his more memorable recordings are from 1948 and include "Good Morning Blues" and "Jump Little Children, Jump". He travelled widely in the Deep South in the 1930s and 1940s. He played the washboard accompanying Brownie McGhee, and later teamed up with Frank Edwards and Georgia Slim for a while. He also played solo on the streets of Chicago. He recorded eight tracks in his own name between 1948 and 1962.

blues guitarist, singer and harmonica player Daniel Womack, born December 24, 1904 on a Pittsylvania County tobacco farm He became completely blind at the age of 14 and attended the Virginia State School for the Deaf and Blind.  He taught himself to play the piano and formed the Virginia State School Quartet. In the 1930s and 1940s, he learned the distinctive Piedmont finger-picking style of playing the guitar, and drew large crowds at local tobacco auctions.

Chicago blues guitarist and singer L.V. Johnson born December 25, 1946. Johnson learned to play the guitar from B.B. King. He is best known for his renditions of "Don't Cha Mess with My Money, My Honey or My Woman" and "Recipe".  Other songs he wrote were recorded by Tyrone Davis, Bobby Bland and the Dells. He was the nephew of Elmore James. Johnson was also employed by Stax Records as a session musician and played on recordings by the Bar-Kays, Johnnie Taylor, and the Soul Children.

Blues singer and songwriter Joseph E. Pullum born Christmas day in 1905. Pullum recorded four sessions, which yielded a total of 30 tracks, between April 1934 and February 1936. Pullum's major success was a recording of his own song, "Black Gal What Makes Your Head So Hard?". It sold in large quantities and was covered by Leroy Carr, Skip James, Bumble Bee Slim, the Harlem Hamfats, Speckled Red, and many, many others. Unfortunately, his following recordings did not fare as well. So I guess he’s the blues version of a one hit wonder.

Delta blues guitarist and harmonica player J.D. Short was born December 26, 1902 in Port Gibson, Mississippi. He was a cousin of Big Joe Williams and David "Honeyboy" Edwards. He had a distinctive vibrato-laden singing voice and early in his career recorded under a number of pseudonyms, including Jelly Jaw Short. His noteworthy recordings include "Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake" and "You're Tempting Me". Short disappeared from the music industry for over two decades before re-emerging during the blues revival of the 1960s.

Electric blues bass guitarist Bob Stroger was born December 27, 1930. Stroger was born on a farm outside of Hayti, Missouri and in 1955 he relocated with his family to Chicago. He has worked with a who’s who list of blues musicians, including Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddy Clearwater, Sunnyland Slim, Louisiana Red, Homesick James, Snooky Pryor,  and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. 

Well blues fans, 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!