This Week In The Blues: Dec 29, 2024 - Jan 04, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of Dec 29 - Jan 04, 2025.

Some of the highlights include Rock N Roll pioneer “Bo Diddley”, Chicago blues guitarist Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and the recording of Smoke Stack Lightning by Howlin’ Wolf.

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:

Bo Diddley - "Bo Diddley" (The Ed Sullivan Show) - https://youtu.be/dLcYuuljrD4?si=GuA6XHqJQgidvtQ3

Matt Murphy - "Murphy's Boogie" - (1963 live) - https://youtu.be/rT8D_L2bBGQ?si=sEuihs9uPLadRSiD

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 29 – Jan 04 2024

Matt "Guitar" Murphy was born December 29, 1929 and best known for his work with James Cotton, Memphis Slim & Howlin Wolf. Murphy was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, and grew up in Memphis where his father worked at the Peabody Hotel. Murphy learned to play guitar when he was a child and in 1948, Murphy moved to Chicago, where he joined the Howlin' Wolf Band. In the late 70s Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi saw Murphy perform and asked him to join the touring band of The Blues Brothers. Murphy also appeared in the Blues Brothers films.

Happy Birthday to Rock N Roll pioneer “Bo Diddley” was born December 30, 1928! Ellas McDaniel was his real name and he played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll.  He influenced many artists, including Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, among others. His use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a simple five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of hip hop, rock, and pop music. Bo Diddley developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack, and his trademark instrument was his self-designed, one-of-a-kind, rectangular-bodied "Twang Machine" built by Gretsch.

Lillian McMurry was born on December 30, 1921. She was one of the earliest American female record producers and owner of Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi. She was influential in the development of blues music when she turned part of the furniture store into her own music store and recording studio. The first releases were of gospel music, but she soon auditioned and recorded both slide guitarist Elmore James, on his original recording of "Dust My Broom", and Sonny Boy Williamson II with multiple recordings.

blues singer and harmonica player Houston Boines was born December 30, 1918 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. He was accompanied by guitarist Charley Booker and later was recruited by talent scout Ike Turner to record for Modern Records in 1952. He also recorded for Sun Records in 1953. He enlisted in the United States Army in January 1941, before the United States entered World War II. After returning he played with guitarists Charley Booker, Houston Stackhouse, and Eddie Cusic.

Blues bassist Hank Van Sickle was born December 31, 1961. He’s best known for the blues rock band the Bluesbreakers. Van Sickle was raised in a family of musicians. His father, Rodney Van Sickle is a classically trained double bassist who graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and played in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His sister Lucy Van Sickle is a singer and blues harmonica player living in Pittsburgh.

Blues singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter Goree Carter was born on New Year’s Eve in 1930 in Houston, Texas. He’s been credited with the stage names Little T-Bone and Rocky Thompson. Carter began playing blues music at the age of 12 and as a teenager he began earning a living at the local Comet Rice Mill. In 1949, he and his jump blues band signed and recorded their first release, "Sweet Ole Woman Blues."

blues singer Estelle "Mama" Yancey was born January 1, 1896. She was nominated four times for Blues Music Awards as Traditional Blues Female Artist.  Yancey was born in Cairo, Illinois, and grew up in Chicago, where she sang in church choirs and learned to play the guitar. In 1925, when she was 29, she married pioneering boogie-woogie pianist Jimmy Yancey, and Estelle performed and recorded several times with him. She was a talented vocalist known for her warm sense of humor and great command of the stage.

blues singer, mandolin player and guitarist Johnny "Man" Young born on New Years Day in 1918. He was one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after the Second World War, and also one of the few mandolin players active in blues music in the postwar era. His nickname, Man, came from his playing the mandolin.  Although the mandolin is not an instrument commonly associated with Chicago blues, it has been used by Chicago-based string bands or on Chicago-made recordings.

Here’s another New Year’s baby - the father of the Memphis blues guitar style Frank Stokes was born on New Years Day in 1877. Stokes was born in Shelby County, Tennessee and when his parents died when he was a child, he was raised by his stepfather in Tutwiler, Mississippi. He learned to play the guitar as a youth and by the turn of the century, Stokes was working as a blacksmith, traveling 25 miles to Memphis on weekends to sing and play the guitar with fellow guitarist Dan Sane.

Chicago Blues Legend Little Smokey Smothers was born January 2, 1939 in Tchula, Mississippi! He learned to play the guitar at the age of 15 and relocated to Chicago two years later. He soon appeared on stage, playing with Arthur “Big Boy” Spires, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and Lazy Bill Lucas. In 1958 he joined up with Howlin' Wolf, and he accompanied Wolf in a recording session for Chess Records. He continued playing the club scene and recording as a sideman. He even worked in construction in the 70s when blues gigs dried up, but was back playing and recording

blues singer and pianist Edith Johnson was born January 2, 1903. Her most noted tracks are "Honey Dripper Blues", "Can't Make Another Day" and "Eight Hour Woman". She married Jesse Johnson, a St. Louis record producer and worked at her husband's Deluxe Music Store as a saleswoman. Although not a professional singer, Johnson recorded eighteen sides in 1928 and 1929. While with Paramount records, she had a recording at a session in Grafton, Wisconsin, attended by Charley Patton.

country blues musician, who played guitar Rubin "Rube" Lacy was born January 2, 1901 in Pelahatchie, Mississippi. Lacy learned to play the guitar in his teens from an older performer, George Hendrix. Working out of the Jackson area in the Mississippi Delta, he became one of the state's most popular blues singers. His bottleneck style inspired that of the better-known performer Son House. In 1927, he recorded four songs for Columbia Records in Memphis, Tennessee, though none were released, and unfortunately the masters do not survive.

Smoke Stack Lightning was recorded on January 3, 1956 by Howlin’ Wolf for the Chess label. It became one of his most popular and influential songs and in 1956, "Smokestack Lightning" reached number 11 on the Billboard R&B chart It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists later interpreted it. Wolf had performed "Smokestack Lightning" in one form or another at least by the early 1930s, when he was performing with Charley Patton in small Delta communities. 

Mississippi blues guitarist Eddie Cusic was born January 4, 1926 in Wilmot, Mississippi. His small body of recorded works includes some erroneously credited to various misspellings of his name. Growing up in a farming community, he was inspired to play the blues after hearing adults playing at family gatherings. He graduated from playing the diddley bow to a Sears acoustic guitar. In the early 1950s, he formed a 3 piece band called the Rhythm Aces, that also included Little Milton whom Cusic taught to play guitar.

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!