This Week In The Blues: March 02 - March 08, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of March 2 - March 8, 2025.

Some of the highlights include Irish Blues Guitar Maestro Rory Gallagher, Chicago blues guitarist John Primer, and country blues maestro Mississippi John Hurt.

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:

Rory Gallagher - "Bullfrog Blues 1979 (live)" - https://youtu.be/l6sA30ZBwXo?si=2Ei1Opo_qMouvyXN

John Primer - "She Do The Right Thing All Of The Time" - https://youtu.be/qj1SA4ltsx0?si=IoRWFb0nD6k9Oz9o

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: Mar 02 – Mar 08, 2025

Irish Blues Guitar Maestro Rory Gallagher was born March 2, 1948. Gallagher formed the band Taste in the late 1960s and recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His albums have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Even with a career cut short by illness and a premature death, he left his mark in the blues and rock worlds. Queen ’s Brian May imitated not only his playing but his gear early on. Eric Clapton said it was Gallagher who got him “back into the blues.”

Blues musician Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis born March 2, 1925 in Tippo, Mississippi. His real name is Charles Thompson, and I’m not sure how he went from that to “Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis”. He played with John Lee Hooker, recorded an album for Elektra Records in the mid-1960s, and remained a regular street musician on Maxwell Street, in Chicago, for over 40 years. He is best remembered for his songs "Cold Hands" and "4th and Broad".

Blues singer and guitarist Blind Teddy Darby was born March 2, 1906 in Henderson, Kentucky. He moved to St. Louis with his family when he was a child. His mother taught him to play the guitar. He served some time for selling moonshine. In 1926, he lost his eyesight because of glaucoma. In the late 1930s, he gave up the blues and became an ordained deacon. 

Here’s another “Ghosts of Mississippi” story, although this one is from Texas. Blues guitarist John Smith was born sometime in either 1890 or 1910 and was variously known as the Howling Wolf, "Funny Papa" Smith, "Funny Paper" Smith, and Howling Smith. He married in the 1920s and spent most of the decade busking on the streets in towns around Texas and Oklahoma. His first recordings were made in Chicago in 1930. His guitar was often out of tune, even on some of his recordings. Smith reportedly wore a stovepipe hat with "Funny Papa Smith" stitched upon it. Between September 1930 and April 1935, he recorded forty-one songs, but only half that number were released at that time.

Howlin' Wolf guitar genius Willie Johnson was born March 4, 1923 in Senatobia, Mississippi! His raucous, distorted guitar playing is prominent on Howlin' Wolf's Memphis recordings during 1951–1953, including the hit song "How Many More Years". Johnson also performed and recorded with other blues artists in the Memphis area, including pianist Willie Love, Willie Nix, Junior Parker, Roscoe Gordon, Bobby "Blue" Bland and others.

Blues singer and guitarist Tom Shaw was born March 4, 1908 in Brenham, Texas. Shaw was taught to play both the harmonica and guitar by his relatives, and based his style on his collaborations with Blind Lemon Jefferson, J. T. Smith and Ramblin' Thomas. After spending time as an itinerant musician in Texas, in 1934 he relocated to California. He continued to perform and appeared on radio, before setting up his own club which he operated for many years. 

Blues singer and guitarist Peg Leg Howell was born March 5, 1888 on a farm in Eatonton, Georgia.  Howell was one of the first musicians who connected early country blues and the later 12-bar style. he taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 21. He continued working on the farm until he was shot in a fight with his brother-in-law, as a result of the injury he lost his right leg and began working full-time as a musician. Which, I’m sure made for some awkward Thanksgiving dinners. Anyway In 1923 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and began playing on street corners, mainly around Decatur Street. He also served time in prison for bootlegging liquor.

Left-handed blues guitarist Johnny Jenkins was born March 5, 1939 in Macon, GA and played the guitar left-handed and upside down. His first band, The Pinetoppers included a young Otis Redding on lead vocals. His unorthodox guitar style left lasting marks on the young, impressionable Jimi Hendrix, who came out to see Jenkins play while visiting relatives in the Macon area. Later, in 1969, Jenkins and Hendrix teamed up to play together at a New York club called The Scene.

Chicago blues guitarist John Primer was born March 5, 1945 in Camden, Mississippi. By any yardstick, Chicago guitarist John Primer has paid his dues. He played behind Junior Wells in the house band at Theresa's Lounge and as a member of the bands of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before launching an award-winning career as a front man, carrying forward the traditional Windy City sound into the 21st century. He’s one of the last real traditionalists in town.

Blues guitarist Walter Trout born March 6, 1951 in Ocean City, New Jersey. Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield, Big Mama Thornton, Joe Tex, and many others. In the 80s he was the lead guitarist in Canned Heat and the lead guitarist in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. With both groups Trout recorded and toured worldwide.

Country blues guitarist "Furry" Lewis born March 6, in either 1893 or 1899 in Greenwood, Mississippi and his family moved to Memphis when he was seven. He acquired the nickname "Furry" from childhood playmates. By 1908, he was playing solo at parties, in taverns, and on the street. Furry Lewis was the only blues singer of the 1920s to achieve major media attention in the ’60s and ’70s. One of the very best blues storytellers, and an extremely nimble-fingered guitarist into his seventies, he was equally adept at blues and ragtime.

On March 8, 1940 blues guitarist Bukka White recorded "Fixin' to Die Blues" in Chicago. The song was written just days before, along with eleven others. White was resuming his recording career after his incarceration for two and one-half years at the infamous Parchman Farm prison in Mississippi. While there, White witnessed the death of a friend and "got to wondering how a man feels when he dies". In 1961, Bob Dylan recorded "Fixin' to Die" for his debut album.

Country blues maestro Mississippi John Hurt born back in March 8, 1893 in Avalon, Mississippi! Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He worked as a sharecropper and began playing at dances and parties, singing to a melodious fingerpicked accompaniment. His first recordings, made for Okeh Records in 1928, were commercial failures, and he continued to work as a farmer. He was tracked down by researchers based on one of his recordings that mentioned his home town of Avalon.

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 that will include stories about swamp blues giant Lightnin' Slim and blues guitarist "Lightnin'" Hopkins. You won’t want to miss this “electric” show - see what I did there? Anyway - we’ll see you then!