This Week In The Blues: April 27 - May 3, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of April 27 - May 3, 2025.

Some of the highlights include Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush, the great blues harp master Little Walter, and rhythm and blues singer Big Maybelle.

Keep in mind that there's so much more that happened this week in the blues. 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:

Otis Rush - "I Can't Quit You Baby" - https://youtu.be/Uy2tEP3I3DM?si=-D9jPK-n41rv91WG

Little Walter - "My Babe" - https://youtu.be/ERBPdJ57D-s?si=VXb5m-TXPI0IaNbk

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!

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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 Apr 27 – May 03 2025

Blues and soul singer Ann Peebles was born April 27, 1947 in Kinloch, Missouri. She gained popularity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s while signed to Hi Records. Her most successful single includes "I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller.

Texas blues steel guitar player Harding "Hop" Wilson was born April 27, 1921 in Grapeland, Texas.  He earned the nickname "Hop" as a devolution of "Harp" due to his constant playing of a harmonica as a child. Wilson learned to play guitar and harmonica at an early age. He got his first steel guitar as a teenager and performed at various Houston juke joints and clubs. After serving in the Army, Wilson decided to pursue a musical career.

Blues guitarist Phil Guy was born April 28, 1940. He was the younger brother of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Phil and Buddy Guy were frequent collaborators and contribute both guitar and vocal performances on many of each other's albums. Guy was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He played with the harmonica player Raful Neal for ten years in the Baton Rouge area. He then relocated to Chicago in 1969, where he joined his brother's band, at the time when his brother was becoming known as an innovator in blues guitar. The brothers collaborated extensively with Junior Wells in the 1970s.

Blues singer Louis “Blues Boy” Jones was born April 28, 1931 in Galveston, Texas. He served as a medic with the US Army during the Korean war, and later worked as a longshoreman and shipyard worker. In the early 1950s he moved to Houston and soon began singing backing vocals on recordings produced by Don Robey.  Jones also worked as a backup singer on many of Robey's productions for the Peacock and Duke labels in the late 1950s, including recordings by Bobby "Blue" Bland and "Big Mama" Thornton.

Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush was born April 28, 1931. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists. Albert King did this too. Rush often played with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound, that became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.

Blues guitarist Lefty Dizz was born on April 29, 1937, in Osceola, Arkansas. His real name is Walter Williams and before his four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force ended in 1956, Lefty began to play the guitar. When he returned to Chicago later that year, he came under the tutelage of Lacy Gibson and Earl Hooker. In 1958, Lefty joined Sonny Thompson's road band, playing rhythm 'n' blues throughout the country. During a gig in Seattle, a left-handed teenage guitarist named Jimi Hendrix, hung out with, and was influenced by, Lefty Dizz.

Blues slide guitarist Homesick James was born April 30, 1910 in Somerville, Tennessee. And his real name? It’s been listed as John William Henderson, James Williams, or James Williamson. Same goes for when he was born. He’s claimed 1905, 1910, or 1914, while his union records give 1924. Not much is known about his early life. He developed a self-taught style of slide guitar through playing at local dances in his teens. He claimed to be the older cousin of Elmore James, to have bought James his first guitar, and to have taught him how to play slide. In 1932 he relocated to Chicago, Illinois and his first recorded in 1952, including the tracks "Lonesome Ole Train" and "Homesick", which gave him his stage name.

Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson, also known as Lonesome Lee, was born Apr 30, 1931 in Chicago. Robinson began his musical career as a harmonica player before taking up the guitar. Over the course of his career, he played with some of the biggest names in blues and recorded several albums of his own. He helped to define the Chicago blues style through his recordings and live performances. His music was deeply rooted in the African American experience, and he wrote songs that addressed issues of love, loss, and struggle. One of Robinson's most famous songs is "Rosie Mae," which he wrote about his wife. The song has been covered by several other blues musicians, including Magic Slim, 

Blues guitarist Rev Gary Davis was born April 30, 1896. His finger picking style was a unique multi-voice style produced solely with his thumb and index finger, and influenced the likes of Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Keb' Mo', just to name a few. Davis was partially blind at birth, and lost what little sight he had before he was an adult. He was self-taught on the guitar, beginning at age six, and by the time he was in his 20s he had one of the most advanced guitar techniques of anyone in blues. He played gospel, ragtime, in addition to blues.

Blues Harp maestro Little Walter was born May 1, 1930! His name was Marion Walter Jacobs, and his revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. Little Walter arrived in Chicago in 1946. The thriving Maxwell Street strip offered a spot for the still-teenaged phenom to hawk his wares. He fell in with local royalty, Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy, and debuted on wax that same year. Walter joined forces with Muddy Waters in 1948 for a long run. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

Rhythm and Blues singer Big Maybelle was born May 1, 1924 in Jackson, Tennessee. She began her professional career with Dave Clark's Memphis Band in 1936, and also toured with the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm. n 1952, she was signed by Okeh Records, whose record producer Fred Mendelsohn gave her the stage name 'Big Maybelle' because of her loud yet well-toned voice. In 1955, she recorded the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", produced by up-and-coming producer Quincy Jones, a full two years before rockabilly then rock and roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis's version. Lewis credited Smith's version as being the inspiration to make his version louder, more raunchy and raucous, with a driving beat and a spoken section with a come-on that was considered very risque for the time.

The "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1", none other than James Brown was born May 3, 1933! In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd.

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 and we’ll cover the birthdays of blues guitarists Robert Johnson and Joe Bonnamassa. You won’t want to miss this one – we’ll see you then!