This Week In The Blues: June 1 - June 7, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of June 1 - June 7, 2025.

Some of the highlights include the blues guitar player Tinsley Ellis, Chicago blues guitar player Jimmy Rogers, and was the most popular and prolific blues woman of her day, Memphis Minnie.

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:

Tinsley Ellis - "Death Letter Blues" (Official Video) - https://youtu.be/yj9V_uyTRmk?si=CYenw9aN9KnDZDXC

Memphis Minnie - "My Butcher Man" - https://youtu.be/P8eOmT5smaw?si=cSz0GUZhpNf30zc5

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

Blues piano player Lafayette Leake was born June 1 back in 1919.  He worked at Chess Records as a session musician and played on many of your favorite blues classics, including many of Chuck Berry's recordings like "Johnny B. Goode", and "Rock and Roll Music. From the 1950s through the 1970s, backing many Chess musicians, including Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Billy Boy Arnold, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Little Walter, Homesick James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, and Koko Taylor. During the 1960s, Leake was a member of the Chicago Blues All-Stars, and toured and recorded with them until the mid-1970s.

Delta blues singer, guitar player and songwriter Boyd Gilmore was born June 1 1905 OR possibly on June 12, 1910. Among the songs he wrote were "All in My Dreams", "Believe I'll Settle Down", "I Love My Little Woman" and "If That's Your Girl". Gilmore also recorded a version of fellow Delta bluesman Robert Johnson's track, "Ramblin' on My Mind". After his brief recording career, Gilmore performed in juke joints in the Delta for a while. He also performed regularly in St. Louis, Missouri, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, during which period he lived in a boarded-up abandoned house.

Blues piano and guitar player Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston was born on June 2, 1917. He learned to play piano under the influence of Leroy Carr and Art Tatum. Caston is best noted for the tracks "Blues at Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log". He was born in Sumrall, Mississippi, and lived in Chicago from 1934 to 1936 but then moved back to Mississippi after his family relocated to Natchez. 

Memphis Minnie was born on June 3 in 1897. She was the most popular and prolific blueswoman of her day, and she earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the blues artists she worked with throughout her long career. Her real name is Lizzie Douglas, and she recorded around 200 songs. Some of the best known being "Bumble Bee", "Nothing in Rambling", and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues". Despite her Southern roots and popularity, she was as much a Chicago blues artist as anyone in her day. Big Bill Broonzy recalls her beating both him and Tampa Red in a guitar contest and claims she was the best woman guitarist he had ever heard.

Blues piano player Buster Pickens born June 3 in 1916. He was born in Hempstead, Texas, and by the 1930s Pickens, and others, were part of the "Santa Fe Circuit", named after touring musicians utilizing the Santa Fe freight trains. Pickens later accompanied Alger "Texas" Alexander and regularly performed with Lightnin' Hopkins and played on several of Hopkins's albums in the early 1960s. Pickens was shot dead by his cousin after an argument in a bar in Houston, in November 1964

Chicago blues guitar player Jimmy Rogers was also born on June 3 in Ruleville, Mississippi. He learned to play the harmonica with his childhood friend Snooky Pryor, and as a teenager he took up the guitar. He was best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. His solo career included the blues hits "That's All Right", "Chicago Bound", "Walking by Myself" and "Rock This House". He withdrew from the music industry at the end of the 1950s but returned to recording and touring in the 1970s. In 1995, Rogers was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. (photo by Bob Corritore)

I want to tell you a little delta history about the town of Greenville, Mississippi and one of its most notable streets. One epicenter of African American business and entertainment in the Delta was Nelson Street. Businesses like nightclubs, cafes, churches, groceries, barbershops, record shops, and others did a bustling trade. Famous blues clubs on the street included the Casablanca, the Flowing Fountain, and the Playboy Club. Blues singer Willie Love showed a little love for the street in his 1951 recording “Nelson Street Blues.” 

Blues guitar player Tinsley Ellis was born June 4, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in South Florida. According to Billboard, "nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Tinsley Ellis. He sings like a man possessed and wields a mean lead guitar." Rolling Stone said, "On assertive originals and standards by the likes of Jimmy Reed and Junior Wells, Tinsley Ellis unleashes feral blues guitar”. Okay – enough said. This guy is a serious blues guitar player that is doing his best to keeping the blues alive. He continues to record and tour, so take this opportunity to go catch him live if you can. You can find more info on his website and Tinsley Ellis dot com.

Country blues singer and guitar player Lil McClintock was born on June 5, 1883. Not much is known about McClintock's personal life, before or after he recorded four sides for Columbia Records. Interest in his recordings has been revived over the years, and they are prized by collectors. McClintock was commonly referred to as "Lil"; it has been speculated that this was either an abbreviation of little or a reference to his tall, thin figure.

Blues singer and harp player Raful Neal was born June 6, 1936. Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised by his aunt and uncle on a tenant farm in Chamberlin, West Baton Rouge Parish. He began playing the harmonica at age 14. He played with Buddy Guy in a band called the Clouds. Neal toured globally. In 1997, his harmonica playing was featured on the album Live: Swampland Jam by Tab Benoit. Nine of his ten children are also blues musicians, and several performed with him on his later releases on the Alligator label.

New Releases:

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 where we’ll talk about Skip James and blues guitar player Kenny Wayne Shephard. Believe it or not, on June 7th we’ll be in Tulsa Oklahoma playing an after concert party for Kenny Wayne Shephard and we’re pretty excited about it. Okay blues fans– we’ll see you next week!