This Week In The Blues: June 29 - July 5, 2025

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

Some of the highlights include Chicago producer, songwriter, bass player, and singer Willie Dixon, Blues harp player James Cotton, and New Orleans blues and boogie-woogie piano player "Champion Jack" Dupree.

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
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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:

Willie Dixon - "Sittin' And Cryin' The Blues" (1963) - https://youtu.be/qh973Lvo8EQ?si=U_GR5KJ1XHNCfJGT

James Cotton - "Rocket 88" - https://youtu.be/XTDpsOY2dX4?si=hflV3NhoPWRQZIcK

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: June 29 – July 05, 2025

Chicago producer, songwriter, bass player, and singer Willie Dixon was born July 1, 1915 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Dixon eventually made his way to Chicago, where he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship. Dixon’s real recognition was as a songwriter. He wrote “Hoochie Coochie Man” for Muddy Waters, “Evil” for Howlin' Wolf, and “My Babe” by Little Walter. This established Dixon as Chess Records’ most reliable songwriter, and the Chess brothers continually pushed Dixon’s songs on their artists.

Blues harp player James Cotton was born on July 1 in 1935 in Tunica, Mississippi. At his 1970s peak as a bandleader, James Cotton was a bouncing, sweaty, whirling dervish of a bluesman, roaring his vocals and all but sucking the reeds right out of his defenseless little harmonicas he played. When Little Walter left Muddy Waters band in 1954, Cotton joined the band and during the next dozen years, he filled the integral role beside Chicago’s blues king with power and precision.

Here’s a bit of Jimi Hendrix history. On July 2, 1962 Jimi Hendrix is honorably discharged from the Army after serving a little over a year of his 3-year commitment. The reason for his discharge is "unsuitability," as his superiors agree he will never be a good soldier, in part because he's more interested in his guitar than his rifle.

Texas blues and soul blues singer Lavell "Lavelle" White was born July 3, 1929 in Amite City, Louisiana. White’s talents as a songwriter and singer were well-known in 1950s Houston, where she recorded several singles for the Duke/Peacock labels. In the late ’50s, her labelmates included Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King, and Junior Parker. After performing most of her adult lifetime, White released three albums, the first of which was issued in 1994, when she was aged 65.   July 3, 1929 

On July 4, 1943 Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson was born. He’s best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat. Wilson was the lead singer for the group's two biggest U.S. hit singles: "On the Road Again" and "Going Up the Country". Wilson was interested in the blues as a teenager and became an expert on early blues artists such as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, and Skip James. In 1964 he was brought in to re-teach Son House how to play the songs he had recorded previously in his 1930 and 1942 sessions. John Lee Hooker said of Wilson that he was "the greatest harmonica player ever".

New Orleans blues and boogie-woogie piano player "Champion Jack" Dupree was born on July 4, 1910 in New Orleans. His nickname came from his early career as a boxer. Dupree often injected his lyrics with a rowdy sense of down-home humor. But there was nothing lighthearted about his rock-solid way with a boogie; when he shouted “Shake Baby Shake,” the entire room had no choice but to get up and dance. Dupree served in in World War II. He was a cook in the United States Navy and was held by the Japanese for two years as a prisoner of war. 

Bill Withers was born on July 4th, 1938. He had just turned 33 when “Ain’t No Sunshine,” made him a sudden and unlikely success story, within one year an aircraft mechanic-turned-million-selling, Grammy-winning artist. He wrote the song in 1971 and it has become a classic of the soul genre, with its haunting melody and heart-wrenching lyrics. Another one of Withers' signature songs is "Lean on Me," which he wrote in 1972. Despite his many accolades, Withers remained a private person throughout his life. He retired from music in the 1980s, and he spent the remainder of his life out of the public eye.

Happy Birthday to maybe the unluckiest musician in New Orleans, rhythm & blues singer and guitar player Smiley Lewis, who was born on July 5 in 1913. I say that because He was stuck in the shadow of Fats Domino, never to get the national recognition he deserved. For example, he was the first to record "Blue Monday", in 1954; and then Fats Domino had a hit with the same song two years later. In 1955 he achieved his biggest sales with "I Hear You Knocking", the first recording of the song, again to be outshined by Fats Domino.

On July 5th, 1954, Elvis Presley recorded the Aurther “Big Boy” Crudup song "That's Alright Mama". The song was written by Crudup, and originally recorded by him in Chicago on September 6, 1946, as "That's All Right". Some of the lyrics are traditional blues verses first recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1926. Crudup's recording was released as a single in 1947 but was less successful than some of his previous recordings. The Elvis version, well, that one started his rise to fame.

Blues slide guitar player Kenny Brown was born July 5, 1953, on the Air Force base in Selma, Alabama. He was raised in northern Mississippi's hill country, and as a child Brown absorbed the region's rich musical heritage. Largely self-taught on guitar, he received encouragement and coaching from his neighbor, the bluesman Mississippi Joe Callicott. Brown recorded with R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, CeDell Davis, Frank Frost, T-Model Ford, Mojo Bufford, Jessie Mae Hemphill, The North Mississippi Allstars, as well as Cyndi Lauper.

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!