This Week In The Blues: July 6 – July 12, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of July 06 – July 12, 2025.

Some of the highlights include blues piano players Pinetop Perkins and Johnnie Johnson, blues guitarist Blind Boy Fuller, and a recording that was so controversial that they waited a decade to release the album and even then, disguised the identity of the artists and the location of the session called "Blues in the Mississippi Night".

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:

Pinetop Perkins & Bob Margolin - Live 2001 - https://youtu.be/SZbWo9kgUms?si=XhvqnQzdBuUi4XiE

Full Album - "Blues in the Mississippi Night" - https://youtu.be/oQbLBQ-0sSU?si=yqIDIgENVodEDRdb

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: July 06 – July 12, 2025

blues piano maestro Pinetop Perkins was born July 7, 1913! Perkins began as a guitarist, but a mid-’40s encounter with an outraged chorus girl toting a knife left him with severed tendons in his left arm. That dashed his guitar aspirations and concentrated solely on piano from that point on. Perkins had traveled to Helena, Arkansas playing on the King Biscuit Time radio show. He eventually settled in Chicago eventually replacing Otis Spann in Muddy Waters band, where he would spend more than a decade. In 2010 he collaborated with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith for the album Joined at the Hip, which won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album, giving the 97 year old Perkins the status of oldest Grammy winner ever.

Blues, jazz and R&B guitarist Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes was born on July 7, 1916 in Newport News, Virginia. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a recording session with Charlie Parker. He is notable for playing the electric tenor guitar, a four-stringed instrument.

Blues pianist Johnnie Johnson was born on July 8 back in 1924. Johnson had a band called the Sir John Trio, and on New Year’s eve in 1953 a little known guitarist named Chuck Berry joined them. Soon afterward Berry took over as the group’s songwriter, frontman, and guitar player. For 28 years Johnson’s rhythmic piano playing was a key element in all of Berry ’s hit singles, a good number of which Johnson arranged. Johnson is widely regarded to be the inspiration for one of Berry ’s biggest hits, “Johnny B. Goode.” He would go on to play and record with, among others, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, George Thorogood, and even Aerosmith.

Louisiana swamp blues guitar player Larry Garner was born on July 8, 1952 in New Orleans and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His first inspiration was the guitar-playing preacher Reverend Utah Smith. Garner got to know local musicians such as Lonesome Sundown, Silas Hogan, Guitar Kelley and Tabby Thomas. He was taught to play guitar primarily by his uncle and others in the neighborhood where he grew up. Garner completed military service in Korea and returned to Baton Rouge, working part-time in music and full-time at a Dow Chemical plant. Things changed for him in 1988 when Garner won the International Blues Challenge.

Blues guitarist Blind Boy Fuller was born July 10 in 1907. Unlike blues artists like Big Bill Broonzey or Memphis Minnie who recorded extensively over three or four decades, Blind Boy Fuller recorded his substantial body of work over a short, six-year span. Nevertheless, he was one of the most recorded artists of his time and by far the most popular and influential Piedmont blues player of all time. From 1935 to 1941 had recorded over 120 sides. He also served as a conduit to recording sessions, steering fellow blues musicians to the studio.

One of my favorite guitarists was born on July 10 in 1953 - Charlie Baty, best known as the leader of award-winning blues band Little Charlie & The Nightcats. Over the course of his career, he shared stages with Muddy Waters, Gregg Allman, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Los Lobos and many others. Baty proudly never played the same song the same way twice. His playing bridged hard Chicago blues and swing jazz, and his inspirations were as diverse as Buddy Guy, Django Reinhardt and Tiny Grimes.

Chicago blues pianist Barrelhouse Chuck was born on July 10 in 1958. He claimed to be the only Chicago blues pianist to have studied under Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Blind John Davis, Detroit Junior, and Little Brother Montgomery. In 2013 and 2014, Barrelhouse Chuck was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category Pinetop Perkins Piano Player. In 2016, he lost a long battle with cancer, at the age of 58.  During his career he played or recorded with Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers.

West Coast blues guitarist Robert "Smokey" Wilson was born on July 11, 1936 in Glen Allan, Mississippi. He spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and juke joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He recorded a number of albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records. His career got off to a late start, with international recognition eluding him until the 1990s.

Magic Sam started recording "West Side Soul" on July 12 in 1967. It would prove to be groundbreaking in pairing soul and blues together. West Side Soul was a fresh, spirited distillations of the blues as it was being played in Chicago's south side clubs. It is often cited as one of the key modern electric blues albums. The album includes an updated "Sweet Home Chicago", which became a popular blues anthem.

July 12, 1959 marks day 2 of the first Newport Folk Festival. The lineup included blues greats Bo Diddley, Memphis Slim, Oscar Brand, and the Reverend Gary Davis. The Newport Folk Festival was a place where many blues artists from the 20s & 30s relaunched their careers.

"Blues in the Mississippi Night" was recorded on July 13, 1947, and this is an important story, so please hear me out. When folklorist Alan Lomax recorded Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, the results were so controversial that he waited a decade to release the album and even then, disguised the identity of the artists and the location of the session. The three bluesmen — dubbed Natchez, Leroy, and Sib in the original album notes –did more than play the blues on the album; they defined it in candid conversation, relaying such wrenching tales of hardships and racial injustice that, according to Lomax, they feared that a release of the recording might bring reprisals against them. Lomax had worries, too, and during the McCarthy era, when his activities came under question he moved to England.

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!