ON Memphis Minnie's Birthday-*The King Of Bottleneck Blues- The Work Of Tampa Red

Click on title to link to information about the life and work of Tampa Red.

CD Review

The Guitar Wizard: Tampa Red, Tampa Red, Columbia Legacy series, Sony Music, 1994

If the sincerest form of flattery is imitation then there is no question that the legendary bottleneck blues guitarist Tampa Red has been flattered by whole generations of latter day bottleneck guitarists, including some rather traditional country and western musicians, western swing artists like the well-respected Bob Wills bands and many modern rock instrumentalists. And with good reason. Although the case for greater showmanship can be argued of behalf of the legendary Mississippi Delta guitar artist Bukka White the Tampa Red picking style on that old National steel guitar has been subject of more imitation. Bukka brings his breakneck speed on the guitar with his breakneck lyrics to create a better and bouncier presentation but I will concede the point that for pure guitar virtuosity the nod goes to Brother Red.

And for those who do not believe me then merely check out the following tracks on this Columbia legacy equivalent of Tampa Red’s greatest hits. How about “Big Fat Mama”, “Don’t Leave Me Here” and “You Can’t Get That Stuff No More” done with Georgia Tom Dorsey in the days before Tom got religion. Or if you want to hear a solo then how about the classic “Turpentine Blues” and the two “Sugar Mama” tracks here. Some of the entries here are blues classics, some are then topical novelty songs that every genre produces but all have the Tampa Red trademark. Now you get it. Right?

Got To Leave My Woman Trk 22 Dsc 2 3:13 song 45
Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker)
Aurora, Illinois, Monday, March 14, 1938 Leland Hotel Top Floor
Tampa Red- vocal, piano, Willie Bee James - guitar
Album: The Bluebird Recordings - Tampa Red 1936 - 1938
2 Disc set RCA 07863 66722-2 1997 BMG
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com


Meet me down in the bottom
Mama, bring my shoes and clothes
Meet me down in the bottom
Mama, bring my shoes and clothes
I ain't got very many
But I got so fer to go

And the only one thing
That keep me so worried in mind
Now, the only one thing
That keep me so worried in mind
I've got to go leave
The woman I love, behind

Now, I don't mind leaving
But I got to be gone so long
I don't mind leaving
But I got to be gone so long
They got me 'cussed of murder, mama
An I ain't done nothin' wrong

Big sky's folding
And it can't be long 'fore day
Big sky's a-folding
And it can't be long 'fore day
Oh, goodbye baby
I must be on my way

When I write you a letter, mama
Mama, answer me in a telegram
When I write you a letter
Mama, answer with a telegram
'Cause I will not be contented, mama
Until I get you where I am.

Delta Woman Blues Trk 7 Dsc 2 3:03 song 30
Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker)
Aurora, Illinois, Oct. 11, 1937 Leland Hotel Top Floor
Tampa Red- vocal, guitar & piano, Willie Bee James - guitar
Album: The Bluebird Recordings - Tampa Red 1936 - 1938
2 Disc set RCA 07863 66722-2 1997 BMG
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com



I'm goin' back to the delta
That's where I belong
I'm goin' back to the delta
That's where I belong
If old bad luck an trouble
Don't keep me far to long

I'd rather be down in the delta
Than any place I know
I'd rather be down in the delta
Than any place I know
Because I don't feel happy
No other place I go

My little woman in the delta
Sho' was good to me
My little woman in the delta
Sho' was good to me
Well, she was a good kind-hearted
As one poor gal could be

I'm goin' back to the delta
Fall down on my knees
Gonna ask my delta woman
To forgive me if she please

I'm goin' back to the delta, woo-ooo
Goin' to fall down on my knees
I'm gonna ask my delta woman
To forgive me if she please.

I've tested with all-a my women
From here to Mexico
But my woman in the delta
She's the sweetest gal I know

I've tested with all-a my women, woo-ooo
From here to Mexico
But my little woman in the delta
She's the sweetest gal I know.

When The One You Love Is Gone Trk 2 Dsc 2 3:04 Song 25
Tampa Red (Hudon Whittaker)
Aurora, Illinois, Tues. May 4, 1937 Leland Hotel Top Floor
Tampa Red- vocal & piano, Willie Bee James - guitar
Album: The Bluebird Recordings - Tampa Red 1936 - 1938
2 Disc set RCA 07863 66722-2 1997 BMG
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com


Ain't it lonesome when the one you love is gone?
Ain't it lonesome when the one you love is gone?
Well, you cannot help but to worry
I know you're bound to weep and moan

My night so lonely
And my days are plenty blue
My nights are lonely
And my days are plenty blue
Well, I can't find no contentment
No matter what I do

Umm, if I could just explain
Umm, if I could just explain
Well, but I'm upset and I'm bothered
And my heart is full of pain

(instrumental)

Come back, baby
And I won't be bad no mo'
Come back, baby
And I won't be bad no mo'
Well, I will string along wit' you, baby
No matter where you will go.

Seminole Blues Trk 12 Dsc 2 3:03 Song 35
Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker)
Aurora, Illinois, Oct. 11, 1937 Leland Hotel Top Floor
Tampa Red- vocal, piano & guitar, Willie Bee James - guitar
Album: The Bluebird Recordings - Tampa Red 1936 - 1938
2 Disc set RCA 07863 66722-2 1997 BMG
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com


My baby's gone, won't be back no mo'
She won't be back no mo', whoa-ooh
My baby's gone, she won't be back no mo'
She left this mo'nin', she caught that Seminole

I got the blues so bad
It hurt my tongue to talk
It hurt my tongue to talk, ooh-ooh
The blues so bad
It hurt my tongue to talk
I would follow my baby
But it hurt my feet to walk

(instrumental) slide guitar

She gimme her love
Even let me draw her pay
She let me draw her pay, yeah
She give me her love
Even let me draw her pay
She was a real good woman
But unkindness drove her 'way

(instrumental) slide guitar

I've got the Seminole blues
Leaving on my mind
Leaving on my mind, whoa-ooh
Seminole blues, leaving on my mind
I'm goin' to find my baby
If I have to ride the blind.

We Gonna Get High Together Trk 14 Dsc 2 3:07 song 37
Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker) And The Chicago Five
Aurora, Illinois, March 14, 1938 Leland Hotel Top Floor
Tampa Red- vocal,& guitar, unk - trumpet
poss. Bill Owsley - tenor sax, prob. Blind John Davis - piano
unk string bass (poss. imitation sb)
Album: The Bluebird Recordings - Tampa Red 1936 - 1938
2 Disc set RCA 07863 66722-2 1997 BMG
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com


There are you and here am I
We would be silly to sit an sigh
Okie-dokey, darlin' you and I
Are gonna get high together

Ev'rytime I look at you
I picture things that we could do
Drink up dear and don't be blue
We gonna get high together

When the band begin to play it
And the gang begin to sway it
Then we will begin the latest
Just messin' around
Darlin' truckin' on down

Then after drinkin' some-a this and that
I may decide to take ya to my flat
Turn out the light an make it tight like that
We're gonna get high together

(instrumental)

'Yas, yas' I hear ya, Mr. Sax Man

'Everybody, rock' 1:14

'Ah-ha, oh yeah, oh yeah'

'I hear ya talkin' to me'

(piano)

'I'm lookin' at that piano man'

'Ah-ha, yeah'

'Oh yeah'

(trumpet)

Ah-ha

That's it

There are you and here am I
We would be silly
Just to sit an sigh
Okie-dokey, darlin' you and I
Are gonna get high together

Evrytime I look at you
I picture things that we could do
Drink up dear and don't be blue
We gonna get high together

When the band begins to play it
And the gang begins to sway
Then we will begin the latest
Just messin' around, darling
Truckin' on down

Then after drinkin' some a-this and that
I may decide to take ya to my flat
Turn out the light and make it tight like that
We gonna get high together, yas.

*More, Much More Than All Right-Post- World War II Blues Up Close And Personal

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Sunnyland Slim (and Sonny Boy Williamson) Performing "Come Home Baby".

CD Review

When The Sun Goes Down: That’s All Right, various artists, BMG Music, 2002

In the course of the past year or so I have highlighted any number of blues CD compilations as I have tried to search for the roots of the American musical experience, and in the process retraced some of the nodal points of my own musical interests. I never tire of saying that I have been formed, and reformed by the blues so that when I came upon this “When The Sun Goes Down” series (a very apt expression of the right time for the blues to be played) I grabbed each copy with both hands. In one series, the producers, as an act of love without question, have gathered up the obscure, the forgotten, the almost forgotten and the never to be forgotten voices that “spoke” to me in my youth and started me on that long ago love affair with the blues. I have hardly been alone on that journey but it is nice to see that some people with the resources, the time, money and energy have seen fit to honor our common past. Each CD reviewed here, and any future ones that I can get my hands on, for there are more than the three I am reviewing today, is chock full of memorable performances by artists who now will, through the marvels of modern high technology, gain a measure of justified immortality.

Here is the cream. The name Big Maceo has not come up previously in this space. Here is his introduction, “Worried Life Blues”, Needless to say, as a blues man much covered by other better known musicians like John Lee Hooker, he will be receiving more attention in the future. Sunnyland Slim, here performing “Illinois Central” is another figure worthy of more ink. As is “Big Boy” Crudup doing an amazing version of “That’s All Right”. Yes, that is the one that Elvis made famous, but that is a separate story. The first time I heard “Look On Yonder Wall” it was done by Elmore James. Here the well-regarded Junior Gillum does a nice job, although I still prefer Elmore’s version. By the way, at one this song was in contention as the root source of rock and roll. We know now that “Shake, Rattle and Roll” is more worthy of that title but this one is not far behind. Tampa Red on “When Things Go Wrong With You”, Crudup on another classic “Dust My Broom” (showing some of both Robert Johnson’s and Elmore James’ versions), Roosevelt Sykes on “Anytime Is The Right Time” and an early Little Richard tune round out this compilation that is centered more on works representative of the post-World War II electrification of the blues than the previously reviewed CDs in this series. Arguably this compilation as a whole can serve both as prime examples of the R&B branch of the blues and the foundation for rock and roll, See what you think?

"Illinois Blues - Sunnyland Slim"

Boys, I'm walkin' an thinkin'
Woo-ooo!
But I ain't doin' myself no good
Woo-ooo!
I'm walkin' an thinkin'
Woo!
But I ain't doin' myself no good
Yoo-hoo-hoo!
The one I love
Woo-ooo!
Done left the neighborhood

Well, I hate to hear
Woo!
That Illinois Central, blow
Woo!
I hate to hear
Woo!
That Illinois Central, blow
Woo-hoo!
It fly on just like
Woo!
It won't be back no mo-oh-ore'

'Well, alright let me hear ya, Mr. Davis'
'Play it for me one time'
'You know what I'm talkin' about'

'Lord, have mercy, man have it'
'Lord, have mercy!'

'That low part, Mr. Ransom
You know what I'm talkin' about'
'Play it, man'
'Ah, mercy, mercy, mercy!'

'That makes me get homesick
sho' enough, now'

I wanna tell you people
Woo-ooo!
What the Illinois Central will do
Woo-hoo!
I wanna tell you people
Woo!
What the Illinois Central will do
Woo-hoo!
It'll steal your woman
Woo-hoo!
And blow back after you

I have tried to give up
Woo!
But it's a hard old thing to do
(I'll show you!)
Woo-hoo!
I have tried to give the girl up
Woo!
But it's a hard old thing to do

Woo!
So, I just keep on drinkin', John Davis
Woo!
Because I just can't believe it's through.
~

*Harmonica Heaven- The Blues Harp Of "Jazz" Gillum

Click On Title To Link To Wikipedia's Entry For "Jazz" Gillum".

CD REVIEW

Bill “Jazz” Gillum: The Bluebird recordings, 1934-38, Bill Gillum, BMG Records, 1997

Sonny Boy Williamson (either artist who went by that name), James Cotton, Brownie McGhee all made their marks with some very smoking harmonica. Hell, even Bob Dylan enhanced much of his earlier folk work using that instrument. Here one of the early masters of the instrument gives it a full work out and some very nice blues/jazz tunes. As the title of the album indicates, although he had a longer somewhat checkered career that ended in personal tragedy in some dark alley, Gillum hits his high notes best in the period of the Bluebird recordings. Together with some fine back up musicians and a voice that while not memorable is serviceable this album shows why that statement is true.

Remember though you are getting this album for the harmonica work, that is the strong suit here. For this reviewer the top song is the New “Sail On Little Girl” (that Big Joe Turner made a huge hit on later). Others to listen for are “Sarah Jane”, “Alberta Blues”, “Reefer Head Woman” (you know what that one’s about, right?) and the seemingly obligatory (for any black musician in that time coming out of the Mississippi Delta and heading North to Memphis or Chicago) “Good Old 51 Highway”.

Lyrics to "Reefer Head Woman" (a song covered bu Aerosmith, by the way)


I got a reefer headed woman
She fell right down from the sky
(Good Lord)
Woh...I got a reefer head a woman
She fell right down from the sky

Well, I gots to drink me a two fifths of whiskey
Just to get half as high

When the good Lord made that woman
He sure went to town
Oooh...when the good Lord made that woman
He sure went to town

Well, when he was feelin' high
Oooh...he sure should have been feelin' low

Oh Mr. Perry!

I got a reefer headed woman
Lord...she fell right down from the sky
Uuum...got a reefer headed woman
She fell right down from the sky

Lord, I gots to drink me two fifths of whiskey
Just to get, just to get, half as high

"St. Louis Woman"- Bessie Smith On Video

DVD Review

The Blues Is The Dues-Right?

The Blues, Bessie Smith, Mame Smith, Ida Cox, Big ill Broonzy and Sonny Boy Williamson, Storyville Films, 2007

I have mentioned more than once over the past year of reviewing blues artists in this space that most of my favorites in my youth had already, one way or another, passed from the scene and therefore I had not been able to see them in live performances. Thus, for the most part, I know this music from records, tapes, CDs, later covers and, on occasion, from a video clip (more so now with the increases in video technology and information spread that makes this material more accessible). That is the case here with the performances of Bessie Smith in “St. Louis Woman”; Mame Smith: Ida Cox: Bill Big Broonzy: and, Sonny Boy Williamson.

Those who follow this space know that I have commented previously on Bessie “The Empress Of The Blues” Smith and the legendary “Big Bill” Broonzy. They need no further introduction here. Mame Smith and Ida Cox were working at the same time and in the same milieu as Bessie Smith although off their performances here they do not challenge Bessie’s claim to the Empress title. “Big Bill” here mainly does some very nice guitar work but nothing memorable. Sonny Boy Williamson, aside from the controversy about whether or what his right name was, kind of sneaks in here with some virtuoso harmonica performances. However, what you want to get this video for is Bessie singing “St. Louis Woman” in this short black and white clip from 1929. This is the old tale of a “fancy” man doing his woman wrong and she can’t break his spell. Not even by singing the blues. Watch this thing. It is incredible. Then you will know why she was the Empress.