Happy Birthday To You-*In The Time Of "The Good Old Boys" (And Gals) - Hillbilly Heaven-Ozark Style

Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.    

A  YouTube's film clip of the trailer for "Homemade Hillbilly Jam".

DVD Review

Homemade Hillbilly Jam, various professional and amateur musicians playing old time and modern instruments, First Run Productions, 2005

Well, this traveling American “roots” music caravan that I have been running via the Internet, in this and other “hot” cyberspace spots, has been all over this country. I have been down in the Delta with the country blues artists like Robert Johnson, Skip James and Son House. I have been in those dust-blown Oklahoma hills with Woody Guthrie. I have been out West with the cowboy balladeers. I have been down in the swamps of Louisiana with the Cajun boys and girls, black and white. I’ve have been up in those Kentucky mountains with Roscoe Holcomb. Hell, I have even spent time, an inordinate amount of time, discussing roots music as it filtered through the 1960s folk revival in those rural meccas of New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts. You will agree I have been around. On this stop we go to the hills again this time to the Ozarks to “discover”….hillbillies and their musical traditions.

Now I know that it is hardly news that the term “hillbilly” has, over the last few decades, carried some pretty negative connotations. Hard-nosed 'wild men' truckers and car aficionados , honky tonks and honky-tonk women, “know-nothing” politics, in short, good old boys and girls fully enjoying the benefits of the 19th century in the outback. The truth or falsehood of those characterizations is not at issue here though. What concerns me is the addition of this “hillbilly” flavor to the “roots’ music bandwagon. This is done here, by following the doings, comings, goings and whatnot of three modern “hillbilly” (or at least hillbilly-descended families) musical families out in Ozark country.

Some of this music, the motels, honky-tonks and barns where it is played, and the instruments used to play it are very familiar from other regions like those Kentucky hills mentioned before. This, moreover, makes sense because there are some common Scotch-Irish Child Ballad-like traditions that unite these various strands as the forebears drove relentlessly westward. This region, isolated back in the older times, did develop its own variations but I sense that, good old boys and girls or not, we are on some very familiar ground. And here is the kicker for this reviewer, personally, when it comes to knowledge of this music. Oh sure, as I have mentioned in other reviews, it was in the background in our house from my Kentucky-born father back in my youth. It’s in the genes. But let me tell where I really started to get a better sense of this mountain music. Many years ago I used to listen to a Saturday morning local radio show from the wilds of Cambridge. The name of the show-“Hillbilly At Harvard”. What do you think about that, my friends?


Pretty Saro

When I first come to this country in eighteen and forty nine
I saw many fair lovers, but I never saw mine
I viewéd all around me, I found I was quite alone
And me a poor stranger and a long way from home

My true love she won't have me and this I understand
She wants a freeholder and I've got no land
But I could maintain her on silver and gold
And as many of the fine things as my love's house could hold

Fare you well to old father. Fare you well to mother too.
I'm going for to ramble this wide world all through
And when I get weary, I'll sit down and cry
And I'll think of Pretty Saro, my darling, my dear.

Well I wish I was a poet, could write some fine hand
I would write my love a letter that she might understand.
I'd send it by the waters where the islands overflow
And I'd think of my darling wherever she'd go.

Way down in some lonesome valley. Way down in some lonesome grove
Where the small birds does whistle, their notes to increase
My love she is slender, both proper and neat
And I wouldn't have no better pastimes than to be with my sweet.

Well I wish I was a turtle dove, had wings and could fly
Just now to my love's lodging tonight I'd draw nigh
And in her lily-white arms I'd lie there all night
And I'd watch the little windows for the dawning of day.

Well I strolled through the mountains, I strolled through the vale
I strolled to forget her, but it was all in vain.
On the banks of Ocoee, on the mount of said brow
Where I once loved her dearly and I don't hate her now.

Happy Birthday Jim Kweskin-The Max Daddy Of Jug- *In The Beginning Was...The Jug- The Music of Jim Kweskin And The Jug Band- An Encore

CD Review

“Garden Of Joy” (1967), “America”(1971), Jim Kweskin and various musicians, two CD set, Warner Brothers, 2006

There is something of a joke on the folk rock circuit that Bob Dylan is on a never-ending tour. (Probably fairly close to the truth these days.) Apparently, in my reviews of the folk figures of the 1960s, I too am on never-ending tour. So be it. Today I go back to the now familiar question of why various male folk artists didn’t rise to Dylan’s iconic status. Except here on the subject of this review, Jim Kweskin of Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band fame (that also included two performers, ex-marrieds Geoff and Maria Muldaur, that I have spilled plenty of ink on in this space as well), I will not belabor the point for he simply made a choice to stay with his day job.

Except now some forty plus years later one Jim Kweskin has been making something of a revival in the Boston area,sometimes along with the afore-mentioned Geoff Muldaur. I recently attended a performance by the pair at a locally famous folk club (aka coffee house, for the nostalgically-inclined). Do these guys still have it? Oh, yes. Jim is still finger-picking with the best of them. Geoff (off a recent CD done with the Texas Sheiks) still is in good voice. Plus, a big plus, they are working the dust off the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music in their sets. Wow! Thus, I felt duty-bound to pick up the two CD set under review.

The set includes one old Jug Band album, including the classic Clifford Hayes jug number, “Garden Of Joy”, a nice monologue by the late Jug Band member (and jug aficionado) Fritz Richmond, and Maria on Lead Belly’s “When I Was A Cowboy.” This, my friends, is history. The second CD is a little later after the original Jug Band members went their separate ways. Here we have covers of Mance Lipscomb’s classic “Sugar Babe”, The Memphis Jug Band’s “Stealin’”, and Merle Travis’ “Dark As A Dungeon” to feast on. The question still remains open though, one that I have posed before-Jim, Geoff and Maria are still performing, and performing well in their respective venues. Therefore…well, you know the question, right?

*Early Texas Blues All Wrapped Up In One Package-The Music Of Henry Thomas

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Henry Thomas Performing "Bull Doze Blues".

CD Review

Texas Blues: Early Blues Masters From The Lone Star State: 4CD Set, Various artists, JSP records, London, 2004

Well here we go again. Just when you thought I had stopped talking about Texas after my many reviews of things Texas like the work of the writer Larry McMurtry and singers Janis Joplin, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mance Lipscomb, Lonnie Johnson and the electric Lightnin’ Hopkins I am here to review a four CD compilation of early Texas bluesmen. Now in this space I have reviewed North Carolina blues, Delta blues, traveling up river to Memphis blues and then to the Mecca, Chicago blues. They all have their own distinct variations and to a musicologist there are some subtle ways of playing that draw those distinctions out. For the laity though what makes that distinction is the rather laid-back way in which the music flows. Flows nicely, to be sure, but not in the pristine pick of North Carolina blues, the sweat of the plantation of Delta blues, the honky-tonk sound of Memphis or the raw blues sound of Chicago but the hard strum and slurring of words that is much softer by comparison than those other sounds.

I mentioned above the names Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mance Lipscomb and Lonnie Johnson. These are the traditions that the artists on these CDs are working with. They are mainly contemporaries and obviously not as well known either because the vagaries of fate, personal or otherwise didn’t leave much room for their work to become widely recognized in the “golden age” of this type of music in the late 1920’s before the deal when down in the Great Depression and cut off their sources of wider fame. Nevertheless we can, thanks to the producers of this set, get to hear them almost one hundred years later. Hell, most of them still sound good, at least in spots. Here is the cream: Disc A, Henry Thomas on the much-covered classic “John Henry” , a great version of “Don’t You Leave Me Here” and the novelty number (all railroad stops) “Railroadin’ Some”; Pete Harris on “Blind Lemon’s Song” (the also much-covered “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” :Disc C, Oscar Woods on the salacious “Don’t Sell It” and “Boll Weevil Blues” and Smith Casey on “East Texas Rag”. Also included in this series are Ramblin’ Thomas, Willie Reed, Coley Jones, Little Hat Jones, Jesse Thomas and Black Ace. Some good stuff by the lot of them but nothing that really jumped out like with Henry Thomas and Oscar Woods.

Bull Doze Blues - Henry Thomas

I'm going away, babe, and it won't be long
I'm going away and it won't be long
I'm going away and it won't be long

Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard

Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye

I'm going back to Tennessee
I'm going back to Memphis, Tennessee
I'm going back, Memphis, Tennessee

I'm going where I never get bulldozed
I'm going where I never get the bulldoze
I'm going where I never get bulldozed

If you don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
If you don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
If you don't believe I'm sinking, look what a fool I've been.

Oh, my babe, take me back. How in the world, Lord, take me back.

* Early Texas Blues All Wrapped Up In One Package- The Blues Of Oscar Woods

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Oscar Wood's Classic "Lone Wolf Blues".

CD Review

Texas Blues: Early Blues Masters From The Lone Star State: 4CD Set, Various artists, JSP records, London, 2004

"Lone Wolf Blues"

Mama mother told me, when I was quite a child (2x)
I say the life that you are living will kill you after a while

I just begin to realize the things my mother say (2x)
Since I been down here I been mistreated this way

I never loved no one woman, hope to God I never will (2 x)
All these triflin' women will get some good man killed

Now I ain't no monkey and I sho' can't climb a tree (2x)
And I ain't gonna let no woman make no monkey out of me

Now I sent my baby a brand new twenty-dollar bill (2x)
If that don't bring her, I know my shotgun will

*Early Texas Blues All Wrapped Up In One Package-The Blues Of Johnny Temple

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Johnny Temple Performing "The Evil Devil Blues".

CD Review

Texas Blues: Early Blues Masters From The Lone Star State: 4CD Set, Various artists, JSP records, London, 2004



Eric Clapton Me and the Devil Blues Lyrics:


By Robert Johnson



Early this mornin', when you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh, when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "hello, satan, I believe it's time to go"

Me and the devil, was walkin' side by side
Me and the devil, ooh, was walkin' side by side
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/RAF ]
I'm goin' to beat my woman, until I get satisfied

She say you don't see why, that I will dog her 'round
[Spoken:] Now, baby, you know you ain't doin' me right, now
She say you don't see why, ooh, that I will dog her 'round
It must-a be that old evil spirit, so deep down in the ground

You may bury my body, down by the highway side

[Spoken:] Baby, I don't care where you bury my body when I'm dead and gone
You may bury my body, ooh, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can get a Greyhound bus and ride
Lyrics: Me and the Devil Blues, Eric Clapton [end]

*Early Texas Blues All Wrapped Up In One Package- The Music Of Ramblin' Thomas

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Ramblin' Thomas Performing The Very Timely "No Job Blues".

CD Review

Texas Blues: Early Blues Masters From The Lone Star State: 4CD Set, Various artists, JSP records, London, 2004

*A Country Blues Encore Performance- In One Place At One Time

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Son House performing "Death Letter Blues" on that old National guitar. Whoa!



Legends Of The Country Blues Guitar, various blues guitar artists, Vestapol Productions, 1994



I have reviewed all of the performers mentioned here individually and while I would have included a few others there is no question these guys (and it is all guys) make the A-list.

Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Henry Townsend, Son House, Reverend Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Pete Williams, Brownie McGhee and Josh White. Well, that is not a bad roundup of the greats of country blues guitar (mainly that means of, or from, the Mississippi Delta but it can also mean North Carolina or , as in the case of Mance Lipscomb Texas). I, and perhaps you, could add many more (Mississippi Fred McDowell, Tommy Johnson, Bukka White?) but here is the main point. For beginners you get a great rare video look at the masters in their prime (for the most part) doing their famous work. And all in one place. And for the aficionados it gives you ample reason to go out and get some of those others that were on your list but did not make it here.

Son House - Death Letter Blues Lyrics

Hey, I solemnly swear, Lord, I raise my right hand
That I'm goin' get me a woman, you get you another man
I solemnly swear, Lord, I raise my right hand
That I'm goin' get me a woman, you get you another man

I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
"Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead"
I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
"Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead"

I grabbed my suitcase, I took off, up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board
I grabbed my suitcase, I took on up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board

Well, I walked up close, I looked down in her face
Good old gal, you got to lay here till Judgment Day
I walked up close, and I looked down in her face
Yes, been a good old gal, got to lay here till Judgment Day

Oh, my woman so black, she stays apart of this town
Can't nothin' "go" when the poor girl is around
My black mama stays apart of this town
Oh, can't nothing "go" when the poor girl is around

Oh, some people tell me the worried blues ain't bad (note 1)
It's the worst old feelin' that I ever had
Some people tell me the worried blues ain't bad
Buddy, the worst old feelin', Lord, I ever had

Hmmm, I fold my arms, and I walked away
"That's all right, mama, your trouble will come someday"
I fold my arms, Lord, I walked away
Say, "That's all right, mama, your trouble will come someday"

*A Mixed Bag Musical Potpourri-Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Rock And Rockabilly-Mance Lipscomb

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Mance Lipscomb in Concert.

Another T For Texas

Pure Texas Country Blues, Mance Lipscomb, Arhoolie Records, 2002



I have written on the subject of Texas country blues guitarist extraordinaire Mance Lipscomb in connection with a series of DVDs that the well-known guitarist and performer Stefan Grossman put out a number of years ago, “Masters Of The Country Blues”, that featured the greats of acoustic country blues like Son House, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis and, well Mance Lipscomb. Most of the others came out of the Mississippi Delta tradition which is a shade bit different from the Texas tradition of the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly and, well, Mance Lipscomb. Lipscomb is probably a more versatile guitarist than the others, if for no other reason than he has a greater range of keys that he can play in and a somewhat unique picking style (at least it looks and sounds that way to me). Moreover, his vocals are a little smoother than the rough-edged sound of the old Mississippi plantation cotton fields. A perfect example of the difference is his ‘soft’ version of the classic “Corrina, Corrina. My favorite Lipscomb song though is “Ella Speed”. Needless to say it is about how she did her man wrong (although in the mix of these things it could just as easily be the other way around depending on who is singing).


"Bill Martin And Ella Speed"

Bill Martin he was long an' slender,
Better known by bein' a bartender.
Bill Martin he was long an' slender,
Better known by bein' a bartender.

Bill Martin he was a man whut had a very small hand
He worked ev'y night at de coffee stand.
Bill Martin he was a man whut had a very small hand
He worked ev'y night at de coffee stand.

He walked out for to borrow a gun'
Something Bill Martin had never done.
Ella Speed was downtown havin' her lovin' fun,
Long came Bill Martin wid his Colt 41.

De fust ball it entered in po' Ella's side,
De nex' ball entered in her breas',
De third ball it entered in her head;
Dat's de ball dat put po' Ella to bed.

All de young gals eome a-runnin'an'cryin',
All de young gals come a-runnin'an'a-cryin',
"It ain' but de one thing worry de po' gal's min'-
She lef' her two lil boys behin'."

De deed dat Bill Martin done'
Jedge sentence: "You gonna be hung."
De deed dat Bill Martin done'
Jedge sentence: "You gonna be hung."

They taken Bill Martin to de freight depot,
An' de train come rollin' by,
He wave his han' at de woman dat he love
An' he hung down his head an' he cry.

All you young girls better take heed'
Don' you do like po' Ella Speed;
Some day you will go for to have a lil fun
An'a man will do you like Bill Martin done.