Vocalion 1094 – Henry Thomas “Ragtime Texas”– 1927
One of the great figures of country blues, one of those who have attained a near legendary status, is Henry Thomas, also known by the nickname “Ragtime Texas”. One of the oldest rural black musicians...
View ArticleOkeh 05476 – Blind Boy Fuller – 1940
One of the most commercially successful blues artists of the 1930s, along with the likes of Big Bill, Josh White, and Peetie Wheatstraw, was Blind Boy Fuller, who cut 130 sides—both low down blues and...
View ArticleChampion 16081 – Hokum Boys – 1930
This record is a surprisingly obscure one considering its excellence, even in light of its extraordinary scarcity. A Google search will yield precious few results, and the upload of the only side...
View ArticleParamount 12608 – Blind Lemon Jefferson – 1928
The incomparable Blind Lemon Jefferson truly was an artist without parallel. Having cut his first disc in 1925 or ’26, he was one of the earliest male country blues musicians to record, and the...
View ArticleDecca 7815 – Peetie Wheatstraw (The Devil’s Son-in-Law) – 1940
Though he wasn’t the most talented instrumentalist, nor the most able vocalist, the popular blues musician Peetie Wheatstraw—the Devil’s Son-in-Law, the High Sheriff from Hell—achieved great success in...
View ArticleMusicraft 31 – Negro Sinful Songs Sung by Lead Belly – 1939
In 1942, Woody Guthrie purchased a copy of Negro Sinful Songs, the Musicraft record album by his friend and colleague Lead Belly, as a gift for his wife. A true poet, he inscribed at follows: “The...
View ArticleOkeh 45231 – Nap Hayes and Matthew Prater – 1928
This occasion’s serenade is provided by the obscure but outstanding string duo of Nap Hayes and Matthew Prater, who play here a couple of snappy rag numbers on mandolin and guitar. Napoleon “Nap” Hayes...
View ArticleOkeh 8784 – Mississippi Sheiks – 1930
Few songs in the vast and diverse country blues tradition have had such an enduring impact, and few melodies known such ubiquity, as the Mississippi Sheiks’ legendary 1930 recording of “Sitting On Top...
View ArticleColumbia 14194-D –“Peg Leg” Howell – 1926
One of the great heroes of the country blues (one of R. Crumb’s Heroes of the Blues, at least) is Peg Leg Howell, a musician holding the great distinction of being among the earliest male country blues...
View ArticleOkeh 45114 – Frank Hutchison – 1927
The last time we heard from the “Pride of West Virginia”—our old pal Frank Hutchison—he gave us two fine songs, joined on one by Sherman Lawson on fiddle. Now let’s hear from Frank again with two of...
View ArticleParamount 12252 – Ma Rainey Acc. by Her Georgia Jazz Band – 1924
Earning the honorific “The Mother of the Blues”, Madam “Ma” Rainey is Indisputably a legend of the blues. Her jazz-inflected vaudevillian blues served to define the genre as it was to be on records...
View ArticleDecca 7126 – Bumble Bee Slim – 1935
Some people cast aspersions on the quality of Bumble Bee Slim’s body of work, declaring it to be inferior, or “unbluesworthy”. I can’t speak for his entire body of work, because I’ve only listened to...
View ArticleColumbia 14325-D – Seth Richard – 1928
Out of all the countless blues musicians whose lives are shrouded in obscurity, it would be rather difficult to pick one about whom less is known than Seth Richard. Indeed, historians like Bob Eagle...
View ArticleVocalion 1191 – Leroy Carr – 1928
Perhaps the most popular “race” artist of his time, smooth city-slicker Leroy Carr played the blues in a more sophisticated style than his more country counterparts. Beginning with his “How Long – How...
View ArticleRomeo 5025 – Sammy Sampson/Georgia Tom – 1930
Previously on Old Time Blues, we took a look at one of the earliest records made by the illustrious Big Bill Broonzy, featuring the two rambunctious rags “Saturday Night Rub” and “Pig Meat Strut”. Now...
View ArticleOkeh 8480 – Sylvester Weaver – 1927
Blues guitarist Sylvester Weaver bears the tremendous distinction of not only being an outstanding musician, but also a pioneer in the field of recorded blues, with his historic records impressing on...
View ArticleVocalion 5264 – Emry Arthur – 1928
A contemporary of artists such as Bradley Kincaid, and an antecedent of the likes of Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, and Pete Seeger, mountain balladeer Emry Arthur, with songs like “Man of Constant Sorrow”,...
View ArticleOkeh 8794 – Little Hat Jones – 1929
Decades before the latter day country music hero, the state of Texas produced another music maker called George Jones: an outstanding early blues guitarist and singer who went by the name “Little Hat”....
View ArticleParamount 12296 – Charlie Jackson – 1925
The time has come to pay tribute to one of the greatest and most prolific “songster” musicians to record, as well as one of my own personal favorites: the incomparable Papa Charlie Jackson. “Papa”...
View ArticleParamount 12565 – Blind Blake – 1927
Blind Blake was one of the most prolific male blues artists of the 1920s, and one of the most skilled guitarists of all time, yet today details about his life and times are even scarcer than his...
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