This Week In The Blues: July 7 - 13, 2024

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of July 7 - 13, 2024.

Some of the highlights include blues piano maestro Pinetop Perkins, blues guitarist Blind Boy Fuller, one of my favorite guitarists Charlie Baty, and Chicago blues pianist Barrelhouse Chuck.

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 visit our website or follow our Facebook page:
https://bigtrainblues.com
https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Here are links to a few of the artists or songs we've referenced in this week's episode:

Pinetop Perkins - "Chicken Shack" - https://youtu.be/i6S_jsz0fRs?si=Gh6bZ...

Blind Boy Fuller - "Truckin' My Blues Away" - https://youtu.be/x10BgiKaLcw?si=neXO3...

Little Charlie Baty Guitar Lesson (Part 1) - https://youtu.be/h0aW4j3uhmc?si=enlHb...

Documentry On Chicago Blues Piano Player Barrelhouse Chuck - https://youtu.be/9Cpnnd9k6iY?si=223Ze...


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 07 - July 13 2024

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 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.

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.

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!