Jailhouse Pimps

Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) used to beg Robert Lockwood’s mother to let him travel with him and play the blues. Although she reluctantly agreed, it took her a while before she agreed to let Robert travel to and around the delta.

When she finally did, Robert and Rice found themselves in trouble.

They were playing a joint down in the delta, in the northern parts, and were arrested on a Friday night for disorderly conduct. Locked up in the jail, on Saturday morning, they open up the jail house windows and went to town playing the blues. Sure enough, not long after they started, a group of people had gathered outside the jail, and were throwing nickels and dimes over the jail fence.

Now, of course, the cops skimmed a lot of money off the top, but all said and done, they gave Robert and Rice just over $400 for their jail house performance. Because of this the cops came up with a plan.

For the next week or so, the cops would “escort” Robert and Rice to local joints, jukes, and bars, and have them play not only the blues, but other popular music of the day. Rice and Robert would play into the early morning, then the cops would put them back in jail. Robert and Rice were making good money, and so were the cops. The cops even let women spend the night with Robert and Rice, and provided them with gallons of corn whiskey (illegal at the time) to drink.

After a week or so, the cops asked the boys what they wanted to do. Rice said something to the effect of “though we’ve had a real good time, officer, I reckon it’s time we went on home.” With that, the boys were released.

Robert Lockwood lives on to tell this story as one of his favorite in the Delta. Although him and Rice did indeed enjoy the time they were having, the police protection, and the money, they both agreed that playing against their will was the downfall of the experience, and the reason they wanted to go home.

I can’t really blame them.

Robert Johnson Turned his Back!

Well, not exactly.

The rumor is that on some occasions, especially with other musicians in the same room as him, Robert Johnson would play with his back to the crowd so others wouldn’t pick up his technique or style.

Well, this is not entirely true. Johnson would use a technique, known then as “corner loading”, which would enable him to get a larger sound from both his voice and the guitar. In other words, he would site facing a corner to achieve better acoustics.

Also, this is not something Johnson did on a regular basis. In fact, the only time he was known to do it was during his second recording session. There was a group of Mexican artists who were scheduled to record after Johnson, and Johnson “turned his back” on them. In actuality, he was corner loading to provide better sound for the recording itself. However, it is possible Johnson may have used this techniques in some of the larger jukes.

The cool thing about this is, you can try it yourself. You will quickly notice (especially in a room with no carpeting) that the acoustics achieved are superior when corner loading. However, I feel it is also important to point out that Johnson is not the inventor, or the sole practitioner of this technique.

However, Johnson was very acute to wandering eyes.  If another inspiring musician asked him how he played a particular song, his typical response was “just like you”, and the conversation would end there.  If Johnson caught musicians attempting to study him and his style, he would make a feeble excuse to leave the room, and would be gone for months.  This is allegedly because Robert Johnson was protecting a unique way of tuning his guitar he did not want others to notice (he also did NOT teach this tuning style to Robert Lockwood Jr).

makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Robert Johnson's Lost Song(s)

I was inspired to write this post after watching the movie “Crossroads” with Ralph Machio.  In the movie, he is on a quest to find Robert Johnson’s lost song, or number 30.

The funny thing is, there is some truth to that.

Rumors have often reported that Robert Johnson recorded and released 29 songs – we know this to be true – but at the engineers request at his second recording session, recorded a 30th.  While this rumor has been somewhat dispelled, (the song has never turned up) Robert Johnson did indeed have more than 29 original songs.  He only recorded 29 songs.  So what other songs did he have?

Well, his #30 song was actually a song called “Mr. Down Child”.  Recorded by the likes of Robert Lockwood Jr (Johnson’s stepson) and Rice Miller, Mr. Down Child is a Robert Johnson original.  This is a commonly known fact amongst Delta Musicians, and it was recorded by several artists.  Robert Johnson and Robert Lockwood Jr were actually playing this sing together at jukes shortly before Robert’s death.

His #31 song?  “Take a Little Walk With Me”, originally recorded by Robert Lockwood Jr as well.   While Lockwood still claims to this day that the song is his, and original, one can listen to the music for evidence and easily determine this song was not written by Lockwood.  Others from that same era remember Johnson writing this song, and performing it shortly before his death as well. 

This is important information because Robert rarely played his own songs in public.  In fact, the only ones he was “known” to play was Terrapin Blues, Dust my Broom, and occasionally a rendition of Come on in My Kitchen. 

However, it is now known Robert Johnson had more than 29 original songs.  According to what we know now, Johnson only recorded the 29 songs.  However, it is quite possible more Robert Johnson originals exist, waiting to be discovered.

Sonny Boy Williamson II is the first….

Sonny Boy Williamson. Of course, the one I am referring to is Sonny Boy Williamson (the second”), aka Rice Miller. Of course, in the 40′s there was also a popular blues player recording star named John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson; How Rice Miller became Sonny Boy the second is somewhat of a mystery.

Rice Miller, aka Sonny Boy II

Max Moore, who ran the King Biscuit radio program (or at least sponsored the King Biscuit segment) claimed before he died it was his idea for Rice Miller to broadcast as “Sonny Boy Williamson”, and none of the many bluesman who knew Rice Miller from the 1920′s on remember him using the name before the 40′s. On the other hand, Rice Miller insisted until his death he was the only Sonny Boy, or “The Sonny Boy”, and that John Lee Williamson, who was at least 15 years younger than Miller, had taken thee name from him before moving to Chicago in 1937.

So which is right? Did Max Moore assign him the name in the 40′s, and that’s when Miller began to use it? Or did Miller use it all along, and John Lee actually took the name from him? Well, the best way to find out is to turn to the music.

The musical evidence suggests that Miller had perfected his technique long before he heard John Lee’s music. Miller’s style, which is more sensitive and speechlike, is quite different from John Lee’s instrumentally conceived solos. You can listen to Miller’s recording for a long time in search for any hints of John Lee’s style, and you won’t find it. However, in 1947 John Lee attempted to cash in on Miller’s popularity in the south by recording a version of the King Biscuit Time theme song as “King Biscuit Stomp”. In the harp solos on this tune there are gritty tremolos suggesting John Lee was copying Miller’s style. It is even more evident and obvious in the song “Alcohol Blues” made the same year.

So, if you turn to the music, Rice Miller is the only Sonny Boy Williamson. In the blues, in the Delta, musicians borrowed songs and phrases from each other all the time. Since there is absolutely no evidence of John Lee’s influences in Miller’s music (but evidence of Miller’s influences in John Lees music) , I think it is safe to say that Miller is the true – and only – Sonny Boy Williamson.

Trip Update!

The trip is all planned out, in its entirety.  The most shocking change is day four, and all we have scheduled to see.  Including:

- Real Crossroads
- Famous Crossroads
- Muddy Waters old cabin Location (Stovall Plantation)
- Hopson Planting Co
- Riverside Hotel (Where Bessie Smith Died)
- Dockery Plantation (Son House, Charley Patton, Willie Brown all lived here)
- The Delta Blues Museum
- Red’s Lounge Juke Joint

Should be a blast!

Robert Johnson played – wait – an electric guitar?!?

Yes. There are blues researchers and history buffs that are making the claim that Robert Johnson was playing an electric guitar through an amplifier prior to his death.  Since Robert Johnson fell ill and died in 1938, is is fairly easy to pin down the type of equipment he was most likely to play.

According to new evidence, Johnson most likely played a Gibson ES-150 (released 1936).  These electric guitars were becoming popular and readily available in the delta, as it was a guitar designed for big band play which was popular music in New Orleans at the time.  If Johnson did not have an ES-150, he most certainly played a Rickenbacker Electro Spanish (released 1935).  The type of amp he used is still under speculation.

Also, just to be clear, there are no recordings of Johnson playing an electric.  Even if there were, it is highly unlikely you would have heard any kind of face melting solo – the guitar solo wasn’t even invented until Charlie Christian cooked one up in 1939 while playing with Benny Goodman’s band.  In the days of Robert Johnson, amplified instruments and electric guitars were used to achieve higher volumes for crowded juke joints, parties, and the like, and not for solos, or distortion effects.

According to some “living legends” of the Delta, Johnson was indeed playing an electric guitar about 6 months before his death.  Some of these legends insist he played a couple of gigs using the electric, while others claim he only practiced with the electric (learning its limitations, and expanding his musical prowess) but still performed with the acoustic.  Either way, it is very likely Robert Johnson was playing the electric guitar.

So where is the proof?  No one will ever know for sure.  But as blues researchers continue to dig deeper, it is likely more evidence will come forth supporting or disproving this claim.   Knowing that Johnson’s songs so easily translated to the electric guitar by later artists (just think Crossroads by Clapton), it is possible to imagine he would have been fond of experimenting with an electric.

Of course, we will never know for sure.

Melisma?!? But I Use Protection!

In all seriousness, Melisma is not something you can catch, but something you have to practice.

B.B. King brought this technique to the masses – but its roots are actually in gospel.  Melisma is bending or stretching a single syllable into a convoluted melodic phrase.  Say that three times fast.

in 1951, B.B King recorded and released “3 O’Clock Blues”, which went number one on the national r&b charts, and launched the most successful career in the history of the blues.  Why?  Because his sound on this song was neither Delta sounding, or Memphis sounding – but was ladled with heavy phrasing, and bigger and rounder tone than his counter parts.  And of course, there was the Melisma.

This type of singing was being popularized by by the New Orleans-based r&b star Roy Brown, who scored a hit in 1947 with “Good Rocking Tonight”.  Early on, most critics even believe that B.B sounded very much like Brown.

However, during the next few years, as B.B. consolidated his nationwide appeal with a string of hits, his style became more polished and original – the vocals soulful and pleading, the guitar cutting through with a clean, punchy attack.  As it became cleaner and more polished, other artists, like T-Bone Walker, stareted to sound rambling by comparison. B.B. King soon became a black matinee idol.

In fact, a lot of the younger musicians, such as Bobby “Blue” Bland and Fenton Robinson attempted to win over crowds at local establishments with renditions of B.B.’s latest hits.  King himself was out on the road perfroming a string of one night stands.

He’s been on the road ever since.