LONNIE JOHNSON — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1925-1926 | DOCD-5063 (1991) RM | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. In 1925, Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson won a talent contest sponsored by Okeh, and acquired a seven year contract with them as a result. Male singers playing guitar were about to make the breakthrough on race records; Blind Lemon Jefferson was beginning to record about the same time as Lonnie. Nevertheless, Johnson seems to have been anxious to show his versatility on these first dates; on this album, he plays violin on more numbers than he does guitar, as well as switching to piano, banjo and harmonium. His contract with Okeh required him to work as a staff musician as well as a name artist, and he may have wanted to impress the company with his range. He also seems to have wished to promote brother James, who was at all Lonnie’s sessions until April 1927, also making some recordings of his own. James, like Lonnie, was a multi-instrumentalist, playing violin, banjo, guitar and piano. “He was better than me,” Lonnie remembered proudly in 1960, and certainly they blended admirably together, whether playing violin and guitar, violin and banjo, two guitars, or even two fiddles, as on Very Lonesome Blues.

As an accomplished professional, Lonnie didn’t limit himself to blues; the irresistible, if enigmatically named Nile Of Genago is a waltz for two guitars, straight from the 19th Century parlour tradition. From the same session, the crazily syncopated Johnson Trio Stomp crosses hillbilly music with silent movie piano. Nevertheless, from the first Lonnie Johnson made his mark as a blues singer, and one with an impeccably poised, elegant guitar style, the melody tripping along over rich chords in support of his clear, bittersweet vocals.

Already a master musician, Lonnie Johnson was also a lyricist of considerable originality, and one with decided views on the complexities of human affairs. Often, he was misogynistic: “To find a good woman, is like finding a dime in a bed of sand… Men, love will make you drink and gamble, and stay out all night long.”

Ah, you don’t see into these blues like me  I can see further into the blues, than a fish can in the deep blue sea

he proclaimed, and his appeal to his audience seems to have derived as much from his ability to analyse his and their concerns, and write coherent responses, delivered with conviction and sincerity, as from his instrumental proficiency. DOCD-5063
Tracklist :
1    Lonnie Johnson–    Mr. Johnson's Blues 2:40
Piano – John Arnold
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
2    Lonnie Johnson–    Falling Rain Blues  3:03
Piano – John Arnold
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
3    Lonnie Johnson–    Very Lonesome Blues 2:57
Piano – De Loise Searcy
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
4    Lonnie Johnson–    When I Was Lovin' Changed My Mind Blues 2:58
Piano – De Loise Searcy
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals – Lonnie Johnson
5    Lonnie Johnson–    Sun To Sun Blues 2:30
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
6    Lonnie Johnson–    Bed Of Sand 2:59
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
7    Lonnie Johnson–    Lonesome Jail Blues 3:06
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
8    James "Steady Roll" Johnson–    No Good Blues 2:43
Banjo – Lonnie Johnson
Piano – De Loise Searcy
Vocals, Violin – James "Steady Roll" Johnson
9    James "Steady Roll" Johnson–    Newport Blues 2:43
Kazoo – Lonnie Johnson
Piano – De Loise Searcy
Vocals, Banjo – James "Steady Roll" Johnson
10    Lonnie Johnson–    Love Story Blues 2:28
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
11    Lonnie Johnson–    Nile Of Genago 2:40
Guitar – James Johnson, Lonnie Johnson
12    Lonnie Johnson–    Five O'Clock Blues 2:58
Banjo – James Johnson
Piano – De Loise Searcy
Violin, Kazoo – Lonnie Johnson
13    Lonnie Johnson–    Johnson's Trio Stomp 2:58
Piano – James Johnson
Violin – Lonnie Johnson
14    Lonnie Johnson–    Woman Changed My Life 3:10
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
15    Lonnie Johnson–    Lonnie's Got The Blues 3:07
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
16    Lonnie Johnson–    Good Old Wagon 3:29
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
17    Lonnie Johnson–    A Good Happy Home 3:15
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
18    Lonnie Johnson–    Baby You Don't Know My Mind 3:12
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Violin – Lonnie Johnson
19    Lonnie Johnson–    I Have No Sweet Woman Now 3:13
Piano – James Johnson
Vocals, Guitar – Lonnie Johnson
20    Lonnie Johnson–    You Drove A Good Man Away 2:40
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals, Piano – Lonnie Johnson
21    Lonnie Johnson–    Ball And Chain Blues 3:01
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals, Piano – Lonnie Johnson
22    Lonnie Johnson–    You Don't See Into The Blues Like Me 2:41
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals, Piano – Lonnie Johnson
23    Lonnie Johnson–    There's No Use Of Lovin' 3:20
Vocals – Victoria Spivey
Vocals, Piano – Lonnie Johnson
24    Lonnie Johnson–    Baby, Please Tell Me 2:45
Vocals, Piano – Lonnie Johnson
25    Lonnie Johnson–    I'm Gonna Dodge The Blues Just Wait And See 3:14
Violin – James Johnson
Vocals, Harmonium – Lonnie Johnson

LONNIE JOHNSON — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1926-1927 | DOCD-5064 (1991) RM | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Lonnie Johnson came into his own during the period of time covered by this CD. A brilliant blues-oriented guitarist, Johnson is heard on such instrumentals as "To Do This, You Got to Know How," "I Done Tole You," "Steppin' on the Blues," "Four Hands Are Better Than Two," and "Woke Up With the Blues in My Fingers." He is also heard backing blues singers Helen Humes (who was 13 at the time), Joe Brown, and Raymond Boyd and singing his own variety of low-down blues. Recommended.  Scott Yanow

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Lonnie Johnson closed the eight title session of 13 August 1926 with two blues, one backed by the strange combination of his own harmonium and his brother James’s violin, the other with just his own guitar. This marked the end of the bewildering display of instrument switching to be heard on Volume 1 (DOCD-5063); not for nearly three years was Lonnie to accompany himself on any instrument but guitar. As if to confirm this decision, he dropped into the studio the next day, Saturday, to cut the dazzling guitar solo To Do This, You Got To Know How, based on a lose 12 bar structure, but in practice owing little to the blues. 1927 found the two brothers back in the studio, both playing guitar; I Done Tole You, unissued at the time, hints at the revolutionary series of instrumental duets Lonnie was soon to cut with Eddie Lang. (So, too, had the chromaticisms on Sweet Woman, See For Yourself.) As ever, Johnson’s lyrics were carefully structured, thoughtful essays, often on his favourite subject of the ways of women and men, and sometimes moralising (Treat ‘Em Right) or sentimental (A Broken Heart That Never Smiles). South Bound Water was testimony to his song writing ability, for it was produced even as the 1927 flood was devastating Mississippi. (In May, Johnson recorded a better known song about the flood, Backwater Blues, which had been recorded by Bessie Smith in February and released in March, before the disaster, and which was, not surprisingly, selling well.) As April gave way to May, he accompanied the 13 year old, but very assured, Helen Humes on the first of her many recordings, and backed the amateur-sounding Joe Brown and Raymond Boyd (whom he may have talent-scouted) on what proved to be their only sessions. He was continuing to cut virtuoso instrumentals, too, though Okeh seem to have been reluctant to issue them; nor did they release the ballad I Love You Mary Lou, perhaps dedicated to his wife Mary, whom he had married in 1925. 12-bar blues formed the remainder of Johnson’s recordings in August 1927. Johnson, may have been happy to work in orthodox structures on 11th and 12th August, as a rest from accompanying the wayward Texas Alexander. “He was a very difficult singer to accompany,” Lonnie told Paul Oliver. “He was liable to jump a bar, or five bars, or anything … When you been out there with him, you done nine days work in one!” Irene Higginbotham‘s Mean Old Bed Bug Blues was being hawked around race record producers at this time by publisher Joe Davis; they seem to have liked its witty lyric, for it was cut by Lonnie, Bessie Smith, Furry Lewis, Kitty Waters and Betty Gray between August and October 1927. Roaming Rambler Blues and Stay Out Of Walnut Street Alley are Johnson originals, though, with unmistakably acerbic lyrics. DOCD-5064
Tracklist :
1    Lonnie Johnson–    Oh! Doctor The Blues    2:43
2    Lonnie Johnson–    Sweet Woman, See For Yourself    2:54
3    Lonnie Johnson–    To Do This, You Got To Know How    3:07
4    Lonnie Johnson–    South Bound Water    2:43
5    Lonnie Johnson–    Treat 'Em Right    3:12
6    Lonnie Johnson–    Baby, Will You Please Come Home?    2:45
7    Lonnie Johnson–    I Done Tole You    2:56
8    Lonnie Johnson–    Steppin' On The Blues    2:51
9    Lonnie Johnson–    A Broken Heart That Never Smiles    3:17
10    Helen Humes–    Black Cat Blues    3:08
11    Helen Humes–    A Worried Woman's Blues    2:56
12    Joe Brown–    Superstitious Blues    3:07
13    Joe Brown–    Cotton Patch Blues    3:01
14    Raymond Boyd–    Blackbird Blues    2:38
15    Raymond Boyd–    Unkind Mama    3:01
16    Lonnie Johnson–    Four Hands Are Better Than Two    3:15
17    Lonnie Johnson–    Woke Up With The Blues In My Fingers    3:08
18    Lonnie Johnson–    Back-Water Blues    3:35
19    Lonnie Johnson–    I Love You, Mary Lou    3:03
20    Lonnie Johnson–    Sweet Woman, You Can't Go Wrong    2:49
21    Lonnie Johnson–    Mean Old Bed Bug Blues    2:52
22    Lonnie Johnson–    Lonesome Ghost Blues    3:07
23    Lonnie Johnson–    Fickle Mamma Blues    2:59
24    Lonnie Johnson–    Roaming Rambler Blues    3:02
25    Lonnie Johnson–    Stay Out Of Walnut Street Alley    3:10
Credits :
Guitar – James Johnson (tracks: 4 to 8), Lonnie Johnson (tracks: 2 to 25)
Harmonium – Lonnie Johnson (tracks: 1)
Liner Notes – Chris Smith
Piano – De Loise Searcy (tracks: 12 to 15), John Erby (tracks: 18), Jack Erby (tracks: 9), Lazy Harris (tracks: 16)
Piano [Poss.] – De Loise Searcy (tracks: 10, 11)
Piano [Prob.] – John Erby (tracks: 8)
Speech [Prob.] – Lonnie Johnson (tracks: 8)
Violin – James Johnson (tracks: 1)
Vocals – Helen Humes (tracks: 10, 11), Joe Brown (tracks: 12, 13), Lonnie Johnson (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 6, 9, 18 to 25), Raymond Boyd (tracks: 14, 15)