This is the first of four Document CDs devoted to the musical partnership that existed from 1929-1935 between Memphis Minnie, who was born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers LA, and Kansas Joe McCoy, a native of Raymond, MS. These records were cut between June 1929 and May 1930 for the Columbia, Vocalion, and Victor labels in New York, Memphis, and Chicago, where their brand of entertainment was well-received by the expanding African-American community. Joe McCoy is believed to have been Minnie's second husband, and musically speaking at least, the two were well-matched during their six-year partnership, during which their vocals, verbal exchanges, and combined guitar work enlivened dozens of very enjoyable recordings that still convey the immediacy of the African-American experience. Both individuals sang in a straightforward, bracingly honest manner, usually about human relationships, as discussed openly in "What Fault You Find of Me?," "I'm Talking About You," "Can I Do It for You?," and "She Wouldn't Give Me None." There are three distinctly different treatments of Minnie's "Bumble Bee Blues" (a conflation of human sexuality with the behavior of a member of the Order Hymenoptera later popularized by guitarist Muddy Waters); a sobering original version of "When the Levee Breaks"; a song about the card game known as "Georgia Skin" (described in detail for the Library of Congress a few years later by Jelly Roll Morton), and a dead-serious account of Minnie's personal run-in with spinal meningitis, accompanied by the Memphis Jug Band, a group which included guitarist Charlie Burse and jug-blowing specialist Hambone Lewis. Document's four volumes of Minnie's collaborations with Joe McCoy were released alongside another five volumes devoted exclusively to her own recordings; the rest of Joe's recorded output with his brother Charlie McCoy, various jug and skiffle bands, and the swinging Harlem Hamfats was also compiled by Document during the '90s and reissued the following decade. arwulf arwulf
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes: Recording as Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie at their 1929 debut recording session the couple cut six numbers, three featuring Kansas Joe as a vocalist, two with Minnie taking the vocals and the third found them duetting. These recordings weren’t afforded immediate issue but were released over a period of time. For example, the coupling Bumble Bee / I Want That was not on sale until some fifteen months later. It was to be the suggestive Bumble Bee (“Got the best stinger I’ve ever seen”) that was to make Memphis Minnie. So successful was the song that Victor “borrowed” Minnie to record a version fronting a caucus of the Memphis Jug Band. Vocalion then responded with Bumble Bee No. 2 and New Bumble Bee. The song was such hot property on the race market that in the last six months of 1930, unreleased recordings apart, there were no fewer than five versions, on three different labels, of Bumble Bee three of which are present on this compilation. The sheer drive of the two guitars, the strength of imagery and intuitive awareness of one another’s musical needs made for a perfect team. Take a song like, When The Levee Breaks, that lyrically mirrors the harsh realities of living near the artificial river banks with lines like, “If it keep on raining, levee’s gonna break an’ all these people have no place to stay” whilst the twin guitar rhythms help create a complete fusion of feeling. On less intense, more hokum based numbers like She Wouldn’t Give Me None or Can I Do It For You a variant on the “Mama Let Me Lay It On You” theme) the duo display astonishing empathy in their guitar playing, most notably by Minnie. To quote guitarist Woody Mann on her technique “she seemed to be able to pick sounds from all around Memphis and integrate them into her playing”. As main vocalist Memphis Minnie can be heard on Mister Tango Blues and I’m Talking About You and give good insight into her ability to modulate her voice to suit the mood of the lyric. Whether it be slow meaningful blues or up-tempo lighter material she judiciously croaks, moans, twists and cracks her voice to achieve a fine sense of the dramatic. DOCD-5028
Tracklist :
1 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– I Want That 3:06
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy
2 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– That Will Be Alright 3:05
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy
3 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Goin' Back To Texas 2:59
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
4 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– 'Frisco Town 2:50
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
5 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– When The Levee Breaks 3:08
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
6 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Bumble Bee 2:45
Guitar – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
7 Memphis Minnie– I'm Gonna Bake My Biscuits 2:50
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
8 Memphis Minnie– Mister Tango Blues 3:34
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
9 Memphis Minnie– She Wouldn't Give Me None 2:57
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
10 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– What Fault You Find Of Me? - Part 1 2:41
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
11 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– What Fault You Find Of Me? - Part 2 2:48
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– I'm Talking About You 2:38
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Memphis Minnie– Bumble Bee (MEM-773) 2:49
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Can I Do It For You? - Part 1 3:07
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
15 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Can I Do It For You? - Part 2 3:09
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
16 Minnie McCoy And Joe Johnson (12)– I'm Going Back Home 2:44
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Jug Band Vocal By Memphis Minnie– Bumble Bee Blues (59993) 2:49
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
18 Memphis Jug Band Vocal By Memphis Minnie– Meningitis Blues 3:14
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
19 McCoy And Johnson– I Never Told A Lie 2:38
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20 McCoy And Johnson– Don't Want No Woman 3:11
Vocals [duet], Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
21 Memphis Minnie– Georgia Skin 2:59
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
22 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Don't Want No Woman I Have To Give My Money To (C-5817) 3:22
Vocals [duet], Guitar [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
23 Kansas Joe– I'm Wild About My Stuff 2:55
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe
28.12.24
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1929-1930 | DOCD-5028 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1930-1931 | DOCD-5029 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes. This compilation represents Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joes first encounter with the Chicago. Between June 1930 and January l931 the pair recorded on several occasions and cut several dozen titles. However, as a result of America’s slide into depression, most songs took many months to release and with the exception of the coupling, I Don’t Want No Woman I Have To Give My Money To / Cherry Ball Blues, nearly all songs recorded during June were left on the shelf. Subsequently they were issued with items from later sessions. Vocalion’s follow-up release, What’s The Matter With The Mill / North Memphis Blues, didn’t appear until November featuring titles recorded in October, the former ostensibly about a broken down corn mill but in reality sexual innuendo and the latter, apparently in praise of the culinary delights to be found at a Memphis cafe, is thought by some commentators to concern a house of ill repute! For their third offering the company coupled remakes of previous successes, Bumble Bee No. 2 / I’m Talkin’ About You No. 2 from June and July sessions release date, January 1931! Despite the apparently arbitrary nature of the releases the period witnessed many accomplished recordings most notably, Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues, which she sings with great passion about meningitis, The fact that she twice recorded this number, once with the Memphis Jug Band (DOCD 5028) and again with Kansas Joe, would tend to suggest personal experience of the illness. In general, however, this phase of their career tended to produce more traditionally based material serving to show the duo’s range of experience and versatility. Songs like the horse-calling Frankie Jean (That Trottin’ Fool) concerning a racehorse that wouldn’t come unless whistled to, whose running motions are mimicked by their guitar interplay, or the old vaudeville number, I Called You This Morning, which employs the same melody as that used for “‘Frisco Town” (DOCD 5028). The time-honoured theme, Preacher’s Blues, about the sexual antics of a woman stealing pastor perhaps harks back to their acquaintance with Frank Stokes while their version of the black toast, New Dirty Dozen, usually the province of male pianists, is sung by Minnie from a female perspective (“I’m pigmeat happy, now who wants me”), the standard piano accompaniment being recreated by the two guitars. With recordings like these Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe established themselves as an integral part of the Chicago blues scene; a scene that was growing with each black relocation from the south. DOCD-5029
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues 3:20
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2 Memphis Minnie– Good Girl Blues 2:55
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3 Kansas Joe McCoy– My Mary Blues 3:10
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
4 Memphis Minnie– Plymouth Rock Blues 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
5 Kansas Joe– Cherry Ball Blues 3:09
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
6 Kansas Joe– Botherin' That Thing 3:14
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals – Kansas Joe
7 Memphis Minnie– Bumble Bee -- No. 2 2:50
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
8 Memphis Minnie– Georgia Skin Blues 3:24
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
9 Memphis Minnie– New Dirty Dozen 2:58
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
10 Memphis Minnie– New Bumble Bee 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
11 Memphis Minnie– Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool) 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– I'm Talking 'Bout You -- No. 2 3:13
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– She Put Me Outdoors 2:46
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
14 Kansas Joe– Pile Drivin' Blues 2:44
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
15 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– I Called You This Morning 2:57
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
16 Memphis Minnie And Her Jug Band– Grandpa And Grandma Blues 3:22
Guitar – Unknown Artist
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Minnie And Her Jug Band– Garage Fire Blues 3:04
Guitar – Unknown Artist
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
18 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– What's The Matter With The Mill? 2:48
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
19 Memphis Minnie– North Memphis Blues 2:32
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20 Kansas Joe– Beat It Right 3:24
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
21 Kansas Joe– Preachers Blues 3:11
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
22 Kansas Joe– Shake Mattie 2:36
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
23 Kansas Joe– My Wash Woman's Gone 2:24
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 3 • 1931-1932 | DOCD-5030 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
The third volume in Document's series picks up in early 1931, with the Depression era in full swing; although Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe were still actively recording, very little of their material was actually seeing release. Ironically, these were some of the duo's finest sides to date, with Minnie's vocals and guitar work achieving new peaks of poignancy and intensity; with "Shake Mattie" and "My Wash Woman's Gone," she introduces her bottleneck style, while on "Let's Go to Town" she and Joe face off in a fiery instrumental duel. The latter half of the collection, recorded in New York, focuses on more traditional material; their rendition of the minstrel song "Fishin' Blues" is widely assumed to be the inspiration for subsequent versions by Son House, Bumble Bee Slim and many others. Jason Ankeny
From this albums booklet notes: At the dawn of 1931 sales of race records were in sharp decline. Companies who six months previously had pressed in the region of 2,000 copies per record had cut that almost by half. Industry figures of the time showed that race records only accounted for about one percent of total sales, a very significant drop from the previous year. It was in this climate, and the period covered by this compilation, that Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe continued to record. A measure of the seriousness of the situation as it affected them can probably be gauged by their output; barely thirty titles recorded, at least half a dozen of which never saw release. Despite all this the quality of their recordings didn’t appear to suffer and, if anything, seemed to draw from Minnie a renewed sense of personal intensity both in lyric and playing.
The poignant, Crazy Crying Blues, with its terse lyric, ‘crying’ verse endings and moaned choruses almost echoing the blues of female singers of the twenties. The superb instrumental, Let’s Go To Town, couldn’t be better named with its rhythmic imagination and subtle tempo changes, the sheer drive of the piece creating the motion of an express train a sort of “Honky Tonk Train” with two guitars. The period also witnessed Memphis Minnie adopt the bottleneck, or slide, guitar technique which she probably learnt from her first husband, Casey Bill Weldon, as can be heard on Kansas Joe‘s Shake Mattie and My Wash Woman’s Gone, the former containing perhaps the first reference in blues to, “Shake, rattle and roll”! For reasons best known to the company they switched Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy‘s recording location from Chicago to New York where the pair had first recorded three years earlier.
If 1931 had been short on sessions, the following year was worse with only a dozen titles recorded over a two day period during February. The material cut favoured more traditionally based themes as Jailhouse Trouble Blues, Joliet Bound (a blues by Joe concerning the notorious prison) and Fishin’ Blues, the latter a minstrel song long associated with Texas having been collected there in the early twenties by musicologist Walter Prescott Webb and first commercially recorded by songster, Henry ‘Ragtime’ Thomas. DOCD-5030
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– I Don't Want That Junk Outa You 2:22
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2 Memphis Minnie– Crazy Cryin' Blues 3:26
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3 Memphis Minnie– Tricks Ain't Walking No More 2:48
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
4 Memphis Minnie– Don't Bother It 3:08
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals – Memphis Minnie
5 Memphis Minnie– Today Today Blues 2:46
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals – Memphis Minnie
6 Memphis Minnie– Lay My Money Down (If You Run Around) 2:55
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
7 Memphis Minnie– Hard Down Lie 2:40
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
8 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Somebody's Got To Help You 3:08
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
9 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Pickin' The Blues 3:02
Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
10 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Let's Go To Town 3:07
Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
11 Memphis Minnie– Soo Cow Soo 2:37
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– After While Blues 2:51
Mandolin – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Memphis Minnie– Fishin' Blues 2:55
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14 Memphis Minnie– Jailhouse Trouble Blues 3:12
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
15 Memphis Minnie– Outdoor Blues 3:00
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
16 Memphis Minnie– Where Is My Good Man 2:59
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Minnie– You Stole My Cake 2:56
Vocals, Guitar – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
18 Memphis Minnie– Kind Treatment Blues 2:46
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
19 Kansas Joe– You Know You Done Me Wrong 3:07
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
20 Kansas Joe– Joliet Bound 3:06
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
21 Kansas Joe– Stranger's Blues 2:50
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
22 Memphis Minnie– Socket Blues 2:55
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 4 • 1933-1934 | DOCD-5031 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes After a gap of almost two years Memphis Minnie returned to the studio in November 1933 but this time it was as a solo artist. The session only produced four numbers of which two were commercially released. My Butcher Man, a double-entendre employing some nice ‘meat cutting’ imagery (“slice my pork chop, grind my sausage too” etc) and culminating in the vivid,
If anybody ask you “butcher man where you bin?”, Show them that long bladed knife, tell ’em you’ve bin butchering out in that slaughter pen.
was coupled with the outstanding, Too Late, a blues that in structure and attack owed more to Mississippi than Memphis or Chicago, the superb guitar accompaniment so reminiscent of Mattie Delaney. Four months later, in March 1934, she returned to record a further two titles, Stinging Snake Blues and Drunken Barrel House, again without Joe McCoy. The reasons behind Joe McCoy‘s disappearance from the recording scene have never been explained, though artists who knew the couple reported that Joe couldn’t come to terms with Minnie’s success and as such was putting a strain on the marriage. However, they must have resolved their problems because in August 1934 they signed to the newly formed Decca label. The company policy was to undercut existing race labels by pricing all records at 35 cents. This was justified by maintaining that corresponding cuts in overheads would be achieved by keeping as many recordings as possible to a single take. In practice though this seldom happened as the two takes of Keep It To Yourself prove. It was in this climate that Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy came to record their initial sessions for Decca and over a two month period they cut a mixture of duets and solo items. The reconciliation, however, was short lived and following their last recording, the magnificent if slightly prophetic, Moanin’ The Blues, they parted permanently. Ironically the split was to coincide with a shift in the tastes of black record buyers who were demanding less traditional sounds and more ‘swing’. Joe McCoy forged a career for himself under his own name, finally teaming up with the Harlem Hamfats and Memphis Minnie embarked upon a very busy recording career which will be covered by further discs in this series. DOCD-5031
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– My Butcher Man 2:58
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2 Memphis Minnie– Too Late 2:56
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3 Memphis Minnie– Ain't No Use Trying To Tell On Me 3:11
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
4 Memphis Minnie– Stinging Snake Blues 3:01
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
5 Memphis Minnie– Drunken Barrel House Blues 2:50
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
6 The Mississippi Mudder (Mud Dauber Joe)– I Got To Have A Little More 3:16
Piano – Chuck Segar
Vocals – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Washboard [Prob.] – Unknown Artist
7 The Mississippi Mudder (Mud Dauber Joe)– Someday I'll Be In The Clay 3:12
Piano – Jimmie Gordon
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Washboard [Prob.] – Unknown Artist
8 Kansas Joe McCoy– Evil Devil Woman Blues 3:10
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
9 Kansas Joe McCoy– Going Back Home Blues 3:02
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
10 Kansas Joe McCoy– Meat Cutter Blues 2:52
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
11 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– You Got To Move - Part I 3:02
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– Keep It To Yourself 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Memphis Minnie– Keep It To Yourself 2:55
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14 Memphis Minnie– Chickasaw Train Blues (Low Down Dirty Thing) 3:15
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
15 Memphis Minnie– Banana Man Blues (I Don't Want That Thing) 3:02
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
16 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– You Got To Move - Part II 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Hole In The Wall 3:11
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
18 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Give It To Me In My Hand (Can I Go Home With You) 3:25
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
19 Memphis Minnie– Squat It 2:48
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20 Memphis Minnie– Moaning The Blues 3:05
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
26.12.24
MEMPHIS JUG BAND — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 : 1928-1929 DOCD-5022 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
The Memphis Jug Band was quite popular from 1927-1930, particularly if one judges the group by its many recordings (which fill up three CDs in this series). The second volume has slightly better material than the other two CDs, but all are easily recommended. During 1928 and 1929, the Memphis Jug Band featured its leader Will Shade on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, and guitarist Charlie Burse (guitarist Will Weldon and banjo-mandolist Vol Stevens from the first group departed by 1929). The band also included the highly expressive kazoo playing of Ben Ramey and Jab Jones' enthusiastic jug playing (an improvement on his predecessor Charlie Polk). Additionally, there are two selections included in which the band accompanies singer Minnie Wallace and there are a few guest musicians and singers on various tracks. Among the many high points of the spirited program are "She Stays Out All Night Long," "Lindberg Hop," "Stealin' Stealin'," "Jug Band Waltz," "The Old Folks Started It," and "Memphis Yo Yo Blues." An important if often overlooked genre of vintage American music. Scott Yanow
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes. When the Memphis Jug Band reassembled in September 1928 to cut eight titles for Victor, they began in larky mood. New member (on disc at least) Jab Jones sang what was nominally a tribute to Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic the previous year, but his version of the Lindyhop is a crazy, almost surrealist one. Sugar Pudding, a version of “Take Your Fingers Off It”, marked the debut of Jones’s thunderous jug, replacing the less forthright Charlie Polk. The other new member was the extrovert Alabaman guitarist and singer Charlie Burse. He was one of the singers on both On The Road Again, whose chorus refers to Monk Eastman’s eponymous gang, active in New York in the late 1890s, and the hybrid A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake, with its 12 bar verse and 8 bar chorus. The cryptic Whitewash Station opened proceedings on 15th September, followed by the Memphis Jug Bands most famous number, the beautiful Stealin’ Stealin’, relaxed, nostalgic, and superbly played. The two waltzes that closed the session, though unusual on race records, were probably no novelty to the band, which would have been expected to play such pieces for dancing by both blacks and whites. It was a year before the band returned to the microphones, and violinist Milton Roby (correct spelling) was added in place of Vol Stevens, bringing his broad, bluesy tones, learned on the medicine shows, to four songs that sound very much of that milieu some of them obviously cleaned up for recording and also to two provocative, sexy vocals by Minnie Wallace: Dirty Butter has fine piano and The Old Folks Started It has complex harmonica from Will Shade. A two day session in October 1929 began with the band in slightly lackluster mood, though they perked up for Tired Of You Driving Me. This date saw the debut on record of Tewee Blackman, Will Shade‘s guitar teacher, older than Shade, and a very accomplished player. His arpeggio style is heard on more records than the standard discography allows, but he was seldom heard to better effect than on Memphis Yo Yo Blues and K. C. Moan. The first title featured the forthright, sensual singing of Hattie Hart, interwoven, like Minnie Wallace’s, with imaginative harmonica work. K. C. Moan is perhaps the Memphis Jug Band‘s finest recording, excellent two guitar work supporting long, drawn-out notes on the harmonica and an intricate kazoo solo from Ben Ramey, apart from Shade the only member of the band who’d played on their first records. The vocal completes a spellbinding performance. The session ended with a light-hearted song about marital violence (a singletree, or swingletree, is the crosspiece of a plough). With a nonchalant “bam-bam-be-deedle-am”, the Memphis Jug Band left the recording studio. By May, 1930, when the Memphis Jug Band next recorded, unemployment in the US stood at over four million. The band, doubtless recognising that folks wanted to be lifted out of their troubles, didn’t let the Depression affect their music, as can be heard on Document DOCD-5023. DOCD-5022
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Jug Band– She Stays Out All Night Long 2:50
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Will Weldon
Jug – Charlie Polk
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Speech [several of the band] – Unknown Artist
2 Memphis Jug Band– Lindberg Hop (Overseas Stomp) 2:16
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug, Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
3 Memphis Jug Band– Sugar Pudding 2:43
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [trio] – Unknown Artist
4 Memphis Jug Band– A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake 2:45
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
5 Memphis Jug Band– On The Road Again 2:46
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
6 Memphis Jug Band– Whitewash Station Blues 2:42
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug, Lead Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
7 Memphis Jug Band– Stealin', Stealin' 2:55
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug, Lead Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
8 Memphis Jug Band– Jug Band Waltz 2:47
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
9 Memphis Jug Band– Mississippi River Waltz 2:40
Composed By – Ben Ramey
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
10 Memphis Jug Band– I Can't Stand It 2:19
Composed By, Guitar – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals [probably] – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals [probably] – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
11 Memphis Jug Band– What's The Matter? 2:49
Composed By, Guitar, Lead Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
12 Minnie Wallace– Dirty Butter 2:39
Composed By, Vocals – Minnie Wallace
Guitar [probably] – Will Shade
Piano [possibly] – Johnnie Hodges
Violin [probably] – Milton Robie
Vocals [refrain] – Unknown Artist
13 Minnie Wallace– The Old Folks Started It 2:55
Composed By, Vocals – Minnie Wallace
Guitar [probably] – Charlie Burse
Harmonica [probably] – Will Shade
Jug [probably] – Jab Jones
Violin [probably] – Milton Robie
14 Memphis Jug Band– Feed Your Friend With A Long-Handled Spoon 2:57
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
15 Memphis Jug Band– I Can Beat You Plenty (That Hand You Tried To Deal Me) 3:10
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
16 Memphis Jug Band– Taking Your Place 2:38
Composed By – Mattie Nelson
Composed By [possibly], Harmonica, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
17 Memphis Jug Band– Tired Of You Driving Me 2:48
Composed By – Mattie Nelson
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals – Ben Ramey
18 Memphis Jug Band– Memphis Yo-Yo Blues 2:30
Composed By – Jenny Pope
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Tewee Blackman
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Vocals – Hattie Hart
19 Memphis Jug Band– K.C. Moan 3:03
Composed By, Guitar, Lead Vocals [possibly] – Tewee Blackman
Guitar, Vocals [trio, possibly] – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals [trio, possibly] – Ben Ramey
20 Memphis Jug Band– I Whipped My Woman With A Single-Tree 3:03
Composed By, Lead Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Piano – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [trio] – Unknown Artist
MEMPHIS JUG BAND — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 3 : 1930 | DOCD-5023 (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
The third of three Document CDs has all of the Memphis Jug Band's 1930 recordings. Despite the onset of the Depression, the influential band's good-time style was unchanged and actually had improved a bit during the past couple of years. Will Shade was still its leader and alternated between guitar, harmonica, and vocals. The other original member was Ben Ramey on kazoo. During 1930, such players as mandolinist Charlie Burse, Hambone Lewis, and Jab Jones on jug, singer Charlie Nickerson, Vol Stevens on banjo-mandolin, and even guest vocalist/guitarist Memphis Minnie (on "Bumble Bee Blues" and "Meningitis Blues") passed through the band. Among the more memorable selections of their highly enjoyable CD are "Everybody's Talking About Sadie Green," "Cocaine Habit Blues," "Fourth Street Mess Around," "Going Back to Memphis," "Move that Thing," and "He's in the Jailhouse Now." Scott Yanow
The Memphis Jug Band Complete Works Vol. 3 (1930) features timeless blues recordings with legendary performers Will Shade, Ben Ramey, Charlie Burse, Hambone Lewis, Hattie Hart, Memphis Minnie, and Charlie Nickerson. This collection captures the essence of Memphis blues at its finest. DOCD-5023
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Jug Band– Everybody's Talking About Sadie Green 3:53
Banjo – Unknown Artist
Composed By – Charles Nickerson
Guitar – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo, Voice [Speech, Prob.] – Ben Ramey
Mandolin – Charlie Burse
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
2 Memphis Jug Band– Oh, Ambulance Man 2:40
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals – Hattie Hart
Vocals, Guitar – Will Shade
3 Memphis Jug Band– Cocaine Habit Blues 2:47
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Harmony Vocals – Unknown Artist
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals – Hattie Hart
Vocals, Kazoo – Ben Ramey
4 Memphis Jug Band– Jim Strainer Blues 3:20
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Piano – Unknown Artist
5 Memphis Jug Band– Cave Man Blues 3:05
Composed By – Charles Pope
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Guitar, Composed By – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Violin – Milton Robie
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Voice [Speech] – Unknown Artist
6 Memphis Jug Band– Fourth Street Mess Around 3:15
Guitar, Composed By – Will Shade
Harmony Vocals – Unknown Artist, Unknown Artist
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin – Charlie Burse
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
7 Memphis Jug Band– It Won't Act Right 2:28
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Guitar, Vocals, Composed By – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Voice [Speech] – Unknown Artist
8 Memphis Jug Band– Bumble Bee Blues 2:49
Composed By – Minnie McCoy
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
9 Memphis Jug Band– Meningitis Blues 3:14
Composed By – Minnie McCoy
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
10 Memphis Jug Band– Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues 3:04
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Voice [Poss. Speech] – Charlie Burse
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
11 Memphis Jug Band– Stonewall Blues 3:26
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
12 Carolina Peanut Boys– Spider's Nest Blues 3:03
Composed By – Jennie Mae Clayton
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals – Hattie Hart
13 Memphis Jug Band– Papa's Got Your Bath Water On 2:26
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals, Composed By – Hattie Hart
Vocals, Harmonica – Will Shade
14 Charlie Nickerson– Going Back To Memphis 2:20
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Guitar, Composed By – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [Group Vocals] – Memphis Jug Band
15 Memphis Sheiks– He's In The Jailhouse Now 3:06
Banjo, Mandolin – Vol Stevens
Composed By – Burt Murphy*
Guitar, Harmony Vocals [Poss.] – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
16 Carolina Peanut Boys– Got A Letter From My Darlin' 2:55
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica, Composed By – Will Shade
Jug – Unknown Artist
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [2nd Vocals], Voice [Speech] – Unknown Artist
17 Memphis Sheiks– 'Round And 'Round 3:00
Harmonica, Composed By – Will Shade
Jug – Unknown Artist
Kazoo, Harmony Vocals – Ben Ramey
Mandolin [Poss.] – Will Weldon
Mandolin [Prob.] – Vol Stevens
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [2nd Vocals] – Unknown Artist
18 Carolina Peanut Boys– You May Leave But This Will Bring You Back 2:58
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica, Composed By – Will Shade
Harmony Vocals – Ben Ramey
Jug – Unknown Artist
Mandolin [Poss.] – Will Weldon
Mandolin [Prob.] – Vol Stevens
Vocals – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [2nd Vocals] – Unknown Artist
19 Carolina Peanut Boys– Move That Thing 2:57
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica, Composed By – Will Shade
Harmony Vocals – Ben Ramey
Jug – Unknown Artist
Mandolin [Poss.] – Will Weldon
Mandolin [Prob.] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [2nd Vocals] – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Voice [Speech], Composed By – Charlie Nickerson
20 Carolina Peanut Boys– You Got Me Rollin' 2:26
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica, Composed By – Will Shade
Harmony Vocals – Ben Ramey
Jug – Unknown Artist
Mandolin [Poss.] – Will Weldon
Mandolin [Prob.] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [2nd Vocals] – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Voice [Speech] – Charlie Nickerson
15.5.21
V.A. - Four Women Blues : Victor / Bluebird Recordings (1997) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless
Four Women Blues is the kind of anthology that would be assembled by a specialty label like Document or Story of the Blues, not a major label like RCA. And yet here it is, encompassing rare and unreleased Victor/Bluebird sides by four early female blues artists, mastered wherever possible from the original metal parts. The recordings, made between 1928-1936 and representing the four artists' extant output for the label, are predominately those of Memphis Minnie, a guitar-playing blues woman who was the most successful of the bunch. Her 13 cuts will be the ones that attract most blues collectors to this package, but the remaining tracks are fascinating as well. The names Mississippi Matilda, Kansas City Kitty, and Miss Rosie Mae Moore may not ring many bells for most blues enthusiasts, but the music is never less than interesting and the sound quality is probably as good as it will get ever on these scarce and forgotten recordings. by Greg Adams
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– I'm Goin Back Home 2:42
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Joe Johnson
2 Memphis Minnie– Bumble Bee Blues 2:53
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
3 Memphis Minnie– Meningitis Blues 3:09
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
4 Memphis Minnie– I Never Told A Lie 2:41
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
5 Memphis Minnie– Don't Want No Woman 3:12
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Joe Johnson
6 Memphis Minnie– Georgia Skin 2:54
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
7 Memphis Minnie– You Wrecked My Happy Home 2:42
Guitar [Prob.] – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
8 Memphis Minnie– I'm Waiting On You 2:26
Guitar [Prob.] – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
9 Memphis Minnie– Keep On Goin' 2:30
Guitar [Prob.] – Big Bill Broonzy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
10 Memphis Minnie– When The Sun Goes Down Part 2 3:34
Bass – Bill Settles
Piano – Black Bob
Steel Guitar – Casey Bill Weldon
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
11 Memphis Minnie– Hustlin' Woman Blues 2:53
Bass – Bill Settles
Piano – Black Bob
Steel Guitar – Casey Bill Weldon
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
12 Memphis Minnie– Seeling My Pork Chops 2:53
Bass – Bill Settles
Piano – Black Bob
Steel Guitar – Casey Bill Weldon
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
13 Memphis Minnie– Doctor, Doctor Blues 3:18
Bass – Bill Settles
Piano – Black Bob
Steel Guitar – Casey Bill Weldon
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Written-By – Minnie McCoy
14 Mississippi Matilda– Hardworking Woman Blues 2:52
Guitar – Sonny Boy Nelson
Guitar [Prob.] – Willie Harris
Vocals – Mississippi Matilda
Written By – Unknown Artist
15 Mississippi Matilda– Happy Home Blues 2:46
Guitar – Sonny Boy Nelson
Guitar [Prob.] – Willie Harris
Vocals – Mississippi Matilda
Written By – Unknown Artist
16 Kansas City Kitty– Christmas Mornin' Blues 3:02
Vocals, Piano [Prob.], Kazoo – Kansas City Kitty
Written-By – Spud Murphy
17 Kansas City Kitty– Double Trouble Blues 2:58
Vocals, Piano [Prob.], Kazoo – Kansas City Kitty
Written-By – Thelma Holmes
18 Kansas City Kitty– Leave My Man Alone 2:54
Vocals, Piano [Prob.], Kazoo – Kansas City Kitty
Written-By – Thelma Holmes
19 Kansas City Kitty– Mistreatin' Easy Rider 3:09
Vocals, Piano [Prob.], Kazoo – Kansas City Kitty
Written-By – Thelma Holmes
20 Miss Rosie Mae Moore– Staggering Blues 3:39
Guitar – Charlie McCoy
Vocals – Rosie Mae Moore
Written By – Unknown Artist
21 Miss Rosie Mae Moore– Ha Ha Blues 3:38
Guitar – Charlie McCoy
Vocals – Rosie Mae Moore
Written By – Unknown Artist
22 Miss Rosie Mae Moore– School Girl Blues 3:18
Guitar – Charlie McCoy
Vocals – Rosie Mae Moore
Written By – Unknown Artist
23 Miss Rosie Mae Moore– Stranger Blues 3:24
Guitar – Charlie McCoy
Vocals – Rosie Mae Moore
Written By – Unknown Artist
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THE TWO POOR BOYS — Joe Evans & Arthur McClain (1927-1931) The Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order | DOCD-5044 (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
So deeply ingrained are perceptions of race and ethnicity in North American culture that certain artists who recorded during the 1920s and ...