



ARTIST SONG ALBUM Papa Charlie Jackson Salty Dog Blues (Take 2) Shake That Thing: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson I Got What It Takes But It Breaks My Heart to Give It Away Shake That Thing: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Shake That Thing (Take 2) Shake That Thing: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Whistlin' Pete & Daddy Stovepipe Tuxedo Blues Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949 Daddy Stovepipe 35 Depression Alabama Black Country Dance Bands 1924-1949 Pete & Catjuice Charlie In Kentucky Wait For Me: Songs of Love and Lust and Discontentment Pete & Catjuice Charlie On Our Turpentine Farm I've Got the Blues But I'm Too Damn Mean to Cry Papa Charlie Jackson Skoodle-Um-Skoo Blues Images Vol. 3 Papa Charlie Jackson Sheik of Displaines Street Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson Long Gone Lost Broadcasting the Blues Will Ezell & Elzadie Robinson Galveston Blues The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 1 Will Ezell Pitchin’ Boogie Shake Your Wicked Knees Papa Charlie Jackson & Lucille Bogan Jim Tampa Blues Papa Charlie Done Sung That Song Papa Charlie Jackson & Blind Blake Papa Charlie Jackson and Blind Blake Talk About It The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 2 Papa Charlie Jackson & Big Boy Teddy Edwards Who Did You Give My Barbecue To? Pt. 1 Big Boy Teddy Edwards 1930-1936 Ma Rainey & Papa Charlie Big Feeling Blues The Essential Ma Rainey Papa Charlie Jackson I'm Looking for a Woman Who Knows How to Treat Me Right Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson 'Tain't What You Do But How You Do It I'll Be Gone Baby: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe Read Your ABC's Blues Images Vol. 17 Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe Greenville Strut Ruckus Juice & Chitlins, Vol. 2: The Great Jug Band Pigmeat Pete & Catjuice Charlie You'se My Friend Coot Grant & Wesley Wilson Vol. 2 1928-1931 Pigmeat Pete & Catjuice Charlie Hard Times John's Old Time Show Will Ezell Old Mill Blues The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 1 Blind Roosevelt Graves and His Brother & Will Ezell Crazy About My Baby The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 1 Papa Charlie Jackson Bad Luck Woman Blues Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson I'm Going Where the Chilly Winds Don't Blow Shake That Thing: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson All I Want Is a Spoonful Shake That Thing: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe If You Want Me Baby When The Sun Goes Down Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe The Spasm Essential Alabama Blues 1926-1952 Will Ezell Georgia Skin Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe Vol. 2 1929- 1930 Will Ezell Moanin' The Blues Masters of the Memphis Blues Will Ezell Little Rock Blues Memphis Masters Papa Charlie Jackson Butter and Egg Man Blues Memphis Jug Band and Cannon's Jug Stompers Papa Charlie Jackson Up the Way Bound Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants: The Music of Papa Charlie Jackson Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals & Papa Charlie Jackson

Salty Dog #2 The Frog Blues & Jazz Annual No. 5

Show Notes:

Today’s show is part of a semi-regular feature I call Forgotten Blues Heroes that spotlights great, but little remembered blues artists that don’t really fit into my weekly themed shows. Today we spotlight a twelve year span, 1924-1935, spotlighting one popular recording artists and several others that cut records with much less fanfare. Papa Charlie Jackson was one of the earliest solo bluesman on record and quite a popular one during his heyday. The bulk of his almost one hundred sides were made between 1924-1930 with final sides made in 1934. Johnny Watson, alias Daddy Stovepipe was singer/harp blower from Alabama who first recorded in 1924 (just a few months prior to Jackson), made some memorable sides in the 30’s with his wife Mississippi Sarah and was still playing on Maxwell Street in the 60’s when he was last recorded. Pigmeat Pete & Catjuice Charlie were Wesley Wilson and Harry McDaniels who cut some highly amusing sides in the late 20’s and 30’s. Pianist Will Ezell was a house pianist and talent scout for Paramount Records who cut some fine piano records under his own name and backed several singers like Elzadie Robinson and Lucille Bogan.

Little is known about Papa Charlie Jackson who was born William Henry Jackson. It is generally believed he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 10, 1887. He is also thought to have started out playing in medicine and minstrel shows before World War I. By 1920 Jackson had settled in Chicago, where he gave guitar lessons, worked in clubs, and played for tips along Maxwell Street. By the early twenties he was a popular entertainer performing in Chicago nightclubs and at the Maxwell Street Marketplace. It was here that he was “discovered” by Paramount Records agent Mayo Williams and brought to the attention of the folks at Paramount Records. Jackson was one of the most successful artists to record for Paramount Records. He was a compelling singer and songwriter who accompanied himself on a six string banjo often referred to as a guitar-banjo or tenor banjo. He also played the ukulele. He employed a finger picking technique or used a flat pick. The Paramount Book of Blues, a 1927 promotional booklet, gave this insight into Papa Charlie Jackson:

From the ancient- historical city of New Orleans, came Charlie Jackson— a witty- cheerful- kind hearted man—who, with his joy-ous sounding voice and his banjo, sang and strummed his way into the hearts of thousands of people. When he first contracted to sing and play for Paramount—many pessimistic persons laughed, and said they were certain no one wanted to hear comedy songs sung by a man strumming a banjo. But it wasn’t long before they realized how wrong they were. Charlie and his records took the entire country by storm, and now—people like nothing better than to come home after a tiring and busy day and play his records. His hearty voice and gay, harmoni-ous strumming on the banjo, causes their cares and worries to dwin-dle away, and gives them a careful frame of mind, and makes life one sweet song.

By 1924 he was cutting his first two sides at Paramount. They were “Papa’s Lawdy Lawdy Blues” and “Airy Man Blues.” Among biggest hits were “Shake That Thing” recorded in 1925. Other significant recordings were, “Alabama Bound”, “Spoonful” and “Salty Dog.” These tunes have served as a template for other blues songs and have been covered many times through the years. He also recorded duets with Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, Hattie McDaniel and played on record with Blind Blake. Attesting to his popularity, and the confidence of his record company, his records were advertised in the Chicago Defender over two-dozen times.

Jackson’s unusual guitar- banjo sound brought him session work backing other blues artists. It’s believed he accompanied singer Lottie Beaman on the October 1924 Paramount session for “Mama Can’t Lose,” with Jimmy Blythe on piano. During April 1925 Jackson joined Ida Cox on the two- part “Mister Man,” playing guitar- banjo and adding vocals. He rejoined Cox in September for “How Long Daddy, How Long.” In 1927 he backed Lucille Bogan. During October 1928, Jackson joined Ma Rainey on “Ma and Pa Poorhouse Blues” and “Big Feeling Blues.” In 1929 he dueted with Blind Blake on the two-part part “Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk about It.” In another promotional effort, Paramount featured a segment of Papa Charlie’s “Shake That Thing” on its two-part Paramount All Stars 78 of “Hometown Skiffle,” advertised in February 1930 as a “descriptive novelty featuring Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Will Ezell, Charlie Spand, the Hokum Boys, Papa Charlie Jackson.”

The success of Jackson’s “Salty Dog Blues”and “Shake That Thing” reportedly convinced producer Mayo Williams to scout and record other solo blues artists such as Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson, who’d most likely been scouted by Art Laibly after being advised by Sam Price. By year’s end, “Shake That Thing” had been covered by Eva Taylor for OKeh and by Ethel Waters for Columbia. Within months, there were new versions out by Viola McCoy on Vocalion and by Jackson’s label mates Viola Bartlette and Jimmie O’Bryant’s Famous Original Washboard Band. In September 1925 Jackson made the first recording of “Spoonful,” titled “All I Want Is a Spoonful.”

Jackson didn’t record between 1931-1933 but returned to the studio in 1934 to record with “Big” Bill Broonzy: “At the Break of Day” and “I Want to Go Home.” Broonzy claimed to have studied guitar with Jackson. Jackson also backed Big Boy Edwards on six string banjo on his great record, “Who Did I Give My Barbeque Too.” He also cut his final four sides the same year. Little is known about the final years of his life but his death certificate states that he died on May 7, 1938.

Johnny Watson, alias Daddy Stovepipe was born in Mobile, Alabama, on April 12th 1867 and died in Chicago, November 1st 1963. By the 1920’s he was working as a one-man band on Maxwell Street in Chicago, where he acquired the name “Daddy Stovepipe” from the characteristic top hat he wore. A veteran of the turn of the century medicine shows, he was in his late fifties when he became one of the first blues harp players to appear on record in 1924. In 1927 he made more recordings, this time in Birmingham, Alabama for Gennett Records. He made more recordings back in Chicago in 1931 for the Vocalion label with his wife, “Mississippi Sarah”, a singer and jug player and made more recordings with her in 1935. He spent his last years as a regular performer on Chicago’s Maxwell Street, where he made his last recordings in 1960.

Will Ezell was born in Brenham, Texas, around 70 miles northwest of Houston, on December 23, 1892. He started playing in barrelhouses as an itinerant pianist in the early to mid-1910s. His June 1917 draft record places Ezell in New Orleans working as a self-employed musician. Over the next few years he continued to work at gin mills, rent parties and various labor venues, most notably the river sawmill camps of Louisiana and East Texas. These camps contained the origin of the barrelhouses, usually a shack made from a railroad box car that used barrels for tables. Such places also functioned as brothels and gambling dens, and the presence of a pianist also made it into a dance hall of sorts. It was during these wanderings in the early 1920’s that Ezell reportedly teamed up on occasion with blues singer Elzadie Robinson. She came originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, and had performed through Eastern Texas and Louisiana, even up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri.

More than one source puts Will Ezell’s arrival in Chicago from Louisiana as around 1925. He played in both Chicago and Detroit where became friends with pianists Arthur “Blind” Blake and Charlie Spand. They often gathered early in the week at Blake’s apartment to exchange ideas and just play for fun before running off to their respective gigs through the weekend. Late in 1926 Ezell started working at Paramount Records. Paramount records, in spite of their Wisconsin headquarters, had a studio in Chicago as well, which is how many of the early blues and boogie players were able to lay down tracks for posterity. Ezell was, therefore, among the first, but not the first, pianist to record boogie-woogie styled sides.

Ezell was soon considered the flexible go-to guy at Paramount, as he could quickly adapt to accompanying nearly anybody, his initial role with the label. Starting in 1926 he backed several blues ladies on record including Elzadie Robinson, Marie Bradley, Ora Brown, Bertha Henderson and Side Wheel Sally Duffie. He gained the trust of Aletha Dickerson who became the self-appointed recording manager of the Chicago branch of Paramount in 1928 following the departure of J. Mayo Williams. Ezell worked as an on-the-spot arranger and pseudo-producer for many dates between 1928 and 1931. He also likely recommended some of his colleagues, particularly Charlie Spand, who recorded for Paramount between 1929 and 1931. However, in late 1927 he was also allowed to “cut his own records on the label, cutting several impressive boogie and blues-tinged piano tracks into early 1929. He also made several fine records by Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother in 1929.

During a refitting of the Chicago studios, Paramount artists co-opted the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana.The sessions cut here by Charlie Spand, Baby James, “Blind” Roosevelt Graves and Ezell are among the highest quality released by Paramount. These were nearly the last that Ezell would be involved in, other than a novelty by the “Paramount All Stars” late in the year, featuring snippets of pieces by different artists on the label.

Among the duties evidently either handed to or taken on by Ezell was handling of special needs of some of the artists and management at Paramount. Indeed, it has been reported that when Paramount blues guitarist and singer Blind Lemon Jefferson died in December 1929, Ezell personally escorted the body back to their native Texas where he was buried on January 1 or 2, 1930.

Will Ezell was born in Brenham, Texas, around 70 miles northwest of Houston, on December 23, 1892. He started playing in barrelhouses as an itinerant pianist in the early to mid-1910s. His June 1917 draft record places Ezell in New Orleans working as a self-employed musician. Over the next few years he continued to work at gin mills, rent parties and various labor venues, most notably the river sawmill camps of Louisiana and East Texas. These camps contained the origin of the barrelhouses, usually a shack made from a railroad box car that used barrels for tables. Such places also functioned as brothels and gambling dens, and the presence of a pianist also made it into a dance hall of sorts. was during these wanderings in the early 1920s that Ezell reportedly teamed up on occasion with blues singer Elzadie Robinson. She came originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, and had performed through Eastern Texas and Louisiana, even up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri.

Ezell was still performing in Chicago in the early 1930’s, and was known to have been present at some sessions in 1930 and 1931 at Paramount. The company was in trouble, and in 1931 had closed the Chicago studio, choosing to record in Grafton, Wisconsin. Ezell went back on the road, including to his old stomping grounds Louisiana where performer Clarence Hall remembers playing with him in 1931. Otherwise, reports of his wanderings, even though he was likely still based in Chicago, are scant at best. While he was mostly invisible for the remainder of the 1930’s, researcher John Steiner wrote that Cripple Clarence Lofton, who owned the Big Apple Tavern on South State Street near 47th, reportedly hosted Ezell, Charlie Spand, Leroy Garnett and other former Paramount blues performers over the years on his stage. Ezell passed in Chicago in 1970.

Wesley Wilson was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He played the piano and organ, and his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant (Leola B. Pettigrew, whose legal name became Leola Wilson), played the guitar and sang and danced. The duo was variously billed as Grant and Wilson, Kid and Coot, and Hunter and Jenkins, as they went on to appear and later record with Fletcher Henderson, Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. Their variety was such that they performed separately and together in vaudeville, musical comedies, revues and traveling shows. They cut over sixty sides between 1925 and 1938. Wilson also recorded over a dozen very entertaining duets between 1929 and 1931 with partner Catjuice Pete (Harry McDaniels), using the name Pigmeat Pete.”