Week 12: Country Woman



Will Batts

The Man

Will Batts was a fiddler who was part of the jug band scene that flourished in Memphis in the late 1920’s and early ’30s. He was born in Michigan, Mississippi on January 24, 1904. He spent his youth working on farms as an labourer, and it is unknown where he learnt to play the violin and fiddle. In his late teens or early 20s, he decided he wanted to make a career in music so headed off to Memphis, Tennessee and the famous area for music: Beale Street.

In 1909, the music teacher and researcher W. C. Handy and his band moved to Memphis to find larger audiences. Handy was born to play music. With little formal education, he had taught himself guitar, organ and was a master of the cornet, but his greatest talent was organising groups of musicians and converting sounds from his environment into playable music. He had spend most of the previous decade travelling the Mississippi country side absorbing all the country music that was played in churches or hollered in fields.

Later in 1909, a local politician E. H. Crump commissioned Handy to write a campaign song, titled “Mr Crump”. The song Handy created was unique in several ways – it featured a 12 bar chord cycle that was repeated, with a 3 lines of lyrics sung during each repetition. It was written to be performed by a big band as befits a political campaign. In 1912 Handy renamed it “The Memphis Blues” – this was just the third time “Blues” had been used in a published song title. By 1914 the song was a standard, though slightly adapted to suit smaller bands performing for ragtime and jazz audiences. Different lyrics had been added, it became the first recorded vocal song with ‘blues’ in the title. Later that year he published ‘St Louis Blues’ and in 1916 he penned “Beale St Blues”. Both undeniably what we recognise as 12 bar blues today, and all three of his ‘blues’ songs were very popular.

The success of Handy’s blues caused an explosion in interest in the new style. Musicians from all over the south headed to Memphis, inspired by this new form of music that incorporated old rhythms and sounds. They brought with them the instruments they used back home – home made guitars, banjos, washtub bass and fiddles for rhythm and melody, washboards for percussion and jugs to imitate the deep horn sounds. Jug Bands had developed in the Louisville area of Kentucky around the early part of the 1900s, but didn’t really get popular until the mid 20’s when they met with Handy’s blues.

Will Shade, aka Son Brimmer, born February 1896 in Memphis, had heard the Dixieland Jug Blowers from Kentucky, and was inspired to form a local jug band to play the blues. He rounded up a jug blower, a kazoo player a guitarist and with himself alternating on washtub bass, guitar or country blues harmonica, he started the Memphis Jug Band. The band quickly became very popular, and featured a revolving door of musicians: Memphis Minnie, Laura Dukes, Furry Lewis, Charlie Burse and Casey Bill Weldon all played with the band at one time and all went on to have successful solo careers. They were first recorded in 1927 and their success inspired other jug bands

Will Batts had established a string band by the late 20s featuring a guitarist named Dan Sane, who was a childhood friend of Frank Stokes. Stokes was a guitarist born on New Years Day 1888, who travelled 25 miles each weekend to play on Beale Street in his teens. He joined a travelling medicine show, learnt professionalism and stage presence and by the 1920’s already was considered a great guitarist and was back in Memphis. He and Sane, would play on street corners and clubs as the Beale Street Sheiks. The duo also joined aspiring Mississippi born guitarist Jack Kelly in Kelly’s Jug Busters. Stokes was a great influence on the scene, he was recorded in 1927 and again in 1929, this time featuring Will Batts on fiddle.

Batts had arrived on the scene just as the jug bands were gaining popularity, and his country blues fiddle style adapted perfectly with the blues based jug bands. Jack Kelly asked him to join a new version of the Jug Busters with Dan Sane and jug blower D. M. Higgs called the South Memphis Jug Band. Dan Sane handed rhythm and flat picked guitar, Kelly did the lead with his finger style delta influenced guitar and Batt’s quickly became the main singer in addition to his fiddling.

The band were recorded in August 1933, recording 23 sides under the name Jack Kelly and his South Memphis Jug Band. In the same session, Kelly, Sane and Batts recorded four songs released on 78’s under Will’s name only. On these Will only sang; he did not play fiddle and the jug was absent.

The Great Depression hit soon after the recordings, and time got tough for the local music scene. Little is know about what happened, but Kelly and Batts returned to the studio in 1939 to record another 10 tracks, released under the name Jack Kelly. Dan Sane seemed to disappear after the 1933 session and died in Memphis on February 18, 1956. Jack Kelly continued to perform with the South Memphis Jug Band and other Memphis musicians until the mid 50’s. In 1952 he recorded with the line up of himself on piano, Willie Nix on drums, Joe Hill Louis on guitar and the master harp player Big Walter Horton. There were 4 sessions throughout 1952, with various tracks released under the names of which ever of the four were singing. Kelly’s release was under “Jackie Boy & Little Walter”. He died in Memphis in 1960, the exact date unknown.

Will Batts continued to perform in Memphis until his death on February 18, 1954.

The Song



The song is in the key of A, and played with two guitars, one is tuned to an open G tuning (D G D G B D) with a capo in the second fret. This tuning, called Spanish tuning, is fairly popular in blues because it means that all strings played open make a strong sounding chord. The other guitar is in standard tuning but tuned way down – to about a C# – and played with a C chord to put it into the key of A. It is a 12 bar of a different structure: four repeated measures consisting of three bars of A, half a bar of E and back to A, then a descending run of bar of E, half of E flat, half of D and a bar of A, half of E and back to A. With open tunings, chord changes tend to be quite noticeable, but in this piece the chords are implied through individual notes rather than with full 6 string chord changes.

Here is a version, played in the key of C, that recreates the original very faithfully. It’s played by John Miller and Frank Basile, and is just one of the lessons from the 2 hour DVD “Legendary Country Blues Guitar Duets”, produced for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. More information about the DVD and how to get a copy can be found here:



The rhythm guitar is flat picked and plays the chords – alternating between the A string and strumming the full chord on the beat. It occasionally doubles the melody line an octave below or plays little riffs of it’s own.The lead guitar is finger picked and plays notes in the A blues scale with an additional major 6th. I’ve got a sound very similar to the original playing the lead on a standard tuned resonator with my total beginner girl friend just doing A string – Strum – A string – strum on a Spanish tuned guitar with a capo on the 2nd. It adds that drone that is a feature of the song.

I’ve tabbed it in standard, but because of the original tuning and the two guitars, you are not going to get it to sound exactly the same unless there are two of you and you go Spanish. I worked it out in standard tuning on my resonator, based on an open position A chord, because the deep harmonics of the steel body can get a similar drone effect happening. On my acoustic, however, I play it in standard using a 5th fret A chord as the basis because it sounds fuller up there. In 5th position you literally only have to move your pinky to play the entire song. Experiment with the positioning to get a sound that you are happy with. Country Woman was recorded in August, 1933, probably on the 2nd, along with other songs by the South Memphis Jug Band. Two other tracks recorded that day (“Highway 61” and “Cold Iron Bed”) share the exact progression and the only difference seems to be Batts playing fiddle on the other two.The song is in the key of A, and played with two guitars, one is tuned to an open G tuning (D G D G B D) with a capo in the second fret. This tuning, called Spanish tuning, is fairly popular in blues because it means that all strings played open make a strong sounding chord. The other guitar is in standard tuning but tuned way down – to about a C# – and played with a C chord to put it into the key of A. It is a 12 bar of a different structure: four repeated measures consisting of three bars of A, half a bar of E and back to A, then a descending run of bar of E, half of E flat, half of D and a bar of A, half of E and back to A. With open tunings, chord changes tend to be quite noticeable, but in this piece the chords are implied through individual notes rather than with full 6 string chord changes.Here is a version, played in the key of C, that recreates the original very faithfully. It’s played by John Miller and Frank Basile, and is just one of the lessons from the 2 hour DVD “Legendary Country Blues Guitar Duets”, produced for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. More information about the DVD and how to get a copy can be found here: http://www.guitarvideos.com/artists/john-miller/legendary-country-blues-guitar-duets The rhythm guitar is flat picked and plays the chords – alternating between the A string and strumming the full chord on the beat. It occasionally doubles the melody line an octave below or plays little riffs of it’s own.The lead guitar is finger picked and plays notes in the A blues scale with an additional major 6th. I’ve got a sound very similar to the original playing the lead on a standard tuned resonator with my total beginner girl friend just doing A string – Strum – A string – strum on a Spanish tuned guitar with a capo on the 2nd. It adds that drone that is a feature of the song.I’ve tabbed it in standard, but because of the original tuning and the two guitars, you are not going to get it to sound exactly the same unless there are two of you and you go Spanish. I worked it out in standard tuning on my resonator, based on an open position A chord, because the deep harmonics of the steel body can get a similar drone effect happening. On my acoustic, however, I play it in standard using a 5th fret A chord as the basis because it sounds fuller up there. In 5th position you literally only have to move your pinky to play the entire song. Experiment with the positioning to get a sound that you are happy with.

The Lyrics

I'm got two women in the country, I'm got two women stays in town (spoken) Yeah, boy! I'm got two women in the country, I'm got two women stays in town Reason I can visit so careful 'cause ne'er 'un don't dog me around Say, you may be brownskin woman, great God, your hair long as my arm (spoken) All right, sing it, boy Say, you may be brownskin woman, great God, your hair long as my arm (spoken) Yeah! Can't do the bedspring polka, you sure done lost your home (spoken) Well, play it, boy! Now the short-haired woman waitin' for to carry your troubles on Make you think through the day-time, trouble you all night long (spoken) Why? She make you think you right, when you know darn well you wrong (spoken) Yeah, boy! I don't want no jealous-hearted women, great God, makin' up my bed I don't want no jealous-hearted women, (spoken) No! great God, makin' up my bed Man, she put something in your mattress, made you wish you was dead

The Intro



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The Progression



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The Solo



The next part goes back to the slower shuffle rhythm of the progression. Hit the A note 3rd string 2nd fret to get a fatter sound.

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The Outro