Bessie Smith - Poor Man's Blues - 1928

Bessie Smith, the "EMPRESS OF THE BLUES".

Born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smith was one of ten children. Both of her parents had died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola and encouraged to sing and dance by her oldest brother Clarence. He soon joined the Moses Stokes traveling show, leaving Smith and their brother Andrew to sing for pennies on Chattanooga street corners.

Clarence later arranged an audition for Smith with the Moses Stokes Company and she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She became friends with an older Moses Stokes veteran, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who was called the Mother of the Blues and likely exercised some influence over the young singer. Smith had her own voice, however, and owed her success to no one. Her heavy, throaty vocals were balanced by a delightful sense of timing. Her live shows were a blend of comedy and drama in song. Smith was popular in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, but she was beloved in the South. In 1923, her vaudeville touring led her to Memphis, where she played packed houses at the Palace Theater on Beale Street.

On February 16, 1923, Smith recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues," accompanied by Clarence Williams on piano. Although recorded by Memphis singer Alberta Hunter a year before, Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" sold more than 780,000 copies in six months. Her sales made her a blues star on par with Mamie Smith (no relation), a vaudeville singer who had ignited the race records market with her 1920 recording "Crazy Blues."

Although Smith recorded extensively for Columbia - nearly 160 songs between 1923 and her last session in 1933 - her live performances were equally successful. During the 1920s she commanded fees of $2,000 a week and played sold-out theaters across the South, North, and Midwest. Her stage success influenced women blues singers like Memphis Minnie, but male blues singers like Leadbelly, who only heard her on record, emulated her too. She recorded with the best jazz sidemen, including pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Buster Bailey, guitarist Eddie Lang, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman, and cornetist Louis Armstrong. In May 1925, she made the first electronically recorded record, "Cake Walking Babies," by singing into the newly invented microphone.

During the Depression of the 1930s, Smith's drawing power in the large cities of the North and Midwest began to wane, but she remained popular in small towns and throughout the South. Furry Lewis proudly recalled playing with Smith in Chicago during the 1930s. She even made an early movie when W.C. Handy asked her to play the lead in a short film called "St. Louis Blues" loosely based on his song. On Sept. 26, 1937, after finishing a performance in Memphis, Smith and her manager were driving south on Highway 61, north of the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, when their car struck an oncoming truck. The crash nearly severed Smith's right arm. She was taken to G.T. Thomas Hospital (now the Riverside Hotel) in Clarksdale where she died the following morning.

Bessie Smith is buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Bessie Smith - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out - 1929

Bessie Smith, the "EMPRESS OF THE BLUES".

Born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smith was one of ten children. Both of her parents had died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola and encouraged to sing and dance by her oldest brother Clarence. He soon joined the Moses Stokes traveling show, leaving Smith and their brother Andrew to sing for pennies on Chattanooga street corners.

Clarence later arranged an audition for Smith with the Moses Stokes Company and she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She became friends with an older Moses Stokes veteran, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who was called the Mother of the Blues and likely exercised some influence over the young singer. Smith had her own voice, however, and owed her success to no one. Her heavy, throaty vocals were balanced by a delightful sense of timing. Her live shows were a blend of comedy and drama in song. Smith was popular in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, but she was beloved in the South. In 1923, her vaudeville touring led her to Memphis, where she played packed houses at the Palace Theater on Beale Street.

On February 16, 1923, Smith recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues," accompanied by Clarence Williams on piano. Although recorded by Memphis singer Alberta Hunter a year before, Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" sold more than 780,000 copies in six months. Her sales made her a blues star on par with Mamie Smith (no relation), a vaudeville singer who had ignited the race records market with her 1920 recording "Crazy Blues."

Although Smith recorded extensively for Columbia - nearly 160 songs between 1923 and her last session in 1933 - her live performances were equally successful. During the 1920s she commanded fees of $2,000 a week and played sold-out theaters across the South, North, and Midwest. Her stage success influenced women blues singers like Memphis Minnie, but male blues singers like Leadbelly, who only heard her on record, emulated her too. She recorded with the best jazz sidemen, including pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Buster Bailey, guitarist Eddie Lang, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman, and cornetist Louis Armstrong. In May 1925, she made the first electronically recorded record, "Cake Walking Babies," by singing into the newly invented microphone.

During the Depression of the 1930s, Smith's drawing power in the large cities of the North and Midwest began to wane, but she remained popular in small towns and throughout the South. Furry Lewis proudly recalled playing with Smith in Chicago during the 1930s. She even made an early movie when W.C. Handy asked her to play the lead in a short film called "St. Louis Blues" loosely based on his song. On Sept. 26, 1937, after finishing a performance in Memphis, Smith and her manager were driving south on Highway 61, north of the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, when their car struck an oncoming truck. The crash nearly severed Smith's right arm. She was taken to G.T. Thomas Hospital (now the Riverside Hotel) in Clarksdale where she died the following morning.

Bessie Smith is buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Corinthians 2 x 1 Fluminense - Copa São Paulo 2012

Virada Histórica!!!

Timão derrota Fluminense e é campeão com a melhor campanha da história


Agência Corinthians
25/01/12 12h11

Com 100% de aproveitamento em oito vitórias - 30 gols feitos e apenas dois sofridos – a equipe do Parque São Jorge foi campeã do torneio pela oitava vez e teve a melhor campanha de todas as edições da Copinha até agora.

Os outros anos em que o Timão conquistou o campeonato foram 1969, 1970, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2005 e 2009.

Sob olhar de Tite, Corinthians bate o Flu e conquista 8º título da Copa SP de Juniores

Bruno Thadeu 
Do UOL, em São Paulo

A torcida do Corinthians aproveitou o feriado de São Paulo para lotar o Pacaembu na final da Copinha. Tite assistiu à decisão do camarote. No aniversário da capital paulista, o torcedor alvinegro comemorou à sua maneira: com sofrimento. O Corinthians venceu o Fluminense de virada, nesta quarta-feira, 2 a 1, celebrando seu oitavo título no torneio.

Os gols do Corinthians foram marcados pelo zagueiro e capitão Antonio Carlos, ambos de cabeça, virando a partida aos 43 min do segundo tempo.

A decisão da Copa São Paulo reuniu os dois maiores vencedores da competição. A torcida. O Corinthians chegou à partida com sete títulos, enquanto o clube carioca somava cinco conquistas.

Para a decisão, a torcida alvinegra esgotou os ingressos na terça-feira (37 mil espectadores), formando longas filas no acesso ao estádio. A euforia era justificada: a equipe do Parque São Jorge foi para final com sete vitórias em sete jogos, 28 gols marcados e apenas 1 sofrido. Na semifinal, o time alvinegro havia derrotado o Atlético-PR por 6 a 0.

Já o Fluminense chegou à final ao vencer o Coritiba com facilidade: 4 a 0, tendo como destaque Marcos Júnior.

Em uma ensolarada manhã em São Paulo, o Corinthians teve maior posse de bola na primeira etapa, mas foi o Fluminense quem criou as principais jogadas no ataque, explorando os contragolpes.

O atacante Marcos Júnior perdeu três grandes chances de gol na etapa inicial, sendo uma delas parado pelo goleiro corintiano Matheus, que fez várias defesas nos 45 min iniciais.

O segundo tempo começou com o Fluminense abrindo vantagem no marcador. O atacante Michael aproveitou falha da defesa e concluiu para a meta, fazendo 1 a 0 aos 3 min da etapa final.

O Corinthians passou a pressionar em busca do empate, conseguindo igualar o jogo aos 20 min, com Antonio Carlos, de cabeça, em jogada de escanteio. Na pressão, o Corinthians fez a torcida delirar a dois minutos do fim, novamente com Antonio Carlos, de cabeça.

Corinthians x Fluminense
Data: Quarta-feira, 25 de janeiro de 2012
Estádio: Pacaembu, em São Paulo

Cartões amarelos 
Corinthians: Anderson e Gomes
Fluminense: William, Silézio e Fabinho
Árbitro 
Luiz Flávio de Oliveira (SP) 

Público: 37.659

Corinthians
Matheus; Cristiano, Antonio Carlos, Marquinhos e Denner; Anderson, Gomes, Giovanni (Wesley) e Matheuzinho; Leonardo e Douglas
Técnico: Narciso

Fluminense
Silésio; Fabio, Wellington, Leo Lelis e Ronan; Igor, William, Rafinha e Eduardo (Fernando); Michael (Igo Julião) e Marcos Júnior
Técnico: Marcelo Veiga

Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1929)

Bessie Smith, the "EMPRESS OF THE BLUES".


Born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smith was one of ten children. Both of her parents had died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola and encouraged to sing and dance by her oldest brother Clarence. He soon joined the Moses Stokes traveling show, leaving Smith and their brother Andrew to sing for pennies on Chattanooga street corners.


Clarence later arranged an audition for Smith with the Moses Stokes Company and she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She became friends with an older Moses Stokes veteran, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who was called the Mother of the Blues and likely exercised some influence over the young singer. Smith had her own voice, however, and owed her success to no one. Her heavy, throaty vocals were balanced by a delightful sense of timing. Her live shows were a blend of comedy and drama in song. Smith was popular in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, but she was beloved in the South. In 1923, her vaudeville touring led her to Memphis, where she played packed houses at the Palace Theater on Beale Street.


On February 16, 1923, Smith recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues," accompanied by Clarence Williams on piano. Although recorded by Memphis singer Alberta Hunter a year before, Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" sold more than 780,000 copies in six months. Her sales made her a blues star on par with Mamie Smith (no relation), a vaudeville singer who had ignited the race records market with her 1920 recording "Crazy Blues."


Although Smith recorded extensively for Columbia - nearly 160 songs between 1923 and her last session in 1933 - her live performances were equally successful. During the 1920s she commanded fees of $2,000 a week and played sold-out theaters across the South, North, and Midwest. Her stage success influenced women blues singers like Memphis Minnie, but male blues singers like Leadbelly, who only heard her on record, emulated her too. She recorded with the best jazz sidemen, including pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Buster Bailey, guitarist Eddie Lang, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman, and cornetist Louis Armstrong. In May 1925, she made the first electronically recorded record, "Cake Walking Babies," by singing into the newly invented microphone.


During the Depression of the 1930s, Smith's drawing power in the large cities of the North and Midwest began to wane, but she remained popular in small towns and throughout the South. Furry Lewis proudly recalled playing with Smith in Chicago during the 1930s. She even made an early movie when W.C. Handy asked her to play the lead in a short film called "St. Louis Blues" loosely based on his song. On Sept. 26, 1937, after finishing a performance in Memphis, Smith and her manager were driving south on Highway 61, north of the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, when their car struck an oncoming truck. The crash nearly severed Smith's right arm. She was taken to G.T. Thomas Hospital (now the Riverside Hotel) in Clarksdale where she died the following morning.


Bessie Smith is buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Rock and Roll Music

"Rock and Roll Music" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry which became a hit single in 1957.

Etta James - At Last

Etta James has just passed way. RIP Etta!

Etta James, Powerful Voice Behind ‘At Last,’ Dies at 73 - From NYT

Ray Charles - Georgia on my Mind

The name Ray Charles is on a Star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. The name Ray Charles designates a superstar worldwide. His bronze bust is enshrined in the Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame. There is the bronze medallion that was cast and presented to him by the French Republic on behalf of the French people. In just about every Hall of Fame that has anything to do with music, be it Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Gospel or Country & Western, Ray’s name is very prominently displayed.
 

PARRILLA "EL 22"

Se o que voce procura é comida boa, farta e barata e não se importa com decoração, atendimento e outros "detalhes" então pode procurar o "El 22" em Palermo, Buenos Aires.
Vale a pena a visita.


A.J.Carranza 1950, 1414 Palermo

Parrilla El 22 no Facebook

Ubuntu for you

Super-fast, easy to use and free, the Ubuntu operating system powers millions of desktops, netbooks and servers around the world. Ubuntu does everything you need it to. It'll work with your existing PC files, printers, cameras and MP3 players. And it comes with thousands of free apps.


Download Ubuntu Latest Version (11.10 Oneiric Ocelot)


Next Ubuntu version shall be 12.04, named Precise Pangolin and is scheduled to be released in April 2012.

Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack!

The name Ray Charles is on a Star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. The name Ray Charles designates a superstar worldwide. His bronze bust is enshrined in the Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame. There is the bronze medallion that was cast and presented to him by the French Republic on behalf of the French people. In just about every Hall of Fame that has anything to do with music, be it Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Gospel or Country & Western, Ray’s name is very prominently displayed.
 

Willie Dixon - Walking The Blues

Can you imagine what music would be like without such hits as “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “Little Red Rooster”, “Spoonful”, “I Ain’t Superstitious”, “I Can’t Quit You Baby” or “My Babe”? Neither could most. Thankfully, we don’t have to. Little did the world know that in 1915, the person who made all of this possible would be born. Willie Dixon was one of the greatest and most prolific artists ever to sing the blues, with more than 500 compositions to his credit. Dixon’s songs literally created the so-called “Chicago blues sound” and were recorded by such blues artists as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, and many others. Some of Dixon’s songs went on to reach an international audience in the 1960s, when they were popularized by such British groups as the Rolling Stones, Cream, the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, and Led Zeppelin.

Willie Dixon - Seventh Son

Can you imagine what music would be like without such hits as “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “Little Red Rooster”, “Spoonful”, “I Ain’t Superstitious”, “I Can’t Quit You Baby” or “My Babe”? Neither could most. Thankfully, we don’t have to. Little did the world know that in 1915, the person who made all of this possible would be born. Willie Dixon was one of the greatest and most prolific artists ever to sing the blues, with more than 500 compositions to his credit. Dixon’s songs literally created the so-called “Chicago blues sound” and were recorded by such blues artists as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, and many others. Some of Dixon’s songs went on to reach an international audience in the 1960s, when they were popularized by such British groups as the Rolling Stones, Cream, the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, and Led Zeppelin.

Spam report: December 2011

• December in figures
• Spam in the spotlight
• Statistical summary
  • Sources of spam
  • Malware in mail traffic
  • Phishing
  • Spam by category
• Conclusion

Source: Securelist

Big Mama Thornton - Summertime

Willie Mae Thornton, known popularly as “Big Mama Thornton,” was not only a successful singer/songwriter in her own time, but a major influential voice in the development of American popular music with her original version of “Hound Dog.”

She herself was influenced by the famous blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Ma Rainey. She was a popular performer famous for exuberant shows. “Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on,” according to the Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Soul. She received no formal training, either for voice, or for the instruments she played, like the harmonica and the drums. She was a true musician and was able to watch others play and then try things out until she got them right.

Big Mama Thornton - Ball and Chain

Willie Mae Thornton, known popularly as “Big Mama Thornton,” was not only a successful singer/songwriter in her own time, but a major influential voice in the development of American popular music with her original version of “Hound Dog.”

She herself was influenced by the famous blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Ma Rainey. She was a popular performer famous for exuberant shows. “Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on,” according to the Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Soul. She received no formal training, either for voice, or for the instruments she played, like the harmonica and the drums. She was a true musician and was able to watch others play and then try things out until she got them right.

Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog

Willie Mae Thornton, known popularly as “Big Mama Thornton,” was not only a successful singer/songwriter in her own time, but a major influential voice in the development of American popular music with her original version of “Hound Dog.”

She herself was influenced by the famous blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Ma Rainey. She was a popular performer famous for exuberant shows. “Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on,” according to the Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Soul. She received no formal training, either for voice, or for the instruments she played, like the harmonica and the drums. She was a true musician and was able to watch others play and then try things out until she got them right.

 

Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

Blind Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 at some point in Mid-December, 1929) was a blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"

Ray Charles - I Got A Woman

The name Ray Charles is on a Star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. The name Ray Charles designates a superstar worldwide. His bronze bust is enshrined in the Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame. There is the bronze medallion that was cast and presented to him by the French Republic on behalf of the French people. In just about every Hall of Fame that has anything to do with music, be it Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Gospel or Country & Western, Ray’s name is very prominently displayed.
 

Blind Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues

Blind Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 at some point in Mid-December, 1929) was a blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"
 

John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

Born August 22, 1917, outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, in rural Coahoma County, John Lee Hooker was one of eleven children who were raised by sharecroppers His stepfather was a guitarist/farmer from Shreveport, Louisiana, who strongly influenced Hooker's career choice. Hooker sang in the church choir as a child and, like B.B. King, performed with several gospel groups at church functions. But it was the blues that held the youth's attention. Hearing his stepfather, Will Moore, play with other local bluesmen like Tony Hollins and Charley Patton, when the latter came up from Dockery, solidified Hooker's future vocation. His stepfather taught him to play guitar, and together they played parties, fish fries, and dances around Clarksdale in the late 1920s.

At age fourteen, Hooker ran away from home to Memphis, where he got a job as an usher in a Beale Street movie theater. He attempted to break into an already crowded Memphis music scene by performing at house parties and clubs during his stay. One of Hooker's early musical highlights was an engagement at Memphis's New Daisy Theater with young Robert Nighthawk. In 1933, after two years in Memphis, he moved to Cincinnati to stay with relatives. Hooker lived there for ten years, singing with the gospel groups the Fairfield Four and the Big Six while holding a variety of day jobs ranging from draining cesspools to ushering. He moved to Detroit in 1943 and found work in an automobile factory.
Hooker honed his chops playing rent parties and the clubs on Hastings Street, Detroit's answer to Beale Street. In 1948, a black record store owner heard him playing in someone's living room and recommended him to Detroit record distributor Bernie Bessman. Bessman invited Hooker to make a demo tape. He recorded "Boogie Chillen," a hypnotic one-chord travelogue of Hastings Street punctuated by Hooker shouting "boogie chillen" after a staccato guitar break. Bessman leased the demo to Modern Records, which picked it up for national distribution. The song rose to number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1949.
The elements of Hooker's style are revealed in "Boogie Chillen." Deep, menacing vocals are alternately sung and spoken over droning, one-chord guitar figures. Hooker later credited his stepfather for teaching him this style, which is more closely associated with Louisiana blues than Mississippi Delta blues. He often accompanied himself on record by stomping his feet to the beat. In 1949 he recorded a song he first heard from Tony Hollins, the dark, insinuative "Crawlin Kingsnake" which became another hit for Modern. Two years later the label released the sexually charged "I'm in the Mood" and it became his biggest hit. During the early 1950s Hooker jumped to the Chess label and toured the South with fellow Chess artist Muddy Waters. Bessman, however, leased Hooker's masters to a variety of labels under names such as John Lee Booker, Birmingham Sam, Delta John, and others, to avoid contractual conflict.
Hooker continued to enjoy success during the 1960s blues revival, his raw, primal blues striking a responsive chord with a burgeoning white audience. Although he is semiretired now, Hooker's current recordings reaffirm his place among the greatest blues singers.

 John Lee Hooker - Official Web Site

Sonny Boy Williamson II - I`m A Lonely Man

Aleck "Rice" Miller, a.k.a. "Sonny Boy Williamson II"

According to his gravestone, Rice Miller was born March 11, 1897, in the country between Glendora and Tutwiler, Mississippi. He was raised by his mother Millie Ford and stepfather Jim Miller, and acquired the nickname "Rice" as a young child. Miller, who was interested in music as a toddler, taught himself to play harmonica at the age of five. Interestingly, W.C. Handy heard early blues played on a train platform in Tutwiler about this same time. Miller became quite adept at the harmonica, playing spiritual music at parties for tips as a child. As he grew older, he began playing spirituals at schools and street corners as "Little Boy Blue." During the 1920s he left his parents' home and began to hobo, playing blues to support himself.

Miller hoboed through Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri during the 1920s, playing levee and lumber camps, juke joints, and parties. He claimed to have made unissued test recordings in the late 1920s, but these have never been found. During the 1930s Miller teamed up with guitarists Elmore James and Robert Johnson for short periods. He also developed a partnership with a young Johnson protégé, guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. During the late 1930s, Jackson, Tennessee, harmonica wizard John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson recorded several hits including "Good Morning Little School Girl" and "Bluebird Blues" for the Bluebird label in Chicago. During the early 1940s, Rice Miller began calling himself "Sonny Boy Williamson" and responded to anyone who questioned it that he was "the original Sonny Boy."

As Sonny Boy Williamson, he and Lockwood auditioned for executives of Interstate Grocer, the makers of King Biscuit flour, in the Interstate Grocer Co. Building. Interstate Grocer agreed to sponsor the pair and in 1941 they began broadcasting from the Floyd Truck Lines Building on KFFA radio. King Biscuit Time was arguably the most influential radio show in blues history, reaching as-yet unrecorded blues artists Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Jimmy Rogers, as well as the large Delta blues audience. As remuneration for hawking King Biscuit flour and cornmeal, Williamson was allowed to announce his upcoming gigs on the air. He became an established star throughout the Delta and recruited guitarist Joe Willie Wilkins to augment the group.

Williamson left KFFA in 1944, and hooked up with Elmore James after the latter's discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1945. By 1947, Williamson had taken lodgings in the Belzoni, Mississippi, boarding house where James lived. Ever the promoter, he and James broadcast from O.J. Turner's drugstore in Belzoni, over a hookup to Yazoo City's WAZF and Greenville's WGVM, hawking Talaho Syrup. Williamson toured the Delta with James and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup during the late 1940s before leaving for West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948. In West Memphis, he secured another radio job, this time pitching Hadacol Tonic on KWEM. It was here that he met B.B. King, who had approached Williamson for work as a sideman. Typically, Williamson had a more lucrative job offer in Clarksdale, Mississippi, but was scheduled the same night for the 16th Street Grill in West Memphis. He gave the 16th Street Grill job to King, admonishing the young guitarist not to fail.

Williamson first recorded on January 5, 1951, for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label. The session took place at Trumpet's studio at 309 Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi, and featured backing from pianist Willie Love, Elmore James, Joe Willie Wilkins, and drummer "Frock" O'Dell. Although nothing was issued from this session, McMurry continued recording Williamson for several more years. Many of the sides he recorded for Trumpet, such as "Eyesight to the Blind," "Nine Below Zero," and "West Memphis Blues," have since become blues harp standards. After Trumpet suspended operations in 1955, Williamson moved to Milwaukee and began recording for Chess subsidiary Checker Records.

At Checker, Williamson began a series of hit singles, beginning with "Don't Start Me to Talking," which featured sympathetic backing from Muddy Waters's band. His harp style featured a phenomenal technique that layered a wide dynamic range, complex phrasing, and a variety of effects, all held together by his impeccable timing. Williamson's singing lacked the dynamism of his playing and his gruff, hoarse vocals conveyed a broad range of emotion unmatched by the range of his voice. He was also an accomplished songwriter, and many of the songs he recorded for Checker, including "One Way Out," "Fattening Frogs for Snakes," and "Your Funeral And My Trial," are considered blues classics. Backed by Lockwood and ace Chess session musicians including guitarist Luther Tucker, pianists Otis Spann and Lafayette Leake, bassist Willie Dixon, and drummer Fred Below, Williamson created a modern sound that revolved around his harmonica shuffles.

Williamson continued to tour the Delta, working his way back to Milwaukee through Helena, Memphis, and St. Louis. He toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival package in 1963 and 1964, remaining for some time in England, where he became a sensation. He returned to Helena in 1965 and rented a room at a boarding house at 427 ½ Elm Street, telling everyone who asked that he had "come home to die." He resumed playing King Biscuit Time, now broadcast from KFFA's studio atop the Helena National Bank Building.

Sonny Boy Williamson died May 25, 1965, at his boarding house. Aleck Miller's grave is near Tutwiler, Mississippi, just off Highway 49.

Sonny Boy Williamson II - Nine Below Zero

Aleck "Rice" Miller, a.k.a. "Sonny Boy Williamson II"

According to his gravestone, Rice Miller was born March 11, 1897, in the country between Glendora and Tutwiler, Mississippi. He was raised by his mother Millie Ford and stepfather Jim Miller, and acquired the nickname "Rice" as a young child. Miller, who was interested in music as a toddler, taught himself to play harmonica at the age of five. Interestingly, W.C. Handy heard early blues played on a train platform in Tutwiler about this same time. Miller became quite adept at the harmonica, playing spiritual music at parties for tips as a child. As he grew older, he began playing spirituals at schools and street corners as "Little Boy Blue." During the 1920s he left his parents' home and began to hobo, playing blues to support himself.

Miller hoboed through Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri during the 1920s, playing levee and lumber camps, juke joints, and parties. He claimed to have made unissued test recordings in the late 1920s, but these have never been found. During the 1930s Miller teamed up with guitarists Elmore James and Robert Johnson for short periods. He also developed a partnership with a young Johnson protégé, guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. During the late 1930s, Jackson, Tennessee, harmonica wizard John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson recorded several hits including "Good Morning Little School Girl" and "Bluebird Blues" for the Bluebird label in Chicago. During the early 1940s, Rice Miller began calling himself "Sonny Boy Williamson" and responded to anyone who questioned it that he was "the original Sonny Boy."

As Sonny Boy Williamson, he and Lockwood auditioned for executives of Interstate Grocer, the makers of King Biscuit flour, in the Interstate Grocer Co. Building. Interstate Grocer agreed to sponsor the pair and in 1941 they began broadcasting from the Floyd Truck Lines Building on KFFA radio. King Biscuit Time was arguably the most influential radio show in blues history, reaching as-yet unrecorded blues artists Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Jimmy Rogers, as well as the large Delta blues audience. As remuneration for hawking King Biscuit flour and cornmeal, Williamson was allowed to announce his upcoming gigs on the air. He became an established star throughout the Delta and recruited guitarist Joe Willie Wilkins to augment the group.

Williamson left KFFA in 1944, and hooked up with Elmore James after the latter's discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1945. By 1947, Williamson had taken lodgings in the Belzoni, Mississippi, boarding house where James lived. Ever the promoter, he and James broadcast from O.J. Turner's drugstore in Belzoni, over a hookup to Yazoo City's WAZF and Greenville's WGVM, hawking Talaho Syrup. Williamson toured the Delta with James and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup during the late 1940s before leaving for West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948. In West Memphis, he secured another radio job, this time pitching Hadacol Tonic on KWEM. It was here that he met B.B. King, who had approached Williamson for work as a sideman. Typically, Williamson had a more lucrative job offer in Clarksdale, Mississippi, but was scheduled the same night for the 16th Street Grill in West Memphis. He gave the 16th Street Grill job to King, admonishing the young guitarist not to fail.

Williamson first recorded on January 5, 1951, for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label. The session took place at Trumpet's studio at 309 Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi, and featured backing from pianist Willie Love, Elmore James, Joe Willie Wilkins, and drummer "Frock" O'Dell. Although nothing was issued from this session, McMurry continued recording Williamson for several more years. Many of the sides he recorded for Trumpet, such as "Eyesight to the Blind," "Nine Below Zero," and "West Memphis Blues," have since become blues harp standards. After Trumpet suspended operations in 1955, Williamson moved to Milwaukee and began recording for Chess subsidiary Checker Records.

At Checker, Williamson began a series of hit singles, beginning with "Don't Start Me to Talking," which featured sympathetic backing from Muddy Waters's band. His harp style featured a phenomenal technique that layered a wide dynamic range, complex phrasing, and a variety of effects, all held together by his impeccable timing. Williamson's singing lacked the dynamism of his playing and his gruff, hoarse vocals conveyed a broad range of emotion unmatched by the range of his voice. He was also an accomplished songwriter, and many of the songs he recorded for Checker, including "One Way Out," "Fattening Frogs for Snakes," and "Your Funeral And My Trial," are considered blues classics. Backed by Lockwood and ace Chess session musicians including guitarist Luther Tucker, pianists Otis Spann and Lafayette Leake, bassist Willie Dixon, and drummer Fred Below, Williamson created a modern sound that revolved around his harmonica shuffles.

Williamson continued to tour the Delta, working his way back to Milwaukee through Helena, Memphis, and St. Louis. He toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival package in 1963 and 1964, remaining for some time in England, where he became a sensation. He returned to Helena in 1965 and rented a room at a boarding house at 427 ½ Elm Street, telling everyone who asked that he had "come home to die." He resumed playing King Biscuit Time, now broadcast from KFFA's studio atop the Helena National Bank Building.

Sonny Boy Williamson died May 25, 1965, at his boarding house. Aleck Miller's grave is near Tutwiler, Mississippi, just off Highway 49.

Elmore James - Blues Before Sunrise

Elmore James - The King of Slide Guitar

Born January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi, Elmore James was raised on several different farms in the Durant, Mississippi, area by sharecropping parents. Before acquiring his first guitar, he played several different homemade instruments, including a strand of broomwire nailed to the front porch of his cabin. This was known locally as a "diddley bow." In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie, began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant area.

By 1937 James had moved on to plantations near the Delta town of Belzoni, Mississippi, and taken up with musicians Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson. Johnson's guitar prowess made a terrific impact on James, who would echo Johnson's slide technique in his own recordings. After Johnson's death, James toured the South with Williamson working juke joints and theaters. He assembled a band in 1939 after parting ways with Williamson. During the late 1930s or early 1940s James began playing electric guitar. He became a master of using the distortion and sustain of this instrument to create a dense, textured sound that provided the blueprint for postwar Chicago blues.

James was inducted into the Navy in 1943, taking part in the invasion of Guam before being mustered out in 1945. He was soon back home in Belzoni, sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes. James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin "Homesick" James Williamson, working clubs on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas. The show was initially broadcast from the Interstate Grocery Building before it moved to the Floyd Truck Lines Building. During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, refining his style to reflect Nighthawk's liquid, crying slide guitar.

While working clubs with Williamson in Jackson, Mississippi, James made his first record for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Label. On August 5, 1951, at the Trumpet Studios, James cut the Robert Johnson chestnut "Dust My Broom" which reached number nine on the national R&B charts within several months of its release. James established residency in Chicago the following year, forming his legendary band the Broomdusters. While never attaining the fame of fellow Mississippi expatriates Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, James became one of the city's most influential guitarists. He recorded for a variety of labels throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving a legacy of slow blues, boogies, and full-fledged rave ups that dominate the musical vocabulary of Chicago blues.

Elmore James died May 24, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of forty-five. Elmore James's grave is located near his native Durant, Mississippi.

Blind Lemon Jefferson - Easy Rider Blues

Blind Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 at some point in Mid-December, 1929) was a blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"

Elmore James - Dust my Broom

Elmore James - The King of Slide Guitar

Born January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi, Elmore James was raised on several different farms in the Durant, Mississippi, area by sharecropping parents. Before acquiring his first guitar, he played several different homemade instruments, including a strand of broomwire nailed to the front porch of his cabin. This was known locally as a "diddley bow." In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie, began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant area.

By 1937 James had moved on to plantations near the Delta town of Belzoni, Mississippi, and taken up with musicians Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson. Johnson's guitar prowess made a terrific impact on James, who would echo Johnson's slide technique in his own recordings. After Johnson's death, James toured the South with Williamson working juke joints and theaters. He assembled a band in 1939 after parting ways with Williamson. During the late 1930s or early 1940s James began playing electric guitar. He became a master of using the distortion and sustain of this instrument to create a dense, textured sound that provided the blueprint for postwar Chicago blues.

James was inducted into the Navy in 1943, taking part in the invasion of Guam before being mustered out in 1945. He was soon back home in Belzoni, sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes. James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin "Homesick" James Williamson, working clubs on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas. The show was initially broadcast from the Interstate Grocery Building before it moved to the Floyd Truck Lines Building. During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, refining his style to reflect Nighthawk's liquid, crying slide guitar.

While working clubs with Williamson in Jackson, Mississippi, James made his first record for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Label. On August 5, 1951, at the Trumpet Studios, James cut the Robert Johnson chestnut "Dust My Broom" which reached number nine on the national R&B charts within several months of its release. James established residency in Chicago the following year, forming his legendary band the Broomdusters. While never attaining the fame of fellow Mississippi expatriates Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, James became one of the city's most influential guitarists. He recorded for a variety of labels throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving a legacy of slow blues, boogies, and full-fledged rave ups that dominate the musical vocabulary of Chicago blues.

Elmore James died May 24, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of forty-five. Elmore James's grave is located near his native Durant, Mississippi.