BIG JOE WI LLIAMS LIL' SON JACKSON : LOWELL FULSON:

MARRIED WOMAN BLUES - vocal with 9 stri ng guitar recorded in Los Gatos , Calif., October 6, 1960. JONNY MAE - vocal wi th guitar - recorded in Dal las, Texas in Jul y 1960. GOOD WOMAN BLUES - vocal and ampli fi ed gu ita r. Accompanied by Mortin Fu lson on rhythm guitar. Recorded in Oak­land by Bob Geddins co, 1949.

MANCE LIPSCOMB: JASPER LOVE : BURCH CAGE and WILLIE THOMAS :

BACK WATER BLUES - voca l and gui tar. Recorded in Navasota, Texas on August 13 , 1960. LOVE'S HONEYDRIPPER - Pia no solo - recorded in Clarksdale, Miss. on july 23, 1960. l'M BROKE AND AIN'T GOT A DIME (One thin dime) - vocal duet wi th fiddle by Butch Cage and guitarbyWillie Thomas. Recorded in Zachary, Lo . in 1960,

SAM CHATMAN: "WHISTLING" ALEX MOORE: BLAC K ACE (B. K. TURNER):

GOD DON 'T LIKE UGLY - voca l with gu itar. Recorded in Hollandal e, Miss., J uly 25, 1960. WAKE UP OLD LADY - vocal with pia no. Recorded in Dal las, Texas , summer 1960. HITCHHI KI NG WOMAN - vocal with stee l gui tar . Recorded in Ft. Worth, Texas - September 19, 1960. STELLA RUTH - vocal with gui tar. Recorded at the "Big 6" Barbershop in Charksdale, Miss., July 24, 1960. R. C. SMITH:

MERCY DEE: I BEEN A FOOL - vocal and piano accompanied by K.C. Douglas - el , guita r; Sidney Maiden - harmon ica; & O t is Cherry - drums. Recorded in Stockton, Ca lif., on February 5, 1961.

ALL REC OR DI NGS, EXCEPT WH ER E NO TED, BY CHRIS STRACHWITZ

The selections on thi s r ecor d are samples of the work of som e of the arti s ts who have recorded for Arhoolie Records. None of this mater ial is duplicated on . any of the Arhoo lie LPs which featur e these singers and players to fuller advantage. This r ecording is not only a sampler of Arhoolie r ecor ding artists , but an anthology of the " down-home" blues as they can sti ll be hear d today in many parts of the country.

THE SINGERS

Although r egional s tyles have been diluted or have dis appear ed al­together since the advent of the r adio, the juke box, and other mass media, i t is quite r emarkable how much has survived in the face of these s trong persuasive for ces . Although the primary aim of this LP is to introduce the lis tener to the Arhoolie catalogue, I fee l it is inter­esting to note that the per for mers on this record come in the main but from two geogr aphic r egions. One is the Mississ ippi Delta, vaguely extending from just north of Memphis southward to Vicksburg but some­times some will ins is t it runs as far south as Baton Rouge, spreading a s wide as the belt of cotton fi elds which hugs the Mississippi River on both sides. Perhaps mor e blues singers have come from this area than from any other : Robert J ohnson, Muddy Waters, Tommy Mcclennan, and Sonny Boy Willi amson are just a few of the " greats" who have come from the De lta and J oe Williams , R.C. Smith, Sam Chatman, Jasper Love, Butch Cage and Willie Thom as represent the area on this LP. The other r egion is somewhat larger and can best be described as East Texas . Blind Lemon, Texas Alexander , and Lightning Hopkins are some of the Texans, but Lil Son Jackson, Black Ace, Lowell Fulson, Mance Lipscomb, Alex Moore, and Mercy Dee are a few more who have come from thi s ri ch black soil belt to make Texas a strong contender for the "Hom e of the Blues".

The oldest in age and style are Butch Cage, Mance Lipscomb, and Sam Chatman. Butch Cage was bor n in 1894 in Mississ ippi and is no doubt one of the l as t of the country fiddlers who would supply the music at the rural dances before the turn of the century. He performs here with his younger partner Willie Thomas, born in 1912, who has lived m uch the same kind of life as cotton chopper , cane cutter, and week­end musician. But he is also a preacher of the gospel and leads various sanctified churches in the area. He is an extr emely e loquent speaker when it comes to discussing r e ligious m_at ters and his repetolr includes many church songs.

Mance Lipscomb, born in 1895, plays the guitar in a way which makes many a youngster envious and hi s songs and ballads are a joy to hear especially in this age of "manufactured" junk which plagues our air waves . The story of Ella Speed (Arhoolie F 1001) is perhaps best known through Leadbelly's recording - but Mance s ings it the way he heard it , and the class ic "Back Water Blues" on this LP ls a good in­dication of his talent. Mance Lipscomb brings you the delightfully r e­laxed but often deeply movi ng songs and dances of bygone days and for his s tor y m ay I urge you to read the m agnifi cent booklet written by the well-known fo lk-lorist ,Mack McCormick, which accompanies the album F lOOl.

The Mississippi Sheiks were a countr y dance band which played all ar ound Mississ ippi and as far north as Chicago and Memphis . They becam e well known through their recor ds during the late 20's and ear ly 30 ' s - number s like " Sitti n' on top of the wor ld" and "Corrine, Corrina" wer e m os t 1 y the work of one of the Chatman brother s : Sam Chatman. Bor n in 1899 on a Mi s s 1 s s i p p ! plantation he was the 7th son of a s lavery-tim e fi ddler and the w h o 1 e family was brought up w ! th m us ic . The m ember s of the Miss . Sheiks wer e mostly Chatmans , ex­cept on r ecor dings when Walter Vincson r eplaced some m ember s of the family . The repetoir of the group, which played n,iostly for white dances but a lso fo r many co lored week- end affairs , included blues, pop tunes , spir ituals, waltzes , as well as m ins tre l pieces . "God don' t like Ugly" is no doubt one of the latter - others can be heard on the album titled after one of Sam Chatman' s unusual per for mances: I Have To Paint My F ace (Arhoolie F 1005).

The most fo r ceful of the Delta s ingers is no doubt Big Joe Williams. Born in 1903 he soon left the relatively secur e farm life for the tougher but les s restrictive life along the levee camps , on the rai l roads, and in the lumber mills .

He has always "fixed- up" the guitar to suit h is own taste and needs. His present "9 s tringer" - wi th three extr a treble strings added -h as no doubt s een som e tough places . Big J oe has been recording since the' late 20s and during the 30s and 40 ' s he spent a good deal of time with the late Sonny Boy Will iamson and has adopted m any of Sonny Boy's songs .

Jas per Love perhaps r eflects the mood of the Miss . Delta better than many a mor e poli shed performer . I11 hi s music you hear the lone­liness and despair which is evident in m any of the r ural regions where machines have taken over the work of the farm hands - you sense the slow paced li fe of thi s hot r egion - but also the occasional joy evident in The Slop (Arhoolie F 1005). Jasper ls a cousin of Willie Love who recorded for the Trumpet labe l in Jackson, Miss.

In a way the Delta ls deserted. Thos e who could afford it have moved north to Chicago or out to the West Coast - jus t anywher e to get away fr om the region which won't Hs ten to supreme court dec is ions - a re-

gion where child-labor laws and minimum wage regulations are unknown. Robert Cur ti s Smith - known as R. C. to his friends , still drives a com ­pany tr actor for $3 or $4 a day in the hot Miss issippi sun - his wife chops cotton - and it isn' t easy to feed nine children with those wages especially when you can' t r aise your own food and when you have to pay the high prices of the local stor es. In the winter there is no work and wild life ls the only source of food. R. C. is still young - in his early 30' s - and perhaps one day his t alent will be r ecognized and re­warded. In his music you may perhaps notice bits of the styles of Jimmy Reed, J ohn Lee Hooker, and m aybe others - but it might just be the Mississippi style. The day Irecor dedR. C.he had one thing in mind­a girl he had m et in Texas . Her name was not to be found in the lyrics of the song, but when I asked him for the title he jus t said: "That' s Stella Ruth , cause it sounds like her talking" .

The rest of the singers on this recording are a ll Texans. Due to a more diversified economy, both rural and urban, East Texas has r e­tained more of It's singers in comparison to the Miss. Delta region. But even here the days of the songster - or even of the r egional per­sonal blues singer are almost gone. On!y those who have conform ed to the requirements of a mass-audience oriented record indus try have survived to make music their full-time business. Most of them however are just week- end musicians or play occasional gigs while many have given up the music business altogether .

Lowell Fulson is one of the few who has succeeded in making aliving from his mus ic. He ls a man with s trong tradit ions , a power ful indivi­dualistic style, and a haunting, emotional voice. Born and r aised in Oklahoma he soon moved to Texas where he met the well- known singer Texas Alexander . Many of Lowell' s early recordings were based on material which he had heard fro m T exas Alexander , especially his 2 part performance of River Blues (Arhoolie R2003) which i s his version of the well known Penitentiary Blues. Today Lowell Fulson has changed his style a bit but he is still a fi ne blues s inger - even though his ac­companying groups frequently drown out his strong emotional style.

Another artist who enjoyed considerable commercial success for a time but who gave up the music business on his own accord ls Lil Son Jackson. Born in 1913 in the farm area east of Dallas, he developed a s tyle which made him stand out and after the war he made his first r ecor ds for the regional Gold Star labe l. He quickly lear ned how to m ake records and fitted his m at erial to the desires of the A & R m en who wanted a short stylized perfor mance with non- personal lyrics . This formula was for a time his bread and butter but an accident changed his thoughts . He is today a m echanic but was happy to per for m once more for the Arhoolie mike to put on an LP - (Arhoolie F1004) m any of the numbers which made him famous during the post war boom days .

Born in 1905 in Hughes Springs, T exas , B.K. Turner became known as Black Ace during the 30's when his theme "I am the Black Ace" (Arhoolie F1003) intr oduced a regular r adio program over KFJZ in Ft. Worth. Influenced by the late Oscar Woods , Black Ace acquir ed a s t eel bodied " National" guitar and is today vr obably the only blues artis t still usi ng that unique sounding instrument. He made some r ecordings in the 30' s for the Decc a label but had been mus ically mor e or less inactive since the war when he played for the troops at a number of ser vice c lub shows .

Texas ls strong on piano player s . The barrelhouses , lumber camps, and jook joints often had an instrument on their pr emises and Mercy Dee (Walton) rem em bers m any of the old timer s fro m hi s home town of Waco,, Texas who played at house parties and the ir s tyle strongly in­fluenced him. He left Texas before the war and moved to Ca lifornia. In the ear ly 50' s he made a recor d which becam e quite a "hit": "One Room Country Shack" and after that he toured the South and other parts of the countr y extensive ly with various Rhythm and B 1 u e s shows . However in recent years the demand for blues decr eased and Mer cy Dee worked at various jobs . Mercy Dee i s an outs tanding inventive songwriter as well as a very distinctive per fo rmer .

Las t but not leas t comes one of the most fasc inating artists whom P aul Oliver and I had the pleasur e of recor ding. He m ade his first r ec­or ds back in the 20' s for the famous Columbia 14000 s eries and later in the 30' s recor ded for Decca and after the war a few s ides for RPM. But none of these commer cial dis cs r eally show the extent of his talent and the com plexity of his character . Alex Moor e has spent m ost of his life in Dallas where he ha1' played at almost every c lub fro m r espect­able white restaurants to the rowdy joints a long Centr al Tracks. His unique whi stling ab!Uty gave hi m hi s nick name and can be heard on his a lbum (Arhoolie F 1008). The number on this a lbum had to be cut from the beginning of the tape ahd thus r epresents a "warm - up" piece . During the session he really developed and put on tape for us some of the m ost enjoyable mus ic I have encountered during my trips through the South. CHRIS STRACHWIT Z - 1961

BLUES'N TROUBLE

Fl 006

BIG JOE WILLIAMS Married Woman Blues

LIL' SON JACKSON

Johnny Mae

LOWELL FULSON Good Woman Blues

MANCE LIPSCOMB Back Water Blues

JASPER LOVE Love's Honeydripper

BUTCH CAGE & WILLIE THOMAS One Thin Dime

SAM CHATMAN God don't like Ugly

"WHISTLING" ALEX MOORE Wake up old Lady

BLACK ACE Hitchhiking Woman

ROBERT CURTIS SMITH Stella Ruth

MERCY DEE I been a Foo1

cover desig n: WAYNE POPE photos : CHRIS STRACHWITZ

(except photo of Black Ace

by B. K. Turner)

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