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Charlie Musselwhite with Big Joe Wi lliams who can be heard together on Arhoolie LP 1053 "Thinking of what they did to me."

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE The Black man in the rural South developed the

blues from many musical traditions found in the South around the turn of the century. These included ragtime, fiddle music, ballads, field hollers (sometimes known as Hoolies or Arhoolies!-), and the recently introduced guitar, just to name a few. However the social and economic conditions were perhaps just as important in creating this musical style. After 300 years of slavery and semi-slavery, and all that this condition entailed, the black field worker found himself forced to make his own way despite adverse economic and social segregation. Yet the black share-cropper had often equally poor white neighbors and by the time the first phono-graph records were made of rural music in the mid 1920s, many Blacks enjoyed Jimmy Rodgers while many whites listened to Lonnie Johnson.

This interchange of musical traditions was not new then and is certainly not unusual today al-though there are many people who find it peculiar to see Charlie Pride, a black man, singing Country & Western music and Charlie Musselwhite doing black Blues. Europeans are especially fascinated by this interchange which has given us some splendid white blues artists like Frank Hutchison, Sam McGee, Jimmie Tarlton, Cliff Carlisle, Hank William s as well as the incredibly popular Jimmy Rodgers. On the other hand the Mississippi Sheiks, DeFord Bailey, Mississippi John Hurt , John Jack-son, as well as Charlie Pride perform largely white country music. Earl Hooker, one of the greatest blues guitarists, loved to play Country & Western music (note his "Guitar Rag" on Arhoolie LP 1051) and if you are interes ted in the documenta-tion of this interchange which has made our Southern music so interesting and attractive to listeners all over the world, may 1 suggest the book "Blacks, Whites and Blues," by Tony Russell (Studio Vista Books, London 1970, and Stein and Day , New York).

Charlie Musselwhite was born in Kosciusko (Altala County), Miss. on January 31st, 1944. His t .. rher was a man of diverse interests: carpenter, -:JI; dnver, guitar, mandolin and harmonica player. Hi~ grandfather, "Mr. Charlie," as he was known when shrriff in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, captured the notoriou, three Spencer Brothers. A great-uncle, Archie Stevens, was a one-man band called "The Sunshine Band" and travelled all over the Sou th and Central U.S. following the harvests all the while playing for field hands until he turned to_ preaching in recent years.

In 1947 the family moved in a dump truck to Memphis, Tenn., looking for a better life. Charlie's parents soon divorced and his mother had little

time for her child since she always worked full time to make a living. As a teenager in the late 50s Charlie worked even while still going io school. One summer he was· with a construction company in West Memphis. He was the only white kid on the crew and was paid $1 per hour. During his free time he listened to WDIA and was especially fond of Rufus Thomas who used Sonny Terry's "Hootin' the Blues" as his theme song. Music was not only on the air but it was part of life. Charlie often jammed with a young white guitar playing friend, Jerry Smith, who served some time at the Shelby County Penal Farm. Later Charlie worked for the Southern Central Paper Company as a "dolly boy" whose job it was to cart paper stacks from cutting tables to the packers. Most of the workers were women and they would sing:

Dolly boy, dolly boy Bring your dolly round If you don't like your job Put your dolly down.

In 1961 Charlie saw Sam Charters' book "The Country Blues" and became aware of the fact that right there in Memphis were many of the blues singers who had become the object of researchers from all over the world. He went to see Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer) and he taught Charlie a little on the harp and a good deal on guitar. Soon Charlie also met Furry Lewis and Gus Cannon.

In 1962, just as his parents had moved from the country to Memphis in search of better wages, Charlie left for Chicago after hearing people tell that up North you could get jobs paying $3 per hour, and he thus followed, unconsciously, the pat-tern of most Mississippi blues singers. But the promised land didn't turn out to be so generous and hospitable. After searching for a whole week an exterminator company finally hired Charlie. He never did get to exterminate many rats and roaches, although these creatures existed in rather generous quantities. Instead Charlie answered the phone, cleaned latrines, and did all sorts of odd jobs for $60 per week.

Charlie was not aware that many of the great blues artists were also in Chicago until one day while walking around town for the exterminator, he saw a sign adverhsing Elmore James and soon he became well acquainted with many of the legen-dary bluesmen. On weekends Charlie joined Johnny Young in "Jewtown," that open air market on Maxwell Street. At night they moved to a Mexi-can joint called "Pa~a Tiempo." Carey Bell was on bass, . Hou ston Phillips on drums, and John Wrencher and John J,,ee Granderson often joine4.

Later. they worked at Rose and Kelley 's Blue Lounge where Charlie was adopted as a son by the owners and got the nickname "Charlie Kelley." Many bluesmen like Big Walter, J .B. Hutto, Char-ley West, Robert Nighthawk and Johnny Shines came by to sit in or just to hang out. Between sets they would drink wine out in the alley. During the days Charlie would work with Johnny Young, painting, cleaning, or just doing any kind of work they could find.

One day while walking through Chicago, Char-lie came by the Jazz Record Mart at 7 West Grand Avenue and seeing all those old labels of blues records in the window he went in and soon became friends with the owner Bob Koester and Pete Weld-ing who worked for Down Beat at the time. Through them he met Sam Charters who was then working for Vanguard Records and so the first recording session came about. Charlie recalls that after the session he waited a few days to hear from the union to get his money which he was already planning to spend on a new amplifier and some records. When they finally called him, he rushed down only to find out that the check for the ses-sion came to exactly $.38! He was disillusioned and explanations about how renting an amp and assorted other expenses had to be deducted did not help much. Disappointed or not, the record was the beginning of a new career for Charlie Mussel-white III and since then he has toured the country many times playing concerts, dance halls, and all kinds of joints!

Skip Rose has been Charlie's piano player since 1968. Born in Alameda, California on April 20, 1943 Skip has been playing ever since he was five years old. His father was a drummer_ and Skip learned music in school but quit taking lessons when he was 14. Two years later he joined the musicians' union and since then has played all kinds of gigs. For a while Skip played with saxo-phonist John Handy after the latter had left Char-lie Mingus, then he met and played with Johnny Hartsman and did some record dates. He recorded with Bobby Freeman ("Do You Want To Dance") and Joe Simon ("It's a Miracle"). In the early 60s Skip toured with Bobby Blue Bland and then around 1964-65 joined the Montgomery Brothers - Wes, Bud and Monk. In 1967 he went on tour with James Brown for four months and in 1968 he joined Jimmy Witherspoon. Later that year in August he finally joined Charlie Musselwhite.

The Ford brothers, Pat and Robbin , hail from Ukiah, Calif. where they were raised in a musical family. Their father Charles Ford had a Country & Western band, Rocky Ford and the Tennesseeans, back in Wyoming, and although he quit playing professionally after moving fo California, he often joined his wife, who plays piano, and the boys in family jam sessions.

Pat was born on February 19, 1949 and began to play drums as a freshman in high school around 1963. The next year he played in his first band. After graduation Pat went to San Jose State Col-lege where he formed the Charles Ford Band (named after their father) which already included Robbin . • Charlie Musselwhite heard the band one night at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo and hired Pat. Later at Mandrake's in Berkeley, one of the most unique and famous clubs in the Bay Area, he also hired Robbin.

Robbin Ford was born on December 16, 1951 and took horn lessons in school. He taught himself to play gui tar in 1966 and after listening to the current rock began to like Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Later he discovered the origina-tors like B.B. King, Albert King and jazz guitarists Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel, and Kenny Bur-rell. His idol today is John Coltrane and although this album does not present Robbin as a saxo-phonist, he is a fine alto player with a beautiful tone. One of the band's favorite numbers is Robbin's "Blue Stu" featuring alto and harmonica duets, which unfortunately, due to its length, could not be included on this record.

Gerald Pedersen, known as "Peetie," was born in Milwauk ee, Wisconsin on August 1, 194 7 and became a Charlie Musselwhite fan when he heard him with Johnny Young way back in 1964 in the beer capital of America! Pee tie joined the band last year when Jack Myers was taken sick and has added much to the solid rhythm of the band.

(Chris Strachwitz-1971)

1056

STEREe>

I -

IT AIN'T RIGHT (2) *,A LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1) **A FINGER LICKIN' GOOD (1) /3 TWO LITTLE GIRLS (2)

UP AND.DOWN THE AVENUE (1)

HIGHWAY BLUES (2) *

WILD, WILD WOMAN (2) *A TAKIN' MY TIME (2) A

Charles Musselwhite-harmonica and vocals on ( *)

William "Skip" Rose-piano Robbin Ford-guitar and vocal on(**) Patrick Ford-drums Gerald Pedersen-bass

Recorded at Sierra Sound Laboratories ; Berkeley, Ca.

Bob Desousa- engineer Session (1): January 19, 1971 Session (2): February 3, 1971 All recordings were made "live" with no

overdubbing.

Produced by Chris Strachwitz Cover: Wayne Pope Cover Photo : Charlie Musselwhite III & IV,

by Hank Lebo Liner Photo: Chris Strachwitz

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