Release Date: 1991.
Recording Time: 71 minutes.
Recording Date: March 25, 1927 - April 13, 1928.
Release Info: Compilation (DOCD-5046) Studio Recording.
Release Info: Compilation Studio Recording.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Atlanta Blues, Country Blues, Georgia Blues, Pre-War Blues, Pre-War Country Blues.
Barbecue Bob (Robert Hicks) - vocals, guitar.
Barbecue Bob And Laughing Charley: Robert Hicks - vocals, guitar; Charlie Hicks (Lincoln) - vocals, guitar.
Informative booklet notes by Chris Smith.
"Barbecue Bob," who was born Robert Hicks, gained his nickname because he worked as a chef at a barbecue place. A warm singer and extroverted guitarist, Barbecue Bob has had his entire output (recorded during 1927-1930) reissued on three Document CDs. Vol. 1 has 21 unaccompanied performances (all of the sessions except two from New York were recorded in Atlanta) plus the two-part "It Won't Be Long Now," which teams Hicks with hs brother, guitarist/vocalist "Laughing Charley" Hicks. Other highlights include "Barbecue Blues," "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues," "Poor Boy a Long Ways From Home," "Brown-Skin Gal," an early version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" (from 1927), "Fo Day Creep," and "Chocolate to the Bone." ~ Scott Yanow
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes.
Robert Hicks was an extrovert young man of 24 when Columbia's Dan Hornsby arranged his first recording session in March 1927, and had only moved into Atlanta from the countryside a few years before. When he recorded He had learned guitar, along with their friend Curley Weaver, from Curley's mother; all three played in a similar style, favouring the big, booming sound of the 12-string guitar, and relishing the contrast of pulsing bass riffs with the whine of a bottleneck on the treble strings. Barbecue Blues was a good seller, but it was at his second session, in New York in June 1927, that Bob firmly established himself with black record buyers, and thus with Columbia; Mississippi Heavy Water Blues, inspired by the catastrophic floods that had occurred that very month, was a considerable seller, and as a result Robert became Atlanta's most-recorded blues singer of the 20s. It was probably his success that persuaded Columbia to record both his brother Charlie and, in 1928, Curley Weaver.
From the first, Barbecue Bob's music was instantly recognisable, both for the characteristic guitar style and for his warm, nasal singing voice. He could sound fiercely involved with his material, as on Barbecue Blues, ironically detached, as he did when performing Mama You Don't Suit Me!, or crushed by rejection, alike on Crooked Woman Blues and the traditionally based How Long Pretty Mama. The two-part It Won't Be Long Now, in crosstalk and duet with Charlie, is probably an example of the kind of material Robert performed on the medicine show with which he is known to have visited the small town of Waycross, in southwest Georgia, about which he made up a blues.
Barbecue Bob's lyrics are remarkable for their blending of traditional formulae with a wry originality that is all his own. He was well acquainted with traditional songs; the content of Barbecue Blues and Motherless Chile Blues is almost proverbial, and the session where he cut versions of two well-known gospel songs also produced Easy Rider Don't You Deny My Name and a stunning account of Poor Boy A Long Ways From Home. Bob combines this shared cultural background with his own ideas to produce knowing, often witty accounts of his own and his fellow urban blacks' lives. Deffly conjuring up the scene at the door of a "blind pig" (a speakeasy), expressing his preference for a brownskin gal, or just indulging in razzle-dazzle - "Went home last night, I started to my bed, Just wait till the next verse, I'll tell you what she said".
Barbecue Bob rapidly impressed himself on his fans' minds as sharp, clever and original. ~ Chris Smith, 1991 Document Records.
Credits: Barbecue Bob (Robert Hicks) - guitar, vocals, composer, primary artist; Charlie Hicks (Lincoln) - guitar, vocals; Johnny Parth - compilation producer, producer; Chris Smith - liner notes.
Tracklist:
01. Barbecue Blues - Barbecue Bob
02. Cloudy Sky Blues - Barbecue Bob
03. Mississippi Heavy Water Blues - Barbecue Bob
04. Mamma You Don't Suit Me! - Barbecue Bob
05. Brown Skin Gal - Barbecue Bob
06. Honey You Don't Know My Mind - Barbecue Bob
07. Poor Boy A Long Ways From Home - Barbecue Bob
08. When The Saints Go Marching In - Barbecue Bob
09. Jesus' Blood Can Make Me Whole - Barbecue Bob
10. Easy Rider Don't You Deny My Name - Barbecue Bob
11. Thinkin' Funny Blues - Barbecue Bob
12. My Mistake Blues - Barbecue Bob
13. Motherless Chile Blues - Barbecue Bob
14. How Long Pretty Mama - Barbecue Bob
15. It Won't Be Long Now ~ Part 1 - Barbecue Bob And Laughing Charley
16. It Won't Be Long Now ~ Part 2 - Barbecue Bob And Laughing Charley
17. Crooked Woman Blues - Barbecue Bob
18. 'Fo Day Creep - Barbecue Bob
19. Blind Pig Blues - Barbecue Bob
20. Waycross Georgia Blues - Barbecue Bob
21. Going Up The Country - Barbecue Bob
22. Chocolate To The Bone - Barbecue Bob
23. Hurry And Bring It Back Home - Barbecue Bob
Original Matrix Information:
01: Atlanta, Georgia, March 25, 1927 (143757-1, Columbia 14205)
02: Atlanta, Georgia, March 25, 1927 (143758-2, Columbia 14205)
03: New York City, June 15, 1927 (144277-1, Columbia 14222)
04: New York City, June 15, 1927 (144278-1, Columbia 14222)
05: New York City, June 15, 1927 (144279-2, Columbia 14257)
06: New York City, June 15, 1927 (144280-2, Columbia 14246)
07: New York City, June 16, 1927 (144281-2, Columbia 14246)
08: New York City, June 16, 1927 (144282-2, Columbia 14231)
09: New York City, June 16, 1927 (144283-3, Columbia 14231)
10: New York City, June 16, 1927 (144284-3, Columbia 14257)
11: Atlanta, Georgia, November 5, 1927 (145132-2, Columbia 14299)
12: Atlanta, Georgia, November 5, 1927 (145133-1, Columbia 14350)
13: Atlanta, Georgia, November 5, 1927 (145134-1, Columbia 14299)
14: Atlanta, Georgia, November 5, 1927 (145135-2, Columbia 14350)
15: Atlanta, Georgia, November 9, 1927 (145192-2, Columbia 14268)
16: Atlanta, Georgia, November 9, 1927 (145193-2, Columbia 14268)
17: Atlanta, Georgia, November 10, 1927 (145198-1, Columbia 14280)
18: Atlanta, Georgia, November 10, 1927 (145199-1, Columbia 14280)
19: Atlanta, Georgia, April 13, 1928 (146050-1, Columbia 14372)
20: Atlanta, Georgia, April 13, 1928 (146051-1, Columbia 14331)
21: Atlanta, Georgia, April 13, 1928 (146052-2, Columbia 14316)
22: Atlanta, Georgia, April 13, 1928 (146054-2, Columbia 14331)
23: Atlanta, Georgia, April 13, 1928 (146055-2, Columbia 14372)
This is the first of three volumes.