Release Date: February 15, 2005.
Recording Time: 293 minutes.
Recording Date: October 15, 1938 - 1954.
Release Info: JSP7736, CD, Compilation, Reissue.
Folks came to Detroit from states east and south drawn by the promise of work in car plants or steel mills. They brought their music with them. Detroit never achieved the fame and reputation of nearby Chicago and there are two principal factors. First, Detroit was a union town and untutored musicians had little chance of joining a musicians' union; the second was that until the late 1950s there were no major record labels in town, just a network of small independents. As James 'Rabbit' Johnson put it, That always been the problem with Detroit . . . local cat got a record out and many people don't even know about it! The Frazier family - brothers Calvin and Lonnie, and their parents, arrived in Detroit from Memphis sometime in 1936. The family probably originated in Arkansas, where Calvin said he'd been born in 1915. All the family played at least one instrument. Calvin and Johnny moved into blues. Johnny played a mean bass fiddle and Calvin a mean guitar. But they were damn poor singers and they knew I could sing like hell. We would walk the streets and play for handouts all hours of the night. Said Johnny Shines.Later he hitched up with Sampson Pittman and the pair, with pianist Sonny Glissom were remembered by washboard player/drummer James 'Peck' Curtis: I was with them, he told David Evans. We broadcasted out of Blytheville in 1935, on the radio station up there, KLCN. Calvin also met Robert Johnson around this time in Helena, Arkansas and, with Shines, played and perhaps traveled with him. From his 1938 recordings, recorded by Alan Lomax, particularly She's A Double-Crossin' Woman, it's certain that Johnson had a profound effect on Frazier's style of playing. Calvin later claimed Johnson invited him to one of his recording sessions but that he'd ended up in a Memphis hospital after being injured, and his brother Johnny killed, by the latter's father-in-law. Not everybody here has such a compelling story - but they all make some great music.
* * * * *
By Marisa Brown
Though Detroit may never have had the instant blues recognition of a city like Chicago, it too experienced, housed, and influenced its fair share of important musicians, not the least of whom was Robert Johnson associate Calvin Frazier and, of course, John Lee Hooker. But Detroit Blues: Blues from the Motor City 1938-1954 does its best to show that the scene consisted of more than these two stars. Though the first two discs (of four!) are dedicated to Frazier and Sampson Pittman and then Hooker, respectively, the second two, and especially the last, explore the work of musicians like the prolific Baby Boy Warren, who never found much recognition beyond Hastings Street, Playboy Fuller (aka Louisiana Red), Big Maceo Merriweather, Sam Kelly, Eddie Burns, and even Joe Van Battle, a local entrepreneur and label owner, and a man who recorded a lot of the artists included here (because of the relative dearth of major studios, Detroit bluesmen weren't given as much exposure as their Windy City counterparts). The discs are not ordered chronologically, which can be a bit of an annoyance, but the detailed liner notes, which fully explain the simple, gritty, urban-industrial blues brought up from Southern workers to the factories of the North, more than make up for this. Moving from Alan Lomax field recordings and professional studio work, Detroit Blues: Blues from the Motor City 1938-1954 is a great explanation of what was happening in the city during that time period, as blues began to migrate north and become influenced by its new surroundings, as well as a great jumping-off point for an exploration of the artists who made up the lifeblood of Detroit blues.
Credits: Allison Tucker - Drums; Alonso Tucker - Drums, Main Personnel; Baby Boy Warren - Composer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Bernard Besman - Composer, Main Personnel, Organ, Xylophone; Big Bill Broonzy - Composer; Big Maceo Merriweather - Composer, Main Personnel, Piano, Primary Artist, Vocals; Boogie Woogie Red - Main Personnel, Piano; Calvin Frazier - Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Charles Mills - Piano; Charley Mills - Main Personnel, Piano; Chuck Smith - Main Personnel, Piano; Curtis Foster - Drums, Main Personnel; Detroit Count - Main Personnel, Piano, Primary Artist, Vocals; Eddie "Guitar" Burns - Composer, Guitar, Harmonica, Primary Artist, Vocals; Eddie Burns - Harmonica, Main Personnel, Vocals; Eddie Kirkland - Composer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; George Jackson - Guitar; George Little - Bass; Grace Brim - Harmonica, Main Personnel, Vocals; Henry Smith - Primary Artist; Henry Smith - Guitar, Vocals; Jesse Lee Williams - Harmonica, Main Personnel; Jimmy Miller - Main Personnel, Trumpet; Jimmy Miller - Trumpet; Jimmy Tarrant - Drums, Main Personnel; Jimmy Turner - Drums, Main Personnel; Joe Von Battle - Primary Artist, Vocals; Joe Woods - Main Personnel, Piano; John Brim - Composer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist; John Hooks - Sax (Tenor); John Lee Hooker - Composer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; John T. Smith - Guitar, Main Personnel; Johnny Hooks - Main Personnel, Sax (Tenor); Johnny Walters - Main Personnel, Piano; Jules Taub - Composer; L.C. Green - Guitar, Harmonica, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Little Eddie Kirkland - Guitar, Main Personnel, Vocals; Little George Jackson - Guitar, Main Personnel; Louisiana Red - Guitar, Main Personnel, Vocals; Milt Hinton - Bass, Guitar (Bass), Main Personnel; Neil Slaven - Liner Notes; Percy Lee Brown - Guitar, Main Personnel; Percy Lee Brown - Guitar; Playboy Fuller - Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Ray Brown - Drums, Main Personnel; Robert Richard - Harmonica, Main Personnel, Primary Artist; Sam Kelly - Harmonica, Primary Artist, Vocals; Sampson Pittman - Composer, Guitar, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; Sonny Boy Williamson I - Harmonica; T. House - Composer; Thomas Whitehead - Drums, Main Personnel; Walter Mitchell - Harmonica, Main Personnel, Primary Artist; Washboard Willie - Main Personnel, Unknown Instrument, Washboard.
Tracklist:
- 1-01. I'm In The Highway Man - Calvin Frazier
- 1-02. This Old World's In A Tangle (Fragment) - Calvin Frazier
- 1-03. Lilly Mae (1) - Calvin Frazier
- 1-04. Welfare Blues - Calvin Frazier
- 1-05. Blues - Calvin Frazier
- 1-06. She's A Double-Crossing' Woman - Calvin Frazier
- 1-07. Calvin Frazier Interview - Calvin Frazier
- 1-08. The Dirty Dozens - Calvin Frazier
- 1-09. Calvin Frazier Interview - Calvin Frazier
- 1-10. Boogie-Woogie - Calvin Frazier
- 1-11. Lilly Mae (2) - Calvin Frazier
- 1-12. This Old World's In A Tangle - Calvin Frazier
- 1-13. Highway 51 Blues - Calvin Frazier
- 1-14. John Henry - Sampson Pittman
- 1-15. Cotton Farmer Blues - Sampson Pittman
- 1-16. Sampson Pittman Interview - Sampson Pittman
- 1-17. Joe Louis - Sampson Pittman
- 1-18. Sampson Pittman Interview - Sampson Pittman
- 1-19. Welfare Blues - Sampson Pittman
- 1-20. Sampson Pittman Interview - Sampson Pittman
- 1-21. I Been Down In The Circle Before - Sampson Pittman
- 1-22. Sampson Pittman Interview - Sampson Pittman
- 1-23. Levee Camp Story - Sampson Pittman
- 1-24. Highway 61 Blues - Sampson Pittman
- 1-25. Brother Low-Down And Sister Do-Dad (1) - Sampson Pittman
- 1-26. Brother Low-Down And Sister Do-Dad (2) - Sampson Pittman
- 2-01. Cold Chills (All Over Me) - John Lee Hooker
- 2-02. Rock Me Mama - John Lee Hooker
- 2-03. It Hurts Me So - John Lee Hooker
- 2-04. I Got Eyes For You - John Lee Hooker
- 2-05. Key To The Highway - John Lee Hooker
- 2-06. Bluebird Blues - John Lee Hooker
- 2-07. It's Been A Long Time Baby - John Lee Hooker
- 2-08. Ride 'Til I Die - John Lee Hooker
- 2-09. I Tried Hard - John Lee Hooker
- 2-10. Rock House Boogie - John Lee Hooker
- 2-11. It's Stormin' And Rainin' - John Lee Hooker
- 2-12. Let's Talk It Over - John Lee Hooker
- 2-13. Cool Little Car - John Lee Hooker
- 2-14. Lookin' For A Woman - John Lee Hooker
- 2-15. Boogie Rambler - John Lee Hooker
- 2-16. No More Doggin' - John Lee Hooker
- 2-17. Love Money Can't Buy - John Lee Hooker
- 2-18. Please Take Me Back - John Lee Hooker
- 2-19. My Baby Don't Love Me - John Lee Hooker
- 2-20. Pouring Down Rain - John Lee Hooker
- 2-21. Real, Real Gone - John Lee Hooker
- 2-22. Guitar Lovin' Man - John Lee Hooker
- 2-23. Stuttering Blues - John Lee Hooker
- 2-24. Too Much Boogie - John Lee Hooker
- 2-25. Need Somebody - John Lee Hooker
- 3-01. My Special Friend Blues - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-02. Nervy Woman Blues - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-03. Lonesome Cabin Blues - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-04. Don't Want No Skinny Woman - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-05. Forgive Me Darling - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-06. Please Don't Think I'm Nosey - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-07. I Got Lucky - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-08. Let's Renew Our Love - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-09. Taxi Driver - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-10. Bad Lover Blues - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-11. Sanafee - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-12. Hello Stranger - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-13. Chicken - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-14. Baby Boy Blues - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-15. Chuck-A-Luck - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-16. Mattie Mae - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-17. Santa Fe - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-18. Somebody Put Bad Luck On Me - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-19. Stop Breakin' Down - Baby Boy Warren
- 3-20. It's Time For Lovin' To Be Done - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-21. That's All Right - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-22. Please Don't Think I'm Nosey - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-23. No Shoes - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-24. No Shoes (Alt) - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-25. Mistreated Woman - Eddie Kirkland
- 3-26. Time For My Lovin' To Be Done - Eddie Kirkland
- 4-01. Papa's Boogie - Eddie Burns
- 4-02. Notoriety Woman - Eddie Burns
- 4-03. Hello Miss Jessie Lee - Eddie Burns
- 4-04. Dealing With The Devil - Eddie Burns
- 4-05. Lonesome Blues - Henry Smith
- 4-06. Good Rockin' Mama - Henry Smith
- 4-07. Going Down To The River - L.C. Green
- 4-08. Ramblin' Around Blues - Sam Kelly
- 4-09. Cadillac Woman - Robert Richard
- 4-10. Wig Wearing Woman - Robert Richard
- 4-11. Root Hog - Robert Richard
- 4-12. Stop Messing Around - Walter Mitchell
- 4-13. Pet Milk Blues - Walter Mitchell
- 4-14. Looking For My Woman - Joe Von Battle
- 4-15. Gonna Play My Guitar - Playboy Fuller
- 4-16. Sugar Cane Highway - Playboy Fuller
- 4-17. Strange Man - John Brim Combo
- 4-18. Mean Man Blues - John Brim Combo
- 4-19. Leavin' Blues - Big Maceo
- 4-20. Have You Heard About It - Big Maceo
- 4-21. Worried Life Blues No. 2 - Big Maceo
- 4-22. Strange To Me Blues - Big Maceo
- 4-23. Without You My Life Don't Mean A Thing - Big Maceo
- 4-24. Eloise, Don't Play Me For A Fool - Big Maceo
- 4-25. Hastings Street Opera Part 1 - Detroit Count
- 4-26. Hastings Street Opera Part 2 - Detroit Count