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Oscar "Buddy" Woods (b. April 7, 1903 in Natchitoches, LA – d. December 14, 1955 in Shreveport, Louisiana) was a Texas blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Woods, who was an early blues pioneer in lap steel, slide guitar playing, recorded thirty-five tracks between 1930 and 1940. He recorded solo and as part of a duo, the Shreveport Home Wreckers, and with a six- or seven-piece group, the Wampus Cats. Early in his career he backed Jimmie Davis on some of his recordings. Woods's best-known song was "Lone Wolf Blues", from which came his billing as "The Lone Wolf".
He was born near Natchitoches, Louisiana, United States, on April 7, 1903. He relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana around 1925, where he started to work as a street musician and played for tips at juke joints. Various sources claim that he learned the rudiments of playing a bottleneck slide guitar after watching a Hawaiian music ensemble that toured in Louisiana in the early part of the 1920s. Woods teamed up with another guitar player, Ed Schaffer, and they performed as the Shreveport Home Wreckers at the Blue Goose Grocery and Market, a speakeasy in Shreveport. In May 1930, the duo recorded for Victor Records in Memphis, Tennessee. In May 1932, the Shreveport Home Wreckers backed Jimmie Davis on four sides recorded in Dallas, Texas. They also recorded another two tracks of their own, released as a single, on which they were billed as Eddie and Oscar. The significance of this mixed-race recording session spilled over into a joint tour—a unique sociological situation at that time in the South. Woods next recorded for Decca Records in March 1936 in New Orleans. The tracks included his best-known song, "Lone Wolf Blues," and the first take of "Don't Sell It, Don't Give It Away", which he wrote. The records sold well, and by the time Woods recorded again, in October 1937, the Shreveport Home Wreckers had added new members and became the Wampus Cats. They backed both Woods and Kitty Gray, a singer and pianist, on several tracks recorded in 1937 and 1938 for Vocalion Records. In October 1940, Woods made his final recordings, five tracks for the Library of Congress. Following the session, John Lomax wrote, "Oscar (Buddy) Woods, Joe Harris and Kid West are all professional Negro guitarists and singers of Texas Avenue, Shreveport. ... The songs I have recorded are among those they use to cajole nickels and dimes from the pockets of listeners." Local records suggest that Woods continued to live in Shreveport, and after his recording career was over, he played again as a street musician and at dances.
Woods died in Shreveport in December 1955.
Woods played his guitar flat on his lap, in a similar manner to Hawaiian guitar players, using a small medicine bottle as a slide. The music journalist Uncle Dave Lewis noted that Woods played "in the style of lap steel, bottleneck blues slide guitar; some experts believe he may have been the primary force behind the creation of this whole genre". Woods's guitar-playing techniques were passed on to his protégé, Black Ace, who was approximately fifteen years younger than Woods and had played with him around Shreveport. The compilation album mentioned below includes tracks by both Woods and Black Ace. The Shreveport Home Wreckers track "Flying Crow Blues" was recorded in 1932. Robert Johnson used one set of its lyrics, almost word for word, for the final verse of his song "Love in Vain" (1937).
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By Uncle Dave Lewis
Oscar "Buddy" Woods was a Louisiana street musician known as "The Lone Wolf" and a pioneer in the style of lap steel, bottleneck blues slide guitar; some experts believe he may have been the primary force behind the creation of this whole genre. Woods was born in the area around Natchitoches, LA, and his unknown birth date is variously listed as having been anywhere from 1892 to 1900. About 1925 he is known to have re-settled in Shreveport, LA, working as a musician and "street-rustler." It is said that Woods developed his bottleneck slide approach to playing blues guitar after seeing a touring Hawaiian troupe of musical entertainers in the early '20s.
Not long after arriving in Shreveport, Woods began a long association with guitarist Ed Schaffer, and together they performed as the Shreveport Home Wreckers, often appearing at The Blue Goose Grocery and Market, a notorious Shreveport establishment said to be an after-hours speakeasy. Woods and Schaffer made their first two recordings as the Shreveport Home Wreckers for Victor in Memphis on May 31, 1930. For someone whose handle was "The Lone Wolf," Woods was extraordinarily lucky in terms of the number of recording dates he was able to secure in connection with other artists. From this first session up until his last, a field recording for the Library of Congress made on October 8, 1940, Woods was involved in the making of no less than 35 sides.
On May 27 and 28, 1931, Ed Schaffer was in Charlotte, NC, recording six sides headed by white country artist (and future Governor of Louisiana) Jimmie Davis along with New Orleans-based jazz guitarist Ed "Snoozer" Quinn. Nearly a year later in Dallas, TX (on February 8, 1932) Davis made four sides with the Shreveport Home Wreckers as accompanists, and then the Home Wreckers made another pair of sides on their own, issued this time on Victor as by "Eddie and Oscar." These sides are of key sociological importance as they are the first known Southern-made records of country blues made by a "mixed race" group. Needless to say, Victor did not go out of their way to publicize this aspect upon the initial release of these sides, which occurred during the worst year in the history of the record market. However, some old timers recalled that the association between Jimmie Davis and the Shreveport Home Wreckers didn't just end at the recording studio door -- amazingly, they also toured together.
Oscar "Buddy" Woods did not record again until made a trip to New Orleans to make some solo records for Decca on March 21, 1936. One of these recordings was of Woods' signature tune, "Lone Wolf Blues," and another his first recording of "Don't Sell It, Don't Give It Away." These did so well in the race record market that Jimmie Davis took a renewed interest in the Shreveport Home Wreckers. By the time Woods returned to record making in a session set up by Davis in San Antonio on October 30-31, 1937, the lowly two-man Home Wreckers had expanded into a six- or seven-piece string band called the Wampus Cats. The Wampus Cats also included a female vocalist by the name of Kitty Gray, guitarist Joe Harris, and mandolinist Kid West. The Wampus Cats made an additional session in Dallas on December 4, 1938, on which Kitty Gray does not appear, but unknown trumpet and saxophone players are therein added to the mix.
After Oscar "Buddy" Woods cut his last five selections for the Library of Congress in 1940, he disappeared from public notice until his death in 1956. On the same date as Woods, Wampus Cats alumni Joe Harris and Kid West also recorded 11 pieces for the Library of Congress as a duo. As in the case of Woods, they were never heard from again. Ed Schaffer is even more obscure than his compatriots, and may have died even before the San Antonio sessions with the Wampus Cats, as he is not known to have been present on that occasion. According to entries in Shreveport city directories, Woods stayed in the Shreveport area in his final years, playing dances and working as a street musician.
The impact of Oscar "Buddy" Woods on the development of bottleneck slide playing was crucial; one musician he took under his wing around 1930 was Texas native Babe Kyro Lemon Turner, who later assumed the name Black Ace. During his lifetime, Woods was best-known for "Lone Wolf Blues," but today the most often anthologized cut in which he was involved is the Wampus Cats' version of "Don't Sell It,-Don't Give It Away." Also, bluesman Robert Johnson paid the Shreveport Home Wreckers an offhand tribute by lifting one verse practically verbatim out of their 1932 "Flying Crow Blues" and using it as the concluding verse in his own "Love in Vain."