Pre-War vs Post-War Blues

Written by Dave Harris, who is a career musician (mostly busking), sometime writer for Westcoast Blues Revue/Real Blues magazines and author of the definitive book on one man bands Head, Hands & Feet. Past Articles January 6, 2015 Pre-War vs Post-War Blues This is a seldom discussed topic, at least to my knowledge. It is quite interesting though. The changes that came about in the music world during the early 40s are substantial and worthy of note. Thanks to Darren-James Harrison for the idea. The Pre-War era was fairly short in terms of number of years of recording. Earliest blues recordings date from the early 20s. The famous Crazy Blues from Mamie Smith is generally accepted as the first blues of note (a few earlier white blues were recorded), recorded in 1920. So, the whole era is really only 22 years (there was no recording between 1942-44 due to the Petrillo ban). But what a 22 years it was! The list of truly great artists who appeared, often seemingly out of nowhere, to record for men like HC Spier, Mayo Williams and other talent scouts was impressive, to say the least. The early 20s were dominated by Classic women blues singers, mostly backed by jazz bands. As might be expected the music is as close to jazz as it is to blues, drawing heavily on vaudeville. The music was quite commercial in style, aimed at the new Race Records market of black customers. Often the songs were written by men, such as W.C. Handy, Clarence Williams and others. Many of the artists sold quite well, notably Bessie Smith, The Empress of the Blues, the deepest singer of them all (in the Classic Blues style). Others of note include: Ma Rainey (the most down-home of them all and called The Mother of the Blues), Ethel Waters (a more sophisticated singer), Ida Cox, Mamie Smith, Clara Smith, Trixie Smith (none of them related, I believe) and Alberta Hunter. This style of blues has carried on a bit but is generally more to be seen in jazz bands now then in blues bands. I ll touch back on that later. The next big wave of blues was the (mostly) solo men singers, usually with guitars (but often piano and sometimes harp). The earliest guys like Papa Charlie Jackson drew on vaudeville too but generally the genre was quite different than the Classic Women s Blues. The use of a solo guitar was quite a dramatic shift from the jazz band and this music was generally much more down-home, intimate and idiosyncratic. The first big star was Blind Lemon Jefferson, a very idiosyncratic artist (all of you guitar players out there, just try to play with him for an idea of what I mean). Other substantial artists from this era include: Tampa Red (who even backed Ma Rainey on some records), Lonnie Johnson (who also played hot jazz with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, among others), and Blind Blake (an amazing guitarist who was very pianistic in style). Fans of these artists will be well aware that all were quite amazing musicians. The influence of jazz can t be over-stated. Jazz was the popular music of this era and everyone was familiar with it to some degree. Maybe I should qualify that. Every city musician was well aware of it. Rural artists were likely much less so. However, jazz was going through its own growth, from vaudeville and Dixieland towards the big band era (on the horizon) and

swing. So far most of the artists mentioned were city dwellers (notably Chicago and New York). There was also a strain of blues developing in the Mississippi Delta. This was dominated by one man, Charley (or Charlie) Patton. Patton was an itinerant musician, who chose to wander from plantation to plantation, plying his trade as a musician for field workers after hours. His music had a great beat but was hard to grasp for other musicians, partly due to his timing idiosyncrasies but just as much for his sheer abilities as a guitarist. Many were inspired by him though, including: Tommy Johnson, Son House (best noted for his voice!), Willie Brown, Big Joe Williams, Robert Johnson, a young Howlin Wolf, an even younger Muddy Waters, Eddie Taylor and on and on. The Father of the Delta Blues, Patton has seldom been equaled. Piano blues and boogie-woogie were also very popular. The artists tended to be more urbane and jazz oriented. In fact, boogie-woogie is rightfully considered part of the jazz genre. One listen to Pinetop Smith, Meade Lux Lewis or Pete Johnson is enough to hear that these guys were jazz musicians at heart. There were less pianists making a name for themselves in rural environments but guys like Little Brother Montgomery and Roosevelt Sykes were traveling from levee camp to jukejoint playing their blues on beaten up pianos wherever they could find them. In the city (especially Chicago and St Louis) the guitar blues was being picked up by guys like Big Bill Broonzy, Henry Townsend, Charley Jordan, Memphis Minnie (the first substantially recorded woman guitarist), the McCoy brothers (Joe worked with Minnie, Charlie with many) and many others. Blues guitar was on the rise big time. Texan, Lead Belly was also coming up, bringing a healthy taste of folk to his blues stew. Duos were also popular, possibly none more so than Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell. These two, from Indianapolis set the bar for blues duos, combining Carr s wistful urbane vocal and piano with Blackwell s more rural, driving guitar riffs. Other popular duos of the era (late 20s/early 30s) include the Mississippi Sheiks (Lonnie Chatmon on violin and Walter Vinson on guitar, usually), Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, Memphis Minnie & Joe McCoy, Washboard Sam with Big Bill, Sonny Boy Williamson I with various guitarists, Peetie Wheatstraw and Charley Jordan, Walter Davis and Henry Townsend and many more. The record companies were looking for big sellers and when something worked it would be pushed on other artists in hopes of more sales. This led to a bit of a generic quality in some cases. The Bluebird label was particularly noted for this, using a coterie of artists on each others records (Big Bill, Washboard Sam, Jazz Gillum, Black Bob, Sonny Boy). It should be pointed out that 78 RPM records were two songs, unlike LP and CDs, where the music was reissued years later, often getting a bad rap for too much repetition. Other important strains were developing in other places. In the eastern states guitar blues was developing from the Blind Blake style, pianistic and complex, often using ragtime changes (I, VI, II, V or III, VI, II, V, I). Artists of this Piedmont style (named after the Piedmont region from New Jersey to Alabama) included: Barbecue Bob, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell, Buddy Moss, Josh White, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and more. They were relatively uninfluenced by Delta blues and the music had a happier, bouncier quality. Some of the artists ended up in New York City, where there were opportunities. NYC hasn t had as much blues generally though, mostly jazz. The Classic Woman s Blues was a largely NYC product but most of the other styles stem from other places.

It s worth noting that few of these artists were band musicians (ok, the Bluebird guys were used to combo work). The early blues was very much a solo game and this allowed for greater variation. After all, if one is solo it doesn t matter when one changes chords. The early groups began the process of standardizing the forms. There were several important jug bands, mostly in the Memphis area, influenced by jazz and vaudeville but very much blues. Groups like the Memphis Jug band and Cannon s Jug Stompers led the charge, busking on Beale St and recording quite prolifically. The Mississippi Sheiks could also swell into a larger combo with various Chatmon family members joining Lonnie and Walter, including the superb Bo Carter (Armenter Chatmon), Harry and the younger Sam. All of these bands played pop songs and other material too, it just wasn t recorded. The record companies thought blues was the order of the day (and likely also didn t want to shell out royalty money for pop covers). Amplification! What a game changer! By the late 30s amps were happening and it opened up new avenues, as the music could be louder and project farther. Early amplified guitarists included: Big Bill, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, George Barnes (who was the only white guitarist playing on blues sessions, as early as 1938 at age 17!), Robert Lockwood Jr, Robert Nighthawk (who had changed his name from McCollum to McCoy to Nighthawk), Charlie Christian, Eddie Durham (both jazz) and T-Bone Walker. I ve neglected many important artists already and there s no way I ll cover the post-war in detail either. However, I ve touched on most of the elements that made up the various blues styles. As many may note, drums and, to a lesser degree, bass were hardly used, up to this point. Tampa Red had a rhythm section, as did some of the Bluebird artists but generally the blues of the pre-war was solo or small combos (barring the Classic Blues). The ban of use of shellac during the war years enable us to neatly divide the two eras. Obviously the post-war era is way longer (I d personally like to see everything after 1970 called something else). It makes comparing them difficult in a way but I ll just compare them up until 1970, about a 26 year span. I ll note too that the Blues Bible Blues Records 1943-70 covers just those years. The mid to late 40s was still dominated by jazz, mostly big bands or swing combos. This had a profound influence on the blues too. Many urbane blues artists started during this period. Somewhat under the influence of Louis Jordan, bands led by T-Bone Walker, Johnny Otis, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Percy Mayfield, Jimmy & Joe Liggins, Buddy Johnson, Amos Milburn, Johnny Moore s Three Blazers, Ivory Joe Hunter, Pee Wee Crayton, Cecil Gant and on and on were quite popular, adding elements of jazz, novelty, boogie-woogie, even country and pop to their blues basis. Much of this was Texas raised, LA lived (and recorded) music. Another jazz related strain was the blues shouters, stand up singers who shouted out their blues over larger horn dominated bands, men such as Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown, Bullmoose Jackson and so on. Honking tenor saxes were also in vogue, men such as Big Jay McNeely, Joe Houston, Big Al Sears and many others. The music was blues based with a tenor sax playing jazzy one note based ideas. BB King broke into the 50s world of blues, combining his rural background (and early love of Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Scrapper Blackwell, Bukka White etc) with the more modern sounds of the above mentioned (and his gospel influenced vocals). To me he brings the two together more than most up to that point. He was massively influential too, both as a guitarist and as a singer. A few of his most influenced artists include: Buddy Guy, Bobby

Bland, Jr Parker, Fenton Robinson, Albert King, Freddie King, Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, Bobby Rush and later scores of whites: Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and on and on. Muddy Waters was also massively influential, bringing an electrified version of Delta blues into Chicago. Little Walter, a Muddy alumnus before he broke off, took the amplified harp to new places, mixing Sonny Boy I s style with Louis Jordan type sax lines. Howlin Wolf roared out of Memphis into the Chicago limelight, bringing his Delta roots mixed with Memphis jazzy blues and a more modern style (especially in the 60s). Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) co-opted his name from the earlier, now dead star, retaining a deep south sensibility in his modern style. Elmore James set the slide guitar on fire with his amplified Dust My Broom riffs and supercharged voice. Jimmy Reed took the idea of simplicity to new heights, mining a few grooves that have been very important in the rock world (Bright Lights, Big City and Big Bossman come to mind). Both of these artists were massively influential. Another important artist I ve neglected is John Lee Hooker, one of the best at making a one chord song and a stomping foot create some serious mojo! Another of this ilk was the very prolific Lightnin Hopkins, a very influential artist. Down-home blues was alive and well in Louisiana too. Lightnin Slim, Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester and others distilled a mix of New Orleans pop, swamp music, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and more into a distinctive style. Zydeco music also was very blues based, as put forward by Clifton Chenier in particular. Piano was not as big during the early post-war. It was easily drowned out by the electric instruments and it became more of a background instrument, although very important. Solo piano was still going though, guys like Champion Jack Dupree, Otis Spann (who also played in Muddy s band and many sessions with others), Curtis Jones, Eddie Boyd and others recorded solo sessions or with a guitar but no rhythm section. The advent of electric pianos and organs opened things up in the late 50s for guys like Willie Mabon, Big Moose Walker, Professor Longhair (ok, he was earlier), Billy The Kid Emerson and others. By the 60s rock music was influencing the blues and vice versa. Many young whites were attending blues shows or tuning into blues on the radio. The folk revival gave renewed life to long forgotten artists such as Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Wilkins, Bukka White, Josh White, Arthur Big Boy Crudup, Sleepy John Estes and Jesse Fuller, to name but a few. White rock bands like the Grateful Dead and Loving Spoonful featured country blues songs in their acts. I won t bother going into the British Invasion influence (well covered in other pieces) other than to say that blues was popular for awhile and most rock bands covered some blues (with very mixed results). So, what can we say about pre-war versus post-war? Well, several points have been made but I ll summarize. The early blues owed a lot to jazz (just as jazz owed a lot to blues). When people (often Europeans) refer to jazz and blues, making them all of a piece, they are often really referring to the early era. Later blues owes much less to jazz and eventually more to rock (just as rock owes a LOT to the blues). By the mid 50s the jazz influence was fading, just as jazz itself was becoming less popular. Jazz was much more of a horn dominated form, something that was never as influential in blues (use of horns did happen but less so). The horn period in the blues was the mid 40s to mid 50s, bands I mentioned earlier, largely from the mid-south (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas). Of course that ties to the big band pop era too.

The Classic Blues has largely died except for in Dixieland bands, where that material is often covered. Modern blues women tend to be more from the Big Mama Thornton (Janis Joplin), Koko Taylor, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt (herself influenced by Classic Blues singer Sippie Wallace), Aretha, soul blues field. The idiosyncrasies of the pre-war solo artists got ironed out for band use by the post-war. This led to a more standardized form, some generic elements and less variation. However, the trade-off was better soloing capabilities in many cases (not all, the best of the early guys were phenomenal soloists Lonnie Johnson, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson etc that needed no accompaniment). A few of the more down-home artists never got their time straightened out. Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Big Boy Crudup always had idiosyncratic timing which worked in the hands of experienced sidemen like Eddie Taylor, Ransom Knowling and Earl Phillips but less so in the hands of the faceless white bands that backed them in later years. The use of amplification changed the band dynamic a lot. Guitars, harps and vocals all got louder. Eventually bass and keyboards also got electrified, making the drums the only acoustic instrument. The amps also changed the tonal characteristics, adding sustain, distortion and different equalization possibilities. Blues in general developed from a largely rural acoustic solo music into an urban electric band music. Of course that s a massive generalization and I ve mentioned quite a few exceptions but it is largely true. There are still many blues artists playing in the pre-war styles, often covering that material. One can often see these acts at festivals, mostly of the folk variety. They have their mostly small but fanatical fan bases. The electric blues is much more pervasive, as is to be expected. Possibly most importantly, white record collectors and blues enthusiasts influenced what got put on LPs. By this I mean that the concerns governing what got released were largely to do with things like scarcity and authenticity. Very obscure names such as Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Tommy Johnson, even Robert Johnson had not been widely heard the first time around. They weren t especially popular in their time. Their popularity was created by later interest (not to forget their superb artistry; I m not trying to say they weren t deserving). Artists who had been popular back in the day were often glossed over as too commercial or inauthentic, Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr, the more urbane artists. Well, there you go; a short history of the blues and comparison of the changes between the eras. Please do comment and share your thoughts!