Sunday Morning Blues - Lightnin' Slim, J.B. Lenoir, Leadbelly

The further adventures into the heart of the blues with the ABC Of The Blues boxset. This weeks two volumes covers three artists.

Volume 23

Lightnin' Slim
Otis V. Hicks was born in St. Louis, but moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana at an early age. One of the best known 'swamp blues' players. Swamp Blues, for the 1950 and 60s that it was popular, was a very stripped sound. Slowed tempo, light percussion, boogie rhythms, and frequent harmonica. Lightnin' Slim played from the 40s through the mid-60s. He took a break, the reasons are unknown or unclear, but was rediscovered in 1970 and played from then to his death in 1974 from cancer. Lightnin' Slim played guitar and sang, and had such a classic sound that many people will immediately recognize his style, even if they don't know the artist.

You can hear the faster R&B and Boogie rhythms of other popular musicians from the era, but it's slowed, stripped of most accompaniment, and presented as an almost folk-blue sound. Pulling from Cajun and Zydeco sources as well, the music even then stays mellow and slow blues. The ten songs here are unmistakably the pure blues, whatever prefix you want to add (folk-, swamp-, delta-) you put this on and he's on par with the very early pre-WWII artists. Almost always accompanied by harmonica, all the classic elements are here.

J.B. Lenoir
Further north during the same time period, J.B. Lenoir (La-Nor) was playing Chicago Blues. J.B. is his given name, a built in blues name. While his guitar playing was good, it's his showmanship and singing voice he's known for, as well as the content of his lyrics. He had a higher pitched voice than many contemporaries, especially in the Chicago scene, and his lyrics were full of social commentary instead of the usual references. He gained fame through the 1950s, but by the early 1960s had trouble making ends meet as a musician. But the slump didn't last long, by 1965 he was back to touring. Tragically he died in 1967 of a heart attack.

Musically, his voice is not the gravelly blues voice, or the loud blues belting sound. It's a smooth, near pop-sound quality to it, much higher in pitch than his fellow musicians. His voice would almost fit better in the doo-wop groups of the 50s than as a blues musician. His guitar playing, and overall style, are pure Chicago Blues, a little boogie and R&B, he makes heavy use of the piano as well. You can't help but tap along to his music.

Volume 24

Lead Belly

Moving back to the early blues, Lead Belly, or Huddie William Ledbetter, was known for his work with the 12-string guitar. Though he often played accordion and piano as well. Lead Belly also spent time in prison, as a testament to his abilities as a musician and persuader, he got the Governor of Texas to issue him a pardon after 7 years of a sentence, from a Governor who ran on a 'no-pardons' platform. After prison he got his start as a musician, with John Lomax who was collecting folk songs for research and a book. He had a spotty career in New York, mostly playing folk concerts to leftist audiences. After WWII he was one of, if not the, first folk-blues musician to gain fame in Europe and start touring there. Unfortunately he died in 1949 from Lou Gehrig's Disease.

His music is best known for his work with a 12-string guitar, and a finger picking style. Vocally, he implements some aspects learned on chain gangs he served with in prison, a 'Haah' grunt made between verses (where the hammer falls) - sadly, almost none of the standards for work songs appear here. The recordings themselves vary in quality, a number being from the early or mid 1930s, you can tell they were lifted from 78s, though most of the hiss is gone in an amazing job of recovery.

Next Week... Little Willie John, Smiley Lewis, Furry Lewis, Robert Lockwood...