Sunday Morning Blues - Big Maceo, Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Slim, Tommy McClennan

Volumes 31 and 32 of the ABC Of The Blues box set.... nicely these two volumes both follow the 'two artists, ten tracks each' guide, so I do feel gypped an artists catalog.

Big Maceo
Or 'Big Maceo Merriweather', born Major Merriweather in Georgia. He taught himself the piano and moved to Detroit in the 1920s, working at an auto plant and playing blues at night. His wife's singing with Tampa Red (we'll see him later in the collection) cause him to move to Chicago, where he started to record, in 1941. Maceo was another giant bluesman, over six feet tall. His recording career was cut short by a stroke in 1946, and he died of a heart attack in1953.

His short recording time often makes him an overlooked Chicago Blues pianist, but he was among the best in the scene for the short period he was there. Just sitting back and listening to his piano is good enough, but he had a great deep blues voice as well. Collections of his music aren't too hard to find, and like Robert Johnson, his career was so short many are complete known solo recordings.

Blind Willie Mctell
Moving back to George and staying there we come to William Samuel McTier, a Piedmont and Delta blues musician. Rare to his styles of blues, he played a 12-string guitar almost exclusively, and occasionally a slide guitar. His biggest hit was Statesboro Blues, covered by numerous musicians. He recorded from 1927 through the 1950s. His last known recordings are in 1956, just a year before his death.

The collection here found some of his very early recordings, where is wife Kate McTell can be heard singing along with him. She stopped recording in 1939 after becoming a nurse. His guitar playing is smooth and clear (the loudness was a reason he chose the 12-string over the more traditional 6). Oddly his one major hit isn't in this collection, though it's common enough you can find it on almost any collection of his. It's nice that on this volume both singers have a smooth, almost laid back, vocal style and compliments their instrumentation nicely.

Memphis Slim
Another blues pianist, John Len Chatman was born in Memphis, he'd get the nickname 'Memphis Slim' later. He was an extremely prolific blues player, primarily piano, and band leader, of mostly jump-blues. He played in Memphis through most of the 1930s, moving to Chicago near the start of WWII. He started recording in 1940 or 41, and that's when the record label gave him the nickname. From then on he was extremely prolific, recording well into the 1980s both solo, part of a band, and as a band leader. Changing styles and labels as he needed to - though never straying from any form of the blues.

The recordings here are split between solo-piano works and band works. Another low-key vocalist, as in letting the instrument do most of the talking and the vocals nearly in the background, continues here. His piano playing isn't as Chicago as Big Maceo's, but it is still distinctly blues in style. His work as a band leader and player is more of a jump-blues style, a little faster and a little more rock in it.

Tommy McClennan
A Delta and Country Blues artist, Tommy was born in Mississippi. He recorded a few singles in the late 1930s, ended up in Chicago recording some more, and reportedly died in poverty from alcoholism (a common affliction among blues artists) in 1962. His style is a rougher Delta Blues, a few have remarked his guitar style was decidedly different from most. Rougher, less changes, and the like.

His recording career is another very short one, at least as known, from 1939 to 1942. He was reportedly seen in Chicago often in the 40s and even the 50s, though all these reports are unconfirmed. His collection here is the bulk of his known recordings, including all his hits. Unlike the previous three artists that lead with their instrumentation, Tommy leads with his voice, sometimes even pausing in his guitar playing to sing A Cappella for a bit. Rough, and even a bit loud, it's a decidedly different take on the delta than most artists give.

Next Week, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Nighthawk, and Johnny Otis... a good collection indeed.