Delta Blues History, Part 5
by Don Erickson
In the previous four months, this series of articles has featured the artists who had the most impact on the development of Delta Blues. This included Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Son House, Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson. There are, of course, many musicians who played an important role in the history of the Delta Blues.
Rubin Lacey was an important influence on Son House, and also became a vital figure in the Jackson, Mississippi Blues scene.
Lacey was born January 2, 1901 in Pelahatchie, MS. He was raised by his grandfather, who was a preacher. Rubin left home after learning how to play the guitar and started working in juke joints. In the mid-20's, he travelled as far north as Illinois before returning to the Jackson area. In Jackson, he frequently performed with other bluesmen like Tommy Johnson, Ishman Bracey, Charlie and Joe McCoy and the Mississippi Shieks.
Even though Rubin Lacey reputedly played on a number of other musician's recordings, he only recorded two songs under his own name. "Mississippi Jail House Groan" and "Ham Hound Cave" were cut in 1928 for the Paramount label. Lacey quit the Blues around 1932 and became a Baptist minister, preaching in Mississippi for the next two decades. He moved to L.A. in the late '50's and died in Bakersfield, CA around 1972.
One of his cohorts, Ishman Bracey, also became a minister after a Blues career. Bracey, born January 9, 1901, in Byram, Mississippi, first recorded in Memphis for the Victor label in 1928. He was one of the artists who traveled to Grafton, WI in 1930 to record for Paramount. By the late 30's, he was increasingly turning to religion and its music. He was ordained as a minister sometime around 1950. He died in Jackson on February 12, 1970.
The Mississippi Sheiks were a loosely knit, good time Blues group that grew out of the Chatman family band, a popular string band in the 1920's. They took their name from the Rudolph Valentino movie, The Sheik. Several years after they began performing, the group recorded their first session in 1930. Over the next five years, they cut nearly 70 or more songs, which ranged from rural string songs to bawdy Blues, such as "Bed Spring Poker" and "Driving That Thing". During this time, the core of the band consisted of fiddler Lonnie Chatman and guitarist Walter Vinson, with guitarists Sam and Bo Chatman joining in on a frequent basis. Sam and Bo also had successful solo careers -- Bo performing under the name of Bo Carter. The Sheiks were best known for their song, "Sitting on Top of the World", which has been covered by artists diverse as Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan, Cream, Bob Wills, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, among others.
Charlie McCoy, like his brother Joe McCoy, was a versatile guitarist whose repertoire also included Hokum, string band music and good time dance tunes. Charlie was born May 26, 1909, in Jackson and began his recording career as accompanist to Tommy Johnson in 1928 for Victor Records. In addition to recording with Walter Vinson, he was one of the Delta artists who made it to Chicago early on and recorded with the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson.
Joe McCoy, who was born May 11, 1905, in Raymond, Mississippi, was also known as Kansas Joe, Big Joe, Georgia Pine Boy, Hallelujah Joe and Hamfoot Ham. He moved to Memphis sometime in the mid-20's and teamed up with Memphis Minnie in Jed Davenport's Beale Street Jug Band. Joe and Minnie also worked as a duo, recording for Columbia in 1929, and eventually getting married. They stopped performing together in 1934.
Joe went to Chicago, where he often played with his brother, Charlie. In 1936, they formed the Harlem Hamfats, mixing jazz with the Blues, until 1940, when they formed Big Joe and his Washboard Band, which also included some great harmonica playing by Robert Lee McCoy. Robert was born Robert Lee McCollum and later performed as Robert Nighthawk, becoming an influential slide guitarist.
Joe and Charlie McCoy both died in Chicago; Joe in 1950 and Charlie in 1959.
Two other early Delta Bluesmen who came to Chicago to record were Tommy McClennan and his cohort Robert Petway. McClennan was born April 8, 1908 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was often accompanied by Petway in their travels through the Delta, working the juke joints and street corners.
They were living in the Greenwood, MS area when Lester Melrose sought out McClennan and brought him to Chicago in 1939 to record for his Bluebird label. McClennan, as well as Petway, were greatly influenced by Charley Patton. McClennan's recordings often displayed rage and emotional fervor.
He recorded 41 sides between 1939 and 1942. His most famous song, "Bottle Up and Go", was controversial because of its lyrical content.
His success prompted Melrose to also bring Petway to Chicago to record. Petway's total career output was 14 sides for Bluebird in 1941 and 1942. This included the first recorded version of the Delta anthem, "Catfish Blues".
The great Muddy Waters later borrowed some of the lyrics (a Blues tradition, it seems) and recorded his classic song, "Rolling Stone". Muddy also recorded another tune with the same type of riff called "Still a Fool". Much later, in the late 60's, Jimi Hendrix would perform a combination of these two Muddy Waters tunes and call it, appropriately enough, "Muddy Water Blues", later changing the title to "Catfish Blues".
After the war, neither McClennan nor Petway recorded again.
Although nothing is known of what happened to Petway, McClennan was occasionally seen in Chicago with Elmore James and Little Walter, two other artists who came from the Delta. McClennan died in Chicago from alcoholism in 1962.
Petway and McClennan helped pave the way for the subsequent mass migration of the Delta BLues artist to Chicago. These musicians will e profiled in the many articles that will appear in the Blues Crier.
The next articles will feature artists that were major pioneers of the Delta Blues and also enjoyed a resurgence of their careers during the "rediscoveries" of Folk/Blues during the 60's. This includes Bukka White, Big Joe Williams, Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt.
Reprinted with permission from the July 1997 issue of the Blues Crier
