Delta Blues History, Part 8
Big Joe Williams
by Don Erickson
Big Joe Williams from Crawford, Mississippi is not to be confused with the big band singer, Joe Williams, who sang with Count Basie's Orchestra for seven years. That singer was born in Georgia as Joseph Goreed in 1918. Big Joe was born October 16, 1903, and became an important figure in the Delta Blues style.
Big Joe was already traveling throughout the South as a youth, a pattern he would continue throughout his life. He was probably the definitive itinerant Folk/Blues artist, playing levee and lumber camps, jukes, store porches and street corners from New Orleans to Chicago.
He was greatly influenced by Charlie Patton's rough and tumble, percussive style of performing. Along with artists like Mississippi Fred McDowell and Bukka White, Williams used his guitar as a drum to intensify the rhythmic effect, probably to the highest degree of any popular Blues artist.
In the early 20's, Big Joe teamed up with the Birmingham Jug Band, eventually recording with them in 1930 for the Okeh label.
He ended up in St. Louis, where he became friends with the great singer Bessie Smith and pianist Walter Davis. Joe, along with cousin J.D. Short, played house parties and clubs.
Joe met record producer Lester Melrose through J.D. Short. Walter Davis, who was a star on Melrose's Bluebird label, accompanied Williams to Chicago in 1935. Big Joe recorded six songs for Melrose, including his most famous hit, "Baby, Please Don't Go," and also "49 Highway." He recorded for Melrose for another ten years, including "Crawling King Snake" in 1941.
During this time, Big Joe performed and recorded with other prominent Bluesmen, such as Robert Nighthawk, pianist Peetie Wheatstraw and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, the first great harmonica star. Big Joe performed with Sonny Boy from 1938 to 1947. John Lee Williamson, who was originally from Tennessee, should not be confused with Rice Miller, who also became known as Sonny Boy Williamson. Rice Miller, who is referred to as Sonny Boy II, was born in Mississippi and had a career that greatly surpassed his namesake's.
Like most artists who maintained their rural roots, Big Joe's career hit a low spot with the advent of Jump Blues, R&B and Rock 'n' Roll. With the resurgence of interest in Folk/Blues in the late 50's and early 60's, artists like Big Joe enjoyed renewed success. He cut records for Trumpet, Cobra, Delmark and Arhoolie. Joe played the usual concert and coffeehouse circuit, along with Blues festivals. This included tours of Europe in 1968 and 1972 with the American Folk Blues Festival. He played the Ann Arbor BLues Festival in 1969 and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1972. Joe toured Japan in 1974 and was in Blues documentaries in '76 and '78.
Big Joe WIlliams played a guitar that he specially fitted with 3 extra tuning pegs so he could get a sound somewhere between a 6 and 12-string. Joe and his 9-string guitar enjoyed a long career before he passed away at the age of 79 on December 17, 1982 in Macon, Georgia. He was a fierce singer who, at times, would run his guitar through a small amplifier with a pie plate nailed to it, and an empty beer can hanging from that! This would create a buzzing, sizzling sound that, coupled with his percussive approach to guitar playing, resulted in an overall effect that proudly showed its African roots.
Big Joe Williams was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1992. We are going to have to depend on the younger contingent of musicians to keep the Delta Blues alive. Check out people like Guy Davis, Keb "Mo, Corey Harris and Rory Block, who feature acoustic Delta Blues in their repertoires. YOu can find artists like Big Jack Johnson, Jesse Mae Hemphill and R.L. Burnside currently keeping the Blues flame alive right there in the Mississippi Delta.
Big Joe Williams, Bukka White, Tommy McClellan and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup were the main names of the small number of artists to come out of the Delta and record for Lester Melrose in the early Chicago Blues scene.
Next month the focus of Legends of the Blues will shift to the other
artists who came from various parts of the South and helped pioneer the
Blues sound in Chicago. Lester Melrose was instrumental in
developing these artists and the concept of a stable of musicians that
collectively, under Melrose's direction, would produce the sound that
became known as the "Bluebird Beat." This series of
articles will include profiles on artists such as Tampa Red, Washboard
Sam, Big Bill Broonzy, Jazz Gillum, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson
I, and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.
Reprinted with permission from the November 1997 issue of the Blues Crier
