Monday 2 April 2012

STAR BLUES on 1st April 2012 at 22:00

March 27th was a remarkable anniversary that we put at the centre of STAR BLUES last night, Sam Phillips formed Sun Records that date in 1952. With 60 years of back catalogue available. it was a daunting challenge to choose an hour or so's worth in celebration of blues from his label.

He only set out to have make recordings with his brainchild The Memphis Recording Service based at 706 Union Avenue Memphis - his main competitor at the time had a decent living by taping parties and weddings. Sam wanted to also capture local musicians, particularly country, gospel and blues artists. One of his earliest successes has often been described as the first rock'n'roll record: "Rocket 88" masterminded by Ike Turner and credited to sax man Jackie Brenston. Trouble is it led to many of Sam's artists moving to Chicago to work with Chess direct. And when Sam couldn't get the Chess brothers to take more of his output, he was forced to start his own label: Sun. He intended a recording featuring Walter Horton as the first issue and gave it a catalogue number Sun 174 ("Blues in My Condition" b/w "Sellin' My Whiskey" credited to Jackie Boy & Little Walter) - only a fragment of the b-side remains on cd - but poor feedback made him keep the record back, so the first single was Sun 175.(Johnny London's "Driving Slow").

Jim Buillet was an early financial partner and Sam bought him out in 1954, the same year he sold Elvis Presley to RCA Records for $40000 (the Colonel got $35k and Elvis the rest in back royalties). I speculated Sam's hand was forced in light of resolving urgent cash flow challenges?? He never publicly regretted the trade and he often asserted Howlin' Wolf to be the greater talent. Our survey touched all those bases and more, well known like Little Milton and Jerry Lee Lewis as well as lesser know spirits like Eddie Snow.  Phillips' problem however as time went on was not being able to replace Presley, Johnny Cash, Lewis and others with big names to keep the tills ringing. He sold the label to Shelby Singleton in the late Sixties. His blues legacy was rich and we only touched it lightly last night.

News also came through that Jerry 'Boogie' McCain had died at the age of 81, a master of amplified harmonica who gigged ceaselessly and never made a poor record. We went to his earliest hits on Rex as well as his later period career with the Music Maker organisation. In between he made several fine albums for Ichiban. His discography shown on Wikipedia is scant but in reality there's plenty of really good projects out there to sample his work. The tributes elsewhere remember him with much fondness and he never got the full acclaim his talent deserved.

Music Maker is also the home of Shelton Powe whose new album gave us our gospel spot and we took two more dips into the story of American studios courtesy of Ace. Those couple of hours flew past and I felt incredibly privileged to share my choice of Sun Blues with you last night. I'm planning some more special shows and I hope you'll want to come along - I'm back next week which only makes sense if you're there as well so until then take care of yourselves and tale care of those that take care of you


Track.Title Track.ArtistSort Index Album.Title Album.ArtistSort Label
Good Rockin' Tonight Elvis Presley 11 King Of Rock'n'roll : Complete 50's Masters Elvis Presley RCA
I'm Gonna Forget About You (Matchbox) Ike Turner 25 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Shake A Tail Feather James & Bobby Purify 3 Memphis Boys: The Story Of American Studios Various Artists ACE
Wife Woman And Hoochie Clay Hammond 5 I Kissed Her Gone Clay Hammond Desert Sounds
Boogie is My Name Jerry McCain 1 Boogie Is My Name Jerry McCain
Courtin' in a Cadillac Jerry McCain & His Upstarts 13 It's Your Voodoo Working: The Best Of Excello Various Artists universal music operations
Crazy 'bout That Mess Jerry McCain 12 Strange Kind Of Feelin' Various Artists ALLIGATOR // TRUMPET
Selling My Whiskey Jackie Boy & Little Walter 1 50 Golden Years : Sun Record Company Various Artists FABULOUS
Tiger Man Joe Hill Louis 7 The Sun Story - Vol.1 Various Artists INSTANT
T-Model Boogie Rosco Gordon 22 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Feelin' Bad Little Junior's Blue Flames 147 50 Golden Years : Sun Record Company Various Artists FABULOUS
The Hucklebuck Earl Hooker 22 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Lookin' for My Baby Little Milton 18 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Jelly Roll King Frank Frost 155 50 Golden Years : Sun Record Company Various Artists FABULOUS
Cotton Crop Blues James Cotton 24 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Sweet Home Chicago David 'Honeyboy' Edwards 13 Sun Records - Ultimate Blues Collection Various Artists VARESE
Tiger Man (King of the Jungle) Rufus Thomas Jr. 18 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Just Walkin' in the Rain Prisonaires, The 29 50 Golden Years : Sun Record Company Various Artists FABULOUS
Don't Dog Me Around Eddie Snow 14 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' on Jerry Lee Lewis 32 50 Golden Years : Sun Record Company Various Artists FABULOUS
Baby Let's Play House Elvis Presley 14 King Of Rock'n'roll : Complete 50's Masters Elvis Presley RCA
Bluebird Blues Howlin' Wolf 18 Sun Blues Box : 1950-1958 Various Artists CHARLY
Suspicious Minds Mark James 11 Memphis Boys: The Story Of American Studios Various Artists ACE
This Train Shelton Powe 5 Gountry Blues & Gospel Shelton Powe Music Maker
She's Tough Jerry McCain 10 The Ace Story - Volume 3 Various Artists Ace Records
Steady Jerry McCain 23 Tuff Enough - Ace (Ms.) Blues Masters Vol.3 Various Artists WESTSIDE
Can't Find My Way Home Snakes-n-Angels 13 Back 2 The Weasel Ranch Snakes-n-Angels cdb
Created: 02/04/2012 09:00:46

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