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Preachin'
The Blues: The Son House Story
"I’m gonna
get me religion, I’m gonna join the Baptist church
I’m gonna be a Baptist preacher, and I sho’ won’t have to
work"
(Preachin' The Blues)
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Son
House Audio: Excerpts From Bad Dog Blues Radio
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Any history of the
blues has to place Son House at the very pinnacle. Along
with Charlie Patton, House was one of the prime exponents
of the Delta blues and few recordings match the sheer emotional
impact of his first sides cut for Paramount in 1930. Despite
his lofty stature House's recorded output is scanty with
sides cut by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941-1942
and, after a long gap, a full length album for Columbia
in 1965. Dick Waterman, House's manager, put his place in
blues history in perspective: "He was the mentor for
both Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, who are clearly acknowledged
as two of the most influential bluesmen on not only urban
blues but ultimately the modern music scene. If in his prime
he had been recorded as much as Charlie Patton, Blind Lemon
Jefferson or Robert Johnson, he would be considered the
pre-eminent artist of his time. He would have his proper
appreciation."
He was born Eddie
James House, Jr., on March 21, 1902, in Riverton, Mississippi
a hamlet south of Clarksdale since absorbed into the town.
Son House's year of birth is listed as 1902 in most sources
however, Waterman believes that Son was considerably older,
possibly as much as seven or fourteen years older. House’s
father played horn and guitar and played in a band with
some of his brothers although they played no blues. House
didn't care for blues as he related later, "I just
hated to see a guy with a guitar. I was too churchy!"
By his accounts at the age of 15 or 20 he was preaching
the gospel in various Baptist churches. He didn't pick guitar
until his mid-20's when he saw a guitar player playing bottleneck
on the street.
Around this time
House came under the influence of Rube Lacy and James McCoy.
It was the latter who supposedly taught House the songs
"My Black Mama" and "Preachin’ The Blues",
songs he would later record. By the late 20's House was
performing around the Clarksdale area in juke joints and
house parties. Even though he had launched head long into
a blues career he continued to preach for awhile. The conflict
between religion and blues would remain a central theme
in House's life articulated in one of his signature tunes,
"Preachin' The Blues."
House's
career was interrupted when he shot a man dead at a house
part in Lyons, MS. and was quickly sentenced to imprisonment
at the notorious Parchman Farm. He ended up only serving
two years of his sentence and was released in 1929 or early
1930. After hitchhiking and hoboing the rails, he made it
down to Lula, MS, about twelve miles north of Clarksdale,
where he met Charley Patton for the first time. The extent
to which Patton and House actually played together in is
uncertain and certainly their temperaments were different.
Patton was described as a funny, loud mouthed boisterous
showman while House was gloomy by nature and guilt-ridden
about playing the blues and working in juke joints. Many
of the things House would later say about Patton are better
left unprinted.
In 1930,
Arthur Laibley who had produced Patton’s last session for
Paramount, stopped in Lula to arrange another session with
Patton. Patton was famous throughout the Delta and had already
recorded close to forty sides for Paramount. Patton told
Laibley about House and about two other musicians Willie
Brown and Louise Johnson, setting the stage for one of the
blues most legendary recording sessions. The group headed
to the Paramount studios in Grafton, WI, where House recorded
six songs at the session: three of which were long enough
to fill both sides of a 78: "Dry Spell Blues,"
"Preachin’ The Blues," and "My Black Mama."
Two songs, "Clarksdale Moan" and "Mississippi
County Farm Blues" were issued as a 78, but no copy
has ever been found. The unissued test of "Walking
Blues" was not found until 1985. Despite poor sales,
these sides remained some of the most intense blues ever
committed to record.
One of
the results of this trip was a long musical friendship with
Willie Brown. He and Brown played all over the Delta as
well as Arkansas and Tennessee for the rest of the 1930s.
He was still tight with Brown when Alan Lomax knocked on
his door in 1941 to record him for the Library of Congress
on a tip from Muddy Waters. House rounded up Willie Brown,
Fiddlin’ Joe Martin and Leroy Williams for the session.
They cut six numbers that day and next summer in July, House
recorded, unaccompanied, ten more songs for Lomax. As the
evidence suggests, House was still in peak form.
After
these recordings House vanished for two decades not to surface
for more than two decades. On June 23rd of 1964, Dick Waterman,
Phil Spiro and Nick Perls found House in Rochester, NY where
he had moved in 1943. In the intervening years he had worked
at a series of jobs, including a porter for the New York
Central Railroad and as a short order cook at a Howard Johnson’s.
Waterman and his friends convinced House to relaunch his
career, and the story made Newsweek Magazine. Waterman became
his manager, and the guitarist Al Wilson (later of Canned
Heat) helped House to relearn his old repertoire. House
hadn't quite vanished without a trace, however, and apparently
Alan Lomax had kept in touch with him and knew he had been
living in Rochester for the past 20 years although failed
to share that information with anyone.
House
played the Newport Folk Festival that same year and signed
with Columbia Records. The next year House recorded "Father
of the Delta Blues," produced by John Hammond becoming
one of the most successful recordings of the Delta blues
made during the 1960s. House
toured the US, playing folk festivals and coffeehouses,
toured Europe and even played Carnegie Hall.
An accident
in the winter 0f 1969-70 more or less ended House’s second
career. In the middle of the winter, House passed out drunk
in Plymouth Circle in downtown Rochester. Partially buried
by a snowplow, he lay in the snow until morning. His hands
were frostbitten, and he never completely recovered his
dexterity. Around this time he had been asked to open to
a sold out Fillmore East with Eric Clapton and Bonnie &
Delaney but the accident cut this short. It would have been
the biggest gig of his career. By 1976 House’s health had
deteriorated even further, and he moved to Detroit where
relatives could help take care for him. He died in Detroit
on October 19, 1988. Dick Waterman's words provide a fitting
epitaph: "If the blues were an ocean distilled...into
a pond...and, ultimately into a drop..this drop on the end
of your finger is Son House. It's the essence, the concentrated
elixir."
The Rochester
Connection
The spirit
of Son House still looms large in Rochester, the city Son
called his home for over 30 years (1943 to 1976). Son came
to Rochester when he got a job as a porter on the New York
Central. He worked that job for 11 years before being laid
off. This would become the subject of a "Empire State
Express" a song he recorded for his 1965 comeback album.
He also worked as a landscaper and at the time of his rediscovery
he was employed at Howard Johnson's as a dishwasher and
cook. According to Dick Waterman he stopped playing music
in 1948 due the changing music styles and the fact that
his partner Willie Brown had passed away (Brown's date of
death has been listed by some as 1952). By some accounts
Brown came to Rochester not long after Son but only stayed
a few months because he couldn't stand the cold weather.
One
of the first musicians to hang out with Son is Joe Beard,
now an internationally known blues artist who still lives
in Rochester, who knew him before he was rediscovered. "Son
lived at 65 Grieg Street. I moved into 67... and after a
few days I met Son. (Grieg St no longer exists, a victim
of urban redevelopment) ...He found out I played guitar.
That I had guitars and then that’s when we really started
to see a lot of each other. ...Son told me all these stories
about him and Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton. He told
me he became a Baptist preacher. Over the years what caused
that he says was all of his friends started to die off.
He got scared. ...Son got out of music, he got away from
music totally during the time he was there. But he always
knew that his life experience with the blues and the music
would always be a part of him. But he had no thoughts of
ever getting back in to it again until Dick Waterman came
along."
After
the rediscovery local musicians came around to meet Son
including a young John Mooney. "John got really involved
with Son--most everybody did. Almost all of the guitar players,
you know, when they learned that it was Son House you know."
A few years later Mooney would play in Beard's first band
called "Friends of the Blues." Among the other
players in town who met and played with Son were Rockin’
Red (Fred Palmer) also a charter member of "Friends
of the Blues", Aleks Disljenkovic (currently in The
Trendsetters) and Ted Mosher (currently in The White Hots
and Beale Street Blues Band).
Son played
in various venues around town including the Black Candle
(later called Studio 9) and the Regular Restaurant in the
Genesee Co-Op on Monroe Ave.. Photographer Mark Sampson
witnessed Son played at the latter venue: "When I heard
him play it was astounding. I have never heard a more powerful
singer... And I'm sure I never will." The Black Candle
was run by Armand Schaubroeck who now operates the world
famous House of Guitars. He booked Son at the coffeehouse
in the late 60's. Son was not always reliable as he recalls,
"he wouldn't always show...We'd go bar to bar hunting
for him. ...We find him in there and he'd jump in our car.
We'd have a guitar for him to play. He'd do a show and we
give him his money after. ...We get RIT students (Rochester
Institute of Technology), daters, Eastman Theater crowd,
real mixed. ...It was very powerful. It would blow away
like a local rock group. They wouldn't have a chance to
go on after him. He was center stage. ... He was powerhouse.
He was the blues."
Armand
has numerous amusing tales about Son. "He get all dressed
up... It wa guitar buyin' day. ..Sometimes we'd show him
Nationals, all metal Nationals like he used to play in the
20' and 30's. He'd go 'I'd played those back then because
they were cheap.' He wanted an electric guitar. "Alot
of times they were sending him expensive Nationals 'cause
that's his image and tradition. ... He'd often sell them
for booze money."
Son was
still playing around town before he moved to Detroit and
had moved from Grieg St to West
Ave. (Danforth Towers?). Musician Aleks Disljenkovic looked
him up and they played informally several times during this
period. Despite nearly 30 years since Son lived in Rochester
he is still fondly remembered by those who knew and those
who saw him live still speak with awe at his performances.
Essential
Listening/Viewing 
Son
House & The Great Delta Blues Singers
(Document): Contains
all of Son's brilliant 1930 recordings. Also includes stellar
sides by Willie Brown, Kid Bailey, Joe Calicott, Garfield
Akers, Blind Willie Reynolds and Rubin Lacy.
Delta
Blues (Biograph): Contains
all of Son's Library of Congress recordings from 1941 and
1942.
Father
of The Delta Blues (Columbia):
This two-disc set features
the great orginal 1965 album plus alternate takes and some
unissued material.
Heroes
of the Blues: The Very Best of Son House
(Shout Factory): If
you had to pick up one Son House record this is a good choice.
This 16 tracker collects selections from his 1930 session,
several of the Library of Congress recordings and a trio
of 1960s rediscovery pieces.
Masters
of the Country Blues: Bukka White & Son House
(Shanacie): Some
of the better House footage from the 60's. House is passionate
and intense as he bashes his national steel and hollers
the blues with authority. Songs include Death Letter Blues,"
"John the Revelator", "Preachin' the Blues"
and "I Want to Live So God Can Use Me." Bukka
White is in riveting form as well. Now available on DVD.
Other
Recordings
During
the time of his rediscovery a number of live recordings
of Son House were made. While some of these are quite good
none can be called truly essential. Two previously bootlegged
concerts have been released legitimately on "Revisited"
(Fuel 2000) a double-disc set recorded at Oberlin College
in the mid-60's and in 1965 at New York's Gaslite Cafe.
"Delta Blues and Spirituals" (Capitol) was recorded
live at London's 100 Club on June 30 and July 14 of 1970
during House's final European tour. This one is quite compelling
and worth picking up for dedicated Son House fans. "Legendary
1969 Rochester Sessions" (Document) recorded at his
home in September of 1969 also captures Son in good form.
There is at least one known unreleased recording by Son
recorded by Joe Beard in Son's home of the two of them playing
together. There are likely other recordings of Son performing
during this period.
Sources
-Beaumont,
Dan. "Joe Beard: So Much truth", Living Blues
Issue 169 (2003).
-Beaumont,
Dan. Unpublished interview with Joe Beard (2000).
-Beaumont,
Dan. Son House Biography for "The Encyclopedia of the
Blues" (not yet published).
-Gardner, Rich.
"Seeking Son House...and finding the Living Blues",
City Newspaper (Jan. 28, 2004).
-Koda, Cub.
Son House biography, All Music Guide.
-Friend, David.
"Focus on the Blues", Smithsonian Magazine (Sept.,
2003).
-Hutton, Rob.
Online interview with Dick Waterman.
-Conversations
with Dan Beaumont, Joe Beard, Rich Gardner, Mark Sampson,
Fred Palmer.
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