Country Blues Guitar Wizards Of The 20's & 30's

 This time out in our essential blues feature we shine the spotlight on some amazing guitar players from the 20's and 30's who remain relatively obscure. Kokomo Arnold is perhaps the best known and most recorded, Casey Bill Weldon also recorded quite a number of sides while Oscar "Buddy" Woods, Bo Weavil Jackson (Sam Butler) and Black Ace (Babe Turner) left behind a small by impressive body of work. What ties these gentleman together is that they were all masters of the bottleneck guitar, each with his own distinctive style. Outside of Black Ace, who recorded one session in 1960, the recording careers of these bluesman were over by the 30's.

 Black Ace, Oscar "Buddy" Woods and Casey Bill Weldon played bottleneck guitar Hawaiian style, playing it flat across the knees and using a slide. Ace met Woods (15 years his elder) in Shreveport in the 20's or 30's who had a small string band. Woods was already playing in the Hawaiian style and Ace copied it an soon became a proficient player. Ace's style was also influenced by Kokomo Arnold's records most noticeably his "Lowing Heifer" based on Arnold's celebrated "Milk Cow Blues." Casey Bill Weldon was also a superb Hawaiian stylist although his background remains fuzzy as does Bo Weavil Jackson perhaps the least well known of this group.

 Kokomo Arnold was evidently popular because he recorded close to one hundred sides, almost all for the Decca label, between 1930-38. Arnold was a left handed guitarist with an impressive technique, combining slide with some incredibly fast finger-picking. He recorded two songs for Victor in Memphis in 1930 before heading to Chicago where he made the rest of his recordings. His initial recording session produced two classic: the influential "Milk Cow Blues" and "Old Original Kokomo Blues" (the basis of Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago"). Arnold's body of work is remarkably consistent and should be considered one of the best of his era. He retired from music in 1938 and took a job in a steel mill. As he stated in a 1959 interview: "I'm finished with music and that mad way of life."

 Casey Bill Weldon was a popular Hawaiian styled guitarist who recorded close to seventy sides between 1927-38. Weldon is a sadly neglected figure who was a fine singer and a tremendous guitarist who displayed a fluid crystal clear tone, sophisticated innovation and impressive speed. Like Kokomo Arnold, Weldon made his debut recording down south for Victor but made all his subsequent recordings in Chicago where he recorded with some of the city's best including Big Bill Broonzy, Black Bob, Charlie McCoy and others. He was based in Memphis early on and was married to Memphis Minnie for a spell and may have played with the Memphis Jug band. Weldon was a fine songwriter best known for his original version of the blues classic "We Gonna Move (To The Outskirts Of Town)."

 Oscar "Buddy" Woods background is not well known but he was evidently from Texas and in the 20's and 30's was based around Shreveport where he had a string band and played house parties and juke joints with the Black Ace. Between 1936-40 he recorded fourteen sides under his own name in a variety of settings: from powerful solo pieces like his "Lone Wolf Blues" from 1936, a solo session recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1940, band pieces with the Wampus Cats and the Shreveport Home Wreckers in 1930 and 1932. He also recorded a rare integrated session with Jimmie Davis, later governor of Louisiana, in 1932. Regardless of the setting Woods always displayed an impressive slide technique. He was last heard of working in the Shreveport area around the late 40s/early 50s.

 Black Ace was born in Hughes Springs, Texas and during the 20's and 30's ran with Oscar "Buddy" Woods (who taught him Hawaiian style guitar) and Andrew "Smokey" Hogg who would later score hits on the R&B charts in the 40's and 50's. Between 1936-41 he had a show on KFJZ out of Fort Worth where he introduced the show with his signature song "Black Ace." Ace recorded two songs in 1936 which were never issued and the following year recorded six sides which were issued on Decca. Ace was an excellent vocalist and displayed a unique synthesis between Hawaiian and Delta styles. He recorded once again in 1960 for the Arhoolie showing his abilities largely intact.

 Bo Weavil Jackson remains a brilliant but shadowy figure who cut thirteen songs in Chicago over the course of two sessions in 1926. Supposedly his real name was Sam Butler and he hailed from Birmingham, AL. A record salesman of the time named Harry Charles recalls the bluesman as basically a bum out on the street, playing for nickels when these sessions were done. His playing, however, was of the highest order displaying stellar slide work, although not exclusively, and a heavily rhythmic approach. His repertoire mixed both blues and gospel.

 Those who've already investigated and enjoyed some of the bigger country blues names like Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton would do well do dig a bit deeper and you'll discover that there's a whole bunch of great bluesman who remain unfairly forgotten.

Essential Listening

Kokomo Arnold: Old Original Kokomo Blues (Catfish): A fine 23 track introduction. Includes some of his most celebrated songs like "Milk Cow Blues", "Old Original Kokomo Blues", "Sagefield Woman Blues", "Twelves (Dirty Dozens)" among many other gems.

Casey Bill Weldon: Guitar Swing (Catfish): An excellent primer on this superb guitarist. Includes some of his best including "Guitar Swing", "W.P.A. Blues", "Somebody Changed the Lock on My Door" and "Go Ahead Buddy."

Oscar Woods & Black Ace: Complete Recorded Works (Document): Collects the complete recordings of Oscar "Buddy" Woods (sans the sides with Jimmie Davis) and all of Black Ace's pre-war sides.

Black Ace: I'm The Boss Card In Your Hand (Arhoolie): Collects all of Black Ace's recordings including both his 1937 and 1960 session. Includes informative liner notes.

Various Artists: Backwoods Blues (Document): Collects the complete recordings of Bo Weavil Jackson, As a bonus it collects the complete sides of Bobby Grant, Lane Hardin and King Solomon Hill who are all very good in their own right.