History of the Blues #2 - Son House, Preaching the Blues

"The blues is not a plaything like some people think they are."
       - Son House

Son House - Death Letter Blues (1960's Color Film)

The influence of Son House is neverending, evolving and returning back to the source.  His story is not a new one, but for the world of the blues, it is unique.  To quote Dick Waterman, a man who made the blues revival of the 60's as fruitful as it was, and to his debt we owe invaluable information and recordings from countless blues artists.  In an interview from 1995 Waterman explained:

          "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. Son House, through his ever-expanding style and influence, can be considered a source point for much of what we feel is contemporary music today."

Further proof, from the source:

"Of course that was my idol, Son House."
           Muddy Waters

"Whiskey and woman, they would not let me be." - "Preachin' the Blues" (1930)

     Eddie James "Son" House, Jr., like many in the region of Riverdale, Mississippi, grew up a sharecropper:  Plowing fields in his early teens, it's likely he never learned to read or write, and much of his early biography is shrouded in mystery.  This is where his story turns away from the traditional Delta blues musician.  It is known that he developed an early devotion to the Baptist Church, and (It is believed) gave his first sermon at the age of 15.  The Baptist church preached widely against the blues, its sinful message and the lifestyle associated with it.  And, even though Son House became a Baptist preacher at 18, he was developing an interest in the blues.  And it is this crisis of faith that would plague House's music, and become a staple of his lyric and sound.

     Leaving the Baptist church in his early twenties Son House devoted more of his life to music, but supplemented income through and manual labor.  On the rise throughout the Mississippi Delta, Son House shot and killed a man, at a house party around Lyon, Mississippi in 1928.  He was sentenced to work on Parchman Farm, but in a stroke of justice, was released after two years by a judge who reviewed the case.  Upon his release he returned to Lyon where he met Mr. Charley Patton, and the two developed a friendship.  Through this friendship Patton invited House all the way to Grafton, Wisconsin in what would result in House's only commercial recordings for more than 30 years.

'Walking Blues' a song Son House would record again, and again.

These 1930 recordings are an early glimpse of the evolution of the blues Son House was crafting.  It was also the beginning of a relationship between House and another musician Charley Patton brought up to Wisconsin, Willie Brown. House and Brown would work together for the next 20 years.  Unfortunately, the recordings were not a commercial success and House and Brown returned to working and playing in the Delta.  It is during this time that House meets a young Robert Johnson.  House, at least ten years Johnson's senior, was an obvious mentor on young Johnson's style, who would sneak out at night to sit at his and Willie Brown's feet.  Indeed, much of the Robert Johnson legend comes from House, here recalling a break during a show

"And such a racket you never heard! It'd make the people mad, you know. They'd come out and say, 'Why don't y'all go in and get that guitar away from that boy! He's running people crazy with it!' I'd come back in, and I'd scold him about it, ' Don't do that Robert. You drive the people nuts. You can't play nothing."

House would go on to explain that only six months later Robert Johnson came back a skilled guitarist, much more skilled than the time he had been gone should allow.  And House is also quoted as saying Johnson did indeed sell his soul to the devil for those skills.  However, the authenticity of the quote is questioned.

By 1941, Son House was still in Mississippi, and came to the attention of folklorist and musicologist Alan Lomax who recorded him for the Library of Congress between '41 and '42.  These are also landmark recording is the history of pre-war blues.  These recordings are some of the last of a legacy of country, delta blues.  After the war, many African-Americans relocated to Chicago and other major cities and started a new generation of electric blues.  But for now, it is still just House, guitar and bottleneck in hand preaching of a life between right and wrong, good and evil.

Don't never follow you first mind, cause that's the one that's wrong. 'Cause the Devil beats God to you every time. - Son House

"Delta Blues" is for me Son House's masterpiece, it optimizes everything Son House's music, and more generally, the blues is about.  "I cried last night, all the night before. I'm gonna change my way of livin, so I won't have to cry no more."  But with this crisis of faith there is also a theme of lost love throughout almost all of House's recordings.  Later in life House would say "There ain't but one kind of blues.  That which consist's(sp) between male and a female that's in love. ... That means two people when one or the other deceives the other through their love."  Son House also has a very deep belief in what the blues should be.

That's the blues. b-l-u-s-e.

In '52, Son House's long time friend and accompanist Willie Brown died, and House effectively left music altogether.  Living in Rochester, New York he preferred working on the railroad than playing without Brown.  And this is where the story stops, for more than ten years.

He was finally tracked down in 1964, and when found, he didn't even own a guitar.  He reportedly had to be effectively re-taught the guitar.  And although his work has blemishes in this period, a flubbed note here or a wrong lyric there, it paints an intense and painful picture of a time and place not far from our own.  We are blessed to be able to see Son House play live. Witness the power of his playing, the passion of his singing.  He played throughout the U.S. and toured Europe throughout the 60's, but poor health caused him to retire in 1974.  Son House drank heavily throughout his life and it had caught up to him.  He moved to Detroit where he remained until his death in 1988.

Son House leaves behind a legacy built into the foundations of modern music.

Further interest in Son House's music should be directed here for an extensive list of recordings.

Next time - Let me think on it.

History of the Blues #1 - Charley Patton, The Father of the Delta Blues

Charlie Patton: The Father of the Delta Blues

Charlie Patton was born in Mississippi sometime around 1891 and died there in 1934. In between he mastered a style that would shape modern music for the next century and beyond. Only recording in the last 6 years of his life he recorded some 60 sides. His numerous guitar styles - everything from banging his guitar like a drum, to fretting the strings with a pocket knife, are shown in these historic recordings. It was his live performance where future blues legends John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, Son House, and many more, learned first hand the blues tradition.



This is a perfect example of the best of Patton's style: The strong percussive beat, the gravel voice, quick expressive guitar work, the asides - giving the illusion of two voices. All of theses are staples of Patton's music that are emulated in nearly all delta blues, and modern rock music. Patton's arrangements and original compositions (some of which were written when he was only 19) have evolved into standards in the blues genre. Here we have "Spoonful Blues," Willie Dixon reworked this song for Howlin' Wolf and has been covered by countless blues acts over the years. It is also a great example of Patton's slide work.



For fun, here is Howlin Wolf's version. It is also important to note that Howlin Wolf was taught guitar directly from Patton, making him probably the most direct link to Charlie Patton in the post WWII Chicago blues scene. It is also quite obvious he borrowed the vocal style of Patton as well.



All in all, Charlie Patton epitomized what we now think of as a typical blues man. He was reported to have eight wives, spent time in jail, never liked to stay in one place too long, gambled, smoke, drank, and fought. But he was also the most successful of the early blues musicians. Rather than busking like most did in Mississippi, he was asked to travel and play. Juke Joints would be packed full to see Patton perform. And perform he did. He was known to play his guitar between his legs, behind his back, dance, beat his guitar, snap the strings like funk bassists. He was as close to a celebrity as you could be in the Mississippi Delta, and indeed much of the south. Plantation owners wouldn't want him around because it was more than likely that the field hands would skip work to watch him play. It was this as much as his skill that influenced an entire generation of Blues musicians. You could make a living playing the guitar and singing, which sure beat picking cotton for 15 cents a day like Howlin' Wolf did.

I'll leave you with Patton's first, and probably biggest hit, "Pony Blues."



If you are interested in more Charley Patton you can hear more of his work here.

Next time: Son House