Blues Unlimited

Essential Interviews from the Original Blues Magazine

Bill Greensmith, Mike Rowe, Mark Camarigg, Bill Greensmith, Mike Rowe, Mark Camarigg

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780252080999
  9780252039416
• eBook ISBN:
  9780252097508
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: North American History

British blues fan Mike Leadbitter launched the magazine Blues Unlimited in 1963. The groundbreaking publication fueled the then-nascent, now-legendary blues revival that reclaimed seminal figures like Son House and Skip James from obscurity. Throughout its history, Blues Unlimited heightened the literacy of blues fans, documented the latest news and career histories of countless musicians, and set the standard for revealing long-form interviews. Conducted by Bill Greensmith, Mike Leadbitter, Mike Rowe, John Broven, and others, and covering a who's who of blues masters, these essential interviews from Blues Unlimited shed light on their subjects while gleaning colorful detail from the rough and tumble of blues history. Here is Freddie King playing a string of one-nighters so grueling it destroys his car; five-year-old Fontella Bass gigging at St. Louis funeral homes; and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup rising from life in a packing crate to music stardom. Here, above all, is an eyewitness history of the blues written in neon lights and tears, an American epic of struggle and transcendence, of Saturday night triumphs and Sunday morning anonymity, of clean picking and dirty deals. Featuring interviews with: Fontella Bass, Ralph Bass, Fred Below, Juke Boy Bonner, Roy Brown, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Joe Dean, Henry Glover, L.C. Green, Dr. Hepcat, Red Holloway, Louise Johnson, Floyd Jones, Moody Jones, Freddie King, Big Maceo Merriweather, Walter Mitchell, Louis Myers, Johnny Otis, Snooky Pryor, Sparks Brothers, Jimmy Thomas, Jimmy Walker, and Baby Boy Warren.

INDEX

Abbey, John, 257

Abbott, Lynn, 397

ABC/Dunhill Records, 356

Abco Records, 40–41, 44n8

ABC-Paramount Records, 394

Abner, Ewart, 75

“Above a Whisper,” 260n52

Abrahams, Bernard, 106

“Abyss,” 260n53

Ace Records, 307, 312, 397n12, 398n19, 398n25, 403

Aces, The, 22–23, 30, 39, 41, 92, 105

Ackers, Graham, xix

Acon, Eddie, 259n20

Adams, A.D., 373

Adams, Doctor JoJo, 65, 71, 91nn3–4, 91n11

Adams, Joe, 363

Adams, Marie, 364

Adams, Woodrow, 185, 186

Adins, George, x

Advent Records, 23

Adventures in Babysitting (movie), 345

“After Hours,” 171n7

Age Records, xvi

“Ala Carte,” 66

Aladdin Records, 362, 364

Albert Collins and the Collinaires, 350

Ali, Bardu, 364, 417, 427

Ali, Tila, 427

“All Around the World,” 410

Allen, Lee, 391

Allen, Leonard, 91n9

Alley Records, 258n2

Alligator Records, 345, 356–57

“All My Love Belongs to You,” 405

“All Night Long Blues,” 316, 318, 321

“All Shook Up,” 198, 203

All Stars, The, 107

“All Your Love,” 40

“Alright, Buddy,” 121

Alton Crusaders, The, 259n18

American Folk Blues Festival (AFBF), xvi, xx, 92, 103–4, 105n1, 325

American Negro Folk Songs, ix

AMFPR Records, 400n34

“Am I Blue?,” 269

Ammons, Albert, 15, 69, 337

Ammons, Gene, 72, 81, 89

Amsterdam News, 344n4

Anderson, Bob, 60

Anderson, Dr. Christine, 404

Anderson, Ivie, 426

Anderson, Marion, 236

“Angel of Love,” 225, 259n27

Ann Arbor Blues Festival (Ann Arbor, MI), 153, 325

Apollo Theater (New York, NY), 33, 38, 56, 96–97, 240, 251–52, 260n50, 301, 366, 383, 422

“Apple Tree,” 140

Aquarius (Hastings, UK), 361

Ar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Regional Blues
• I. Chicago
• II. Detroit
• III. St. Louis
• IV. Mississippi
• V. Texas
• VI. West Coast
• VII. Record Men
• Index