Music Quiz Number 3

Prison, preachers and producers all feature in our latest Quiz, where even the wrong answers are all right.

Click on the Great – You Got It.. sign to reveal the answer. Even the wrong answers might give you an interesting story!

Bo Carter came from a Delta Blues dynasty with which surname?

1. McCoy.
   No. Robert McCoy was an excellent Blues pianist who rarely left his hometown of Birmingham AL. ‘Papa Charlie’ McCoy was a Delta guitarist who recorded with Bo Carter before making a name for himself with the Harlem Hamfats in Chicago, and his brother ‘Kansas Joe’ played excellent slide-guitar with his wife Memphis Minnie.
2. King.
   No. BB King was born in Indianola MS, and is the only one of the famous Bluesmen whose name is actually King. Albert, Freddie and Earl all ‘adopted’ the name, and Little Jimmy King was himself ‘adopted’ by Albert.
3. James.
   No. Skip James, the falsetto singing Bluesman from Bentonia, was unrelated to Elmore James, who first recorded the Robert Johnson song ‘Dust My Broom’ in nearby Jackson MS. Elmore’s cousin James Williamson took the name ‘Homesick James’ after he had a hit record with ‘Homesick Blues’.
4. Williamson.
   No. ‘Homesick James’ Williamson was not related to John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson, the Memphis harp maestro who revolutionised the sound of Chicago Blues. A second harp genius from Mississippi called himself ‘Sonny Boy Williamson II’ but his real identity was Aleck (or Willie) ‘Rice’ Miller (or possibly Ford).
5. Chapman.
   Correct. Bo Carter was the alias adopted by guitarist and singer Arminter Chapman to record his outrageously rude ‘hokum Blues’ in the late 20s. He grew up playing in the family string band, and with his brothers Lonnie on fiddle and multi-instrumentalist Sam, they performed as The Mississippi Sheiks and had a million selling hit with ‘Sittin’ On Top of the World’.

Whose first big hit was ‘Juke’.

1. Muddy Waters.
   No. Muddy’s first record for the Aristocrat label (later Chess) was ‘I Can’t Be Satisfied’, but he did have a strong link to the song.
2. Juke Boy Bonner.
   No. Juke Boy did play harp, but usually as part of his one-man-band act.
3. Little Walter.
   Correct. ‘Juke’ started out as an instrumental warm-up number for Muddy Waters’ Band, but when Chess’s Checker subsidiary released it as a single, Walter went solo with his band The Jukes.
4. T-Bone Walker.
   No. T-Bone’s first record was ‘Wichita Falls Blues’ in 1929, under the name Oak Cliff T-Bone.
5. ‘Shakey’ Horton.
   No. Although ‘Big Walter’ Horton did cover the song as part of his stage set.

Whose stage name was ‘Tampa Red’?

1. Joe Taggart.
   No. Blind Joe Taggart was a bad tempered old Piedmont Blues guitarist who taught the young Josh White some tunes when he used him as a ‘lead-boy’.
2. John Watson.
   No. Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson took the ‘Sunset Route’ from Texas to Los Angeles and borrowed his Blues-name from the film ‘Johnny Guitar’.
3. Hudson Whittaker.
   Correct(ish). Hudson Woodbridge was orphaned as a young child in Georgia and brought up by his grandparents, named Whittaker, in Florida. When he got to Chicago, his light skin and Sunshine State connections got him a new Blues-name.
4. George Washington.
   No. George was a skilled washboard player who recorded with Fulton Allen and Saunders Terrell. Their manager JD Long gave them all new names, so they are better known as Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry and George became Bull City Red!
5. AC Reed.
   No. AC Reed was a rocking Chicago sax-playing bandleader, whose real name was Aaron Corthen, but who borrowed the surname of his friend, Jimmy Reed.

Which label issued John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boogie Chillun’, which went to No.1 in the R&B charts in 1949.

1. Chess.
   No. Although John Lee did record some sessions for Chess under a pseudonym in 1951, which were re-issued in 1981 as part of the compilation ‘Blues for Big Town’, including some unreleased material.
2. Modern.
   Correct. John Lee recorded ‘Boogie Chillun’ in September 1948 for Modern, and when it was released the following January it sold almost a million copies. He switched to Vee-Jay Records in 1956.
3. Vee-Jay.
   No. John Lee had a long association with Vee-Jay, who released his big hits ‘Dimples’ and ‘Boom Boom’, but ‘Boogie Chillun’ and ‘I’m in the Mood’ came earlier.
4. Riverside.
   No. John Lee recorded several acoustic albums for this New York label after 1959, as interest grew in Country Blues with the Folk/Blues revival.
5. Stax.
   It seems unlikely, but John Lee recorded an album called ‘That’s Where It’s At!’ for Stax in 1961, soon after it changed from Satelitte Records.

Who wrote ‘Key to the Highway’?

1. BB King.
   No. BB has recorded the song several times, most recently with Jeff Beck, but it isn’t one of his.
2. Freddie King.
   No. But Freddie did record the song, and it is the title track of a posthumous album of his 70s work for Shelter Records.
3. Robert Johnson.
   No. He might have been standin’ at the ‘Crossroads’ with ‘Ramblin’ on his Mind’ and a bad case of the ‘Walkin’ Blues’, but he didn’t have the key!
4. Big Bill Broonzy.
   Correct. Big Bill shares the writing credits with a little known singer called Charlie Segar, but in fact they were both putting similar lyrics to an older Blues song.
5. Willie Dixon.
   No. When this song was recorded by it’s writers, Willie was an ex-boxing champ who was busking on streetcorners with his buddy ‘Baby-Doo’ Caston.

Where is Beale Street?

1. Memphis.
   Correct. The most famous street in the History of the Blues; where before WWII you could find clubs like The Monarch, Pee-Wee’s Place and The New Daisy; home to Jug-bands, buskers, and future superstars; location of WC Handy Museum and the centre of The Blues Trail.
2. St. Louis.
   No. But St. Louis was a ‘wide-open’ town in the 20s and 30s and the bars in the red-light district, known as ‘Chestnut Valley’, rocked to the sound of piano Blues.
3. New Orleans.
   No. Basin Street and Bourbon Street, but not Beale Street
4. Clarksdale.
   No. But plenty of Blues players from here went up to Beale Street, only a couple of hours away by bus, in search of fame and fortune.
5. Chicago.
   No. The South-side area around Market Street was the place to find Little Walter, Bo Diddley and dozens of others busking in the early 50s.

Elder JJ Hadley was the alias of which well known Bluesman attempting to sell some records as a ‘guitar evangelist?

1. Blind Willie Johnson.
   No. Willie was much too moral a character to pretend to be anyone he wasn’t, but all his enduring Blues songs have Gospel themes.
2. Son House.
   No. Eddie James House was an wandering evangelical preacher as a teenager, until a taste for whisky and women led to his turning to ‘the Devil’s music’, but always under his own name.
3. Blind Lemon Jefferson.
   No. But Lemon did release some ‘guitar evangelist’ records under the name Deacon LJ Bates before his great Blues songs made him a big star.
4. Charlie Patton.
   Correct. In 1929, Paramount issued Charley’s recordings of ‘Prayer of Death Parts 1&2’ under the name Elder JJ Hadley. Good copies of this disc change hands for $1000 these days.
5. Blind Gary Davis.
   No. Gary played his exquisite Piedmont guitar on Atlanta streetcorners, and teamed up with Blind Boy Fuller on many recordings, but recorded as Rev. Gary Davis when he found the Lord, and always under his own name.

Who led The Bluesbreakers?

1. Alexis Korner.
   No. Alexis persuaded the leader to come to London from his home in Manchester in the early 60s and when he did, the Bluesbreakers were formed soon afterwards, but it is unlikely Alexis ever played with them.
2. Eric Clapton.
   No. Eric was one of dozens of highly talented young musicians who got started in The Bluesbreakers, which became known as a ‘finishing-school for guitarists’.
3. Peter Green.
   No. Peter took over from Clapton on lead guitar for the Bluesbreakers’ ‘Hard Road’ album but soon left to set up Fleetwod Mac.
4. Mick Taylor.
   No. Another superb Blues guitarist, when The Stones were looking for someone to replace Brian Jones, the Bluesbreakers’ leader called them to recommend his latest ‘wunderkind’.
5. John Mayall.
   Correct. With an impeccable instinct for The Blues and a talent for picking out promising new players, John has brought several generations of Blues guitarists to the limelight over a 50 year career.

Who first recorded in Angola State Prison in 1933?

1. Lead Belly.
   Correct. Huddie Ledbetter was sentenced to life for murder, but got out of jail by charming the State Governor with a song. When he got 25 years for another violent crime, John and Alan Lomax convinced the authorities at Angola that the money he made from these recordings in 1933/34 would keep him on the straight and narrow. He didn’t go to jail again, but he didn’t make much money either!
2. Son House.
   No. Eddie ‘Son’ House served time in the 20s for murder, but was acquitted on appeal on the grounds of self-defence. Not long after his release, he made his first records in 1930, when he travelled to Grafton WS with Charley Patton.
3. Bukka White.
   No. Bukka cut some tracks for Alan Lomax in 1939, when he was serving time at Parchman Prison Farm, but Bukka saved his best stuff for Lester Melrose up in Chicago, where he went as soon as he got out the following year.
4. Peg-Leg Howell.
   No. But Peg-Leg’s ‘New Prison Blues’ was one of the first ever country Blues records when it was released by Colombia in 1926.
5. Leroy Carr.
   No. This superb pianist and singer did some time for bootlegging in the 20s and recorded his song ‘Prison Bound’ with his guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. Sadly, Leroy died in 1935, aged just 30.

Which Texan Blues-Rocker produced three Grammy-winning albums for Muddy Waters?

1. Billy Gibbons.
   No. Billy has guested with BB King and Jeff Beck and opened gigs for Jimi Hendrix, but never worked with Muddy.
2. WC Clark.
   No. The ‘Godfather of Austin Blues’ played bass in one of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first bands, and worked with Albert, BB and Freddie King, but not with Muddy.
3. Johnny Winter.
   Correct. After Chess went out of business, Johnny’s Blue Sky label released ‘Hard Again’, ‘I’m Ready’, ‘King Bee’ and a live album. Muddy praised Johnny’s production skills, saying he had re-created the vintage Chess sound.
4. Stevie Ray Vaughan.
   No. Stevie Ray quoted Muddy as an influence, and he got to play with some of the Chicago élite like Jimmy Rogers, Hubert Sumlin and Buddy Guy when they were down in Austin, but he never worked with Muddy.
5. Albert Collins.
   No. Albert was heavily influenced by the Texas traditions of his cousin Lightnin’ Hopkins, and there is no evidence that he recorded or even performed a Muddy Waters song, which is quite an achievement in itself!