Music Quiz Number 4

The Blues gets played on some strange instruments. Find out more in our latest Quiz, where even the wrong answers are all right!

Click on the Great – You Got It.. sign to reveal the answer.

Who switched from guitar to piano when his ‘pinkie’ finger was shot off?

1. Pete Johnson.
   No. Pete was a boogie-woogie pianist who came from Kansas City with Big Joe Turner, and he did lose a finger in an accident, but adapted his technique and carried on.
2. Pinetop Perkins.
   No. But Pinetop was forced to switch from guitar to piano when a crazed woman attacked him with a knife, cutting the tendons in his left arm and hand.
3. Professor Longhair.
   No. But the young Roy ‘Fess’ Byrd learned to play piano back in New Orleans on a instrument so ratty that he had to develop a special technique to make up for the fact that so many keys were missing!
4. Dr. John.
   Correct. Mac Rebennack played guitar and piano before he got caught up in a bar-room brawl that got out of hand! He was trying to calm the situation when the pistol went off.
5. Dr. Ross.
   No. Dr. Ross was ‘the harmonica boss’ but he mainly performed as a one-man-band. Among the drums and rattles, guitar, harp and kazoo, he didn’t find room for a piano! And he had ten fingers.

Where was Skip James from?

1. Bentonia.
   Correct. Skip was an important member of the Bentonia ‘school’ of Bluesmen from the area around Jackson MS, who typically sang ‘falsetto’ and played their guitars in minor-key tunings. Tommy Johnson was one of many who took this sound further north into the Delta, where it was very influential on the young Robert Johnson.
2. Durham NC.
   No. But his delicate guitar picking had elements of the Piedmont style.
3. Wisconsin.
   No. But that is where he cut his first record, ‘Cherry Ball Blues’ in 1931.
4. Dallas.
   No. But during the 40s and 50s when Skip wasn’t playing the Blues, he was ordained as a Minister there, and formed The Dallas Texas Jubilee Singers.
5. Philadelphia.
   No. But he is buried there alongside his wife and life-long partner Lorenzo.

What instrument did ‘Shakey’ Horton play?

1. Maraccas.
   No. There was a ‘maracca fiend’ on the Chicago scene in the 50s, called Jerome Green who contributed to ‘the Bo Diddley beat’ on all his early hits.
2. Saxophone.
   No. Although the broad, horn-like sound of those amplified little instruments led some to call them “the Mississippi Sax”.
3. Organ.
   No. But Shakey could fill a similar place in the mix, as colour behind the lead instrument.
4. Harmonica.
   Correct. Shakey was one of the foremost exponents of the honking amplified harp line, and he could put together a very elegant solo part too.
5. Tuba.
   No. Although the ‘brass bass’ was surprisingly popular, ‘Shakey’ probably couldn’t have lifted one!

Which Howlin’ Wolf song did The Rolling Stones make a No.1 UK hit?

1. It’s All Over Now.
   No. This was the Stones first British No.1 record, but it was written by Bobby Womack.
2. Little Red Rooster.
   Correct. This may be one of the few times a traditional 12-bar Blues with original lyrics has topped the pop charts.
3. Killin’ Floor.
   No. This Wolf song was ripped off by Led Zeppelin as ‘The Lemon Song’, and Wolf sued them for a fortune. He probably could have avoided going to court if he had just showed up on Jimmy Page’s doorstep!
4. Spoonful.
   No. But Cream used this Wolf song as a jumping-off-point for some of their finest Blues-Rock improvising.
5. How Many More Years?
   No. But he performed this song on American network TV in 1965, with The Stones sitting at his feet, which they insisted on as a condition of them appearing on ‘Shindig’.

In which city would you find ‘Congo Square’, where music and dance was a tourist attraction?

1. Atlanta.
   No. Atlanta was home to hundreds of street musicians who played and sang Piedmont Blues, but not in any specific place.
2. New Orleans.
   Correct. Congo Square used to occupy the current Louis Armstrong Park, and in the 18th and 19th Centuries tourists would gather on Sundays to watch African-American slaves enjoy their brief time-out to sing, dance and play traditional African instruments. This custom provided the seed that grew into Jazz and Blues.
3. Boston.
   No. But Boston is home to many fine Squares, notably Haymarket Square, which is a great place to find fresh fruit and vegetables!
4. Memphis.
   No. Memphis has been central to the story of the Blues, and the area around Beale Street is at the heart of Blues tourism, but the city is very light on squares!
5. Chicago.
   No. There was plenty of Blues music played around Market Street, but Washington Square Park proved to be a tourist attraction as the home of The Dill Pickle Club, a society of soap-box ranters who were dedicated to free speech.

Which record label put out T-Bone Walker’s ‘Stormy Monday’?

1. Capitol.
   No. But T-Bone’s ‘Mean Old World’ was one of Capitol’s first releases, and his scintillating one-string lead guitar runs made the whole Blues business sit up and take notice.
2. Atlantic.
   No. T-Bone did record for them in the 50s, but Atlantic Records was just a gleam in Ahmet Ertegun’s eye when ‘Stormy Monday’ was released.
3. Columbia.
   No. But they did release T-Bone’s first ever record, ‘Wichita Falls Blues’ back in 1929.
4. Rhumboogie.
   No. T-Bone played a residency at The Rhumboogie Club in Chicago during WWII, and cut some tracks for the house label, but ‘Stormy Monday’ wasn’t one of them.
5. Black & White.
   Correct. When T-Bone returned to LA in 1946, his spell with the Black & White label was perhaps his most productive, as he laid down the instrumental tracks that inspired BB King and generations of Blues guitarists to get out there and express themselves.

Who wrote ‘Sweet Home Chicago’.

1. Jake Blues.
   No. We’d all like to think he did, but no.
2. Kokomo Arnold.
   Well, yes actually. A more famous Bluesman is given the credit, but when you listen ‘Old Kokomo Blues’, it is pretty much the same, with the words ‘sweet old Kokomo’ replaced by ‘sweet home Chicago’!
3. Robert Johnson.
   Correct. The version of this song we all know and love was recorded by The King of the Delta Blues.
4. Scrapper Blackwell.
   Partly. Scrapper’s ‘Kokomo Blues’ is the same tune, but other words were put to it later.
5. Muddy Waters.
   No. But it was the title of a 1993 Muddy compilation, and also the title of albums by Luther Allison, Lonnie Brooks and Robert Jr. Lockwood. The song itself has been covered literally hundreds of times.

Which instrument did Yank Rachell play?

1. Harp.
   Not really. He played a little harp on streetcorners but never recorded with it. However, he played with many fine harp players like Hammie Nixon, John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson and Noah Lewis.
2. Guitar.
   Not really. Yank was a very good guitarist, but he is much better known for another stringed instrument.
3. Piano.
   No. But he played a session of duets on his main instrument with the great pianist Walter Davis in 1938 that resulted in the release of no less than nine records.
4. Violin.
   Not really. He could play violin, and sometimes did so with his friends Hammie Nixon and Sleepy John Estes.
5. Mandolin.
   Correct. James ‘Yank’ Rachell got his first mandolin when he was only 8, and played it on streetcorners, in Jug-bands, as a session musician and a solo artist, for nearly 80 years.

Who recorded ‘Crazy Blues’ in 1920?

1. Clara Smith.
   No. Clara was a best-selling Blues Diva in the 20s, when she was known as ‘The Queen of the Moaners’. Also, Clara made several records duetting with her namesake Bessie (no relation), and they sometimes shared the services of the young Louis Armstrong and pianist Fletcher Henderson.
2. Bessie Smith.
   No. Although she went on to become the best-selling Blues artist of the day, and an infamous character in the days before ‘celebrity’, Bessie didn’t make her first record until 1923.
3. Willie-Mae Ford Smith.
   No. But as the lead voice of the Gospel sensations The Ford Sisters, Willie-Mae was a big noise in the Baptist Church.
4. Mamie Smith.
   Correct. The song was earmarked to be sung by Sophie Tucker, but composer Perry Bradford persuaded Okeh Records to try Mamie, resulting in sensational million dollar sales and the birth of ‘Race Music’ in the recording industry.
5. ‘Whispering’ Smith.
   No. Moses ‘Whispering’ Smith was a harp-playing Swamp Blues singer, whose ‘whisper’ was rough as a chainsaw and started in his boots!

Which ‘supergroup’ did Eric Clapton form after ‘Cream’?

1. Triumvirate.
   No. That was Mike Bloomfield, Dr. John and John Hammond Jr. They made one rather uninspired album in 1973, then thought better of it.
2. Delaney and Bonnie.
   No. The married Bramletts recruited Clapton along with Duane Allman, Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge to their project, but that was after Eric had had a brief fling with some other star musicians.
3. Blind Faith.
   Correct. After Cream said ‘Farewell’ in 1969, Eric and Ginger Baker joined with keyboard/vocalist Stevie Winwood and bassist Rick Gretch from Family. They toured Europe and the USA, starting riots, and recorded an album that topped the charts on both sides of the pond, forced the merger of two huge record companies, then disbanded. All in seven months!
4. Derek and the Dominoes.
   No. Eric teamed up with Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon from Delaney and Bonnie’s band, and recruited Duane Allman to record the ‘Layla’ album. It proved to be their only major work as Eric was unable to complete the follow-up, owing to the death of his friend Jimi Hendrix and his withdrawal into heroin addiction.
5. Humble Pie.
   No. But this was a ‘Supergroup’ formed around the same time, comprising Stevie Marriott, Peter Frampton, Clem Clempson, Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley. Unlike most ‘supergroups’, they managed to stay together for more than one album, playing heavy Blues-Rock for over 20 years!