Blues Christmas Quiz

Test your knowledge of the Blues with this Christmas Blues Quiz quiz. The twelve questions cover Blues facts and trivia. There are a few picture questions that will keep you amused. Do you know who recorded Christmas Blues songs? Find out here.

Click on the [weaver_showhide]Great – You Got It..[/weaver_showhide] sign to reveal the answer.

Who was born in San Francisco on Christmas Day 1949?

1. Robben Ford. [weaver_showhide]
   No. However, Robben was born and raised in California and played on Charlie Musselwhite’s album when he was just 18.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Rod Piazza. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Californian Rod was given a harp by Jimmy Reed, backstage in an LA club when he was a kid, and he’s been blowin’ the Blues ever since.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Joe Louis Walker. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. As a teenager Joe played Bay Area clubs with John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Otis Rush.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Sonny Rhodes. [weaver_showhide]
   No. This wild-looking lap-steel Bluesman stayed in California after serving in the Navy, but his roots are in Texas.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Sugar Pie DeSanto. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Although she was brought up in San Francisco, a childhood friend of Etta James and herself a singer with the Johnny Otis Revue, Sugar Pie was born in Brooklyn.[/weaver_showhide]

The Three Kings came from the East bearing gifts, but which one came from Texas?

1. Earl King. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Earl Silas Johnson was born in New Orleans, and a terrific singer and songwriter. He published his songs under the name Pearl King, but dropped the ‘P’ on his single releases.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Chris Thomas King. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Born in Baton Rouge LA, Chris is the son of ‘Rockin’ Tabby Thomas, and he only added the ‘King’ in 1977 on his 7th album.[/weaver_showhide]
3. BB King. [weaver_showhide]
   No. BB came from Indianola Mississippi. After working on a farm, he ran away to Memphis where he became ‘Beale Street Blues Boy’ and eventually BB.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Albert King. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Albert was from the same Delta town as BB, although they were not related.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Freddie King. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. Freddie Christian was born in Gilmer, Texas but took on his mother’s maiden-name when he got to Chicago, where his explosive guitar style earned him the name ‘The Texas Cannonball’.[/weaver_showhide]

Can you guess who our Blues Santa is? It’s not the cold weather making him Chillin, it’s the Boogie

1. John Lee Hooker [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. Maybe that’s why John Lee left the winter snows of Detroit behind for the warmer climate of California.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Amos Milburn. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But his ‘signature tune’ was ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Speckled Red. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he was a great Blues and Boogie pianist.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Hound Dog Taylor. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Hound Dog and his Houserockers could boogie all night.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Johnnie Johnson. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Johnnie teamed up his boogie piano with Chuck Berry’s twanging guitar when they were young men in St. Louis.[/weaver_showhide]

Which old-time Chicago Bluesman recorded ‘Christmas With No Santa Claus’?

1. Georgia Tom. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Thomas Dorsey gave up singing ‘hokum Blues’ with Big Bill Broonzy and became a Reverend, and from then onwards all his compositions were Gospel numbers, hymns and religious songs, even at Xmas.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Bumble Bee Slim. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. Slim was a big Blues star in the 30s, and they had Xmas singles back then too![/weaver_showhide]
3. Blind Willie Johnson. [weaver_showhide]
   No. All fire-brand preacher Willie’s songs had Gospel themes, and he would have thought any mention of Santa to be sacrilegious.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Tommy Johnson. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Tommy was a full-time alcoholic, and I guess his only interest in Xmas was that people are more generous with the booze around then.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Lead Belly. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he had a huge repertiore of old songs, and he recorded a lovely children’s ditty called ‘Christmas is Coming:- Chicken Crows at Midnight’.[/weaver_showhide]

Denny Freeman, Otis Rush and Son Seals recorded an instrumental version of this well known Christmas Song. Yes, they should have known better.

1. We Three Kings of Orient Are [weaver_showhide]
   Wrong
   Hint:
   wee wish(bone) ewe hay Mary Christmas[/weaver_showhide]
2. We Wish You A Merry Christmas [weaver_showhide]
   Correct[/weaver_showhide]
3. Was The Night Before Christmas [weaver_showhide]
   Wrong
   “You’re in bone, Ram-straw Madonna tree” would be closer??[/weaver_showhide]

Who first recorded ‘Christmas Morning Blues’ which has the line “New Year he won’t be here, ‘cos death will be his Santa Claus”?

1. Charles Brown. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he had a big Xmas hit with his song ‘Please Come Home for Xmas’ and it was later covered by Aaron Neville.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Charley Patton. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Charley wrote and recorded some pretty morbid songs. ‘Oh, Death’ for example.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Dr. John. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But the good Doctor recorded a rocking version of ‘Frosty the Snowman’ with Leon Redbone.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Frankie Ford. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Frankie did record a version of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Victoria Spivey. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. Victoria was a great singer and a talented songwriter, and this is one of her own.[/weaver_showhide]

Who recorded an instrumental harp version of ‘Silent Night’ for Alligator Records’ ‘Christmas Collection’.

1. William Clarke. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But on the same album, he plays some low-down dirty harp on ‘Please Let Me be Your Santa Claus’.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Carey Bell. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he did record a blistering version of Little Walter’s ‘Last Night’ on his debut album in 1969.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Charlie Musselwhite. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct Charlie gave the 18th Century German carol a Blues make-over.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Paul Butterfield. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But ‘Night Child’, on his 1971 album ‘Sometimes I Just Feel Like Crying’ was his version of an Oscar peterson tune.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Snooky Prior. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Snooky was far from silent during his Army service in WWII, blowing his harp through the camp’s PA.[/weaver_showhide]

Who is our Blues Christmas Elf, and what presents has she brought us? I do hope it is a Blues CD Box set.

1. Billie Holiday. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But her birth name was Eleanora Fagan, almost like the character in Dickens’ novel ‘Oliver’.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Memphis Minnie. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Nobody could mistake that hard-drinking, tobacco-chewing, two-fisted woman for an Elf![/weaver_showhide]
3. Bessie Smith. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct Yes, It’s Bessie and a 7” red, translucent vinyl single of her ‘At the Christmas Ball’ has just been released, where she sings with Fletcher Henderson and Charlie Green.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Ella Fitzgerald. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Ella’s 1968 album ‘Swinging Christmas’ has a dozen seasonal offerings from the American Songbook.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Etta James. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Etta put out a Xmas album in 1998, titled ’12 Songs of Christmas’.[/weaver_showhide]

You might find it hard to guess who is our Blues Snowman because there is not much snow in Texas where he comes from.

1. Blind Willie Johnson. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Willie never travelled far from Texas, but it gets cold down there because he died from pneumonia when he insisted in sleeping in the ruins of his burnt-down house.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Black Ace. [weaver_showhide]
   No. BK Turner never went far from Texas either and I doubt whether he ever saw snow.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Albert Collins. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But Albert was known aas ‘The Ice-man’ for the cold, ringing tone of his Telecaster and a string of hits like ‘The Freeze’, ‘Sno-Cone’ and ‘Frosty’.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Blind Lemon Jefferson. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct Sadly, it is likely that Lemon died from a heart-attack when his car got stuck in the snow while he was in Chicago making records.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Lightnin’ Hopkins. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he liked ice in his gin![/weaver_showhide]

In the Lowell Fulson song “Lonesome Christmas” complete the lyrics to the line that starts; ‘I’d Love to spend this Christmas……..’

1. “sitting by the fire with you”. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. This song made No.7 in the R&B charts in December 1950.[/weaver_showhide]
2. “drinking beer, whiskey and wine”. [weaver_showhide]
   No. That’s not what Lowell said, but I’m going to do it anyway![/weaver_showhide]
3. “stuffing myself with turkey”. [weaver_showhide]
   No. That’s not what Lowell said, but I’m going to do it anyway![/weaver_showhide]
4. “carousing all night with my friends” [weaver_showhide]
   No. That’s not what Lowell said, but I’m going to do it anyway![/weaver_showhide]
5. “sleeping late with my sweet lover”. [weaver_showhide]
   No. That’s not what Lowell said, but I’m going to do it anyway![/weaver_showhide]

What, another Santa? This Blues Santa will not be coming down your Chimney, but he may come down your Smokestack. Who is he?

1. Willie Dixon. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he would probably write you a classic Chicago Blues song for a Christmas present![/weaver_showhide]
2. Howlin’ Wolf. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. But how scary would it be to wake up and find The Wolf standing at the bottom of your bed?[/weaver_showhide]
3. Chuck Berry. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But you’d be dancing round the Christmas tree![/weaver_showhide]
4. Muddy Waters. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But a meeting with The Man would be my kind of Christmas present![/weaver_showhide]
5. Bo Diddley. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But could you imagine waking up the neighbours with a Bo Diddley Beat![/weaver_showhide]

Finally and tragically…. Who blew their own brains out backstage at his 1954 Christmas Show?

1. Pat Hare. [weaver_showhide]
   No. But he was killed much later in a shoot-out with police after he had shot his girlfriend.[/weaver_showhide]
2. Lil Green. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Lil did pass away in 1954, at the tragically young age of 35, but as a result of pneumonia.[/weaver_showhide]
3. Johnny Ace. [weaver_showhide]
   Correct. Johnny Alexander had been drinking, according to eye-witness Big Mama Thornton, when his fooling around with a pistol turned to tragedy.[/weaver_showhide]
4. Texas Alexander. [weaver_showhide]
   No. He did pass away in 1954, but from the long-term effects of an STD.[/weaver_showhide]
5. Pink Anderson. [weaver_showhide]
   No. Pink was probably on tour with a Medicine Show, and he was still going strong two decades later.[/weaver_showhide]