Swamp Blues Vol.5

Baton Rouge Blues
and R&B Musicians
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Vol. 5

Item# W926
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1-3: Produced by Larry Gamer, recorded and mixed by Randy McAllen at the Real to Reel Sound Facterj,, Baton Rouge, LA., July 1990. 4-5: Produced by Steve Coleridge, Baton Rouge, LA., 1990. 6-10,12-13: Produced by Andrea & Hannes Folterbauer, recorded by Nelson Blanchard and Mike Sheperd at Techno Sound, Baton Rouge, LA., April 1990. `11: Produced by Steve Coleridge, Baton Rouge, LA., 1991. Photos by Andrea & Hannes Folterbauer and Steve Coleridge. Liner Notes by Steve Coleridge. Layout by K. H. Rosenzopf. Edited by Alex Munkas, TONART Studio, Vienna.

LARRY GARNER:
1) Kteptomaniac 3:11
2) PMS 4:53
3) Shut It Down 8:51
CORA JEFFERSON:
4) I'm In The Mood 2:25
5) Come To Me 2:43
TABBY THOMAS:
6) Long About Midnight 4:06
7) Voodoo Party 3:31
8) Louisiana Woman 3:13
9) Big Fat Woman 3:21
TOOTSIE:
10) County Jail 3:13
RUDI RICHARD:
11) Big Mamou 3:05
SILAS HOGAN:
12) Let Me Be Your Hatchet 2:41
13) Ain't It Sad 2:48

Musicians
1-3: Larry Gamer, vcl/gtr; Teny Dockery, hca; Spencer Williams, b; Floyd Saizon, d. 4: Cora Jefferson, vcl; T-Bone Singleton, Scott Shipmon, gtr; Steve Coleridge, b; Ronnie Houston, d. 5: Cora Jefferson, vcl; T-Bone Singleton, Scott Shipmon, gtr; Darryl Jefferson, pno; Mule Boudreaux, b; Ronnie Houston, d. 6. Tabby Thomas, vcl/gtr; David Hill, b; Jess Kenchin, d. 7-9: Tabby Thomas, vcl/pno; Rudi Richard, gtr; David Hill, b; Jess Kenchin, d. 10: Tootsie, vcl/pno; David Hill, b; Jess Kenchin, d. 11: Rudi Richard, vcl/accordion, Andrea Curbelo, gtr; A. G. Hardesty, b; Pick Delmore, d. 12-13: Silas Hogan, vcl/gtr; Samuel Hogan, gtr; David Hill, b; Jess Kenchin, d.

Larry Garner:

My uncle (George Lathers), he was a paraplegic used to play Jimmy Reed stuff - he taught me. And my other uncle played gospel. That's why my stuff comes off preachin' the blues. I had cousins, the Twisters, played R&B. I played with them in the service. Then I played different stuff in every base. I was in the band even in Korea. I was playing and my buddy from Baton Rouge, Freddy Johnson, walked in and we got a band started. At Fort Hood I got linked up with a heavy metal Hendrix freak. Just after that I put the guitar away for ten years, got a wife, and tried to achieve the American dream. "Now I'm playing for my life at night and working for the wife and kids in the day. I won the B. B. King Award at the National Blues Contest in September 1988. Then we played the W. C. Handy Award Show in Memphis. I won some time in the studio with Malaco Records, but that never happened. Red tape, you know. "Larry Garner plays every Sunday night at Vibes and Visions on the Port Allen Plaquemine Road. He plays a lot of his own material, and his gospel roots become evident when he almost invariably launches into a tong and spontaneous preaching blues about whatever he happens to find particularly irritating that week. This often includes well-known personalities of the Baton Rouge music scene. A slight tinge of paranoia can be seen flickering across the faces of those present in the audience when they know that he's in a vindictive mood. Nevertheless, he remains a most-respected and well- liked musician in Baton Rouge. Since these recordings he recorded 2 CDs for both JSP Records & Verve Gitanes, and 5 songs for Wolf Records (120.924 CD).
Cora Jefferson:
She is one of the few female singers in the Baton Rouge area. Her vocals are really strong and hopefully these recordings will help her to get a wider recognition.
Tabby Thomas:

It is doubtful whether Baton Rouge would still be on the world blues map were it not for the determination of Tabby Thomas as Baton Rouge's unpaid but most zealous promoter. Any blues fan arriving in Baton Rouge for the first time can be expected to head straight for the Blues Box where they will find a blues club which looks like one and has become known worldwide. As businesses collapse around it, the Blues Box stays afloat in the neighborhood sea of urban derelection. Tabby is philosophical about the Box's shortcomings; in fact, he knows how to put them to good use in contributing to the club's atmosphere. "When it's hot outside, it's hot in the Box, and when it rains outside..." he announced one night as he started to play "Texas Flood' and a trickle of water from one door to the other turned into a stream. The music was so good however that no one left until closing time. Tabby's musical career was effectively launched when he won a talent contest in San Francisco with Etta James and Johnny Mathis where he sang 'Along About Midnight' by Roy Brown - an idol of Tabby's who has a great influence on his singing style. Tabby's early interest in blues came from his mother's record collection in which he was particularly fond of Peetie Wheatshaw and Arthur Crudup. However, he had never considered a career in music until his success in the talent contest led to a lunchtime recording session which was produced by John Dolphin - and in just a few weeks Tabby had a hit. He stayed out in California for six months. "At that time I was singing in that California style like Charles Brown and Floyd Dixon." Tabby went back to Louisiana and found that his record 'I'll Make the Trip' was being used as a theme tune by New Orleans D.J. Okie Dokie. Tabby found little work in Baton Rouge, however and hit the road again. Tabby's urban style is prevalent in his records today and sets him apart from the lightning Hopkins rural influences that developed into Swamp Blues. His most well known, although least lucrative record, came out on the Excello label in 1961 and was a "big record all over the world ... I wrote that tune and I ain't never got a penny for it. I got a statement from overseas that they sent out 63 checks on that. I still ain't received one of those checks.' His recording career with Jay Miller spanned a longer period than anyone else, and his great success at his first stage appearance in the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival led to his cutting an album for Miller's Blues Unlimited in 1980 with the Moore Brothers entitled '25 Years with the Blues.' This was Tabby's first album in his own right and was succeeded by several others. In 1987 Wolf Records came to cut "Louisiana Blues Live at Tabby's Blues Box", an album featuring Chris and Tabby singing a number each and several other artists who are appearing at the festival.
Tabby's live appearances have a greater continuity of style than his records might suggest. His material ranges from originals to very early blues such as Kokomo Arnold's 'I Love Big Fat Women.' He has developed a shuffle style which is uniquely his own and which propels even those who never danced to blues before on to the dance floor. He usually plays guitar but occasionally does a set on piano - the first instrument he learned to play using a cardboard keyboard.
As far as the blues festivities are concerned, Tabby was one of the main stays of the first blues festival which took place on the campus of Southern University and featured Tabby Thomas, Silas Hogan, Henry Gray, Guitar Kelly and Whispering Smith - all of whom have been regulars at the Blues Box.
Tootsie:

She is titled the "second" Katie Webster in Baton Rouge. Because of her health problems she cannot sing with full power, but her piano playing is real great!
Rudi Richard:

Also an original Baton Rouge artist - great on both guitar and accordion. Look out for Steve Coleridges interview with Rudi on 120.923 CD (you will find more great Rudi Richard songs on this CD - also a second version of "Big Marnou").

Silas Hogan:
Silas Hogan's title does not have any sinister implications - in fact, a more genial gentleman would be hard to imagine. "The Godfather' is a mark of respect for a man who started playing the blues before any of the other Swamp Blues artists.
Silas was born in 1911 in Westover. He did not record until he was 51 years old and Slim Harpo took him and his band, The Rhythm Ramblers, to Crowley to record for Jay Miller. The Rhythm Ramblers was one of the seminal bands that helped to develop the Baton Rouge Blues sound. Band members were: Isaiah Chapman, lead; Silas Hogan, guitar; Jimmy Dotson, drums, and Sylvester Buckley, harmonica. Jimmy Dotson later relinquished his drums in favor of the guitar, and Silas backed him on his J. D. Miller recordings, available on three Flyright compilation albums. Jimmy is a very talented performer who can occasionally be seen at the Blues Box on his way to or from Houston where he now lives. Bruce Lamb drove me over to Silas' house in a part of Scotlandville which has a pleasantly rural feet to it despite its proximity to the airport. (Could this have been the inspiration behind 'Airport Blues'?) I asked Silas when he first played guitar. 'I was about nine or ten, when I didn't know what a guitar was - my daddy was already playing the blues. I used to beat on his guitar until he bought me an old one for a dollar and a half. The first new guitar I ordered when I was down in Independence picking strawberries. I went into the post office and got it and when I got out on the street, I started playing and made more money that day than I had paid for it. Guitars was cheap back then - three dollars and 49 cents.' When did you first start playing at dances? 'Frank and Robert Metty invited me to play with them when I was about 18 or 19 years old. My mama didn't want me to play on the street, but they said they'd take care of me and they did.' Can you remember any of the songs you all used to sing back then? "I Love Big Fat Women' was one, that's Kokomo Arnold. I always wanted to play like Kokomo and Blind Lemon Jefferson, they was the best blues men in them days. We used to play them house parties with Frank Metty for 75 cents each, that was all you got.' How long did you play with them before you formed the Rhythm Ramblers? "About four years, then the Rhythm Ramblers played for about ten years or more. We played the joints. We broke up because I was working at the plant and then I started playing with Guitar Kelly - some days I couldn't come and he'd get someone else.' Despite the near fatal effects of Saturday Night Fever on the local blues scene, Silas managed to keep playing from his first three releases of the 70's until the opening of Tabby's Blues Box in 1980. When did you first meet Tabby Thomas? About 11 years ago. I met him at the Brown Jug - he used to play there and we'd go there and help him out. I played the first dance there when the Blues Box opened; I been there most ever since. I can't go now, but I'd be wanting to go. I can't drive at night, that's why I ain't go'in - I'd probably go, but I don't wanna take no chances.'
Steve Coleridge, 1990
Silas Hogan died February, 1994 in Baton Rouge.