Future Blues – Willie Brown (Paramount, 1930)
Willie Brown may be best known in blues lore as a sidekick to the legends of Delta blues -- Charley Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson -- but he was regarded as a top-notch guitarist, [...]
Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean – Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1953)
The best-selling R&B record of 1953, “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (Atlantic 986) racked up over 400,000 sales, according to Billboard magazine. The third of five Ruth Brown No. 1 R&B hits, “Mama, He Treats Your [...]
That’s All Right (Mama) – Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup (RCA Victor, 1946)
Big Boy Crudup’s “That’s All Right,” an infectious down-home jump often called “That’s All Right Mama,” was a historic record not only for Crudup but for Elvis Presley. Recorded on September 6, 1946 in Chicago [...]
Trouble In Mind – Bertha ‘Chippie’ Hill (OKeh, 1926)
The oft-recorded Richard M. Jones composition “Trouble In Mind” was first waxed in 1924 by Thelma La Vizzo, but it was Bertha “Chippie” Hill who made the classic version in Chicago on February 23, 1926 (OKeh 8312) [...]