I am fascinated by pre-war blues. Pre-war blues dates from 1914 through WWII and was recorded almost entirely by black musicians from the South. These were typically solo guitarists/singers who traveled between the juke joints, cookouts, and front porches of the South earning what they could from their songs. Sure, there were plenty of songs about unfaithful lovers, narrow escapes from jilted husbands, poverty, and the specter of death that hung over their vagabond lives. But there were also songs about the good things in life that were available to a man with little money and a hunger for freedom. A home cooked meal, a nap in the sunshine, a secret fishing hole, a run of good luck at dice, and of course, the love of a good woman.
Pre-war blues musicians invented intricate finger-picking guitar styles to accompany their raw, often gravelly voices. Despite lyrics that depicted tough times, the songs were usually composed in major keys and accompanied by a strong back beat, which gave the songs a groove that still keeps toes tapping and feet stomping. With their ability to sing while playing both the rhythm and melody, these musicians were agile one man bands. When I first heard Mississippi John Hurt’s Spike Driver’s Blues my brain could only comprehend it as two guitarists playing together. It was impossible to think that one person was producing so much sound! In his 2010 memoir “Life” Keith Richards says something similar about hearing Robert Johnson.
Brian Jones had the first album, and that’s where I first heard it. I’d just met Brian, and I went around to his apartment – crash pad, actually, all he had in it was a chair, a record player, and a few records. One of which was Robert Johnson. He put it on, and it was just – you know – astounding stuff… When I first heard it, I said to Brian, Who’s that? Robert Johnson, he said. Yeah, but who’s the other guy playing with him? Because I was hearing two guitars, and it took me a long time to realize he was actually doing it all by himself. The guitar playing – it was almost like listening to Bach. You know, you think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues, and then you hear Robert Johnson – some of the rhythms he’s doing and playing and singing at the same time, you think, This guy must have three brains! You want to know how good the blues can get? Well, this is it.
Pre-war blues musicians laid the foundation for many other musical styles. When blues from the countryside came to town in New Orleans, it fused with more classical European music, spawning Jazz and Ragtime. After WWII and the great migrations northward, bluesmen discovered the newly available electric guitar, which sprouted Chicago-style blues, R&B, and eventually Rock N’ Roll. In the 1960’s, after Alan Lomax “rediscovered” them, aging pre-war blues musicians became a staple of the New York City folk scene, where they influenced some of the biggest names in music. Today its hard to find genres of popular music that do not owe at least something to the pre-war bluesmen who spread their music town by town across the southern US. Pre-war blues, along with the jazz, folk, and Americana that trace to it, are still the inspiration of my own musical travels.
