"Parchman Farm Blues" - Bukka White

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Thirteen: "Parchman Farm Blues" performed by Bukka White. Recorded in Chicago on March 7, 1940. Original issue OKeh 05683.

Booker T. Washington White was born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi on November 12, 1906. His first instrument was the fiddle, which he played at local dances. Later, White took up the piano and the guitar, which White played with a slide and became his primary instrument. White later claimed to have met Charlie Patton early in his career, although this claim has since been disputed. In any case, Patton was a major influence on White.

White made his first recordings for Victor in 1930, which included several gospel numbers performed in the style of Blind Willie Johnson. In 1937, White was arrested for assault and was sentenced to the Mississippi State Penitentiary a.k.a. Parchman Farm. While in prison, White met and was recorded by John Lomax, who had already made a recording sensation of a Lead Belly, another former convict. Lomax recorded several of White's songs for the Library of Congress. White also recorded commercially while still in prison. One of his most famous songs, "Shake 'em On Down," was recorded during this period. It was during this period that White was given his notoriously condescending nickname. Vocalion, the record label that released the recordings White recorded while incarcerated, phonetically rendered White's given name as "Bukka" (one assumes this was because that is the way White himself pronounced the name "Booker"). White himself hated the nickname and insisted that his name be spelled correctly, but it stuck and was appended to all of his subsequent recordings.

Following his release in 1940, White traveled to Chicago where he recorded for Lester Melrose. Among the sides made for Melrose is this recording of "Parchman Farm Blues."

During the 1950s, White was musically inactive. He worked as a laborer for Newberry Equipment in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rediscovered in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey and Ed Dawson. That same year, White appeared at a Folk Festival at UC Berkley. White toured Europe and even performed at the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968. White also rerecorded many of his classic sides.

In the mid-1970s, White's health began to decline. He died on February 26, 1977.

White's music has been covered by such artists as Bob Dylan (who included White's "Fixin' To Die" on his first LP) to Led Zeppelin (who recorded White's "Shake 'em On Down"). White's first cousin is B.B. King, who got his first guitar from White and counts White as an early mentor.

Parchman Farm is another name for the Mississippi State Penitentiary, the oldest Federal prison in the state of Mississippi. The facility was built in 1901 and occupies roughly 18,000 acres. It holds 4,840 inmates at the minimum, medium, and maximum security levels. It holds only male offenders. Inmates work on the prison farm and in manufacturing workshops. Notable inmates include Vernon Presley (the father of Elvis Presley), Son House, and Stokely Carmichael.


Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm.
Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm.
I wouldn't hate it so bad
But I left my wife in mourn.

Oh, goodbye wife.
All you have done gone.
Oh, goodbye wife.
All you have done gone.
But I hope some day,
You will hear my lonesome song.

Oh, listen you men,
I don't mean no harm.
Oh, listen you men,
I don't mean no harm.
If you wanna do good,
You better stay off old Parchman farm.

We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day.
We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day.
Just at the settin' of the sun
That's when the work is done.

I'm down on ol' Parchman farm.
I sho' wanna go back home.
I'm down on ol' Parchman farm.
But I sho' wanna go back home.
But I hope some day
I will overcome.

"Parchman Farm Blues" features White's exquisite slide guitar as well has his deeply expressive vocals (note how White twists and elongates his vowel sounds at the beginning of each line). The recording also features Robert Brown, a.k.a. Washboard Sam on washboard, providing the track's driving rhythm.

"Parchman Farm Blues" is the last of four blues recordings in a row.

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Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Scott Ainslie performing "Parchman Farm Blues" on the diddley bow, a single string instrument with roots in sub-Saharan Africa. The song is preceded by an interesting discussion of the instrument and how it is played.



Download and listen to Bukka White - "Parchman Farm Blues"

"Baby Please Don't Go" - Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Eleven: "Baby Please Don't Go" performed by Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers. Recorded in Chicago on October 31, 1935. Original issue Bluebird 6200 (BS-96244-1)

Joe Williams was born in Crawford, Mississippi on October 16, 1903. Little is known of his early life. While still young, Williams reportedly began traveling around the United States, playing for change on the streets as well as in work camps, bars, and country stores. He performed with the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels (a well-known revue that helped launch the careers of such notables as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Jordan, Rufus Thomas, and others) during the early '20s and made his recording debut in 1930 as a member of the Birmingham Jug Band.

In 1934, Williams was discovered by producer Lester Melrose in St. Louis, Missouri and was subsequently signed to Bluebird Records. In 1935, Williams made his first records for Bluebird, including this recording of "Baby Please Don't Go." He stayed on the label for ten years, performing with such artists as John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Robert Nighthawk.

During the 1950s and '60s, Williams continued to perform and record regularly, recording for such labels as Trumpet, Delmark, Vocalion, and Prestige. He became popular with the folk revival crowd, as did many blues musicians of his generation. It was during this period that Williams adopted the nickname "Big" Joe to distinguish him from Joe Goreed, a.k.a. Joe Williams, the vocalist who recorded "Every Day I Have The Blues" with Count Basie's "New Testament" band.

Williams toured Europe and Japan during the late '60s and '70s. He died on December 17, 1982.

Big Joe Williams was particularly well-known for his virtuosic guitar playing, which featured his ability to play lead and bass lines simultaneously (Williams wore picks on both his index finger and his thumb for this purpose). He played a nine string guitar which featured unison strings for the first, second and fourth strings. Williams had added these strings to his guitar gradually during the '20s and '30s in order to keep other guitarists from being able to play his instrument.

Williams' version of "Baby Please Don't Go" is the first known recording of this song, which is derived from a group of early 20th century work songs which includes "I'm Alabama Bound," "Don't Leave Me Here," "Turn Your Lamp Down Low," and "Another Man Done Gone." Williams' version of the song has been hugely influential, and has been covered by literally dozens of artists over the years, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison (with Them), Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Mose Allison, among others. Although not a cover version, the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" is clearly a descendant of this song.

Now, baby please don't go.
Now, baby please don't go.
Baby, please don't go
Back to New Orleans,
An' get your cold ice cream.

I believe that a man done gone.
I believe that a man done gone.
I believe that a man done gone
To the county farm
Now, with his long chain on.

Turn your lamp down low.
You turn your lamp down low.
Turn your lamp down low.
I cried all night long.
Now, baby please don't go.

I begged you night before.
I begged you night before.
Begged you night before,
Turn your lamp down low.
Now, baby please don't go.

I believe my baby done lied.
I believe my baby done lied.
I believe my baby she lied,
Says she didn't have a man
Now, while I had my time.

'Fore I'd be your dog,
I swore I'd leave your door.
'Fore I'd be your dog,
I'd pack my trunk this morning, baby,
Go back to Rolling Fork.

I believe I'll leave you here.
I believe I'll leave you here.
I believe I'll leave you here.
'Cause you got me way up here,
And you don't feel my care.

Now baby please don't go.
Oh baby, please don't go.
Now baby please don't go
Back to New Orleans,
Even though I love you so.

I believe you tryin' just leave me here.
Why leave your daddy here?
Why leave your daddy here?
You got me way down here
And you don't feel my care.

"Baby Please Don't Go" has endured in part because it is a primal expression of desperate need. The speaker in the song is literally pleading with his lover to stay with him. The desperate man and the unfeeling woman are enduring tropes in blues lyrics. In that sense, it is fitting that this song has been paired with Lead Belly's "Packin' Trunk." This is another song "about a man and a woman." In the famous color film footage of Son House performing "Death Letter Blues," House explains that the blues is all about "the male and female."

In addition to Williams' vocals and guitar, "Baby Please Don't Go" features the one-string fiddle of Dad Tracy and the washboard of Chasey "Kokomo" Collins. Tracy and Collins give the record a wild, archaic flourish.

"Baby Please Don't Go" is the second of four blues recordings in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Williams performing "Baby Please Don't Go" in what appears to be a television appearance from the late '50s or early '60s.



Download and listen to Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers - "Baby Please Don't Go"

"Memphis Shakedown" - Memphis Jug Band

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track One: "Memphis Shakedown" performed by The Memphis Jug Band. Recorded in Chicago on November 8, 1934.

For the better part of a half-century, the three volume Anthology was the last word on Harry Smith's excursion into American Folk Music. Following the Anthology's release, Smith pursued his interests in a number of other directions, including painting, filmmaking, collecting string figures, and producing the first album by the Fugs. The Anthology, however, was the work for which Smith was best known. In 1968, Smith was interviewed by John Cohen and the interview dealt extensively with the Anthology.

As was mentioned in our last entry, Smith was honored with a Grammy award for the Anthology shortly before his death in 1991. Six years later, Smithsonian-Folkways released the Anthology on CD, making it generally available for the first time in many years.

Nevertheless, the Anthology was a work firmly rooted in the past. Listeners could only imagine what subsequent volumes might have sounded like.

The notes for the original Anthology promised that three more volumes were forthcoming which would deal with "examples of rhythm changes between 1890 and 1950." In his 1968 interview with John Cohen, Smith stated that there had been a fourth volume prepared for release along with the first three, but that editorial differences had lead to the project being scrapped.

According to Dick Spottswood, Smith circulated a tape copy of the proposed fourth volume which was eventually released on CD in 2000 on John Fahey's Revenant record label. Presented as a hardcover book, the two-disc set contained (in addition to the music itself) essays by Ed Sanders of the Fugs, Dick Spottswood, Greil Marcus (who had written about the Anthology in his book Invisible Republic, later re-released as The Old, Weird America, and was now treated as a foremost authority on Smith) and John Fahey, as well as excerpts from Cohen's 1968 interview with Smith. The book also included Dick Spottswood's notes for each track.

It is worth noting that Spottswood leaves out discographical information that had been included by Smith in the booklet for the first three volumes. For that reason, while we have the personnel and recording date and location for each track, we don't have the original record label or the catalog numbers. When I have that information, I will include it. When I do not (as with this selection), I will provide the information from the booklet.

The question that immediately presents itself is: What is this set about? As we saw in the previous entries, the first three sets were organized by theme ("Ballads," "Social Music" (secular and religious), and "Songs"). This volume includes examples of all three categories. The overarching theme, in my opinion, is that while all of the previous volumes looked backwards to styles and events that predated the lives of the performers, this volume deals with (what was for the performers) the here and now. In this volume, we were hear topical songs.; References to the political and social realities that faced these artists. We will also hear styles of music that reflect the increasing influence of jazz, bluegrass, and the blues.

For biographical information on Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band, see the entry for "Bob Lee Junior Blues."

"Memphis Shakedown" is an almost entirely instrumental performance. Had this song appeared on the original Anthology, it would have been placed on the first disc of the "Social Music" volume. In his notes, Spottswood points out that the title of the song indicates that the song is a "combines the idea of the hillbilly breakdown with the African American shake or shimmy-shake." It is significant that Smith began this volume, a volume that looks to music's present and future rather than at its past, with a number that defies the genre conventions of the day. This number is a deliberate mixing of white and black styles, a mixture that in two more decades would lead to the birth of rock and roll.

Indeed, the Memphis Jug Band (in their last recording session before a lengthy hiatus brought on by the Depression) rocks on this number. There are no lyrics, but there is quite a bit of shouting and scat singing throughout, provided by guitarists Will Shade and Charlie Burse. The most prominent instrumental presence on this recording is fiddler Charlie Pierce in one of his very few recordings. Pierce saws at the strings, giving the number a down home feel that contrasts sharply with the jazz rhythms performed by Shade and Burse on the guitars, along with Robert Burse on the washboard, and Jab Jones on the jug. Given how opposed much of the Anthology's original audience was to the R&B and rock and roll that emerged during the '50s, it is possible that Smith left this number off of this original set on purpose. Its transgressive mix of white and black styles, so reminiscent of music that would be made by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard some twenty-odd years later, might have sat badly with the purist folk audience that embraced the Anthology in the first few years following its release. Of course, the Anthology predates rock and roll by several years. Nevertheless, the seeds of rock and roll were already planted and starting to blossom in the early '50s.

It is also significant, in hindsight, that Memphis (the likely location of this recording and home of the Memphis Jug Band) would be the home of Sun Records beginning in 1952, and that it was at Sun that Sam Philips, Elvis Presley, Bill Black, and Scotty Moore would, in 1954, mix the potent elements of white and black music, resulting in the genre-busting version of "That's Alright, Mama" that would kick-start Elvis's recording career and bring rock and roll into the mainstream.


The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's the Carolina Chocolate Drops rocking a version of "Memphis Shakedown" on the kazoo...




Download and listen to "Memphis Shakedown" - Memphis Jug Band