Blind Blake 1926 - 30 'Bootleg Rum Dum Blues'

 

Righteous Blues

Blind Blake

1926 - 1930

'Bootleg Rum Dum Blues'

Cover Art: Fred Romary

Art Direction: Fairchild Productions

Cover Photo: Blind Blake courtesy of John Steiner

Engineer: Paul Cady

Liner Notes Arnold S. Caplin

All selections remastered from the original 78 rpm records in cooperation with John Steiner, New York Recording Laboratories

Produced by Arnold S. Caplin

Biograph Records BLP-12003

1968

From the back cover: In the "County Blues", Sam Charters' supplies the following information: "Arthur Blake, 'Blind Blake', was a good guitar player and singer, and despite a rather nasal quality to his voice, his records were even more popular than Papa Charlie Jackson's. He played in a rhythmic dance style with considerable melodic inventiveness. His first record, 'Early Morning Blues' and 'West Coast Blues' on Paramount 12387, was advertised October 2, 1926, and sold well. He recorded sixty-eight more blues for Paramount over the next four years. He was a heavy drinker, but his landlady, Mrs. Renett Pounds, at 4005 S. Parkway (Chicago), tried to watch out for him as best she could. Two of his most popular records were trio versions of 'Hot Potatoes' and 'Southbound Rag' with the famed clarinet player, Johnny Dodds, and the excellent drummer, Jimmy Bertrand, who played xylophone and slide whistle. Blake's guitar playing filled out the trio with a strong, swinging beat. When the sales of his records began to drop in 1929 he got in touch with a friend, George Williams, who was managing the 'Happy-Go-Lucky' show, and played with the show until late 1930 or 1931, when he returned to Jacksonville." There have been many suggestion to where he originated from. Dr. Hans Rookmaster, a European expert, states "He originally came from Jacksonville, Florida, and probably worked for some time in and around Atlanta, Georgia, before he wandered up North, to Ohio and ultimately to Chicago, where he started to record in 1926... 'Blind Blake's' music did much to shape the style of the younger singers who were to become prominent in the thirties, singers like 'Big Bill Broonzy', 'Josh White' (who led the blind artist for some time), and many others...". Bob Groom, editor of "Blues World" (English) states in an article devoted to "Blind Blake", "Because of his association with 'Gechee' music of the Georgia Sea Island, it seems likely that 'Blake' or to give his real name, Arthur Phelps, was born somewhere in the south of the State probably around 1895. He wandered the South in the years between the wars, spending time in Chicago whilst recording. He was at one time thought to have died there, but it now seems that he actually returned to Atlanta when the depression ended his recording career and was killed there in a street car accident in 1941." And to complicate the situation further, Paul Oliver mentions in his liner notes of a European LP devoted to "Blake", "Came the depression, and with it the end of recording for many blues singers and for all too many, obscurity or an early death. So it was for Blind Blake. After 1930, Josh White saw him no more and believed that he was murdered in the streets of Chicago: Big Bill Broozy thought he died about 1932 in Joliet, within sight of the grim prison that featured in his blues...". In an article in a 1946 issue of the Colliers magazine, "Preacher In Song" by Avery S. Denham, it is related that Josh White served as the "lead boy" (a term used in connection with blind artists, a helper), for a succession of blind singers, Joel Taggart, John Henry Arnold, and lastly, "Blind Lemon (called Lemmon in the article). But there is no mention of "Blind Blake". In Robert Shelton's biography of Josh White, "The Josh White Songbook" (Quadrangle Books), there is no mention of Josh White ever being "lead boy" for "Blind Blake".

Amid all this confusion, one clear fact remains: "Blind Blake" was a blues artist of considerable talent, with his own expression always clearly defined. He recorded with numerous artists including: Daniel Brown, Gus Cannon, Bertha Henderson, Papa Charlie Jackson, "Ma" Rainey, Elzadie Robinson, Irene Scruggs, Charlie Stand, Leola B. Wilson, and The Hokum boys, in all a total of forty sides for the Paramount Record Company. These were recorded from December 1926 to September, 1931, in Chicago, Wisconsin, and Richmond, Indiana. Under his lead he recorded eight-six sides, from September, 1926 to June, 1932, and four of these list the artist as Blind Arthur". On Paramount 12892 the song is listed as "Blind Arthur's Breakdown", played by "Blind Blake", which may verify his first name as being Arthur. The eighty-six sides were recorded in Chicago and Garfton, Wis.

Side 1

Blind Blake

1. Come On Boys, Let's Do That Messin' Around

2. Skeedle Loo Doo Blues

3. Bucktown Blues - Blind Blake (vcl-gtr.) unknown kazoo

4. Black Dog Blues

5. Bad Feeling Blues

6. That Will Never Happen No More - unknown rattlebones

Chicago no. 1 Sept., 1926, no. 2. Oct. 1926, 

no. 3., 4, April, 1927, no. 5, 6, May, 1927

Side 2

1. Brown Skin Woman

2. Hey Hey Daddy Blues

3. Low Down Loving Gal - Blind Blake (vcl.-grt. - talking)

4. Bootleg Rum Dum Blues

Playing Policy Blues

Righteous Blues

No. 1, 2, Oct., 1927. no. 3. Sept., 1928

No. 4, May, 1928, Chicago

No. 5, 6, July, 1930, Grafton, Wis., c.