Big Joe Williams

The material for this interesting post was provided by Joe B. Stewart, who knows an awfully lot of stuff about an awfully lot of stuff. You'll have to click on the photos to read the text. Sorry. My posting skills are limited.




Big Joe Williams, the famous Miss. blues man grew up on my grandfather Marion Stewart's farm outside Crawford, Mississippi.

I took George Cummings (a founder of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) to Crawford in May of 1978 to meet Big Joe. They sang and played together at that time on a back porch. It was memorable. So George and I arranged to take Big Joe up to Muscle Shoals, Alabama for a recording session in late August and early Sept. of 1978. We did this and a CD was released some years later in or around 1998.





Big Joe Williams is not to be confused with Joe Williams who was a jazz singer who performed with the Count Basie band.

Below is a picture of me and Big Joe with a 60 pound watermelon. (Joe B. Stewart)


This picture was taken in Crawford in August 1978 as we got ready to leave for Muscle Shoals.

Big Joe's signature song that he is credited as having written was:
BABY PLEASE DONT GO.
It has been covered by many artists from Mose Allison to Bob Dylan.

A first grade girl handed in this drawing for a homework assignment.

After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:


Dear Ms. Davis,

I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This picture is of me selling a shovel.


Mrs. Harrington

Mississippi Delta Blues, Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is one of the most admired and influential Delta blues artists despite his short life and the small number of recordings that he left. His songs, such as "Sweet Home Chicago", "Come on in My Kitchen", and "Crossroad Blues", are blues classics -- played by thousands of blues artists and adapted by rock 'n' roll artists such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. His life and work would later influence the growth and talent of such famous musicians as Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and yes, Elvis.

Sweet Home Chicago - the song

Robert Johnson was a gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter whose life story is wrapped in mystery and legend. Only two photographs are known to exist of him and he recorded only 29 songs before his death in 1938 at the age of 27. Many of his contemporaries believed that he met the Devil at a lonely crossroads at midnight and made a deal to sell his soul in return for becoming the greatest blues musician of all time. More likely, he was blessed with enormous talent and spent a lot of time learning from other blues masters and honing his skills. He achieved some success and fame from recordings and performances during his life and was scheduled to perform at the first "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall when he died.

Although his burial place remains uncertain (Gayle Wardlow may have tracked it down), it is generally accepted that his death was not accidental. Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband (or girlfriend) while performing at a juke joint near Greenwood, Mississippi and died on August 16, 1938. He defined the 30s blues era, but died in 1938 at the young age of 27. Though he only wrote 29 songs, his impact on the world of music has been incredible. Many consider him the father of modern rock and roll.

A Favorite Poet

Triolet *

Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night,
The swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes?
Does he hum them to while away sad afternoons
And the long, lonesome Sundays? Or sing them for spite?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night?

by A.E. Stallings

I really like her stuff.

*A Triolet is a poem consisting of eight lines with a rhyme scheme of abaaabab in which the first, fourth, and seventh lines are the same, as are the second and eighth lines.

A New Product — as seen on TV

"Hey, Billy Mays here, and this stuff REALLY works!
Only $19.95. But wait, there's more. Order today and we'll send you, no, not one, but two bottles..."

Vern Gosdin R.I.P.

August 5, 1934 - April 28, 2009

A favorite singer of sad, sad country love songs.

"That Just About Does It... "

"Do You Believe Me Now?"

"Till The End" w/Janie Fricke