Sonny Scott

Last updated
Sonny Scott
Born Alabama, U.S.
Genres Country blues
Occupation(s)Guitarist, singer, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active1933 (recordings)
Labels Vocalion Records, Melotone Records

Sonny Scott was an American country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, primarily noted for his association with Walter Roland and Lucille Bogan. [1] In 1933, Scott recorded seventeen tracks in his own name, [2] although only twelve were released at the time. AllMusic noted that his vocal and guitar styling was similar to Ed Bell, Blind Boy Fuller, Curley Weaver, Furry Lewis, and Buddy Moss. [1]

Contents

Information is minimal on Scott's life outside of his recording career.

Biography

There are various sources that concluded Scott must have been born in Alabama, United States, [1] [2] although blues historian, Don Kent, opined that Scott hailed from Mississippi, but operated in Birmingham, Alabama. [3] Otherwise, no reliable sources have details of Scott's life prior to his recordings.

In July 1933, Scott traveled to New York City in the company of pianist and guitarist Walter Roland and the barrelhouse blues singer Lucille Bogan. Together they spent a few days recording in differing combinations. [1] Bogan seemingly to conceal her identity, recorded as Bessie Jackson for the Banner label of American Record Corporation. [4] Meanwhile, Roland recorded "Red Cross Blues", which is not to be confused with an identically titled tune by Walter Davis. [5] That former track (variously "Red Cross Store Blues") was Roland's cynical viewpoint on welfare benefits. [6] [7] Sonny Scott then recorded his two versions of the song, using different lyrics on each, with some of them "borrowed" from Roland's effort. [8] "Red Cross Blues" gradually gained more potency within the blues repertoire, through Scott's cover and subsequent recordings by Forest City Joe, Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson I, and Champion Jack Dupree. [1]

In addition to providing guitar accompaniment to both Bogan and Roland, Scott recorded a total of seventeen known songs of his own between 19 and 20 July 1933. [2] On all of these Scott was backed by Roland, who varied between mainly piano or less often guitar. Vocalion released the bulk of the tracks later that year on 10 inch shellac 78rpm records. [9] Five songs – "Frisco Blues", "Overall Blues", "Man Man Man", "Black Horse Blues", and "Try Me Man Blues" – were not released at the time. [10] [11] Of those that were released, the liner notes for New Deal Blues, noted that Scott's composition "Fire-Wood Man" was a twelve-bar blues recorded in standard C tuning, while stating that "such philosophical observations as man having 'his mind filled with foolishness and his feets are made of clay' are not generally encountered in blues lyrics." [12] Equally the liner notes for another compilation album, claimed Scott's version of "Red Cross Blues", was one of the least commercially successful. [13] Few highway based blues songs were recorded in the 1920s and early 1930s, with Scott's "Highway No. 2 Blues" being one of the earliest. [14] "Highway No. 2 Blues" refers to a road that crosses the Sipsey River north of Mantua, Alabama, approximately 20 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa. [2] The highway in Greene County, Alabama, exists to the present day. [15]

Four other tracks jointly recorded by Scott and Roland saw them issued under the names of the Jolly Two or the Jolly Jivers. Two instrumentals ("Guitar Stomp" and "Railroad Stomp"), billed on record as by the Jolly Two, had Roland match Scott's guitar work. "Jookit Jookit" and "Whatcha Gonna Do" when released were labelled as by the Jolly Jivers; the latter track having vocal encouragement from Bogan. [10] [16] [17]

In 1992, Scott's complete work was issued on 1933, a 17-track disc released by the Story of the Blues. [1] AllMusic noted that the set was "firmly rooted in the loam of west central Alabama." One track, "Black Horse Blues," represented by a vintage photograph on the album's sleeve, should not be confused with an identically titled Blind Lemon Jefferson song. [2]

No details seem to exist of Scott's life after his recording sessions.

Good quality original discs of Scott's recordings are often worth over $300. [18] [19]

Discography

Singles

YearTitle (A-side / B-side)Record label
1933"Red Cross Blues" / "Coal Mountain Blues" Vocalion
(Vocalion 25012)
1933"Early This Morning" / "Working Man's Moan"Vocalion
(Vocalion 25013)
1933"Naked Man Blues" / "Highway No. 2 Blues"Vocalion
(Vocalion 25016)
1933"Red Rooster Blues" / "Hard Luck Man"Vocalion
(Vocalion 25017)
1933"Rolling Water" / "No Good Biddie"Vocalion
(Vocalion 02533)
1933"Red Cross Blues No. 2" / "Fire-Wood Man"Vocalion
(Vocalion 02614)
1934"Red Cross Blues No. 2" / "No Good Biddie" § Melotone
(Melotone 13088)

§ - Credited jointly to Walter Roland and Sonny Scott [2] [20] [18]

Selected compilation albums

Album titleRecord labelYear of release
Alabama Country Blues 1924-1933Roots Records1969
New Deal Blues Mamlish Records 1971
Sonny Scott (1933)Story of the Blues1992
Alabama & the East Coast Document Records 2000

[21] [22] [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

Mance Lipscomb American blues singer, guitarist, and songster

Mance Lipscomb was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. He was born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas. As a youth he took the name Mance from a friend of his oldest brother, Charlie.

Tommy McClennan was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist.

Lucille Bogan American blues singer

Lucille Bogan was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. Music critic Ernest Borneman noted that Bogan was one of "the big three of the blues", along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Many of Bogan's songs have been recorded by later blues and jazz musicians.

Reverend Gary Davis American singer

Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, before converting to Christianity and becoming a minister. After relocating to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy".

Homesick James Musical artist

Homesick James was an American blues musician known for his mastery of the slide guitar. He recorded covers of "Stones in My Passway" and "Homesick". He worked with his cousin, Elmore James, and with Sonny Boy Williamson II. His birth name is variously reported as John William Henderson, James Williams, or James Williamson.

Casey Bill Weldon Musical artist

William "Casey Bill" Weldon was an American country blues musician.

Fred Below American drummer

Frederick Below, Jr. was an American blues drummer, best known for his work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. According to Tony Russell, Below was a creator of much of the rhythmic structure of Chicago blues, especially its backbeat. He was the drummer on Chuck Berry's song "Johnny B. Goode".

Bull City Red was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and predominately washboard player, most closely associated with Blind Boy Fuller and the Reverend Gary Davis. Little is known of his life outside of his recording career.

Joseph E. Pullum was an American blues singer and songwriter.

Willie Love Jr. was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Ralph Willis was an American Piedmont blues and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his Savoy records were released under the pseudonyms Washboard Pete, Alabama Slim, and Sleepy Joe. His famous song is "Christmas Blues".

Blind John Davis was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. He is best remembered for his recordings, including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie".

Walter Roland was an American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, guitarist and singer, noted for his association with Lucille Bogan, Josh White and Sonny Scott. The music journalist Gérard Herzhaft stated that Roland was "a great piano player... as comfortable in boogie-woogies as in slow blues," adding that "Roland – with his manner of playing and his singing – was direct and rural."

"Shave 'Em Dry" is a dirty blues song, first recorded by Ma Rainey in August 1924 in Chicago. It was released on Paramount Records on September 6, 1924. Rainey was accompanied on the recording by two unknown guitarists. The record was advertised in The Chicago Defender on the same date as the record's release.

"Georgia Grind" is a jazz and dirty blues tune, written by Spencer Williams and copyrighted by him in 1926. The lyrics were added by Bud Allen. A recording was released by Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five by Okeh Records on a 78 rpm, mono 10" shellac single record in April 1926. The melody was the same as used in the song, "Shake That Thing", written in 1925 by Papa Charlie Jackson.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 arwulf arwulf. "Sonny Scott Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sonny Scott (1933) : Sonny Scott". AllMusic . Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  3. ↑ Billy Hutchinson. "Alabama Blues". Earlyblues.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  4. ↑ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 94. ISBN   1-85868-255-X.
  5. ↑ Komara, Edward (2006). The Encyclopedia of the Blues. New York: Routledge. p. 737. ISBN   978-0415926997.
  6. ↑ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 12. ISBN   1-85868-255-X.
  7. ↑ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 24. ISBN   1-85868-255-X.
  8. ↑ van Rijn, Guido (1997). Roosevelt's Blues: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on FDR (First ed.). University Press of Mississippi. p. 52. ISBN   978-0878059386. I Got to Go to that Red Cross Store
  9. ↑ "Alabama Blues". Sundayblues.org. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  10. 1 2 "Walter Roland". Deltahaze.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  11. ↑ "Sonny Scott : Obscurely Fine". Music.apple.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  12. ↑ "New Deal Blues" (JPG). Wirz.de. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  13. ↑ "Barefoot Bills' Hard Luck Blues" (JPG). Wirz.de. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  14. ↑ Komara, Edward (2006). The Encyclopedia of the Blues. New York: Routledge. p. 1077. ISBN   978-0415926997.
  15. ↑ "General Highway Map, Greene County, Alabama". Cartweb.geography.ua.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  16. ↑ "Perfect 0252 – Walter Roland – 1933". Oldtimeblues.net. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  17. ↑ "Walter Roland Vol. 1 (1933) – Full Album". Thedocumentrecordsstore.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  18. 1 2 "Sonny Scott : Rolling Water". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  19. ↑ "Sonny Scott : Early This Morning". Popsike.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  20. ↑ "WFMU". Wfmu.org. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  21. ↑ "Illustrated Ed Bell Discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  22. ↑ "Illustrated Mamlish Records Discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  23. ↑ "Alabama & the East Coast". AllMusic . Retrieved 2020-07-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.