The Daily Chat

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A new series today "Black Country Music Vol 01". I put this 25 track compilation together last year, and will start looking to put a second volume together in the near future. It's not strictly country music, as I guess only two of the many artists featured here can truly be labeled as "country singers", and they are Charley Pride and Linda Martell. So this is more accurately a collection of black artists performing country-influenced music. 

Clarence Gatemouth Brown began his career in 1945 and quickly became one of the fiercest of the electric blues guitarists, recording a string of high energy tracks in Texas for the Peacock  label. But by the 1970s he had drifted away from blues into country and American roots music, favoring the violin over the guitar.

Earl Hooker is primarily remembered today as a Chicago slide guitar master who has heavily influenced by Robert Nighthawk and Elmore James. However Earl was equally adept at playing country and hillbilly music, as Earl related in this interview with Chris Strachwitz:

I went to Waterloo, Iowa. I got a little thing going there. They had me playing hillbilly music up there. I went to a hillbilly joint where some hillbilly boys was playing and I asked the guy, I say, “Will you let me sit in and play a number.” He said, “Man, you don’t play rock and roll do you?” I said, “Well, I can play a little rock and roll and I can play a little of that stuff that you’re playing, too.” He said, “Well, if you can play this good old hillbilly music you’re welcome to play.” And so he called me on the bandstand and so everybody was looking at me and they said, “Well, this is something that I got to dig,” you know, a colored boy playing hillbilly music in a hillbilly joint. I went on and started playing the guitar, playing “Walking the Floor Over You” and some of Hank Williams’ old records, “Cheating Heart”. Now, those kind of numbers that I can sing. I can sing those kind of numbers. See, when I was a little boy I used to always watch Gene Autry and them in the movies sing and play the guitar. That was my favorite cowboy. And Roy Rogers. I used to like to see them sing those old Western songs. That’s what give me the idea of playing Western music. So I played in this hillbilly joint up in Waterloo, Iowa. The man, he liked the way I played. He said, “You about the best guitar player I ever seen that come through here.” The guy that I asked let me play a number on his guitar, he give me a job playing in his band. So I was playing hillbilly music. I stayed there for six months, one club playing every night.

Ray Charles of course started his recording career as an R&B singer/musician but by the late 60s Ray had shifted well into Country & Western. And while other artists like Little Richard, The Staple Singers, Al Green didn't actually drift over to country music, their gospel recordings shared common roots with the white country/gospel artists.

Anyway my friends, I hope you enjoy this. Lots of diversity here, hopefully something for all tastes.