J.B. Lenoir

J.B. Lenoir- A Unique Voice in Blues

Born in 1929 in Monticello, Mississippi,

March 5th would have been J.B.'s birthday.

Spurred on by a love of Blind Lemon Jefferson,

he moved to Chicago, and hooked up with Big

Bill Broonzy where he met alot of other

blues artists. Lenoir would go on

to record for Chess and other local labels.

Willie Dixon rediscovered Lenoir, and

produced two of his albums,

where Lenoir became quite political.

Although Lenoir might not have made it as

big as Muddy Waters, he could count many

musicians such as John Mayall as a fan.

Unlike most of the gruff, deep-voiced blues

singers, he had a unique high-pitched voice.

Very rock'n'roll. Somehow I could hear

somebody like Johnny Thunders

enjoying his singing style, not to mention

his zebra jackets. J.B. Lenoir had a great

guitar style as well, with occasional support

by one of my favorite keyboard players,

Sunnyland Slim, 2 saxes and really basic

percussion, that backed up his boogie-woogie

guitar. There's definitely a modern sound to Lenoir's

vocals that doesn't date him. With less emphasis

on guitar solos than usual for

a blues song, it makes his singing

sound urbane and the sax along with piano give

the recordings a cosmopolitan city feel.

He passed away at the age of 47, April 29th 19767

after not fully recuperating after a car accident.

THE WILLIE NIX ENIGMA

Ever since I heard "Just Can't Stay"

by Willie Nix, on my copy of
BIG TOWN PLAYBOYS Chicago Blues 1949-1954

(which I highly recommend purchasing),

I was struck by his rock'n'roll vocals.

He basically raps over a fairly repetitive

track, and the lyrics are pretty familiar. He

sings about "standing on the corner...

having a conversation with a little girl".

His singing is nasal, more high pitched than

most of his contemporaries. Not the deep

voice of other singers like Muddy or Wolf.

Willie's voice is more urban, ready

for business. "...sho 'nuff"

Willie's history is fairly minimal, as he

never recorded enough

for a whole album, but at some point he

recorded a few tracks for Sun

Records, which makes me wonder if some

rock'n'roll dudes might

have heard him back in the day, and thought,

"hmmm....this is interesting".

From what I've put together, Willie Nix

was born August 6, 1922 in Memphis.

He started out as a tap dancer

at a fairly young age, moved up to some

kind of a dancing comedian in a

traveling group. As a musician, he was

a drummer, and singer. His recordings

appeared on Checker Records, and he was

the "Memphis Blues Boy" for Sun.

The artists on "Just Can't Stay" which

was recorded on Oct 14th,

1953 were Eddy Taylor on guitar,

Sunnyland Slim on piano, Snooky Pryor on

harmonica, and Willie playing drums.

I think the background in tap,

obviously gave him

a great sense of rhythm vocally,

as well as the comedic timing.

This track is definately worth checking out,

as I think you'll hear alot of current

singers in Willie.

The site for Clemson had the great shots of the Chance and

Sabre labels, as well as tons of

artist info. The shot of Willie Nix came from Last FM.