Papa Charlie Jackson

I just picked up two volumes of Papa Charlie Jackson (1890-1838), and a more interesting example of country blues-ragtime-hokum would be hard to find. Jackson tuned his six-string banjo to standard guitar tuning, so you get what sounds like a peculiar guitar-banjo mix which is hard to sort out at first listening. However, it grows on you, and Jackson was such a superb musician and singer that it thoroughly works to great effect.

Listen to short samples at this Amazon site where mp3s of his music can be purchased.

Here is a brief bio from Wikipedia:

Born William Henry Jackson, he originally performed in minstrel and medicine shows. Jackson was playing all around Chicago in the early 1920s. He was noted for busking at the famous Chicago Maxwell Street Market. He soon recorded "Papa's Lawdy Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues", the first commercially successful, self-accompanied recordings, by a male singer of the blues. One of his following tracks, "Salty Dog Blues", became his most famous song. He soon began cutting records with Ida Cox, Hattie McDaniel and Ma Rainey.

The late 1920s saw Jackson reach the pinnacle of his career, recording "Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It" (a two-part song) with Blind Blake. A few more recordings followed before the 1930s, but then Jackson left Paramount Records and moved to Okeh Records, recording with Big Bill Broonzy.

His importance in the history of the blues has been lessened by several factors. His flair for unique and irreverent material, similar to that of Charley Patton, along with his fast upbeat tempo which made his records sell, did not fit into the traditional blues category. His records were of poor quality since about half of his 66 sides were recorded with an acoustic horn, not a microphone. The rest contained a lot of "hiss" since Paramount used inferior quality materials in their pressing of records. Also, his banjo was not viewed as a traditional blues instrument. However, no one has duplicated his unique performances.

And here is another bio from the AllMusic Guide:

Papa Charlie Jackson was the first bluesman to record, beginning in 1924 with the Paramount label, playing a hybrid banjo-guitar (six strings tuned like a guitar but with a banjo body that gave it a lighter resonance) and ukulele. And apart from his records and their recording dates, little else is known for sure about this pioneering blues performer, other than his probable city of birth, New Orleans; even his death in Chicago during 1938 is more probable than established fact.

Jackson spent his teen years as a singer/performer in minstrel and medicine shows, picking up a repertory of bawdy but entertaining songs that would serve him well for decades. In August of that year [1924], Jackson made his first record, "Papa's Lawdy Lawdy Blues" and "'Airy Man Blues," for a Paramount label. He followed this up a month later with "Salt Lake City Blues" and "Salty Dog Blues," which became one of his signature tunes; he later re-recorded this number as a member of Freddie Keppard\'s Jazz Cardinals, also for the Paramount label, a common practice in those days as the notion of contracts and exclusivity was almost unknown in blues recording. Jackson made his first duet records in 1925, "Mister Man, Parts 1 and 2," with singer Ida Cox, again for Paramount, and later cut duets with Ma Rainey and future Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel.

He was already regarded as one of the Paramount label's more successful recording artists, and all but a handful of his recordings were done for Paramount over the next decade.

Jackson reached a musical peak of sorts in September of 1929 when he got to record with his longtime idol, Blind (Arthur) Blake, often known as the king of ragtime guitar during this period. "Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It" parts one and two are among the most unusual sides of the late '20s, containing elements of blues jam session, hokum recording, and ragtime, with enough humor to make it the 1920s rival of tracks such as Bo Diddley's "Say Man" as well. More is the pity that better sources haven't survived for both sides, but what is here is beyond price; there may not be a dozen guitar records in any genre that are more important or more fascinating.

Jackson switched to guitar on some of his late-'20s recordings, and occasionally played the ukulele as well, although he was back to using the five-string hybrid in 1934, when he cut his final sessions. For reasons that nobody has ever established, he parted company with Paramount after 1930, and never recorded for the label again, even though Paramount lasted another two years before going under amid the hardships of the Great Depression.

Papa Charlie Jackson remains a shadowy figure, considered a highly influential figure in the blues, though not quite a major blues figure, apart from the fact that he was the first male singer/guitarist who played the blues to get to record. His recordings are all eminently listenable, although most are not blues, but fall into such related areas as ragtime and hokum.