Long
Lost Paramount Blues Record Found
Back in the earliest days of recording Blues music, the 1920's,
the most famous and desirable records were recorded by the Paramount
label of Port Washington, Wisconsin. All the classic songs from
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, Skip James
and the legendary Son House were recorded and released by Paramount.
In many cases very few copies were sold as this was a time in
history in which Blues was not popular with the majority of Americans
and a raging Depression prevented even the targeted African American
audience from having the money to buy them. Today these Paramount
recordings remain some of the best performances of all time and
some of the hardest and rarest records in the world to find.
In November 1929 at the Paramount Recording Studios in Grafton,
Wisconsin, four songs were recorded at 78 rpm by a Louisiana street
musician named Joe Sheppard who, on the run from the law, used
the name Blind Joe Reynolds. Within a year, the four songs were
released on two records. Neither record sold well, but almost
40 years later, one of the two attracted the attention of Eric
Clapton who heard the song "Outside Woman Blues" on
a reissue album produced by Blues collectors. In 1967, Clapton
and his Cream bandmates Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce recorded a
more modern day version of "Outside Woman Blues" on
their classic LP "Disraeli Gears."
The second record recorded in Wisconsin on that November day,
"Ninety Nine Blues" backed with "Cold Woman Blues"
has been lost since it was first released in October of 1930.
Blues historians and record collectors have been searching for
that second Paramount recording since the early 1940's and it
is considered priceless. No copies in any condition were ever
located . . . until recently.
Bruce Smith, a school teacher from Ohio with an appreciation
for old Blues records, was attending a teachers' conference in
Nashville.With an hour to kill before catching a flight home from
a school conference, he wandered into the Nashville Flea Market
and found the record in a stack of old 78's. The records were
without sleeves and not in particularly good condition, but the
price was right at $1.00 each. He purchased three records-two
were common Blues records of the 1930's and the third was the
long lost Blind Joe Reynolds (Paramount Release #12983.) Unaware
of its value, he purchased it simply because it "looked interesting."
Not realizing quite what he had, the teacher began searching
the internet to figure out exactly who Blind Joe Reynolds was
and if this record might be of some significance. One site referred
him to Gayle Dean Wardlow's book "Chasin' That Devil Music"
published by Miller Freeman Books in 1998. A chapter in that book
called "A Devil of a Joe" tells the story of Blind Joe
Reynolds and the significance of his recordings. It also said
that there was a missing Blind Joe Reynolds recording, which turned
out to be the one purchased at the flea market. Realizing he had
stumbled upon a rare find, Smith contacted Tefteller for an appraisal,
but ended up selling it to him for an undisclosed amount. As it
is the only known copy to exist, Tefteller now refers to "Ninety
Nine Blues" as the "crown jewel" of his collection.
Richard Nevins of the Yazoo label (the largest distributor of
reissues of classic Blues and Country music from the 1920's) called
"Cold Woman Blues" a "masterpiece." Both sides
of the recording have now been remastered and will soon appear
on a Yazoo label compilation CD. Pete Whelan, publisher of the
bible for Blues 78 collectors, "78 Quarterly," pronounced
the newly discovered record "better than 'Outside Woman Blues.'
"
"Sometimes songs can be long lost for good reason-they are
not very good and didn't sell well because of it," Tefteller
explained. "But not so in this case-this is a GREAT record.
Reynolds plays a mean slide and really mumbles his way to immortality
on 'Cold Woman Blues.' The significance of this record is mind-boggling!
It may not be as important to Blues history as finding the long
lost Son House Paramount recording of 'Clarksdale Moan,' but it's
real close!"
Tefteller predicts that the record will become a favorite of
Blues fans worldwide and that someone, maybe even Clapton, will
record a new version of it. He has uploaded both sides of the
record onto his website (tefteller.com) and they can be heard
there. Blues lovers all over the world are encouraged to log on
and listen. He said, "I'm just glad to be able to share it
with the world." |
