Drive's Musical Man of Mystery David Weber on Big Mama Thornton - ABC WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Drive's Musical Man of Mystery David Weber on Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton had one major hit in The United States but it was enough to alter music history, in a manner of speaking. Her version of ‘Hound Dog’ preceded Elvis Presley’s and is less famous as a result, yet it has an utterly different vibe and in many ways, is much more intense. 

Thornton started out singing in the church before being attracted to the blues. In the 1940s, she toured with Sammy Green’s Hot Harlem Revue and was focused on gigs in Houston when signed by Peacock Records in 1951. Her first release was ‘Partnership Blues’, with Joe Scott’s band as backing.

It was when she sang with Johnny Otis’ band that she struck gold—Pete Lewis was the man who played guitar on the downright funky ‘Hound Dog’, helping drive the track to great heights. It was Number One on the R&B chart for seven weeks in 1953. 

Johnny Otis has disputed the authorship of the song with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In some circles, this remains unresolved. What is certain is that Elvis Presley's version in 1956 carved a massive path and while Thornton’s version was never actually forgotten, it’s fair to say that most of the people who heard Elvis’ song had never heard of ‘Big Mama’. Apparently Elvis was given the song by Vegas dude Freddie Bell. 

Thornton’s follow-ups were strong—‘I Smell a Rat’, ‘Stop Hoppin' on Me’, ‘The Fish’, and ‘Just like a Dog’. But she didn’t crack another big hit. She cut some great LPs in the Sixties, including ‘With The Muddy Waters Blues Band’ in 1966 and ‘Ball’n’Chain’ in 1968 with Lightnin’ Hopkins on guitar. The title track was covered by Janis Joplin in superlative form. 

One of Thornton’s more notable releases came in 1975 on an LP called ‘Jail’ which contained performances from Monroe State Prison and Oregon State Reformatory. ‘Ball And Chain’, ‘Hound Dog’, ‘Rock Me Baby’ and ‘Mr. Cool’ made it onto a 2002 Vanguard CD compilation called ‘From Hell To Gone And Back—Texas Blues’. These tracks are as raw as it gets—and why not? If there’s one place that’s full of people with the blues, it’s prison. 

The band on these dates featured B. Huston and Steve Wachsman on guitars, J.D. Nichols on piano, George “Harmonica” Smith on harmonica (you guessed it), Todd Nelson on drums, Bill Potter on sax and Bruce Sieverson on bass. They were able to stretch out and mould the songs into exploratory jams, adorned with Thornton’s by turns throbbing, and sinuous vocals.

A festival mainstay, Thornton’s last recording was of a live set at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1983, where she performed with B.B. King and Muddy Waters. Thornton died in a Los Angeles rooming house in 1984, arguably without the wider recognition she deserved, but with the deep respect of those who knew the truth.

Source: http://blogs.abc.net.au