Butler May: the father of the blues? in Pre War Blues Forum

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Butler May: the father of the blues?

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erwin

Butler May: the father of the blues?

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 362

May 29 12 1:15 PM

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W.C. Handy has named himself “Father of the Blues”. But was he really the father?

There is plenty of evidence that another man, Butler May, had the same reasons for calling himself that way.

Was Butler May the real father of the blues?
Read it all here, new on: MyBlues.eu

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Hawkeye

#1

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 7329

May 29 12 6:44 PM

Erwin,

In your text in the first paragraph you compare Butler May to the great Bert Williams.

In the second paragraph you refer to Hank Williams!!!! instead of Bert Williams ... Hank Williams, also from Alabama, was white and a huge country music star of the late 1940s/early 1950s who learned to sing and play the guitar as a youth in Alabama from a blind blues street musician named Teet-tot ... Bert Williams and Hank Williams are far from being the same person ... 50 years separates them in their existence.

I'm wondering how/why a reference appears/or what the connection is to the country music legend Hank Williams in an article propounding the importance of Butler May and May's being as important to the popularization of blues music as W.C. Handy ...?

I think, in your second paragraph, you mean to be referring to Bert Williams ... not Hank Williams ... no?

--------------------
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Hawkeye Herman
1998 Blues Foundation "Keeping the Blues Alive" award recipient
Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee
Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre
"If it's good for the blues, it's good for everyone." - H.H.
www.HawkeyeHerman.com
Hawkeye MP3 downloads
www.CDBaby.com/Hawkeye
Iowa Blues Hall of Fame
Blues Foundation's "Keeping The Blues Alive" Award
Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre
Hawkeye at YouTube.com
Hawkeye at FaceBook.com
Hawkeye original articles/blues history
Hawkeye�s free online guitar lessons
Hawkeye teaches guitar at JamPlay.com
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MaskedMarvel

#2

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

May 29 12 7:27 PM

Who would writer down the tabs if not outsider? But Butler was only a young boy singing his folklore out. Was he a good Blues man? I believe guys like George W Johnson and others were singing Blues music strictly whenever they were with their own people. Why sing something else if that is the music you grew on?

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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cih

#3

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1283

May 29 12 9:20 PM

The reference to Hank Williams was, I think, just a comment on the comparative fame of two musical giants prompted by their proximate burial places..

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cih

#4

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1283

May 29 12 9:24 PM

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ May 29, 2012 07:27 pm)

I believe guys like George W Johnson and others were singing Blues music strictly whenever they were with their own people. Why sing something else if that is the music you grew on?

Trouble is, George W Johnson 'grew on' the flute tunes played by his white companion Samuel Moore

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erwin

#5

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 362

May 30 12 6:54 AM

QUOTE (Hawkeye @ May 29, 2012 06:44 pm)

Erwin,

In your text in the first paragraph you compare Butler May to the great Bert Williams.

In the second paragraph you refer to Hank Williams!!!! instead of Bert Williams ... Hank Williams, also from Alabama, was white and a huge country music star of the late 1940s/early 1950s who learned to sing and play the guitar as a youth in Alabama from a blind blues street musician named Teet-tot ... Bert Williams and Hank Williams are far from being the same person ... 50 years separates them in their existence.

I'm wondering how/why a reference appears/or what the connection is to the country music legend Hank Williams in an article propounding the importance of Butler May and May's being as important to the popularization of blues music as W.C. Handy ...?

I think, in your second paragraph, you mean to be referring to Bert Williams ... not Hank Williams ... no?

Michael,
thanks for reacting!

at the start of the article, i mention hank williams because he shares the same burial place; i close the essay with it because I started with the visit of the cemetery where hank william's has a great tomb, while butler has only a small stone on his tomb...it allowed me to close the circle of the story

I don't believe there is a mix up...unless I missed something. I will check again.

cheers,

erwin

ps - i have notified a young flemish blues player that you were coming over to Europe at the year end...It is probable that he will contact you

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Hawkeye

#6

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 7329

May 30 12 4:10 PM

Thanks for the reply and explanation, Erwin. Much appreciated.
I understand now ... the connection. Sorry for my confusion.

My European 'dates' have not been finalized yet ... I'll be in France/Versailles in mid-Oct. to present my two-day seminar for musicians and teachers, and in Switzerland/Sierre/Geneva in Oct., as well ... and possibly NEtherlands and Norway. I'll know more about this itinerary by mid-July., I hope.
Thanks for referring the Flemish blues guitar player to me. I hope I hear from him ... and possibly meet him in Oct.

Hawkeye Herman
1998 Blues Foundation "Keeping the Blues Alive" award recipient
Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee
Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre
"If it's good for the blues, it's good for everyone." - H.H.
www.HawkeyeHerman.com
Hawkeye MP3 downloads
www.CDBaby.com/Hawkeye
Iowa Blues Hall of Fame
Blues Foundation's "Keeping The Blues Alive" Award
Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre
Hawkeye at YouTube.com
Hawkeye at FaceBook.com
Hawkeye original articles/blues history
Hawkeye�s free online guitar lessons
Hawkeye teaches guitar at JamPlay.com
Hawkeye at MySpace.com
Hawkeye at Live Blues World
Hawkeye at ReverbNation.com
Hawkeye at BandVillage.com
Hawkeye audio tracks at Soundclick.com

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MaskedMarvel

#7

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

May 30 12 4:19 PM

QUOTE (cih @ May 29, 2012 11:24 pm)

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ May 29, 2012 07:27 pm)

I believe guys like George W Johnson and others were singing Blues music strictly whenever they were with their own people. Why sing something else if that is the music you grew on?

Trouble is, George W Johnson 'grew on' the flute tunes played by his white companion Samuel Moore

Johnson recorded what was acceptable in his time. He learned the job of Minstrelsy Music from White Blackface artists and under segregation. He was a slave. But what was his music, the music his mother was singing to him? The stuff he sang when he was in his community? That's the stuff I'm talking about!!!

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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cih

#8

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1283

May 31 12 5:46 AM

I'm not talking about his recordings - during his childhood he was very close with a white family (he wasn't a field hand), George was 'bodyservant' to their boy and they were friends for many years. He learned about music at least in part from them, and also probably how to read and write - which was prohibited (as you know). Who knows what his mother sang to him? Highly likely songs of an African American origin, but he was equally raised on what the Moore family exposed him to, and whatever else he heard along the way. His case wasn't typical.

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cih

#9

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1283

May 31 12 10:45 AM

Erwin - talking of the Armory Show etc, do you think there are things in common between the changes in vernacular music in America, and the changes in the 'fine arts' in Europe?