"Mm-mmmmmm, baby don't you want to go/Pack up your suitcase, Papa's going to Kokomo." - Scrapper Blackwell, "Kokomo Blues"

His Life
Francis "Scrapper" Blackwell was born in Syracuse, South Carolina, in February, 1903. He claimed to be partly of Cherokee descent, a claim which his photographs support. At a very early age, Blackwell's family moved to Indianapolis, where he spent most of his life. Little is known of Blackwell's early life, partly because he retired in the mid-30s before blues became a subject of serious writing, partly because he died right before the '60s blues revival kicked into full gear, and mostly because Scrapper was very quiet and reserved. Duncan Scheidt, who "rediscovered" Blackwell in the late fifties, described him as "somewhat withdrawn, sometimes morose".

Though Blackwell was largely self-taught as a guitarist, one can hear the influence of the recordings of Willie Harris and (of course) Blind Lemon Jefferson, as well as a little of the East Coast Piedmont style that his family must have heard in South Carolina. Blackwell was a successful moonshiner in the 1920s; he played guitar at dances and rent parties around Indiana Avenue in Indy mainly to supplement his income. He didn't consider himself a professional musician until pianist Leroy Carr used some considerable persuasion to get Blackwell to record with him in a June 1928 session for Vocalion. The session was in Indianapolis, meaning Blackwell wouldn't have to travel to record. Unlike many bluesmen, Blackwell was not bitten by the travel bug. Had the session been outside of Indianapolis, it is unlikely that Blackwell would have agreed to do it. During that first session, the duo recorded How Long How Long Blues. The song was a huge nationwide hit and established Carr and Blackwell as the biggest male blues recording stars from 1928 until Carr's death in 1935. How Long still sounds like a great blues song; the year's other big piano-guitar hit, It's Tight Like That by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom Dorsey, sounds like an old-fashioned novelty record in comparison. The success of the song led to continued offers for the duo to record their lean, introspective blues even during the deepest parts of the depression when recordings of race records (outside of novelty and pop song)s all but stopped. In addition, the duo's success lead to Blackwell recording with Tommie Bradley, Black Bottom McPhail, Chippie Hill, Georgia Tom Dorsey, and on his own. In his first solo session, late in 1928 after How Long started to fly off the shelves, Blackwell recorded one of his own compostions, Kokomo Blues, which was a moderate hit in the Midwest. It was later "reworked" (i.e. stolen) by another former bootlegger, Kokomo Arnold, under the name Original Old Kokomo Blues, which Robert Johnson "reworked" into Sweet Home Chicago. (Thus what became the blues anthem of Chicago, city of the blues, was first written and recorded in Indianapolis by an Indianapolis bluesmen.) Of course, Carr and Blackwell continued to record together; as good as Blackwell's work without Carr is, his best work came in their collaborations. Carr's subdued, introspective singing and bass-oriented piano playing allowing Scrapper's virtuoso guitar playing the freedom it sought. However, what most record buyers heard and spent their money on were great songs (classics like How Long How Long Blues, Naptown Blues, Mean Mistreater Mama, and many others). Carr and Blackwell were very popular in Indianapolis, and performed more-or-less regularly in nearby cities, primarily Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Carr's hometown of Nashville.

Leroy Carr was a big drinker of corn liquor; in 1935, he died from his alcoholism, probably of cirrhosis of the liver. Blackwell was very depressed by the death of his partner and friend. He quit recording, and soon gave up his music altogether, becoming a manual laborer in Indianapolis. He may have returned to bootlegging as well, though the repeal of prohibition made this a less lucrative career. He was all but forgotten until 1959, when he was "rediscovered" by blues fan Duncan Scheidt. Supposedly, Blackwell had not played in over fifteen years (not even owning a guitar in 1959), and Scheidt had to do some convincing to get him to perform again. The results can be heard on the Document cd (see below), which shows that Blackwell's playing and singing had not diminished over the years. The blues were just beginning to catch on with white audiences, particularly the older, "country" blues from the 20s and 30s. (That Carr and Blackwell had made urbane, sophisticated records that ushered in the era of urban blues probably would have been lost on the new audience; afterall, the records were accoustic and from the right time period.) Unfortunately, Blackwell died in 1962, before he had a chance to receive his due from the new college-educated white audience. He was shot in an alley in Indianapolis. Some of my sources the case was never solved; others say it was. Regardless, had Scrapper Blackwell survived, his influence on the blues revival would have been enormous. His skills had diminished only slightly, probably due mostly to his not playing for so long rather than aging; some of the old bluesmen at that time had become self-parodies, but not Blackwell. Also, the new blues audience preferred artists who were "uncorrupted" by electric playing or later developments in music, so his popularity probably would have been enormous. (Witness the popularity of, say, Mississippi John Hurt, versus Bobby Blue Bland, who apparently wasn't bluesy enough since his music was still popular with blacks.) Sadly, though, we will never know, and Blackwell remains largely unknown to blues audiences even today.

His Music
Scrapper Blackwell's music doesn't sound much like anyone who came before him, though there are many who followed who were greatly influenced by him. Pinning down his music is tough to do. To describe Blackwell as a country bluesman is erroneous, since he (like Carr) was a city boy, having spent most of his life in Indianapolis. Unlike a lot of rural blues recorded at the time, Blackwell took a relatively intellectual approch to his playing. After a couple listens to his music, one can hear that, like Duke Ellington, he spent quite a bit of time working on a song and thinking about it. Unlike, say, Tommy Johnson or Willie Brown, Blackwell's music never sounds like a bunch of loose veres strung together at the spur of the moment. Supposedly most of the music they heard was made by city musicians. (One can't be certain, though; blacks at the time were starting to move to northen cities in droves, and the rural bluesmen were among those who trekked north.) At the same time, Blackwell wasn't really an urban bluesman, either. His rhythmic sense was too powerful, too uptempo to have been entirely city blues. However, this has more to do with the problems in our definitions than qualities of Blackwell's music. Much of his repertoire falls outside of the standard blues. How Long, for example, consists of eight bar verses, not twelve, with Carr not repeating the first line. In addition, Blackwell would often use unusual tunings (such as E in Penal Farm Blues, or the odd chord in the sixth bar of Blue Day Blues where some of the notes lag a bit). However, more important than these departures from the already-by-then-standards of the blues are the relatively sophisticated and virtuosic music. Blackwell, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, and others had "upped the ante," so to speak, on blues guitar by the end of the 20's. There would still be a place in more "primitive" blues guitar (witness the success of Lightnin' Hopkins and Sleepy John Estes), but after Blackwell et al had recorded, blues guitar became much more sophisticated, and the success of duos like Carr and Blackwell started blues on the way to an ensemble sound. (This assumes we ignore the women blues singers of the '20s, which many blues historians tend to do.)

The party line one often reads in blues histories is that ensemble playing (ie bands) and electrification are the hallmark of urban blues. However, this argument doesn't stand up to fact. W. C. Handy reported seeing a country blues band (guitar, mandolin, and bass) in Cleveland, Mississippi, long before he published Memphis Blues in 1912. The Chatmon Brothers, better known as The Mississippi Sheiks, had been playing in rural Mississippi long before they recorded. Then there are all the country-sounding jug bands recorded before the depression. So bands are not in and of themselves the hallmark of city blues. However, Carr and Blackwell's music started the transformation of blues from a rural folk music to an urban pop form. (Again, this assumes we treat the great female blues singers like the man behind the curtain and ignore them.) The two men were definitely city folk, and their recordings must have sounded the epitome of urbane cool and sophistication to rural blacks in 1928; Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, and Johnny Shines have said as much. Their records made a great impression on those who heard them. You can hear Blackwell's influence in T-Bone Walker, Skip James (who took Blackwell's inclination to play in E to new levels), Kokomo Arnold, Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, and pretty much any "sophisticated" bluesman who followed. Muddy said that the first record he remembered was How Long, which he played over and over again; it was also the first blues song he learned how to play. The lack of amplification was due to limitations placed by technology; Blackwell favored playing higher notes, sometimes snapping treble strings, which foreshadowed the effects of amplification (and which was picked up by a young Robert Johnson). Carr's subdued, bass-oriented piano allowed Scrapper to fully develop his treble-string style and allow him to become one of blues' first (and best) guitar virtuosoes.

Recommended Listening
Finding music by Scrapper Blackwell isn't easy, but well worth it. There are three cds, two featuring Carr, that are all good. If you find one, get it while you can. If you have a choice, I recommend starting with Blues Before Sunrise (RK 44122) on Portrait. It has sixteen songs, most in the sad, introspective style typical of Carr and Blackwell's recordings, though there are a couple of "novelty" or "hokum" songs. There are also a couple songs where the two recorded with Piedmont bluesman Josh White. The only thing against this cd is that it does NOT have How Long or Naptown Blues on it. Another good cd is The Virtuoso Guitar of Scrapper Blackwell (L 1019) on Yazoo. This has fourteen songs, eight with Blackwell solo, including Kokomo Blues, two with Carr, and four other collaborations. I would also like to recommend Naptown Blues on Yazoo. I'd like to, but I can't. I saw it once two years ago, bought it, made the mistake of playing it at a friend's party two days later, and someone stole it. (If you are the thief and happen to be reading this, audit you, pal!) That cd has the title cut, and I think it has How Long as well. From what I remember from having it ONLY THREE DAYS it's a great cd. But I haven't seen it again since, and it's been a couple years, so I can't recommend it wholeheartedly.

There is also a cd on Document that was released in 1994. Scrapper Blackwell (DOCD-5275) was recorded in 1959 and 1960 in Indianapolis by Duncan Scheidt. His playing and singing were still superb, but Blackwell, never one to seek the spotlight, sounds understandably tentative after not performing for so many years. There are two other Document cds with Blackwell's work without Carr that are available, but I have not found bought yet.

Document Records has released the complete recordings of Leroy Carr on six compact discs. I have managed to find (and buy) five of these. Volume 5, which I have yet to find, must be fairly well-represented on the Blues before Sunrise cd. When listening to the cds, I was prepared to be bored hearing the same two artists over and over again for six hours, but I was pleasantly surprised. Partly this is because the duo had a knack for writing great songs, but they also recorded quite a variety of music as well. Some of this may have been due to outside forces: Blackwell and Carr recorded through the deepest part of the Depression (probably so Vocalion could keep their contract valid), and uptempo and hokum numbers were the order of the day. Carr even recorded a couple pop tunes (and one of which, to me, sounds like one of the old Irish ballads my great-aunt used to sing). But beyond that, the two had more variety in their blues than is readily apparent, changing tempos, mixing up the interplay between their guitar and piano, and using some now-standard but then-new imagery in their lyrics. Also, one will hear one of their songs that was later used as the basis for another, more famous blues song. The discs are up to Document's usual high standards for sound quality, and I would wholeheartedly recommend them to someone who has gotten into Carr and Blackwell's music and would like to find more. However, six cds is a heavy investment for a casual fan or someone who hasn't heard the duo.

Bibliography
The following are the written resources I used in creating this page. Those with a are the ones I recommend.

Barlow, William. Looking Up at Down. Temple University Press, 1989 (ISBN 0-87722-583-4).

Calt, Stephen. I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues. 1994 (ISBN 0-306-80579-0).

Calt, Stephen; Epstein, Jerry; Perls, Nick; and Stewart, Michael. Liner notes to The Virtuoso Guitar of Scrapper Blackwell (Yazoo 1019).

Charters, Samuel B. The Country Blues. Da Capo Press, 1975 (ISBN 0-306-80014-4).

Davis, Francis. The History of the Blues. Hyperion, 1995 (ISBN 0-7868-6052-9).

Harris, Sheldon. Blues Who's Who. DaCapo Press, 1979 (ISBN 0-306-80155-8).

Hentoff, Nat. Liner notes to Leroy Carr: Blues before Sunrise (Portrait RK 44122).

Herzhaft, Gerard. Encyclopedia of the Blues. The University of Arkansas Press, 1992 (ISBN 1-55728-253-6).

Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. Penguin, 1982 (ISBN 0-14-006223-8).

Santelli, Robert. The Big book of the Blues. Penguin, 1993 (ISBN 0 14 01.5939 8).

Titon, Jeff Todd. Early Downhome Blues. University of North Carolina Press, 1994 (ISBN 0-8078-2170-5).