Roots of Blues - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - "Rock me Mama"

Rock Me Mama
(A. Crudup - M. Draper)

Recorded:
Chicago, December 15. 1944
Arthur „Big Boy" Cudrup (g/vcl)
Melvin Draper (d)

"Big Boy" Crudup was a great blues singer and writer who was well-known throughout the United States. He was born on August 24, 1905. Arthur Crudup began his musical career singing gospel in church choirs.He began playing the blues for parties in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1939, but Crudup moved to Chicago in the hopes of making a better living. For awhile he played street corners in Chicago blues, but what he earned was not enough to live on. He lived in a packing crate underneath an elevated train track until he was found by blues producer Lester Melrose. Crudup was hired to play at a party at Tampa Red's house in 1941, and as a result of that night, was signed to record for RCA/Bluebird. However, the relationship with Melrose deteriorated after Crudup found out that he was not being paid royalties for the songs he wrote in 1947. By this time Crudup had become an innovator because his sound was his own. He returned to Mississippi after his falling out with Melrose and ran a successful bootlegging business. He did continue to record with RCA in the late 1940's and 50's, and he also toured with Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Elmore James.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Blues
• Roots_of_Blues
• Histroy_of_music

[Diatton]

HE IS A LEGEND !!! No Other Comments !!!

[r3VOLt23]

I just love this real people and their pure sound and

life experienced poetry! Thanks for golden oldies!

Luv n Peace D.

[BrkCityFG9]

This is the real blues!

[Goryllo]

when i hear this i always think how this influenced people like Hendrix, i can imagine the way he would have played it

[extazoff1]

nice

[utarefsonmetushelac]

just ripend out my lips with my harmonica listennig to this

[anglinthemtns]

Super duper! this music was their- lifestyle, culture & way to deal w/white suppression giving them a type of freedom & soul- rhythm was in their blood as their African ancestors. This is hard to bring back cause it was a time in which this type of music developed & for reasons that are hard for the present-day musician to understand- the key thing is that it was authentic & original, not mimicked or reinvented by someone else. Most blues music today is what I would call rock, not blues at all!

[howlingsandy]

Arthur Crudup (crew'-duhp) - whom I played drums with and took some very nice portraits of - has never been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, although many he influenced have, "The colored folks been (performing) it for more years than I know," Elvis told reporters in 1956. "I got it from them ... in Tupelo, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw'"

[goonienana]

Amazing.

[rievans57]

Great song. It's a shame cats like this didn't get paid for what they did. They open doors and many today don't even know who they are. Ain't that the blues.

[daviemcf]

Now this is the BLUES!!

[RockHistoryTube]

Great Big Boy!!!