Memphis Blues / Various

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About Memphis Blues / Various

When black servicemen came home from WW2, they hoped things might have changed. They hadn't. The music scene in Memphis had changed. The first boarded-up buildings appeared, as clubs and bars closed. Beale Street and Handy Park flourished after a fashion but Memphis couldn't compete with industrial cities like Chicago and Detroit. The big record labels no longer made regular visits, so most blues musicians just dropped in on their way north to record. That changed in January 1950, when Sam Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service. As his card said, We Record Anything - Anywhere - Anytime. One of Sam's early ventures was to go into business with Dewey Phillips, a DJ, whose 'Red, Hot & Blue' program played from nine to midnight. Dewey was a cult figure - his policy of no-colour-bar tendered the finest music nightly to young Memphians seeking 'the sound'. Charlie Burse's 'Shorty The Barber' was their label's first intended issue but in the event Sam used 'Gotta Let You Go' and 'Boogie In The Park' by one-man-band Joe Hill Louis. Things looked promising for a while, agreements with the Biharis and the Chess brothers meant further sessions with B.B. King, Joe Hill Louis, the endearingly shambolic Rosco Gordon and Walter Horton. In May 1951 he cut Howlin' Wolf's first single. The early months of 1952 continued in the same vein. Phillips took on Rufus Thomas and Harmonica Frank Floyd. He also recorded jug bandleader Jack Kelly with Walter Horton. Chess refused them and titles by teenage saxophonist Johnny London, cut a week later. This and other factors persuaded him to form his own label. He intended to release the Kelly/Horton titles as the first release. After consideration, it was London's 'Drivin' Slow' and 'Flat Tyre' that became the first Sun record. The records he made and the experience he gained would culminate in his work for Elvis. But it should never be forgotten - it started with artists like Joe Hill Louis, Pinetop Perkins and Doctor Ross