by Elliott Hurwitt | Nov 5, 2018 | Song of the Day
As we prepare for W. C. Handy & the Birth of the Blues with program consultant Elliott Hurwitt, we revisit his first week hosting Song of the Day. This song was originally posted on October 26, 2015. Gladys Bentley (ca. 1907-1960) was one of the biggest stars of...
by Elliott Hurwitt | Oct 19, 2018 | Song of the Day
For our final W.C. Handy song of the day we turn to one of his later gems that was a lesser hit, especially at first. “Chantez-les Bas” was composed in 1931, and is the only Handy piece in its genre, a Louisiana-inspired love song. Handy never visited New...
by Elliott Hurwitt | Oct 17, 2018 | Song of the Day
W.C. Handy’s great “Yellow Dog Blues” incorporates an idea he picked up in the Mississippi Delta during his residencies in Clarksdale, Mississippi (1903-1905) then Memphis, his home base for endless gigs up through 1917. “Yellow Dog” was...
by Elliott Hurwitt | Oct 16, 2018 | Song of the Day
Handy’s first hit, “Memphis Blues,” was self-published as a piano rag, which Handy sold, lock, stock and barrel, to a clever music publisher visiting Memphis on business in 1912. The loss of royalty income due to this transaction haunted Handy for...
by Elliott Hurwitt | Oct 15, 2018 | Song of the Day
We kick off our week of W.C. Handy songs with his biggest hit, “St. Louis Blues,” a song that has been so-often recorded that no full accounting of the recordings is possible, to be counted in thousands, not hundreds, starting in 1914. Handy wrote the song on a...
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