written by

Elliott Hurwitt

Music Historian
Gladys Bentley:  Worried Blues

Gladys Bentley: Worried Blues

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...

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W. C. Handy:  Chantez-les Bas

W. C. Handy: Chantez-les Bas

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 Orleans, but...

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W. C. Handy:  Beale Street Blues

W. C. Handy: Beale Street Blues

W.C. Handy named several blues for cities of significance in his life: Memphis, where he lived from 1905-17, St. Louis, where he was a penniless, flea-infested hobo in 1893; Atlanta, where he played some career-enhancing concerts in the World War I era. "Beale Street...

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W. C. Handy:  Yellow Dog Blues

W. C. Handy: Yellow Dog Blues

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 written as a 1914 answer song...

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W. C. Handy:  Memphis Blues

W. C. Handy: Memphis Blues

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 the remainder of his...

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W. C. Handy:  St. Louis Blues

W. C. Handy: St. Louis Blues

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 single...

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