Cow Cow Davenport - The Accompanist (1924-1929) (Document, 1993)

By request.

The life of Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport (1894-1955) is the stuff of legend. Born in Anniston, Alabama to a preacher father and an organ-playing mother (named Queen Victoria Jacobs, no less), he went against his parents' wishes and devoted himself to playing the "sinful" music heard in barrelhouses, bordellos, tent shows, and vaudeville theaters and became one of the most important and influential prewar blues pianists in the process. His signature "Cow Cow Blues" and the equally compelling "State Street Jive" are rightly recognized as boogie woogie classics, although an inspection of Davenport's complete discography reveals that he was a multifaceted artist capable of playing a wide range of styles and with an equally diverse number of performers. As you can probably surmise by its title, Cow Cow Davenport - The Accompanist (1924-1929) primarily focuses on sides where he performed as a backing musician to an assortment of blues vocalists. While the featured singers are of varying quality, Davenport's expert ivory-ticking skills manage to keep things interesting throughout this particular CD.


The first six titles rank among Cow Cow's earliest recordings and find him sharing vocal duties with Dora Carr in similar fashion to the duets of Coot Grant and Kid Wilson or Butterbeans and Susie, as Mike Rowe astutely points out in the booklet notes. If you like those kind of humorous battle-of-the-sexes blues, then these half-dozen tunes will be right up your alley. Interestingly enough, Davenport does not function as an instrumentalist on any of them, with the piano probably being played instead by Clarence Williams. And for those wondering, the "pizen" in the title of the first track is defined by Stephen Calt in Barrelhouse Words as "a 19th-century variant of poison that survives in Southern dialect. According to one lexicographer, pizen is 'a pronunciation that the South's early aristocrats borrowed from upper-class English speech.'" I think that it's sometimes possible to tell when a blues musician is going to be lame based upon his or her nickname, so adjust your expectations accordingly in regard to Hound Head Henry. Believe it or not, his inclusion on this disc was what prompted me to purchase it some 15 years ago, even in spite of his somewhat ridiculous sobriquet. Charlie Patton fanatic that I am, I just had to hear "Cryin' Blues," which had apparently been the inspiration for the Founder of the Delta Blues' "Poor Me," waxed during his final recording session in 1934. I like Patton's interpretation a lot better than the original, that's for sure. Most of the titles of Henry's eight sides make reference to his ability to imitate animals or machines. While his impressions are admittedly uncanny, they are also excessive for the most part and leave such performances sounding like little more than novelty songs at best. Not surprisingly, Henry's most straightforward performance, "My Silver Dollar Mama," also comes off as his finest. The obscure Jim Towel chips in with "I've Been Hoodooed" and "Buckwheat Cakes," which may not appeal to those with a preference for lowdown blues, but will certainly be appreciated by vintage music fans interested in vaudeville minstrel songs. Memphis Joe's "Plenty Gals Blues" (a variation on the "Gang of Brown Skin Women" idiom) is cut from a similar cloth. Despite Rowe's less-than-enthusiastic commentary in the aforementioned booklet notes, the vocal harmonizing of the Southern Blues Singers adds vitality to the familiar themes expressed in "Lighthouse Blues," "Runnin' Wild," and "It's Tight Like That" - or at least it does in my opinion. "The Lover and the Beggar" and a rendition of "You Rascal You" by Lovin' Sam Theard compare favorably with Jim Towel's and Memphis Joe's previously-discussed vaudevillian material.


1. You Might Pizen Me - Dora Carr
2. Good Woman's Blues - Dora Carr
3. He Don't Mean Me No Harm - Dora Carr
4. Black Girl Gets There Just the Same - Dora Carr
5. Fifth Street Blues - Dora Carr
6. (If You Think You're Gonna Get What I Got) You Got Another Thought Coming to You - Dora Carr
7. Hound Head Blues - Hound Head Henry
8. Freight Train Blues - Hound Head Henry
9. Steamboat Blues - Hound Head Henry
10. Cryin' Blues - Hound Head Henry
11. Laughin' Blues - Hound Head Henry
12. Low Down Hound Blues - Hound Head Henry
13. My Silver Dollar Mama - Hound Head Henry
14. Rooster Crowin' Blues - Hound Head Henry
15. I've Been Hoodooed - Jim Towel
16. Buckwheat Cakes - Jim Towel
17. Plenty Gals Blues - Memphis Joe
18. Lighthouse Blues - Southern Blues Singers
19. Runnin' Wild - Southern Blues Singers
20. It's Tight Like That - Southern Blues Singers
21. The Lover and the Beggar - Lovin' Sam Theard
22. You Rascal You - Lovin' Sam Theard

DAVENPORT'S WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD (COURTESY OF
THE EXCELLENT MONROVIA SOUND STUDIO SITE - CLICK TO ENARGE)