Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell - Naptown Blues 1929-1934 (Yazoo, 1973)

Although the names of pianist Leroy Carr and guitarist Scrapper Blackwell tend to register with most prewar blues aficionados, I feel like these Indianapolis-based musicians still don't get the full respect they deserve nor is their influence on other artists sufficiently acknowledged. Much of this may have to do with the view that they were over-recorded, resulting in their being taken for granted and dismissed as overly-commercial. Sure, the pair remade "How Long - How Long Blues " a few too many times and were also guilty of settling into more of a formulaic approach as the 1920s progressed into the 1930s, but their best sides remain among the greatest guitar-piano duets in blues history. Indeed, many of their songs have become standards of the genre, even if a lot of people don't realize that Carr and/or Blackwell wrote or were the first to record them. Perhaps the best example of their influence is the music of Robert Johnson. While other writers have endlessly rehashed the role that the styles of other Mississippi Delta blues guitarists had played in his development, it can persuasively be argued that material by Carr and Blackwell shaped Johnson's approach more than any other single source.

LEROY CARR TINKLING THE IVORIES

Leave it to Yazoo to put together a first-rate collection of the duo's late-1920s and early-1930s material that doesn't include better-known but perhaps overly-familiar sides such as "How Long - How Long," "You Got to Reap What You Sow," and "Blues Before Sunrise." To wit, the imaginatively-compiled Naptown Blues 1929-1934 emphasizes Carr and Blackwell's less-celebrated uptempo songs that to my non-musician ears sound insufficiently low-down to be considered blues in the traditional 12-bar sense. However one assesses these 14 tracks, they demonstrate how perfectly the musicians complemented each other and why they are the standard by which all other contemporary piano-guitar combinations are judged. This is especially apparent on irresistibly rhythmic numbers clearly intended for dancing including "Carried Water for the Elephant" and "Low Down Dog Blues," with the circus-themed lyrics of the first title giving it an almost novelty-tune feel. The similar "Papa Wants a Cookie," "Gettin' All Wet," "Memphis Town," and "Papa Wants to Knock a Jug" maintain the joyous mood and feature the added bonus of some infectious duet vocals. The laid-back melancholia of the title track, "I Keep the Blues," "What More Can I Do," "Fore Day Rider," and "Hold Them Puppies" find Carr and Blackwell performing in the somber vein with which they are more generally associated, while "Longing for My Sugar" and a cover of Irving Berlin's "How About Me?" show how they can successfully interpret even sentimental pop-oriented pieces such as these. Josh White plays second guitar (a National, to be precise) on the former and replaces Blackwell entirely on the Charlie Spand-esque "Bread Baker."

**A sincere THANK YOU to Pieter making an exquisite-sounding rip of this album available to me.

THE CRIMINALLY-UNDERRATED FRANCIS "SCRAPPER" BLACKWELL

1. Carried Water for the Elephant
2. Low Down Dog Blues
3. Papa Wants a Cookie
4. Naptown Blues
5. Bread Baker
6. I Keep the Blues
7. Gettin' All Wet
8. What More Can I Do?
9. Longing for My Sugar
10. Fore Day Rider
11. How About Me?
12. Memphis Town
13. Hold Them Puppies
14. Papa Wants to Knock a Jug