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Willie Dixon |
Willie Dixon's Childhood
and
A Detour To Visit Little Brother Montgomery
Willie Dixon was born in 1915 in Vicksburg Mississippi. The 7th of 14 children, from an early age he was noted to enjoy wordplay and had a gift for rhyming. Those verbal skills would serve him well through his life. Like most kids in the south at that time he heard music from a variety of sources-gospel, blues, country & western that they would sing and imitate like children do. Many sources report that he was particularly drawn to local blues musician Little Brother Montgomery. I was unaware of Little Brother Montgomery's music until I began to research Willie Dixon. His name came up frequently enough that I had to check him out. So lets take a quick detour off of Route 66 to listen to a little of the music of an influencer of an influencer. Archive.Org furnishes us with a set of his music:
Album: Little Brother Montgomery Collection
- Brothers Boogie 2:56
- Buddy Boldens Blues 4:36
- Come On In 3:10
- Crescent City Blues 2:39
- Doctor Write Me A Prescription For The Blues 4:15
- Farish Street Blues 2:32
- Farish Street Jive 2:31
- Farro Street Jive 2:08
- First Time I Met The Blues 2:47
- Mama You Don't Mean Me No Good 3:13
- Michigan Water Blues 3:37
- No Special Rider Blues 4:14
- Oh Daddy 3:29
- Pleading Blues 3:37
- Prisoner Bound Blues 4:23
- Riverside Boogie 2:33
- Santa Fe 2:40
- No Special Rider 2:52
- Shreveport Farewell 3:36
- Tasty Blues 4:44
- Up The Country Blues 4:40
- Vicksburg Blues 2:54
I'm glad we took that little detour and I can see why Willie Dixon liked Montgomery's style. Now back to our story. Life was hard for black families in the rural South, especially in the 1920's whether Ku Klux Klan was at its peak of size and power. Willie began working at age 8 to help support himself and his large family. His poverty caused him to have several scrapes the the law over petty crimes that are so common in poverty stricken areas. When Dixon was 13 he decided to set off on his own to go to Chicago and make his fortune. It was the kind of thing a lot of young teenagers do to test their independence. It would also change his life.
Hopping a freight train with a friend he was caught and arrested for "hoboing." The crime carried a sentence of six months at the county work farm, Allen Farm. Allen Farm was a notorious work farm that basically treated arrested young black men in the South as virtual slaves. A great article about his arrest can be found HERE. As many a blues musician claimed, prison was a were he really picked up a knack for playing the blues, The legend is that he he saw that others were not being released at the end of their time served but were having there times extended for the most minor of infractions so that the county could maintain their pool of labor. According to the story, rather than waiting to have his sentence extended indefinitely, he took advantage of the relatively lax security at the work farm and he managed an escape. After slipping through the woods, and crossing a river to hide his his scent from the hounds, he made his way to the railroad tracks. Willie Dixon finally succeeded in getting aboard that freight car headed for Chicago.
When he arrived in Chicago, Dixon did not immediately set out pursuing a career in the music business, He began work as boxer. as a big man of over 300 pounds of muscle conditioned by hard work and hard living he achieved some success, He won a Golden Glove award and worked as a sparring partner for Joe Louis. It was to be a short career. After only about 5 pro fights he found that he was being cheated out profits by his manager. A confrontation at the commissioners office led to Dixon losing his cool and threatening violence to his manager. The incident caused him a six month ban from the sport.
Shortly after his boxing incident, Willie Dixon was drafted to serve in Army. He declared himself a conscientious objector. Perhaps due to his experience as a professional boxer (shades of Mohammad Ali), he was not granted objector status and instead was jailed, After about year he was released and returned to Chicago in 1942 forming a band called the Four Jumps of Jive.
Making Some Good Moves At Chess
In the mid 1940's Willie Dixon began working for Chess Records. Chess Records is perhaps the most important label in blues music and was highly influential in spreading the sounds of Chicago's blues music to rest of the world. It was at Chess that Dixon would have his greatest impact. In 1952, Muddy Waters (who we will be talking about in future posts) recorded his song "Hoochie Coochie Man". It was a huge seller and made music audience take note of the fresh new sound coming out of Chicago, He would continue to write songs for Chess records artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II and many more. Many other artist have made recordings of his songs as well. He wrote so many of the standards of the genre that it not a stretch to say that Willie Dixon is the poet-laureate of Chicago Blues. Later, at Chess, he would also compose songs for Chuck Berry, making him a key player in early Rock and Roll history. This list from Wikipedia shows exactly how influential and successful he was:
As so often was (and is) the case, record companies often do not compensate nearly in relation to the importance of the artists they record. Willie Dixon was often played a flat rate, but even when he had royalties due they would not necessarily come without a fight. In the mid 70's his publisher Arc Records sued Led Zeppelin over they used "Bring It On Home" on their second album without paying royalties. Dixon then was forced to sue Arc Records before they gave him his share. Later he would successfully sue Led Zeppelin for songwriter credit and royalties based on similarities of his Muddy Waters song "You Need Love" to Led Zeppelins wildly successful "Whole Lotta Love". It was one of Led Zeppelin was numerous times charged with plagiarism as this clip illustrates:
After having so many problems with royalties in his own life he started the Blue Heaven Foundation in 1982 to assist musicians in obtaining their financial rights. Willie Dixon died in 1992 in Burbank California. His recent awards include:
- 1984: Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
- 1988: Grammy for album "Human Touch"
- 1998:Grammy Hall of Fame Award
- 2004:Listed in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll
- 2011:Voted number 225 by representatives of the music industry and press as part of Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
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| Sign in Mississippi Remembering Willie Dixon |
Playlist Notes
Willie Dixon wrote the backbone of my blues music collection, but he really does not have a strong presence as a performer in my collection. I will have to work on that shortcoming. In fact, I am embarrassed to say I could only find three tracks of his to add to our playlist this week. They are:
- Beer Drinking Woman Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways
Willie Dixon & Memphis Slim 2:32
- Joggie Boogie Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways
- 300 Pounds Of Joy Unknown Source Willie Dixon & Howlin' Wolf 3:06
Mileage Stats
Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/523 Tracks/95 Videos/23 Posts
Highway 101: 13 Miles/1 State/433 Tracks/129 Videos/16 Posts
Interstate 95: 0 Miles/1 State/10 Tracks/23 Videos/5 Posts
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