Louisiana Red

Louisiana Red - Broadcast March 2009

Last session we covered American folk singer Odetta, who died aged 77 in late 2008. In doing so, we mentioned that Odetta’s obituary in the NY Times listed our subject today as being her third husband. But other sources say that they were only ‘companions”

Interestingly, there is no disputing any of the reports regarding the names of Odetta’s first two husbands – Don Gordon 1959 and Gary Shead late 60’s. Now Gordon was a black film and television actor… but more interesting to me is that the Washington Post listed Gary Shead as being the Australian Painter Gary Shead. Now as far as I can determine, there is only one Australian painter Gary Shead, (born 1942) and who lives south of Sydney. This Gary Shead won the Archibald prize in 1993

So if this is true – in the late 60s, America’s folk queen who would have been in her late 30’s married an Australian artist 10 years her junior.

The third husband, or perhaps companion whom she married in 1977, is Iverson Minter, better known as Louisiana Red

Interestingly this is not mentioned at all in Minter’s website, although he lists two other wives

Let the man introduce himself..

1 I am Louisiana Red – 1962 – Low Down Back Porch – Tk 3 – 3.32

Just as there is uncertainty about whether Minter was actually married to Odetta, (not that that really matters) there’s also uncertainty about his origins. His own website says he was born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1932. However virtually every other document says he was born in 1936 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I think the 1936 date is correct.

What seems undisputed is that his mother died one week later from pneumonia. Five years later his father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. He was in various orphanages in New Orleans for three years until his grandmother took him to live in Pittsburgh.

She bought him a guitar when he was eleven, and at fourteen he was in the streets playing for change with Orville Witt (one-string tub bass) and Frank Flowers (harmonica). He spent a year in a reformatory after he was caught up in a grocery store hold-up.

In 1950, at age 14 he left Pittsburgh and headed to Michigan, where he got work in the Oldsmobile plant

At 16 he enlisted in the army and spent time in Korea

.After his discharge, he continued drifting and hanging around clubs, studying the blues greats of the da, imitating the masters and developing his own style. He spent two years in the late 1950s as part of the Detroit blues scene, playing with the likes of Little Walter, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, John Lee Hooker and Eddie Kirkland. He recorded many times during these years, including minor sessions for Checker, Fury and Atlas preceded his first major session for the Roulette label

During this time he recorded under various pseudonyms including Rocky Fuller, Guitar Red and Playboy Fuller before settling on "Louisiana Red," a nickname apparently derived from his love of Louisiana hot sauce.

He became a typical example of the lone bluesman ("just me and my guitar"), and many of his songs are rooted in his own personal experiences.

In 1960, he moved to New Jersey and married. In 1962, he met up with producer Henry Glover and his first album, Lowdown Back Porch Blues, was recorded in New York and released in 1963. A track from this album became a national hit.

Listen out to the lyrics - great imagery as to how he would go to the UN and solve the Cuban Missile Crisis, and fix up the US Senate by installing .

Ray Charles and Lightnin' Hopkins

And a guy like Jimmy Reed

Bo Diddley and Big Mabel

Be all I need!"

2 Reds Dream – 1962 – Low Down Back Porch – Tk 1 – 2.48

Another autobiographic number preceding the civil rights marches of the mid 60s, with the lyrics “ride on to your freedom, make the Northern states your home”

3 Ride On Red, Ride On – 1963 – Low Down Back Porch – Tk 7 – 2.52

Red was often characterized as a ‘sponge’ for the music he heard around him, and in the mid 60’s he was doing eerily correct recreations of tracks by masters such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Jimmy Reed. Muddy Waters once said of him ”Well I’ll be damned, that boy sounds just like me”

Muddy Waters number …

4 Rolling Stone – Oct 1965 – Best Of – Tk 2 – 3.06

Elmore James’ style, if not his lyrics can be heard in this track from Nov 1965

5 Freight Train To Ride – Nov 1965 – Best Of – Tk 8 – 3.30

It’s interesting that Red cut a few records as Elmore James Jr

From 1965 to 73 he recorded with producer Herb Abrahamson cutting 78 songs, but only two were released

In 1972, his first wife died of cancer, leaving him with three children to support.

In 1976, he recorded an album with guitarist Lefty Dizz, which was promptly stored away for over twenty years before being released in 2001.

Side note -Lefty Dizz, real name Walter Washington was a flamboyant Chicago bluesman, born around the same time as Red, in 1937 but who died on cancer in 1993. Dizz played with Junior Wells, JB Lenoir and Hound Dog Taylor, but recorded very little under his own name

Start with a few minutes a track recorded at this 1976 session which clearly shows JLHs influence.

6 Going Train Blues – 1976 – Walked All Night Long – Tk 9 – 4.47, play 3.00 then fade

Another track from this session, where the singer is threatening to murder his partner

7 I’ll Pay the Price – 1976 – Walked All Night Long – Tk 10 – 3.08

This track was written by Kent Cooper - a white journalist and songwriter who managed Red for a while, and who obviously had a few issues in his personal relationships.

Cooper regarded Red as an artist of the style of John Lee Hooker or Lightning Hopkins, an intense, mood-setter of a bluesman with a great improvisatory style. His interest in recording Red led to several well regarded albums.

In this live number from a 1978 London club date, he continues the same theme as the last, with a track by the same songwriter, Kent Cooper

It would be hard to miss you baby/with my pistol in your mouth

You might be thinking about going up north/but your brains is staying south

8 Sweet Blood Call – 1978 – Blues Collection – Tk 5 – 3.43

During the early 1980's, Louisiana Red moved to Phoenix, Arizona, at the urging of his friend, harp player Bob Corritore. Red played around town in the local blues clubs and festivals, and recorded the album "Sitting Here Wonderin", which years later came out on the Earwig label. Title track ….

9 Sittin Here Wonderin – Mid 1982 – Sittin Here Wonderin – Tk 6 – 3.36

During the 1980's, the demand for traditional blues in the U.S. seemed at an all-time low, and Red left Phoenix in 1982 to tour Europe. As part of this tour, Red visited Germany, and at the urging of friend and then Hanover resident, pianist Champion Jack Dupree, took an apartment in the same building that Jack lived in. In moving to Europe he joined the long line of US bluesmen like Memphis Slim, Willie Mabon, Wddie Boyd and others. He has lived in Hanover ever since, with his wife Dora whom he married in 1984.

Track recorded in London, in 1990. Elmore James style number with one Jon Cleary on piano

10 Valerie – 1990 – Blues Collection – Tk 4 – 3.43

Red’s ongoing interest in topical and political themes is evident from this track from early 2002

11 Sept 11 Blues – April 2002 – No Turn on Red – Tk 4 – 4.16

Fred McDowell track recorded 18 months later

12 You Got To Move – Sept 2003 – No Turn on Red – Tk 8 – 3.33

Red maintains a busy recording and performing schedule - Tour Schedule for early 2009 shows in Ghana in Jan and early Feb, Netherlands in Feb, Germany and Greece in March and UK in April and early May, and a month in USA in July.

Red has been around for almost as long as Buddy Guy, and to some extent deserves the same stature. But some bad luck early in his career, and his isolation in Europe from the early 80s has meant that he has never received the recognition he deserves.

Close out with a 2003 version of a track Red first recorded in 1965. This is Red’s New Dream. Here he dreams of a trip to Mars and he recounts his conversations with the head Martian

13 Red’s New Dream – Sept 2003 – No Turn on Red – Tk 10 – 5.36