Atlanta guitarist Peg Leg Howell was one of the first Bluesmen ever to make a ‘Race Record‘, and he was also re-discovered in the 60s when he recorded again. Joshua Barnes Howell of Eatonton GA lost a leg in an argument with a shotgun toting brother-in-law, and he turned to music when he found it hard to find work as a field hand. Playing and singing on the streets of Atlanta, Peg Leg spent some time in jail for bootlegging. When Columbia sent their field unit to Atlanta in 1926, they were pleased to bump into Peg Leg, and his ‘New Prison Blues’ was their first country Blues record. Guitarist Henry Williams and fiddle player Eddie Anthony would play on street corners with Peg Leg, and they often backed him on his records over the next few years. (allaboutblues.com, 2020)
Howell supplemented his income by bootlegging liquor, an offense which led to a one-year prison sentence in 1925. Soon after his release, he signed to Columbia; his first session for the label yielded the menacing "New Prison Blues," a song he'd learned while serving time. Having amassed a huge repertory of songs over the years, Howell recorded prolifically over the following months, his work ranging from traditional ballads ("Skin Game Blues") to dance numbers (the minor hit "Beaver Slide Rag") to even jazz ("New Jelly Roll Blues"); while some of his sides comprised solo performances, others featured the backing of his street group, the Gang (guitarist Henry Williams and fiddler Eddie Anthony).
Columbia pulled the plug in 1929, at which time Howell returned to playing Atlanta's famed Decatur Street district; Williams was himself imprisoned not long after, and following Anthony's 1934 death, Howell gradually disappeared from the area blues circuit. He spent the next several decades clouded in obscurity, with diabetes claiming his other leg in 1952. Howell was 75 when the Testament label sought him out in 1963 to record his first new material in over 40 years; he died in Atlanta on August 11, 1966. (allmusic.com, 2020).
10 Licks
Lick 1. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Tishamingo Blues’
Lick 2. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Walkin' Blues’
Lick 3. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Doin' Wrong’
Lick 4. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Please Ma'am’
Lick 5. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Fairy Blues’
Lick 6. Peg Leg Howell - ‘New Prison Blues’
Lick 7. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Low Down Rounder Blues’
Lick 8. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Rock and Gravel Blues’
Lick 9. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Saide Lee Blues’
Lick 10. Peg Leg Howell - ‘Broke and Hungry Blues’
Licks Transposed
Lick 1. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 2. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 3. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 4. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 5. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 6. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 7. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 8. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 9. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Lick 10. Peg Leg Howell - Key of F
Backing Track
Peg Leg Howell Backing Track - Key of F
Essential Listening
Album cover: Apple Music
Peg Leg Howell - The Very Best of Peg Leg Howell
Released in 2014.
Features songs such as Tishamingo Blues, Walkin’ Blues, Doin’ Wrong, Bail and Chain Blues and Saide Lee Blues.
