Yes folks, today we landed with the prewar blues. I have to pay attention about what I'm writing here, the blues police is watching and will nail me down if I make a mistake, any mistake. But you know what? I don't care. Those who want to study the blues history, write a book about it or whatever, go ahead. Papa does what he's good in, remembering what he liked to listen to.

James Arnold was the real thing, one of those who deserve the description "blues pioneer". Besides making blues music, he worked as a farmhand, in the steel industry and he also had a bootlegging business in Chicago. All this and much more information can be found on the internet. What I liked about his music were tracks like Milkcow Blues. Later Elvis would do something with this song, but I deleted that version from my personal harddisk. I do mumble some other stuff from his "Sun Sessions" once in a while in the showers, but ok, that's another story.

Back to Kokomo and his music. Some people do not like to listen to prewar blues: too much scratches, too much noise. Please do not let the decibels of nowadays technology spoil the party. Forget those scratches, just listen to the music and the voice of a great blues guy. In the old days, I only bought one record of his, if you do the same, you'll have all trendsetting tracks of those days. Like I said, "Milkcow Blues" is nice, but also the anarchic cut "Paddlin' Madeline Blues" which he recorded under the name Gitfiddle Jim. Find out the rest yourself. Oh yes, Robert Johnson and in a way also Elmore James were influenced by Kokomo. Here's the one you should look for:

Kokomo Arnold - Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1930-1935) - Document 1991

If you like it, there's much more because this fine slide guitarist recorded more then 80 tracks in his short career. Next week we'll have a barbeque, see you!

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