Blues Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews

Jesse Thomas

Jesse thomas Jessethomas was one of about half a dozen prewar blues singers I had the opportunity to interview as they appeared at the University of Chicago’s famed Folk Fest.the resident blues expert on the festival selection committee was David waldman, who over the years did a wonderful job of ferreting out the best of the surviving prewar blues singers. Among the other oldtimers that Dave recruited to appear in the fest were Grey Ghost, Jack Owens, Mose Vinson , r. L. Burnside, George McCoy, and Lavada Durst. I’d come out to see them perform at the festival and at its adjoining workshops and to make arrangements to interview them for the radio program. Despite the limited budget, Jesse was excited with the travel and the performance opportunity and appeared excited to do this interview , because as a Shreveport , Louisiana, resident he listened to my program each week (Blues Before Sunrise probably does a more thorough job of covering Louisiana than any other state in the union, since it’s broadcast on more radio stations there). the major dividing line in the world of blues isworldwar II.there’s prewar Jessethomas. Photo by Al Brandtner. blues—blues performed and recorded before the war—and postwar blues— blues performed and recorded after the war. If you were to give a thumbnail sketch of the differences between prewar and postwar blues, the two major differences would be these: prewar artists generally performed and recorded in a solo setting and on acoustic instruments, while postwar artists performed and recorded in an ensemble format on amplified instruments. Jessethomas is part of a lonesome blues genre comprised of musicians who were essentially prewar stylists who performed and recorded in the years following world war II. they played a prewar style, performed and recorded largely as solo artists, and spent most of their time performing and recording in an acoustic setting—no amplification.those who did use amplification used only the most basic setups: an electronic pickup on an acoustic guitar coupled with a small amplifier that had only basic settings—on/off and volume—no tone, no treble, no bass, and so forth. Other members of this particular genre include Smokey Hogg, Frankie Lee Simms, Country Jim, and first and foremost Lightning Hopkins. Unfortunately, this genre holds limited appeal to a contemporary listening audience that is used to music with a strong beat. within this genre, Jesse’s music holds a special place. His playing and ambiance were unique, exquisite, and ethereal. His stated technique of trying to make his guitar sound like a saxophone coupled with the setting of his amplification produced a sound found few other places in the realm of blues. Despite the quality of his music, however, his career was a litany of disappointment and poverty—a life in pursuit of show-business glory— undermined by bad breaks, bad decisions, and bad timing. this interview was conducted on February 15, 1992. Jessethomas died on August 15, 1995. ■ ■ ■ When were you born and where? IwasbornFebruary3,1911,inLogansport,Louisiana.That’sasmalltownsouth of Shreveport, Louisiana—about forty miles from Shreveport. On the highway going from Shreveport to Houston, Texas. Right on the line of Texas. How many in your family? There were thirteen of us. In that lineup of thirteen, where were you? I’m twelfth. (laughs) Almost to the end! jesse thomas 19 Any of the brothers and sisters still alive? No, they’re all gone now. What did your parents do? They were farmers in the small town of Logansport—sharecroppers, at that time they were called sharecroppers—and we all were raised in the country, on the farm. What we raised mostly was cotton, but we raised some corn. Then we had vegetable gardens that we would raise food for ourselves, but the cotton was for sale. It was commercial. That was how we made our living. We would plant cotton and raise cotton, and we would tend it, and that was our income. But the corn was what we used to feed our cows, chickens, and hogs, mules, horses; and the vegetable garden we raised vegetables for ourselves, but the cotton was for sale. What was your first exposure to music? Well, we were fromamusical family. Myfather heplayed violin, and mybrothers they kept an old guitar around the house most of the time. And they played it and I just watched them play. And by me...