Song:Cotton Crop Blues
Album:Blue Flames: A Sun Blues Collection
Blues harmonica legend James Cotton was best known for his 70s recordings on Buddah Records. Before that he was in Muddy Waters band and he was a Chess Records session musician. Before that, Cotton Crop Blues was one of two singles he recorded for Sun Records. In 1952 Cotton was living in Memphis. He was playing in Howlin' Wolf's band among others. He got his own radio show on KWEM in Memphis. Sun Records owner Sam Phillips approached Cotton about recording. He recorded two singles for Sun in 1953. My Baby was the first single followed by Cotton Crop Blues. Though the singles went nowhere, Cotton Crop Blues was a regular song in Cotton's repertoire. He recorded it in the 60s on Vanguard and also in the 90s. The odd thing about these two singles is that Cotton only sings. He doesn't play harmonica. The most notable thing about Cotton Crop Blues is Pat Hare's guitar. Supposedly this was the first recorded use of heavily distorted power chords. Hare was mainly a sideman for everyone from Muddy Waters to Junior Parker and his guitar work is highly respected and influential. He only recorded one single in 1954 called I'm Gonna Murder My Baby. It appears on this Rhino various artists budget comp along with Cotton Crop Blues. Other musicians on Cotton Crop Blues are Mose Vinson on piano and John Bowers on drums. Vinson played on a few Sun singles but mostly he was the custodian at the boarding house next door where most of the musicians stayed when they were in Memphis. Bowers was in Junior Parker's band along with Cotton. Soon after this Waters needed a new harmonica player to replace Junior Wells and Cotton moved to Chicago in 1955. And that's when Cotton's career took off. Here's a video of Cotton Crop Blues by James Cotton.
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