WILLIE " 61 " BLACKWELL

WILLIE " 61" BLACKWELL, fué un guitarrista y cantante del cual se habla efímeramente en el libro de referencia : ALAN LOMAX , se sabe que grabó con CARL MARTIN  y que fué el propio Lomax que consiguió también algunas grabaciones suyas en las visitas que éste efectuaba en busca de bluesmen anónimos. 

        

Speaking of Ron Harwood and Sippie Wallace those who know the work of Willie '61' Blackwell (either his 8 Bluebird recordings or the three for Lomax) may be interested to know that Harwood saw both of them at a Detroit concert in the mid-60s. Here's what he had to report on the event (extracted from a longer feature inJazz Journal June 1967):

Dr. Ross could only remember the name of one other blues singer in the Flint area. It certainly was not much of a name to go on. Finding someone named '61' in a city the size of Flint was not a pleasant thought. But after a few trips to Flint (80 minutes out of Detroit) and a fair share of blind alleys, we finally located Willie '61' Blackwell living about a mile from the Buick automotive plant. 

The nickname '61 was derived from a Bluebird recording that Willie made in 1942 called Highway 61 Blues. After several weeks had passed since we found Willie, Sam Stark noticed that Willie had been recorded by the Library of Congress in 1942 on Sadie Beck's plantation in Arkansas. The record was called 'Negro Blues and Hollers,' and the selection was Four O'Clock Flower Blues a song that he had also recorded for Bluebird. 

The Northwest Folklore Society held a concert in which Willie appeared along with Little Sonny, Washboard Willie, Dr. Ross and Sippie Wallace. Prior to the concert, we had obtained very few complete songs by Willie. He was approaching senility and he constantly repeated the fact that he would soon be leaving for Chicago to record with 'Big Bill'. But in the concert, the applause of the audience snapped him out of his dream world and brought him round to singing all of his songs completely. We had learned that Willie, during the Twenties, had been a piano player for Rev. Connie Resmond (about whom no information can be found) and that he had quit playing piano after a serious wound in the left arm. So we had a piano on stage 'just in case' he might feel like playing it. After he had finished playing guitar and singing we ran across the stage and seated him at the piano. Then, as if the past was clouding his eves with memories, he began to play and sing as he had thirty-five years ago. Months of hard work melted into mere triviality as the piano banged out 1920s Chicago style blues. It was a moment I shall never forget. We learned that Willie was very friendly with Robert Johnson, the immortal Delta blues singer. After Willie's accident, it was Robert who taught him how to play the guitar. In 1941 Willie recorded eight sides for Bluebird. Some of them like Bald Eagle Blues, Four O'Clock Flower Blues and Highway 61 Blues are still played by Chicago musicians like Sunnyland Slim, who played Willie's Machine Gun Blues at this years Maraposa (Canada) Folk Festival.