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Warner Williams
Blues Highway
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings |
Earlier this year, I
sort of got into a Piedmont blues groove. I happened across a
copy of John Jackson's Front Porch Blues in a used record
store, an album I had wanted for a long time. Bill Mitchell
reviewed it favorably in the July 1999 edition of Blues Bytes.
Listening to Jackson
put me in the mood to hear more music, so I ordered a couple of
others that I'd been wanting to hear for a long time. Among
those purchases was Blues Highway from Maryland-born
singer/guitarist Warner Williams and his musical partner,
blues harpist Jay Summerour.
Williams came from a musical family, picking up the guitar at
age six, while the rest of his family sang and played numerous
instruments, performing as the Williams Family. Williams started
playing various parties and church get-togethers, soon becaming
a mainstay on the Washington, D.C. scene.
He teamed up with
Summernour in the early '90s (as Little Bit a Blues), and while
their music can be safely filed under Piedmont blues, there's a
lot more to it than that tag.
Blues Highway
was released in 2004 on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, but it
was recorded live from two performances at Wolf Trap, one in
1993 and the other in 1995. Williams and Summerour certainly
play the blues, but their set list included selections from
other genres, similar to the way blues artists in the early
recording era (1920-'30s) incorporated other sources into their
repertoire.
The duo open with
“Step It Up and Go,” originally recorded by Piedmont pioneer
Blind Boy Fuller, before moving to John Henry Barbee's “Ain't
Gonna Pick No More Cotton,” and a jaunty version of the country
blues standard “Digging My Potatoes,” first recorded by Little
Son Joe with Memphis Minnie.
The gentle cover of
“Bring It On Down To My House,” a song associated with Bob
Wills, but actually recorded earlier by Blind Willie McTell, is
a nice treat with Summerour's whistling a particular highlight.
Williams and
Summerour's version of “Key To The Highway” also takes a gentle
approach with some nimble guitar work, also the case on the 1930
Tin Pan Alley hit “I'm Confessing That I Love You,” made
famous by Rudy Vallee.
“Good Morning Little
Schoolgirl,” recorded originally by John Lee Williamson (Sonny
Boy, Version I), gets a brisk delivery with a strong guitar solo
from Williams, and “Mouse On The Hill” is a delightful variation
on the 17th century tune “Froggy Went a-Courtin'.”
On the good-natured
country tune, “Hey Bartender, There's A Big Bug In My Beer”
(originally recorded by Merrill Moore in 1952 as “Big Bug
Boogie”), Williams is joined by Kentucky guitarist Eddie
Pennington.
Williams also
delivers a laid-back reading of Big Maceo Merriweather's
“Worried Life Blues,” and a lively performance with Summerour of
“I Got A Woman,” not the Ray Charles R&B hit of the '50s, but a
tune originally recorded as “River Hip Mama” by Washboard Sam in
1942.
The album wraps up
with Big Bill Broonzy's “I Feel So Good,” an exuberant version
of the Fats Waller jazz classic “Honeysuckle Rose,” and the
duo's “Little Bit a Blues Theme,” where Summerour provides an
introduction to the pair and Williams improvises a few blues
verses to close the show.
Williams passed away
in 2021 at the age of 91, but Summerour continues to perform.
Blues Highway is the type of recording that fits perfectly
on a nice, relaxing day.. The type you will just play over and
over again.
If you're not
familiar with the Piedmont variety of blues, this is a great
introduction to the style from two of the more modern masters.
--- Graham Clarke
