Shell Smith and the "Carroll County Blues" Get Recognition

The (Carroll County) Conservative, Sep 5, 1968.

Shellie "Shell" Walton Smith's obituary is short. It does not mention his brief career as a recording artist, or his role in the career of local blues artist John Hurt. A second obituary for Smith reveals the "long hard fight" for life that was ultimately lost, and the well-attended funeral of the guitar picker who accompanied fiddler William T. Narmour on several recordings, such as "Carroll County Blues." He was indeed much loved by a family that fought hard to hold on in the end. Shell Smith had played out his life true to the bone, picking his guitar with Willie Narmour at socials, picnics, contests and especially, the country dances in Carroll and in neighboring counties. 

Histories will tell you that Smith was poor, had little formal education and never learned to read music, but, among his own, he had solid validation and undying love. He would struggle to gain that validation from the rest of the world, and still does, but Mike Compton and Norman Blake are trying to validate his status to the larger musical world.  There is no concomitant effort at filling the silences about their true legacy to an increasingly uneducated populace, however, it's just an album of Narmour and Smith songs.  And it will most assuredly give rise to some questions about the composers.  If you aren't familiar with these stalwarts of the local community, the record will be a fine starting place.  The silences around it, however, will require some effort to fill.  By making his music more accessible to a new generation and garnering validation for the duo from around the globe, nevertheless, Compton and Blake may make the wish of one descendant come true:

“Smith was a `boomchang' guitar player, with a pick most likely, a flat sort of pick….What I would like is for people to always have access to Granddaddy’s music. It’s so hard to find copies of records that aren’t badly scratched. This access I’d like especially for my relatives, and for people who grew up in Carroll County and don’t have access anymore.”

Born to sharecroppers Irwin and Alice Smith on November 26, 1895, the young man that everyone called "Shell" came up dirt poor in rural Beat 2 of Carroll County, Mississippi.  He had married Lillian Kirby by the time he enlisted to serve in World War I, and he started working as a road contractor in the 1920s, physically transforming the promises of county politicians into the promise of a new age.

One element of this new age was the nationwide prohibition of alcohol, but the state of Mississippi had already been dry since 1908.  Carroll County was not unique in that every hollow and valley had a whisky still.  It was through his penchant for moonshine that Shell Smith first became the acquaintance of John Hurt.  In fact, Smith fully owns half the credit for John Hurt's first brush with the record industry, recommending their neighbor when talent scouts asked if they knew any good black guitarists. Hurt, who became internationally known after a blues historian named Tom Hoskins "rediscovered" him in 1963, could not return the favor for either man. Narmour suffered a minor stroke in the mid-1950s, and a massive stroke killed him March 24, 1961. Hoskins tracked down guitarist Shell Smith, who had been working as a janitor at nearby Valley High School, a country school that closed in the late 1960s. But it was too late for Smith too. He died quietly on August 28, 1968. His grave is marked by a respectable headstone in Moore's Memorial Cemetery behind Pisgah church.

c. Dana Brown Skipworth

The (Carroll County)
Conservative, Sep 12, 1968.

The Grave of Shell Smith

The (Carroll County) Conservative, Sep 5, 1968.

Shellie "Shell" Walton Smith's obituary is short. It does not mention his brief career as a recording artist, or his role in the careers of local blues artist John Hurt. A second obituary for Smith reveals the "long hard fight" for life that was ultimately lost, and the well-attended funeral of the guitar picker who accompanied fiddler William T. Narmour on several recordings, such as "Carroll County Blues." He was indeed much loved by a family that fought hard to hold in the end. Shell Smith had played out his life true to the bone, picking his guitar with Willie Narmour at socials, picnics, contests and especially, the country dances in Carroll and in neighboring counties. He had little formal education and never learned to read music, but, among his own, he had solid validation and undying love. He would struggle to gain that validation from the rest of the world, but Mike Compton and Norman Blake are validating his status in the musical world, paying homage by recording an album of Narmour and Smith tunes. By making his music more accessible to a new generation and garnering validation for the duo from around the globe, Compton and Blake are also helping to make the wishes of their descendants come true:

“Smith was a `boomchang' guitar player, with a pick most likely, a flat sort of pick….What I would like is for people to always have access to Granddaddy’s music. It’s so hard to find copies of records that aren’t badly scratched. This access I’d like especially for my relatives, and for people who grew up in Carroll County and don’t have access anymore.”

Born to sharecroppers Irwin and Alice Smith on November 26, 1895, the young man that everyone called "Shell" came up dirt poor in rural Beat 2 of Carroll County, Mississippi. 

He had married Lillian Kirby by the time he enlisted to serve in World War I, and he started working as a road contractor in the 1920s, physically transforming the promises of county politicians into the promise of a new age.

One element of this new age was the nationwide prohibition of alcohol, but the state of Mississippi had already been dry since 1908.  Carroll County was not unique in that every hollow and valley had a whisky still.  It was through his penchant for moonshine that Shell Smith first became the acquaintance of John Hurt.  In fact, Smith fully owns half the credit for John Hurt's first brush with the record industry, recommending their neighbor when talent scouts asked if they knew any good black guitarists. Hurt, who became internationally known after a blues historian named Tom Hoskins "rediscovered" him in 1963, could not return the favor for either man. Narmour suffered a minor stroke in the mid-1950s, and a massive stroke killed him March 24, 1961. Hoskins tracked down guitarist Shell Smith, who had been working as a janitor at nearby Valley High School, a country school that closed in the late 1960s. But it was too late for Smith too. He died quietly on August 28, 1968. His grave is marked by a respectable headstone in Moore's Memorial Cemetery behind Pisgah church.

c. Dana Brown Skipworth

The (Carroll County)
Conservative, Sep 12, 1968.

Jo Ann Kelly Biography Part II: Memphis Bound

Jo Ann Kelly: Memphis Bound

By Pete Moody - 1988

Part 1 - Striking a Chord

This article covers her career from the mid-sixties to the hey-day of early success in concert and on record....

Jo Ann Kelly warming up backstage

In 1965, amplified R&B was competing well with both Jazz and Beat music. Acoustic Blues was also successful in competing with unamplified music in Folk clubs, which had strong traditions in English folksong, ballads and poetry. One such club, Bunjies Folk Club and Coffee House was steeped in these traditions but gave the "new music" a chance. An established resident, Les Bridger, was keen for Jo Ann Kelly to perform, and it soon became a regular event, with both Jo and Les doing sets on the same night. Jo's repertoire included numbers by Lil' Green, American standards "It Ain't Necessarily So", "Summertime" and "Saint James' Infirmary".

Les, keen to play twelve string guitar, suggested that Jo "would sound good on one" and introduced her to Watkins of Balham, a music store run by Chris Ayliff. Jo purchased a Framus twelve string, to the immediate delight of Les and, later, to the delight of her new following. Gigs at Bunjies continued until 1970.

Chris Ayliff became a good connection because he knew such folk luminaries of the day as John Renbourne, Bert Jansch and the like. He also introduced Jo to Leadbelly and Jesse Fuller tunes. Fuller's "Working On The Railroad" and Leadbelly's "Black Girl" and "Ella Speed" were added to the repertoire. Jo was also digging deeper into the Swing Shop's stocks with the continuing aid of Bob Glass. It was at the Swing Shop that Jo met Steve Rye. She had previously seen Steve passing her home, playing blues harp while 4 walking along the road.

By 1966 more clubs were featuring blues. In addition to Bunjies, Jo and Les would play at "The Scots Hoose" at Cambridge Circus and "The Hole In the Wall" at Swiss Cottage. They were also offered more residencies at other clubs, so that in any given week, Jo was working most nights.

Jo was one of the first blues artists to be booked for Surbiton Folk Club at The Assembly Halls — at a fee of £6. "Les Cousins" in Greek Street, often frequented by Davy Graham and Alexis Korner, was a regular spot in Jo's working week.

Jo, following the Yardbirds experience, still fancied sitting in with bands and would do so with John. Lee's Groundhogs at any opportunity — "Not too much" Jo recalls "John Cruikshank was not too keen to have me fronting the band... he enjoyed the singing role"

In 1966, the Folk Blues boom took off in towns up and down the country, such as Bristol, Newcastle, and Reading, where clubs were run with great success. Jo became a regular act at the Bristol Club, often leaving for the gig immediately after the Sunday afternoon sessions at London's Studio 51 Club. College and University gigs were also entering the diary and in 1966 too, Jo often sat in with another band — Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts.

The themes of '66 were continued into 1967, with blues riding high. Dave Kelly joined the ranks of the long-serving John Dummer Blues Band — his first such band venture —and by 1968 the scene had really opened up.

Jo did a radio show with Alexis Korner on the BBC Third Programme in July, guested with Fred McDowell in London's Mayfair Hotel, and recorded for Matchbox and Liberty. She performed at the First National Blues Convention in September and a London Blues Society concert in December, both at The Conway Hall. Ron Ede and Mike Gavin, who ran the Bridge House Club at the Elephant and Castle, gave Jo a Wednesday night residency. Among the acts appearing were John Lee Hooker, Big Boy Crudup, Big Joe Williams, and Fred McDowell. Tony McPhee was a frequent visitor, as was Bob Hall, with whom Jo would, on occasion, rekindle the Kelly/Hall duets. It was at the Bridge House that Jo met Nick Perls when Simon Prager brought him round following a session at Bunjies. Nick was looking for talent to record and Simon knew "just the person".

Nick and Jo met up again at the Blues Convention and struck a deal to record an LP. Fourteen sides were recorded in London in March 1969. Nick's idea was to sell to a major label, and Lawrence Cohn signed her to CBS-Epic Records. The album was released in both the UK and the USA. On the strength of the American release, Jo performed at the Memphis Blues Festival in June, working alongside Furry Lewis, Fred McDowell, Bukka White and Sleepy John Estes. Here too, she met up with Johnny Winter.

Jo returned to the UK before Cohn brought her back for more success with gigs at the CBS Convention in Los Angeles in August, the Second Farnham Blues Festival in September, a concert in Oslo, and a ten-day Melody Maker tour up and down the UK, commencing at the Albert Hall. Three more Liberty records featured her and with two albums on Immediate's Blues Anytime series, appearances on three albums with her brother ("Tramp", John Dummer's "Cabal" album, and Dave Kelly's "Keep It In The Family") 1969 was a hard year to follow.

CBS thought that a Jo Ann Kelly/ Johnny Winter tour would be a commercial success. When Winter had met Jo at Memphis and Los Angeles, he may have "liked what he saw" but once Cohn found out that Winter was going to do a major tour, he had to ask him to consider taking on Jo Ann. Johnny Winter's concept for the tour was that they would open the show together as an acoustic duo, and afterward, he would plugin. [Moody's contention that each of them "would do an acoustic set, then duet, after which Winter's band would back Johnny with Jo sitting in" is about as absurd as it gets really.]

[Moody further contends that "when she declined to work with Johnny Winter, Jo Ann lost the opportunity for a second CBS Album, because the company supported Johnny Winter's ideas for a 'rock' album." Jo parted company with CBS, in his view, due to her disappointment with Winter. Lawrence Cohn, however---the record executive who signed Jo to CBS/Epic, released her LP, brought her to the Annual International CBS Convention in Los Angeles, where she was the absolute hit of the event and set her up to go out on tour with Winter---remembers a quite different series of events altogether. "She started rehearsals with him," Cohn informs, "the plan being that she and Johnny would open up the show as a duo and thereafter Johnny would go electric with his mountain of Marshalls...and then as I had feared, she opted to leave abruptly and return home to the UK." Jo never really wanted to be a huge rock star and perform in stadiums to capacity crowds, Cohn explains. "She...was quite content to do pubs and small concerts in Europe." Her departure from CBS/Epic, moreover, "had absolutely nothing to do with Winter." He released Jo from the label, quite simply, because he recognized that "it was the right thing to do."]

The culture was different — Rock had swallowed the Blues in the States and turned heavy. Winter's band sounded alien to Jo's ears. It wasn't what she wanted, so after a four-day stay, Jo declined the offer and returned home.  The remainder of 1970 was a busy time, with gigs throughout the UK, many on the strength of her album, though she took time off for a USA holiday, in upstate New York with Nick Perls. Her music was now spreading into Europe as well as the States. Solo work was still the theme, but not for long...

During 1970, following the CBS Album release, Jo began to see more of 'Life' in the States. She traveled from New York to Memphis — staying at the Peabody Hotel, journeyed to Brownsville, then went into Mississippi to Clarksdale. The trip was a real eye-opener — showing how blacks lived in the South... with deprivation went the added hardship of combatting the heat and humidity —with neither refrigeration nor air conditioning. Homes were simple timber shacks down on the 'Other Side of Town'. Jo's interest in all this roused the suspicion of the local whites — a sad fact that becomes reality for visitors to the Country.

The Final 20 Years Of Blues Phenom Jo Ann Kelly

Bentonia Summer Festival Boasts Dream Lineup

Bentonia Summer Festival Boasts Dream Lineup

The Yazoo Herald - June 23, 1982

Bobby Rush in 1982

Rhythm and blues artist Bobby Rush headlined--what Jimmy "Duck" Holmes dubbed as--the 3rd annual Bentonia Summer Festival on Saturday, July 3, 1982.

Holmes, who runs the Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, has been a long-time supporter of traditional blues music. "My sole purpose for the festival is to honor the pioneers of blues music," Holmes said Monday. "I'm not doing it to make any money." 

Along with Rush, the festival had other well-known names in the fields of rhythm and blues and "down-home blues," Holmes declared, such as Jack Owens and Bud Spires of Bentonia; James "Son" Thomas, Joe Cooper, and Eddie Cusic, all of Leland; Boyd Rivers of Pickens; Sam Myers of Jackson; Tommy West of Flora; Jacob Stuckey of Bentonia; the Jesse Robinson Rhythm & Blues Band from Jackson; and the Ezell Townsend "Love of Soul" Band, also from Jackson. 

Best known for hit songs "Chicken Head" and "Mary Jane." Bobby Rush came on stage around 6 p.m.  The festival began at 1 p.m. and lasted until after 8 p.m.

Besides musical entertainment, Holmes organized a motorcycle rodeo and softball games at nearby sites.  At the motorcycle rodeo, area clubs, including the Golden Eagles Club and the Interstate Riders Club of Yazoo City, participated in races and stunt riding. 

Admission to the festival was $4, with advance tickets available at the Blue Front Cafe for $2.  The festival, as in years past, was held just north of Bentonia on the Holmes farm.  The festival site is just north of Bentonia. It can be reached by going east on the gravel road which runs alongside the Richardson Brothers Green Light Auto Pieta building on Highway 49. The festival is one-quarter mile from the Highway 49 turnoff.

Bobby Rush in Jackson, MS 1982