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Authenticity is Everything
The Great American Blues Players Signature Study: Please Add Your Examples
Hello everyone,
I have been wanting to start a thread on this for a long time, and i figure now is as good of a time as any. I collect primary guitar players, and have been selling alot of them off recently, but one thing i continue to collect are the great old blues guitar players. Their is something about the Delta Blues traveling lifestyle that holds alot of wonder for me. These guys laid the foundation of modern music and they inspired many, if not most, of the musicians working today. Most think of Robert Johnson when they think of the great Blues players, but their are so so many others that deserve mention and tons of respect.
As anyone who has ever studied early blues signatures knows, they are incredibly difficult to authenticate or even find at times. You have guys like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, BB King just to name a few whose signature examples can readily be found. But aside from a few key players, autographs from these guys are very hard to find. And when you find one, often you really have to trust your source or do some serious research. And even then you often cant find examples.
So i thought this would be a good thread that may help future collectors out with examples we think are authentic. Please post examples of blues signatures that you like and want to share. Guys like Buddy Guy and BB King probably dont need to be posted in mass b/c their signatures are so abundant, but dont hesitate if you would like to post some.
I hope this can turn into a good database, and really the only one of its kind on the net. I have many examples from many different sources and if someone doesnt want their picture posted just leave a comment and i will delete it.
I am going to start this off with Albert King. You can find Albert King signatures from time to time, and of the 3 King's, he is the next most available after BB. Alberts signatures are typically sloppy, shaky, and can take on a few forms. Albert often write "Love You" before his signature, and his typical signature takes the form of A. King. I have also seen variations including "A.B. King". King often would not write out King fully and the formation would flow from the K almost into the g. I have seen my fair share of forgeries with Albert, but his signature can be authenticated in most instances in my opinion. Here are some examples with sources:
This is one album i used to own and recently sold on RR Auction. It came from "Mr. Bebop", of Larrys Books and Autographs. He specializes in blues signatures and this was a great example of king.
These next images came from RR Auction
The Ace of Spades album is a nice example, and the rarer A.B. King signature. The middle cut display is more atypical. This one in my eyes can go either way but is probably good. The A looks typical but the King is a little more unusual. But he did do this from time to time in his shorter signature versions. The bottom example is a typical King signature.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tacoma Blues on
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I had Roger Epperson do a quick opinion on this and he gave it a thumbs up. He reviewed the piece when it went to auction several years ago.
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Permalink Reply by Nate on
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Hi Carl,
Following on from the father of Hill Country Blues, Fred McDowell, I would like to delve a little bit more into the people who excelled in this best described ‘hypnotic’ style of the Blues.
One of its greatest and most famous exponents is Robert Lee Burnside, better known as R.L. Burnside. The singer/songwriter/guitarist was born 1926 in Oxford MS, he spent most of his life in the Mississippi Hill country, but unlike many of his peers he did tour quite extensively outside of this area. His life reads like so many a hard-time bluesmans book; a big drinking sharecropper, with multiple members of his family murdered and time spent in prison for shooting and killing a man (leading to the immortal line "I didn't mean to kill nobody. I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head and two times in the chest. Him dying was between him and the Lord“).
Learning music from his near neighbour, the previously covered Mississippi Fred McDowell, he has also cited Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker as major influences on his playing. Though he recorded as early as the 60s his rise to national and international fame did not occur until the 90s when as a member of the Fat Possum crew his music was lauded and covered by the blossoming Indie Rock fraternity, with the likes of Beck, The White Stripes and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion singing his praises.
With regards to his autograph, they almost exclusively followed the same pattern “R. L. Burnside” with the “Burnside” being signed in various states of completeness/tidiness. All the autographs I have seen are not dedicated, though sometimes he would add the phrase “A Friend”. He did appear to sign quite freely so his autographs can be found, but since his passing (in 2005) his popularity seems to have only increased and so his signatures always sell well. I would expect a cut to be around $100 and signed items like CDs/Albums etc to be $150 plus. As usual eBay is the place for a bargain, so you may well be able to get something cheaper there if you know what you’re looking at. To help with this here are a few examples:
Firstly a recently sold cut (framed with a photo) which went at auction for $150:
Next a recently sold CD from eBay which I believe sold for around $100:
Then a great example from Carl:
Finally some of my examples – a couple of signed pages, and a signed 45 cover (signed by Burnside and band members: drummer Cedric Burnside (his grandson) and guitarist Kenny Brown (who Burnside called is “adopted son”)):
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Here's another RL Burnside to add to the list. I'm adding this one as it is quite rare to see him sign with anything other than 'A Friend'. On this LP cover he has included his home town and a dedication (which you cannot see on this image). I would suggest this is probably quite an early Burnside autograph, it recently sold on eBay for about $130 (not to me), which is a good price given it's rarity, though the pen has not caught properly in a few places which does lower its value:
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Here is another rare dedicated RL Burnside autographed LP (with the inclusion of a name and "A Friend"):
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Next I would like to look at someone already covered: David Kimbrough, better known as Junior Kimbrough. In my view as equally important to the Hill Country Blues, and the Blues as a whole, as RL Burnside, and in some peoples eyes more so (Charlie Feathers calling him “the beginning and end of all music”). I will not add much to what has already been said on Mr Kimbrough but to agree, as anyone who has looked to collect Blues graphs knows, he is just dag near impossible to find, but I still do not know why, he certainly didn’t travel much and his ‘fame’ was fairly short lived, but many people went to his juke joint to witness the great man playing (including the likes of the Rolling Stones and U2), so I can only guess that there are examples out there but they are yet to see the light of day.
So why have I included a new section here, well because I have finally come across one further example of his autograph, which came from the same source as the signed Burnside 45 shown above. What is interesting is that it bears little resemblance to the other known Kimbrough signatures which have previously been shown. The backstory to this recent discovery is pretty solid (in person obtained, with this person hanging out with Burnside on a number of occasions and obtaining Burnside’s, Kimbrough’s and others like Luther Johnson’s autographs, and these other autographs matching well to known examples (as you will see from the Burnside 45)).
With so few Junior Kimbrough pieces we certainly cannot discount any of them from being real, as he might have signed differently throughout his life, or differently for different people, so until further items can be unearthed this is all we can go on:
Firstly the 2 previous examples shown on this post (no background story currently known for either):
And finally the ‘New’ example, signed on CD cover (as you will notice it is signed David Kimbrough and not Junior Kimbrough):
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My final artist from the Hill Country Blues set is the late Jessie Mae Hemphill (known as the “She Wolf” and the “Queen” of the Hill Country Blues). Born in the Senatobia area of the Mississippi, her family was fully ensconced in the local music tradition, going back to her great-grandfather a fiddler slave. Her grandfather was Sid Hemphill a multi-instrumentalist (like Jessie) who was recorded by Alan Lomax in the 40s, with Lomax later saying that Hemphill's fife and drum music was the “main find of my whole career”. Jessie's mother and aunt were also local musicians (her aunt playing with Mississippi Fred McDowell on a number of occasions). So more than most other artists it is safe to say that music was in her blood.
A rarity being a Country Blues female in a heavily male dominated field (women were normally to be found singing Classic Blues), she was much in demand in the 80s and she toured the US and Europe winning a number of WC Handy awards along the way, but she suffered a stroke in the early 90s, which though not stopping her singing and playing, did curtail it, and meant that she didn’t tour much outside of her local area (and had to stop playing guitar altogether).
Her autograph is rare, in my searching I have only found 4 examples (one of which I am now lucky enough to own), but her legacy isn’t, currently, as large as the likes of Burnside and Kimbrough. As such I would estimate that a cut would be worth somewhere around $50 and a picture or album somewhere around $100. Here are some images:
Firstly a recently sold Promo card (framed with photo) which went for $120 at auction:
Next is a signed photo:
And finally my example (a signed album):
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Hi Carl,
After covering some of the best of the North Hill Country Blues, I would like to look at another Mississippi blues sub-set, namely the Betonia school. Betonias most famous son is one of the greatest blues masters: Skip James. Skip has already been covered here and, as said, his autographs are ridiculously rare. However Betonia had another famous son (though not as internationally renowned) one Jack Owens.
Mr Jack whose real name was L. F. Nelson (nobody knows or remembers what the L or F stood for) was an old time Bluesman who spent most of his life as a farmer-c**-juke joint owner-c**-moonshiner. A contemporary of Skip James, he was born around the same time, played around the same area and was taught how to play by the same man (Henry Stuckey, the never recorded father of the Betonia School), but Jacks recording career only really began after Skip had passed, with his first full album not being release until 1971. So fame came late for Mr Jack, the mid 1990’s being his heyday, with features in both ‘Deep Blues’ and a Levi’s commercial many a fan came from far and wide to see Jack Owens on his front porch singing and playing. Sadly this was all relatively short lived as he passed away in 1997.
Due to his long life Jack Owens autograph is much more common than Skip James’s. Also he is less well known to the wider community than Skip having not been ‘discovered’ in the early 60’s so not playing the college/coffee house/festival circuit of the time. Finally, dare I say it, his music is not at the same level as that of his contemporary. All of this means his autograph is not in the same league. I would estimate a value of around $25 for a cut and a max of around $50 for an album or picture. From a personal perspective I think Jack Owens signature is aesthetically very pleasing and to me it cries out ‘Country Blues’. Here are some examples:
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Jack Owens musical partner for some 30-odd years was one Benjamin ‘Bud’ Spires. Mr Jack would play the guitar while ‘Blind Bud’ would blow the harp. Bud Spires was the son of Mississippi born Chicago Blues musician Arthur “Big Boy” Spires. He wasn't born blind but it is thought this came on due to working with pesticide. He passed away fairly recently (in March 2014). Alan Lomax described Bud as “"a one-man, red-hot singing orchestra, accompanying himself on the harmonica, putting rough, bluesy chords after some lines and squealed comments to underscore the sexiest images. Sometimes his instrument almost disappeared in his mouth as he both blew and sucked notes out of its metal reeds.”
Bud, like so many Blues musicians, signed with an ‘x’ (whether due to illiteracy and/or blindness), so authenticating his autograph would be dag near impossible. Either you got his autograph yourself and so you know it’s real or you have superb provenance and trust your source (and then just hope it’s right). His autograph is not going to make you rich, far from it, but his partnership with Jack Owens should be enough to include him in your collection, and in fact most Bud Spires autographs you find will probably be on the same piece as Jack Owens. Here are some examples, and yes I am showing a few examples of an ‘x’ :-)
His 'x' above a Jack Owens autograph:
2 'x's this time:
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Permalink Reply by Snark on
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this is a sold addition on The Great American Blues Artists. X marks the spot.
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Finally for the Betonia School we have Mr Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, a protégé of Jack Owens, Duck is continuing the Betonia style into the 21st Century. He is the proprietor of the Blue Front café one of Betonia’s oldest Juke Joints which has hosted the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson II and James Son Thomas (as well of course as Jack Owens on a regular basis). I currently have no examples of his autograph to show (though I know there are a fair few out there) but for completeness I wanted to include him here and I will add images as and when they come along. I do have an image of a set list handwritten by Duck which I will show now:
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Hi Carl,
An area of the blues that has only been lightly touched on so far is that of female blues musicians. To be honest an entirely new post could be started on this as the length and breadth of female blues artists is indeed vast, from the hardest of Country Blues women guitarist like Memphis Minnie or Jessie Mae Hemphill (already covered here) to the jazziest of Classic Blues women vocalists like Alberta Hunter or Ida Cox. It could well be said that the world would be none the wiser of greats like Son House, Robert Johnson or Muddy Waters if it wasn’t for the likes of Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith paving the way for the blues explosion of the 1920’s.
There are so many artists I would love to include here but I have narrowed it right down to just a few of my favourites. There are some I would liked to have shown like Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith but I just don’t have examples of their autographs. If anyone has examples of these women, or others that I have not included, please please do add them.
Anyway, to start at the beginning (chronologically speaking) my first offering is Gertrude Pridgett Rainey, better known as Ma Rainey. The ‘Mother of the Blues’ was the forerunner of so many Classic Blues females. She was also the writer and/or recorder of many Blues standards which have later been covered by her male Country blues counterparts (like "See See Rider" and "Bo-Weavil Blues"). Thought to be singing the blues some 20 years prior to her initial recordings in 1923 for Paramount there is some correlation here to the “Father of the Delta Blues” the great Charley Patton.
For a Ma Rainey autograph you're going to have to do a lot of searching and have fairly deep pockets. She passed away in 1939 and removed herself from the limelight a few years previous to that. On top of this photos of her that are signed may not actually be signed by her at all (she apparently had others do the signing work for her), so most ‘authentic’ autographs seem to be on legal documents like royalty agreements, in fact the only examples I can find are on legal documents. For price you would be lucky to get change out of about $1.5k, some have gone for a little less and some for more. Here are some examples:
Image is part of a legal document sold in 2010 for $1.7k:
Image is part of a legal document sold in 2010 for approx $1k:
Image is part of a legal document sold in 2014 for approx $3k (image also shows signature of another Classic Blues female artist Lovie Austin):
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Having thought some more about which Classic Blues female from the 20’s or 30’s I would choose that followed on from Ma Rainey I’ve decided to chicken-out of the decision and show a quick burst of a few of them:
Firstly Victoria Spivey (creator of Black Snake Blues and helper of many artists, like Bob Dylan, in the 60s). Value I would estimate around $75-$250 depending on the item:
Next is Ida Cox (was her Death Letter Blues the primary inspiration for Son Houses Death Letter?). Value I would estimate around $100-$400 depending on the item (very rare in photo or album format):
Then Alberta Hunter (the long lasting highly influential singer who staged her comeback at the tender age of 81). Value I would estimate around $40-$175 depending on the item:
Finally Sippie Wallace (a string of hits in the 20’s followed by a great comeback in the 60’s, she was a major influence on Bonnie Raitt), Value I would estimate around $50-$200 depending on the item:
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