Between 1927 and 1934 various African-American musicians in the Memphis, Tenn., area grouped around singer, song writer, guitarist, and harmonica player Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer). The personnel of this jug band varied from day to day, with Shade booking gigs and arranging recording sessions.
Among the recorded members were (at various times) Will Shade (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Charlie Burse (pronounced Bursey) (guitar, mandolin, and vocals), Charlie Nickerson (piano and vocals), Charlie Pierce (violin), Charlie Polk (jug), Tewee Blackman (vocals, guitar), “Hambone” Lewis (jug), Jab Jones (jug, piano, vocals ), Johnny Hodges/Hardge (piano), Ben Ramey (vocals and kazoo), Casey Bill Weldon (guitar and vocals), Memphis Minnie (guitar and vocals), Vol Stevens (vocals, violin, and mandolin), Milton Robie (violin), Otto Gilmore/Gilmer (drums and woodblocks), and Robert Burse (drums). Vocals were also provided by Hattie Hart, Memphis Minnie, Jennie Mae Clayton (Shade’s wife), and Minnie Wallace, with Charlie Burse often contributing beautiful harmony parts to Shade’s lead vocal lines. In the case of Memphis Minnie, the Memphis Blues Band accompanied her on two sides for Victor Records, recorded in 1930 when the band's career was "winding down".
The attributed names of the group led by Shade on various recording labels vary quite a bit, but recent scholarly consensus has led writers to compile all of these works under the over-arching rubric of the Memphis Jug Band. In addition to that name, alternative names found on record labels include the Picaninny Jug Band, Memphis Sanctified Singers, the Carolina Peanut Boys, the Dallas Jug Band, the Memphis Sheiks, the Jolly Jug Band and recordings credited to the individual performers Hattie Hart, Minnie Wallace, Casey Bill Weldon, Charlie Nickerson, Vol Stevens, Charlie Burse, “Poor Jab” Jones, and Will Shade, but actually performed with accompaniment by other Memphis Jug Band members.
Musically their large membership pool allowed the Memphis Jug Band the flexibility to play a mixture of ballads, dance tunes, knock-about novelty numbers, and blues. Some of their songs mention hoodoo magical beliefs, and some members also contributed to gospel recordings, either uncredited or as part of the Memphis Sanctified Singers.
The Memphis Jug Band has been described as having a remarkable sound due in part to the unusual instruments. Although most songs included a rhythm guitar and either a jug, a kazoo or a harmonica as a lead instrument or sometimes a mandolin or violin. The sound of the instruments ofen conveyed a "raspy, buzzing sound" that a Briish music scholar who did not know the band personally stated was close to the musical aesthetic of Africa, and in which, he said, the jug and kazoo represented the voices of animals or ancestral spirits. Shade never told scholars why he liked this sound, and since many of the performers were also part Native American, it is a good question as to which ancestors—if any—the kazoo was supposed to represent.
The Memphis Jug Band played wherever they could find engagements, and busked in local parks. They were popular among white as well as black audiences.
In total, they made more than eighty recordings, first for Victor Records, then—as the Picaninny Jug Band—for the Champion-Gennett label, and finally for OKeh Records. The Victor recordings were made in Memphis and Atlanta, Georgia between 1927 and 1930, the Champion-Gennetts in Richmond, Indiana in August 1932, while the final sessions on Okeh were held in Chicago in November 1934. By that time, their style of music was no longer in demand, and Shade was no longer able to keep the musicians assembled as a group, although many of the individuals carried on working around Memphis until the 1940s.
In 1963 Shade recorded one last time with another Memphian, 79-year-old Gus Cannon, former leader of Cannon’s Jug Stompers, another popular jug band. They recorded the album Walk Right In, on Stax Records, a result of The Rooftop Singers having made Cannon's "Walk Right In" into a number one single. Will Shade on jug and former Memphis Jug Band member Milton Roby on washboard perform a series of thirteen traditional songs, plus Cannon's great hit "Walk Right In," including "Narration," "Kill It," "Salty Dog," "Going Around," "The Mountain," "Ol' Hen", "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight," "Ain't Gonna Rain No More," "Boll-Weevil," "Come On Down To My House," "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," "Get Up In The Morning Soon," and "Crawdad Hole." The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes.
Coal Oil Blues
Memphis Jug Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the blues, they tell me, crime in a bed (?)
If you be bent down, you just know just how I feel
If you're bent down, now, just know just how I feel
Woke up early, early this morning, raging blues all 'round my bed
And the blues they tell me crime in a bed (?)
(Sorry to say, I know how you felt, boy)
Oh, the preacher in the pulpit, he laid his Bible down
And the members in the corner singing Alabama Bound
(What kind of women was that?)
And the jury called on Johnny, sure was a born in hell
Papa tree-top dog he sure was upon a hill
(What kind of man was he?)
(Ah, blow it, blow it)
(I 'spect I'm gonna have to leave this town, boy)
I'm o leave this town, honey, it won't be long
And I won't be dead, just won't blow back here no more
If I feel tomorrow just like I feel right now
Boy, the rising sundown sure won't get me up
(Oh, play it,, play it)
The Memphis Jug Band's song "Coal Oil Blues" is about feeling the weight of the blues in the morning. The singer wakes up with the blues all around his bed, and he hears them tell him about the crime that happened in that bed. He is feeling down because of his circumstances and relates to others who are similarly bent down. The preacher and church members are mentioned but offer little comfort. Instead, the focus shifts to a man named Johnny who is viewed as a born-in-hell criminal who will face a jury. Papa tree-top dog is also mentioned, who seems to be a powerful man living on a hill.
Towards the end of the song, the singer expresses his desire to leave town and escape the blues. He acknowledges that he won't be dead, but he won't come back either. If he feels tomorrow like he does today, then he won't be able to get up with the rising sun. The lyrics paint a picture of someone who is deeply troubled by their circumstances and feels the weight of the world on their shoulders. Despite the mention of the church, there is no real hope offered in this song, only a desire to escape and avoid the constant blues.
Line by Line Meaning
Woke up early, early this morning, blues all 'round my bed
I woke up really early today, with the feeling of extreme sadness and disappointment.
And the blues, they tell me, crime in a bed (?)
The blues are telling me that something bad happened in my bed (possibly a crime).
If you be bent down, you just know just how I feel
If you have experienced hardship in life (like me), you can truly understand my feelings.
If you're bent down, now, just know just how I feel
If you're going through tough times, you can relate to how I'm feeling right now.
Woke up early, early this morning, raging blues all 'round my bed
I woke up extremely early this morning, feeling extremely depressed and unhappy.
And the blues they tell me crime in a bed (?)
The blues are making me feel like something terrible happened in my bed, like a crime or something.
Oh, the preacher in the pulpit, he laid his Bible down
The preacher in the church put his Bible down, maybe indicating that he is no longer preaching.
And the members in the corner singing Alabama Bound
People in the church are singing a song called Alabama Bound.
And the jury called on Johnny, sure was a born in hell
A man called Johnny was summoned by the jury, who was a really bad person.
Papa tree-top dog he sure was upon a hill
A man named Papa was on a hill, feeling really good about himself (possibly arrogant).
(Ah, blow it, blow it)
Play some music (possibly referring to a harmonica or other instrument).
(I 'spect I'm gonna have to leave this town, boy)
I think I'm going to have to leave this town (possibly because of the bad memories associated with it).
I'm o leave this town, honey, it won't be long
I'm going to leave this town soon (possibly to escape bad memories).
And I won't be dead, just won't blow back here no more
I won't die, but I won't return to this place either (possibly because of the bad memories).
If I feel tomorrow just like I feel right now
If I feel the same way tomorrow that I feel right now (depressed and unhappy).
Boy, the rising sundown sure won't get me up
The sunrise won't cheer me up tomorrow (since I'm feeling really down and depressed).
(Oh, play it,, play it)
Play more music (possibly referring to a harmonica or other instrument).
Contributed by Scarlett F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.