“When the blues began, the countryside was quiet. Loudest of the sounds to break the stillness was the roar of a steam train as it traced its way through the lowlands, leaving a smudge of smoke against the blue sky. A brief moment of excitement as it passed, a shrill whistle, dipping and wailing like a blues and it would be gone. It’s said that the engineers tuned their steam whistle ‘quills’ to play a blues but it probably just sounded like this to the field hands who knew the hour by the regular trains.”

On page 170 (Chapter 4 “Lonesome Whistles”) of the book, “The Land Where the Blues Began,” 27 Alan Lomax, wrote:

“Anonymous black musicians, longing to grab a train and ride away from their troubles, incorporated the rhythms of the steam locomotive and the moan of their whistles into the new dance music they were playing in jukes and dance halls. Boogie-woogie forever changed piano playing, as ham-handed black piano players transformed the instrument into a polyrhythmic railroad train.”

Pictured above is the Texas & Pacific steam locomotive 55, an A-2 Class 4-4-0 manufactured by the Schenectady company. The first steam locomotives used by the Texas & Pacific were built by Rogers Locomotive Works. For an excellent website pertaining to the Texas & Pacific Railway, see http://www.texaspacificrailway.org. For two excellent websites pertaining to general information about steam locomotives, including the Texas & Pacific, see http://www.steamlocomotive.com and http://www.steamlocomotive.info.

In the 1986 television broadcast of Britain’s “South Bank Show” about Boogie Woogie 19, music historian, Paul Oliver, noted:

“Now the conductors were used to the logging camp pianists clamoring aboard, telling them a few stories, jumping off the train, getting into another logging camp, and playing again for eight hours, barrelhouse. In this way the music got around—all through Texas—and eventually, of course, out of Texas. Now when this new form of piano music came from Texas, it moved out towards Louisiana. It was brought by people like George Thomas, an early pianist who was already living in New Orleans by about 1910 and writing “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues,” which really has some of the characteristics of the music that we came to know as Boogie.” 19

Logging Train in the Piney Woods of East Texas

(The image above is from the East Texas Research Center Collection)

< 05 Boogie Woogie History: The Focus of my Inquiry into Boogie Woogie

I will describe the musical features that distinguish Boogie Woogie. Moreover, when appropriate, I will also take the opportunity to defend the musicality of and dispel misconceptions about Boogie Woogie.

Ultimately, I want to consider Boogie Woogie in a much broader context of human evolution and universal aesthetic sensibilities. Part of this broader consideration will examine how the formal elements of Boogie Woogie have strong correlates and associations with ancient spiritual, religious, and sexual practices.

Another attribution of the geographical origin of Boogie Woogie to Texas was in the radio script, “The Boogie Woogie Beat: Rompin’ Stompin’ Rhythm,” (broadcast the week of 1/17/02, Riverwalk script ©2001 by Margaret Moos Pick). Moos wrote [when referring to the developers of the Boogie Woogie]:

“They had a captive audience: loggers from the lumber camps deep in the piney woods, and workers laying track for the Texas and Pacific railroad, carving a line of steel through the wilderness. The sounds of barrelhouse Boogie Woogie spread out in all directions following the path of the newly emerging railroad lines.”

< 04 Boogie Woogie History: Piney Woods of East Texas | > 06 Boogie Woogie History: Steam Locomotives Sang the Blues and Inspired Early Boogie Woogie Musicians

Photo Above: Steel Gang Laying a Logging Railroad in the Piney Woods of East Texas. The image is from the East Texas Research Center Collection.

“Although the neighboring states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri would also produce boogie-woogie players and their boogie-woogie tunes, and despite the fact that Chicago would become known as the center for this music through such pianists as Jimmy Yancey, Albert Ammons, and Meade Lux Lewis, Texas was home to an environment that fostered creation of boogie-style: the lumber, cattle, turpentine, and oil industries, all served by an expanding railway system from the northern corner of East Texas to the Gulf Coast and from the Louisiana border to Dallas and West Texas.” (page 75)13
—Dave Oliphant

Although there is an obvious typographical error in his comments, in “Looking Up at Down: The Emergence of Blues Culture,”76 William Barlow writes in Chapter 7, page 231:

“Piano players were the first blues musicians associated with the Deep Ellum tenderloin. In Dallas, Houston, and other cities of Eastern Texas, the prevailing piano style of uptempo blues numbers was called “Fast Western” or “Fast Texas.” An offshoot of boogie woogie, it probably came from the “Piney Woods” lumber and turpentine camps based in northwest Texas, northern Louisiana, and southern Arkansas. However, the style became a fixture in “Deep Ellum” after the turn of the century.”

Barlow obviously meant to write “northeast Texas,” as there were no “Piney Woods” or “turpentine camps” in “northwest Texas.” This typo is also obvious in that it is”northeast Texas” that is at the confluence of “northern Louisiana” and “southern Arkansas”, an area currently known as the Arklatex. These comments on the origin of Boogie Woogie by Barlow are consistent with the 1899 witnessing by Leadbelly, as well as with the account given by Lee Ree Sullivan of Texarkana.

Moreover, since piano players were the “first blues musicians” in Deep Ellum, Barlow’s comments suggest that Blind Lemon Jefferson might have borrowed his “Booga Rooga” guitar bass figure from Boogie Woogie pianists in Deep Ellum, but given travels with Lead Belly on the T&P line, Jefferson could have also heard such Boogie Woogie pianists at other locations in Texas. Jefferson might have also derived his “Booga Rooga” bass line from Lead Belly, after Leadbelly witnessed Boogie Woogie bass lines played by pianists in the Arklatex.

< 03 Boogie Woogie History: George W Thomas Junior | > 05 Boogie Woogie History: The Focus of my Inquiry into Boogie Woogie

“The ‘Boogie Woogie’ originated in Texas many years ago. It wasn’t called the ‘Boogie Woogie’ then. George Thomas was the fellow who used this style and first wrote it down.”63

The image above of George Washington Thomas, Jr., is from Page 2 of Clarence Williams’ 1940 “Boogie Woogie and Blues Folio”63

“Texas as the state of origin became reinforced by Jelly Roll Morton who said he heard the boogie piano style there early in the century; so did Leadbelly and so did Bunk Johnson.”74

— 1983, Rosetta Reitz [Leadbelly reported hearing Boogie Woogie in 1899. — see section on Leadbelly.]

< 02 Boogie Woogie History: Barrelhouse Pianist | 04 Boogie Woogie History: Piney Woods of East Texas

The photo above was taken in Minglewood, TN in 1920. This photo is contained in the Special Collections Photograph Archives of the University of Louisville.

“Boogie Woogie piano playing originated in the lumber and turpentine camps of Texas and in the sporting houses of that state. A fast, rolling bass — giving the piece an undercurrent of tremendous power — power piano playing.”

“Neither Pine Top Smith, Meade Lux Lewis nor Albert Ammons originated that style of playing — they are merely exponents of it.”

“In Houston, Dallas, and Galveston — all Negro piano players played that way. This style was often referred to as a ‘fast western’ or ‘fast blues’ as differentiated from the ‘slow blues’ of New Orleans and St. Louis. At these gatherings the ragtime and blues boys could easily tell from what section of the country a man came, even going so far as to name the town, by his interpretation of a piece.” 1

— E. Simms Campbell, 1939, pages 112-113, (in Chapter 4 “Blues”) in the book, “Jazzmen: The Story of Hot Jazz Told in the Lives of the Men Who Created It” 1

Consistent with the findings of E. Simms Campbell are the comments of Elliot Paul, who wrote the following on page 229 in 1957 (in Chapter 10 “Boogie Woogie “) in his book “That Crazy American Music” 78:

“The first Negroes who played what is called boogie woogie, or house-rent music, and attracted attention in city slums where other Negroes held jam sessions, were from Texas. And all the Old-time Texans, black or white, are agreed that boogie piano players were first heard in the lumber and turpentine camps, where nobody was at home at all. The style dates from the early 1870s. Even before ragtime, with its characteristic syncopation and forward momentum, was picked up by whites in the North, boogie was a necessary factor in Negro existence wherever the struggle for an economic foothold had grouped the ex-slaves in segregated communities (mostly in water-front cities along the gulf, the Mississippi and its tributaries).”78

< 01 Boogie Woogie: It's Origin, subsequent history, and continuing development | > 03 Boogie Woogie History: George W Thomas Junior

“There is every reason for us to know something about Africa and to understand its past and the way of life of its peoples. Africa is a rich continent that has for centuries provided the world with art, culture, labor, wealth, and natural resources.” 73

and

“But perhaps most important is the fact that fossil evidence indicates that human beings originated in Africa” 73

and

“To be human is to be of African descent.” 73

— George C. Bond, Ph.D., Director, Institute of African Studies, Columbia University, (page 6 of the book, “Chokwe”) 73

Moreover, music historian, Dave Oliphant has written:

“Barrelhouse, boogie-woogie, and jazz all originate to some degree in the religio-sexual customs of primitive African societies, for Wilfrid Mellers 14 notes, one of the meanings of the phrase ‘boogie-woogie,’ and of the word ‘jazz’ itself, is sexual intercourse, even as the ritualistic-orgiastic nature of the music also represents an ecstatic form of a spiritual order.” 13

Thus, as I consider Boogie Woogie, I intend to remain ever mindful that we are all of African descent. Being mindful of this fact suggests certain questions: For example, does Boogie Woogie have its widespread and lasting appeal because of any universal, evolutionary and/or instinctual aesthetic that has been biologically inherited by all human beings? Is there historical and cultural evidence in Africa even today that suggest a common biological heritage and aesthetic sensibility among human beings? If so, what are the elements of this common aesthetic? Does Boogie Woogie share any of these elements? Have the pretensions of so-called “civilization” created historical contexts where some human beings have unknowingly denied their own capacity to appreciate Boogie Woogie?

To the extent that these questions can be answered in the affirmative, Boogie Woogie can be seen in a much larger context than merely being a popular music and dance form originating in the United States. However, before considering Boogie Woogie in such a broad historical context, I want to first examine its evolution within the United States.

> 02 Boogie Woogie History: Barrelhouse Pianist

This CD from Bob Hall has been a long time coming to these pages. I first heard him on the web at his website, way back in 1998 or so. Here you can find out all about Bob Hall.

Here are bits taken from the liner notes of this CD, “At The Window” is the followng quote: “There’s a great, true little story which demonstrates in no small way the absolute commitment and seriousness with which British Blues players took to their art.

Not too long ago, Mike Rowe – an editor of Blues Unlimited, a noted Blues researcher, and the author of Chicago Breakdown – went over to Detroit to research the life of one of the great 1940s piano players, Big Maceo Merriweather (1905-1953). Rowe went from bar to bar in Detroit, asking elderly residents what the scene was like back in the 40s. In one hostelry, he approached an old black piano player and asked if there was anyone still around who played like Big Maceo. The old guys sitting around the nearby tables and the bar all shook their heads. Then the piano player said: ‘Ain’t nobody around plays like Big Maceo…’bout the only guy I know who plays like him is a guy in London called Bob Hall…

Bob Hall not only plays hs music well but has meticulously studied the backdrop against which it was formed. The New Orleans Review summed him up accurately: ‘This s a piano player who knows his music through and through, and who can hold hs own on this showing with the best in the world’ ”

Hall’s grasp of Blues piano is perhaps one of the most authentic in Europe today, which is why Bob Hall will never be out of work.

Hello Boogie Lovers. I am your host and webmaster. Boogiewoogie.com has been one of the greatest things to happen to me. I have met the most fantastic people and players from all over the world. Boogie woogie has become a huge part of my playing life. There is nothing that feels as good. It is a delightful obsession. Update… see “Songs for the rest of us” for my newest passion that has combined with boogie to produce some cool mp3 files.

My music life started 50+ years ago with piano lessons at the age of 6. Then one day back then, I heard the greatest piano I’d ever heard. I think it was on the Liberace show on TV. He was playing boogie woogie! From then on, I searched for the stuff but never really did find what I was looking for until I turned 50 years old when I finally heard Ammons, Lewis & Johnson, Seeley, Zwingenberger. Rio, Leyland for the first time…

In the meantime, rock ‘n’ roll took over my life as a teen and I got a guitar and copied my first idol, Chuck Berry (but who was that absolutely fantastic piano player in the background of Chuck’s tunes… of course, I know now it was Johnnie Johnson). I wanted desperately to play both instruments. Since piano in a band was nearlyl impossible for me in those days, I stuck to guitar and moved on to idolizing the Clapton and Bloomfield styles. I ate slept and drank blues guitar leads and guitar consciousness and then began to write some tunes, played my way through the University of Maine to the point where electronic keyboards could now be part of a band. So I sang, played a little keyboard, a lot of bass guitar and with my electric guitar was able to keep myself fed pretty much. I have even owned a couple sets of beautiful old ludwig drums. (there’s not enough time in life!) Later I joined up with my buddy Albert L. Smith from U. of ME and bunch of guys already in a great band, The Blend, which helped make me into an MCA recording artist giving me some unbelievable experience touring and opening huge shows for a long list of bands like The Who, ZZ Top, Hall and Oates. This band allowed me to play my piano or guitar and sing- whichever I thought complimented the tune best. We had two albums and did well, but never got that magic hit single. We lived the rock ‘n’ roll life to the hilt playing more than 250 dates a year for 7 years commuting often more than 3 hours to gigs in nearby states of New England.

As life unfolded, I got married to Mary and she had my two wonderful and most creative additions to the universe, Molly and Addie. Then I got married again, then I found someone I could live with for longer than a few years and got married again to Cynthia who I am still married to and happy together with after 15 years now.

I now in 2005, play sometimes seven days or nights a week which is fine by me. I’ve gotten to play and record with the greatest players around. I get to try out my new music which is coming in abundance these days. I must have 3 CDs of new material going at this point. Had the great experience of playing the Silver Summit this year with Richard Daughty on fiddle. Such a thrill to be around others that are ranting and raving about the stuff I love to think and talk about!

What’s next? I guess, logically, music for the financial community seems to be in my future. I am upset with the fact that our paper money is backed by only debt and that any paper assets can and do literally disappear overnight. We need some sort of protection. We have insurance for everything else, why not our money? Buy some gold and silver and own some some pure wealth. You might really need it someday sooner than you think!

I’m also pretty upset about our government spending and policies and most of all, our DEBT problems. I had no “financial education” in my life up until now. I’ve learned we are going to need as much education as we can get in the coming days of ‘facing the music” that our outrageous policies have created. Click here to go over to a page of my list of growing songs about these most interesting and pertinent subjects.

“There is a statement on this CD jacket that states “Industrial Strength Blues,” they should have added “and Boogie.” This release represents some of the most authenic boogie piano I have heard in a long time and I thank Wendy DeWitt for that. There is not a lot of boogie players recorded today that I get to hear. Ms. DeWitt included many of her own compositions in this offering proving that she has the musician chops, her mastery of the old standards like “3 0′Clock Jump,” “Texas Stomp,” “Mess Around,” and “Don’t Want No Woman” shows her appreciation of the history of this music.

I am happy to have this release as a part of Jazz Now Direct mail order catalog. Available at 1-800-840-0465″

Wendy DeWitt, piano and vocals; Steve Freund, guitar; Burton Winn, Bass; Tracy Rose, drums; Austin Delone, Hammond B-3; Michael Peloquin, saxophones

Wendy DeWitt – Take a Little Walk With Me

Wendy DeWitt – Boogie Teaser Too