This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands.
Barbecue Bob
(September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931)
Robert Hicks was working as a cook at a barbecue stand in Atlanta when he was discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout. What started as a day job made him famous—Hicks was from then on known as Barbecue Bob.
Gimmicks aside, Barbecue Bob could really play.He developed a style on his twelve string guitar called “flailing”. His first session, in March 1927, gave us Barbecue Blues—and made him one of the most popular artists on the race records market.
These days the legend of Barbecue Bob lives on. Especially since Eric Clapton adopted “Motherless Child Blues” as a favorite track. Here’s the original. Barbecue Bob, from 1928, with “Motherless Chile.”
