Memphis Willie B.

All Music Guide:

Willie Borum, better known under his recording sobriquet of Memphis Willie B., was a mainstay of the Memphis blues and jug band circuit. Adept at both harmonica and guitar, Borum could add pep to any combination he worked in, as well as leaving a striking impression as a solo artist.

He was born in 1911 in Shelby County, Tennessee. He took to the guitar early in his childhood, being principally taught by his father and Memphis medicine show star Jim Jackson. By his late teens, he was working with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters, working for tips on the street with the occasional house party and country supper rounding out his meager paycheck. This didn't last long, as Borum joined up with the Memphis Jug Band, one of two professional outfits in existence at that time. The group frequently worked what later became W.C. Handy Park in Memphis, with touring stretching all the way down to New Orleans during the Mardi Gras. Sometime in the '30s he learned to play harmonica, being taught by no less a master than Noah Lewis, the best harp blower in Memphis and mainstay of Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers.

As his style began to move further away from a strict jug band approach, Willie B. began working on and off with various traveling Delta bluesmen, performing at various functions with Rice Miller, Willie Brown, Garfield Akers, and Robert Johnson. He finally got to make some records in New York under his own name in 1934 for Vocalion, but quickly moved back into playing juke joints and gambling houses with Son Joe, Joe Hill Louis, and Will Shade until around 1943, when he became a member of the U.S. Army.

It was a much different world he returned to and after a brief fling at trying to pick up where he left off, Borum soon cashed in his chips and started looking for a day job. That would have been the end of the story, except in 1961 -- with the folk and blues revival in full hootenanny steam -- Borum was tracked down and recorded an absolutely marvelous session at the Sun studios for Prestige's Bluesville label. It turned into a little bit of a career upswing for the next few years; Willie B. started working the festival and coffeehouse circuit with old Memphis buddies Gus Cannon and Furry Lewis. But then just as quickly, he dropped out of the music scene and eventually out of sight altogether. Willie B. reportedly died in Memphis during the early '70s.

Wikipedia:

Memphis Willie B. (November 4, 1911 – October 5, 1993) was an American Memphis blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter.

He was known for his work with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters, the Memphis Jug Band, and his resurgence in the 1960s after years away from the music industry. He recorded "The Stuff Is Here" and "Stop Cryin' Blues". His 1961 song, "Overseas Blues", retrospectively expressed the fear of World War II servicemen who had survived the conflict in Europe, of joining the Pacific War.

Biography

William Borum was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. He was taught to play the guitar by his father, and busked with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters in his teenage years. He quickly moved on to work with the Memphis Jug Band, who played both locally and at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He extended his repertoire after being taught to play the harmonica by Noah Lewis.

Willie B. slowly developed away from a disciplined jug band style, and played at various locations with Robert Johnson, Garfield Akers, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Willie Brown, who periodically travelled up from the Delta to play. Willie B. first recorded at the age of 23, in September 1934 in New York, for Vocalion Records. However, that part of his career was brief as he returned to working locally, in the company of Little Son Joe, Will Shade and Joe Hill Louis. He signed up with the U.S. Army in January 1942, and served in the North African invasion (Operation Torch) in December 1942, and later in Italy.

When demobilized he discovered musician's work hard to find, and eventually took up regular paid employment. He only returned to the music industry in the early 1960s, and recorded sufficient material for two albums for Bluesville Records in Memphis in 1961. This provided the impetus for a resurgence in his musical career, and Willie B. played at various music festivals and in coffeehouses. Often he worked alongside Gus Cannon and Furry Lewis, reliving their mutual early Memphis days.

Willie B. once stated, "A blues is about something that's real. It's about what a man feels when his wife leaves him, or about some disappointment that happens to him that he can't do anything about. That's why none of these young boys can really sing the blues. They don't know about the things that go into a blues".

However, Willie B. abruptly stopped playing in the late 1960s, and little was heard of him prior to his death in 1993.