Decca 7279 – Sleepy John Estes – 1935

Producing more than fifty recordings between 1929 and 1941, Sleepy John Estes ranks alongside Blind Boy Fuller, Big Bill Broonzy, Peetie Wheatstraw, and a few others as one of the most prolific of the pre-war bluesmen.  Though not considered the most capable guitarist, Estes amply made up for whatever he may have lacked in instrumental ability with his distinctive “crying” vocals and storytelling talent.  Estes’s songs—many of which were based on things that happened to him or people he knew—are considered by some to be among the best of their kind, and have proved influential among the generations of musicians that followed him.

Sleepy John Estes with Yank Rachell and Hammie Nixon in 1964. Photo by Len Kunstadt, published in Record Research magazine.

John Adams Estes (while his headstone and modern sources give his middle name as “Adam”, early documents seem to support the “s” as in our second president) was born on January 25 of either 1899 or 1900, in Ripley, Tennessee.  As a youth, he moved with his family to the nearby town of Brownsville, where he learned to play guitar with local musician Hambone Willie Newbern.  Though a farmer by trade, he established himself in the blues scene alongside the likes of Son Bonds, Charlie Pickett, and his frequent accompanists Hammie Nixon and James “Yank” Rachell.  In 1929, veteran blues artist Jim Jackson brought Estes and his compatriots to the attention of Ralph S. Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company.  Thereafter, Estes made his debut recordings at a series of sessions in September and October of 1929 in Memphis, Tennessee, backed on most by his friend Yank Rachell on mandolin and pianist Jab Jones of the Memphis Jug Band.  He continued to record for Victor until late in 1930, producing sixteen sides including such excellent recordings as “Diving Duck Blues”, “Milk Cow Blues”, and “The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair”, as well as four sides as a member of Noah Lewis’ Jug Band.  As the onset of the Great Depression largely quelled on-location recording activities, Estes had to travel to Chicago and New York to make further recordings, and he did so in 1935 for the fledgling Decca record company, initially appearing on their Champion subsidiary (which they had recently acquired from Gennett).  Joined on most by Hammie Nixon’s harmonica and on many others by Charlie Pickett’s guitar, Estes produced thirty vocal recordings for Decca between 1935 and 1940, as well as several more accompanying pianists Lee Brown and Lee Green, and fellow Brownsville bluesman Son Bonds   Among those thirty were many of his most famous songs, including “Someday Baby Blues”, “Floating Bridge”, “Everybody Oughta Make a Change”, and “Liquor Store Blues”.  Estes final pre-war session was on September 24, 1941, with Son Bonds and Raymond Thomas joining him to wax twelve sides for RCA Victor’s Bluebird label, three of which were credited to Estes, another three found him accompanying Bonds, and the rest were released under the name “The Delta Boys”.  After the war, Estes unsuccessfully attempted to revive his recording career with sessions for Ora Nelle in 1948 and Sun in 1952, but none of the recordings were issued, and he descended into obscurity.  As the folk music revival brought new fame to old blues musicians in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Estes’s recordings were reissued on several prominent compilations, but he was initially believed to be dead (thanks in no small part to the testimony of Big Bill Broonzy).  When he was eventually rediscovered by folkorists Sam Charters and Bob Koester, he was in fact very much alive, albeit blind and living in abject poverty.  Sounding much the same in old age as when he was a young man, Estes, along with Nixon and Rachell, returned to recording and touring with considerable success for the decade-and-a-half that followed.  On June 5, 1977, John Estes suffered a stroke, and died at his home in Brownsville, Tennessee, which has since been preserved for posterity as a museum.

Decca 7279 was recorded on July 9, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois, and was originally issued on Champion 50068 (which does not turn up very often).  This issue.was released in March of 1937.  It features Sleepy John Estes singing and playing guitar, accompanied by Hammie Nixon on harmonica.

On side “A”, Estes sings “Someday Baby Blues” backed by Nixon’s harmonica, an iconic performance if there ever was one (and that’s not a term I use lightly), which inspired numerous covers transcending the blues genre into jazz and country music.  Though Estes and Nixon are credited as the song’s composers and often considered the originators the song, Estes’s rendition was preceded by an unissued recording by Memphis Willie B. the previous year, which did not see the light of day until finally being remastered and released by John Tefteller’s Blues Images in 2022.

Someday Baby Blues, recorded July 9, 1935 by Sleepy John Estes.

On the reverse, he sings the far less famous, but also excellent “Who’s Been Tellin’ You Buddy Brown Blues”.  The titular character, (known to “eat his breakfast, and then lay back down”) has appeared in a few other blues songs, most notably “Texas” Alexander’s “Ninety-Eight Degree Blues” of 1929.

Who’s Been Tellin’ You Buddy Brown Blues, recorded July 9, 1935 by Sleepy John Estes.

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