Blues Standards III Trivia Quiz

Answer: Honey Hush

Big Joe Turner was not afraid to change with the times. He started out as a blues shouter. Later he switched to boogie woogie, then sang R&B with Count Basie, Lowell Fulson and Pee Wee Crayton. In the late 1950s he even performed in Alan Freed's rock and roll package.

Answer: Hound Dog

"Hound Dog" was number one on the R&B charts for seven weeks in 1952. According to Thornton, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote the song on the back of a paper bag. Elvis Presley recorded his version in 1956. He borrowed it after seeing Freddie Bell and the Bellboys perform it while he was performing in Las Vegas. Even prior to this, five different country acts recorded the song in 1953: Eddie Hazelwood, Cleve Jackson, Tommy Duncan, Billy Starr and Jack Turner.

Answer: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

Gatemouth played a blend of big band, Cajun, swing, country, hard blues and Texas funk and was a skilled musician on the guitar, fiddle, mandolin, drums and harmonica. He got his nickname from playing "Gatemouth Blues" as a kid. In the 1970s Brown performed in the Soviet Union and Africa at the behest of the US State Department.

Answer: Key to the Highway

Broonzy learned to play the guitar from Papa Charlie Jackson after moving to Chicago in the 1920s. At the time a bluesman could not make a living playing music so he had to have a regular job. Most of the time he worked as a janitor or maintenance man.

Answer: Reconsider Baby

Fulson was stationed in Oakland with the US Navy during World War II. While there he met producer Bob Geddins who signed him to several of his record labels. Fulson's music has been described as California blues. It features a horn section.

Answer: Lightnin' Hopkins

Hopkins played at a picnic with Blind Lemon Jefferson when he (Hopkins) was eight years old. That meeting made him want to become a bluesman. He got his break when a scout for Aladdin Records saw him performing on a street corner. Aladdin paired him with piano player William "Thunder" Smith and billed the duo as "Thunder and Lightnin'." That is where Hopkins, whose real name is Sam, got his nickname.

Answer: Two Hundred Pounds of Joy

Wolf's song was "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy." His real name was Chester Arthur Burnett, named after US President Arthur. He acquired the nickname "Howlin' Wolf" from his unruly behavior as a child. Playing in Chicago, his main rival was Muddy Waters. In fact they both got songs from Willie Dixon. The rivalry was reportedly so intense that Wolf would refuse to shake Waters' hand.

Answer: Born Under a Bad Sign

King is left-handed but learned to play on a right-handed guitar turned upside down. He was the first blues artist to play Fillmore West in San Francisco where he appeared on the bill with another left-hander--Jimi Hendrix. At one time he claimed to be a cousin of B.B. King. He is not.

Answer: Midnight Special

Leadbelly was a large man with a bad temper. In 1917 he killed a man in Texas and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. A further six years were added to his sentence when he attempted to escape. He was pardoned in 1925 after he wrote and performed a song for the Governor in which he asked to be released.

Answer: Take a Walk With Me

Lockwood originally played the organ. He learned guitar after Robert Johnson married his mother and became his stepfather. When he was 15 he started traveling and playing with Sonny Boy Williamson. Lockwood lived and played in Cleveland, Ohio from 1961 until his death in November, 2006. He is arguably the most famous person ever to be born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas.

Answer: Charlie Musselwhite

Musselwhite, from Kosciusko, Mississippi, is of Caucasian, Native American and Thai ancestry. At various times it has been reported that he has either Choctaw or Cherokee blood. His breakout album was "Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite's Southside Blues Band" released in 1966 by Vanguard.
Mac Rebennack is the birth name of Dr. John.
"Blue" Lou Marini is a sax player who has recorded with a wide range of artists including Jimmy Buffett, The J Geils Band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Luther Vandross. He also appeared as part of the Blues Brothers Band in "The Blues Brothers" and "Blues Brothers 2000."
Robert K. Weiss was a producer on "The Blues Brothers" movie. In "Blues Brothers 2000" the Dan Ackroyd character is trying to get the band not to quit on him and lists a whole range of blues legends, ending with "Sonny Boy Williamson I and II, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Elvis Presley, Lieber and Stoller, and Robert K. Weiss." To which someone in the band responds: "Who is Robert K. Weiss?" They all shrug their shoulders.

Answer: Ya Ya

Sonny Terry (real name Saunders Terrell) was a harmonica player best known for his "whoopin'", the high, shrill sounds he would make while singing. Two separate accidents when he was a child resulted in blindness in both eyes. In addition to being a bluesman, Terry acted on Broadway.

He appeared in "Finian's Rainbow" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." He also appeared in an Alka Seltzer TV commercial.

Answer: Magic Sam

Magic Sam's real name was Sam Maghett. He grew up in Grenada Mississippi with guitarist Morris Holt who became known as Magic Slim. Magic Sam tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 32. At the time, Stax Records was reportedly ready to sign him to their powerful label. There is no telling what Sam might have accomplished in the blues music world if he hadn't died so young.

Answer: Baby What You Want Me to Do

Reed's music has been described as "sweet" blues. It was softer music than the gritty blues of contemporaries Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Jimmy's wife, Mary Lee, wrote many of his songs. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Answer: Memphis Minnie

Minnie performed on street corners in Memphis as Kid Douglas as a child. She was a singer and songwriter and could play guitar and banjo. At one point when she was young she traveled with the Ringling Brothers Circus.