Silas Hogan (September 15, 1911 – January 9, 1994) was an American blues musician who played

swamp blues Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertation ...

and

Louisiana blues Louisiana blues is a genre of blues music that developed in the period after World War II in the state of Louisiana. It is generally divided into two major subgenres, with the jazz-influenced New Orleans blues based on the musical traditions of th ...

. His most notable recordings are "Airport Blues" and "Lonesome La La". He was the front man of the Rhythm Ramblers. Hogan was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.

Biography

Hogan learned to play the guitar as a teenager and was performing regularly by the late 1930s. He was influenced by

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

, as were Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo. He had relocated to

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

, by the early 1950s and, equipped with a Fender electric guitar, formed the Rhythm Ramblers, with Isaiah Chapman (lead guitar),

Jimmy Dotson James Dent Dotson (October 19, 1933 – March 26, 2017), sometimes known as Jimmy "Louisiana" Dotson, was an American blues singer, guitarist and drummer. His best known track was "I Need Your Love", a song he co-wrote with Jerry West. Over a s ...

(drums), and Sylvester Buckley (harmonica). They stayed together for almost ten years and contributed to the development of the Baton Rouge blues sound, In 1962, when Hogan was 51, Slim Harpo introduced him to J. D. "Jay" Miller, a record producer based in

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of the Crowley micropolitan ...

. Miller, through the offices of Excello Records, started Hogan's recording career, at a time when interest in variations of swamp blues was waning. Several singles by Hogan were nevertheless released until 1965, when Miller's disagreement with the record label's new owners brought the

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

to an abrupt end. On some of his recordings, Hogan was backed by the harmonica player

Moses "Whispering" Smith Moses "Whispering" Smith (January 25, 1932 – April 28, 1984) was an American blues harmonicist and singer. He recorded tracks including "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "Texas Flood" and worked with Lightnin' Slim and with Silas Hogan. ...

. Hogan had to disband the group and returned to his full-time job at the

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November ...

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt, asphalt ...

. In the late 1970s, he recorded additional tracks for

Arhoolie Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded b ...

and Blue Horizon. Hogan died in January 1994 of

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, ...

, at the age of 82.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

References

External links