Andrew "Smokey" Hogg (January 27, 1914 – May 1, 1960)
was an American
post-war
A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...
Texas blues
Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock.
History
Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...
and
country blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
musician.
Life and career
Hogg was born near Westconnie,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, and grew up on a farm.
He was taught to play the guitar by his father, Frank Hogg.
While still in his teens he teamed up with the
slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
ist and vocalist B. K. Turner, also known as
Black Ace
Babe Kyro Lemon Turner (December 21, 1905 – November 7, 1972) was an American Texas blues musician most frequently known by the stage name Black Ace. He was also known as B. K. Turner, Black Ace Turner, Babe Turner and Buck Turner.
Biog ...
,
and the pair travelled together, playing a circuit of turpentine and logging camps, country dance halls and juke joints around
Kilgore Kilgore may refer to:
Places
* Kilgore, Texas, the largest US city named Kilgore
* Kilgore, Idaho
* Kilgore, Nebraska
* Kilgore, Ohio
* Kilgore College
Fictional characters
* Kilgore Trout, a recurring character in the novels of Kurt Vonnegut
...
,
Tyler,
Greenville and
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
, in
East Texas
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...
.
In 1937,
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
brought Hogg and Black Ace to Chicago to
record. Hogg's first
record, "Family Trouble Blues" backed with "Kind Hearted Blues", was released under the name of Andrew Hogg. It was an isolated occurrence — he did not make it back into a recording studio for over a decade.
By the early 1940s, Hogg was married and making a good living
busking
Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...
around the
Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, home to a diverse array of arts venues, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, businesses, and urban residential units near downtown in East Dallas. Its name is based on a corruption of the area ...
area of
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas.
Hogg was
drafted in the mid-1940s. After a brief spell with the U.S. military, he continued working in the Dallas area, where he was becoming well known. In 1947 he came to the attention of Herbert T. Rippa Sr., the head of the Dallas-based record label Bluebonnet Records, who recorded several sides with him and leased the masters to
Modern Records
Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...
.
The first release on Modern was the
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...
song "
Too Many Drivers
"Too Many Drivers" is a blues song recorded by Big Bill Broonzy in 1939. It is performed in an acoustic ensemble-style of early Chicago blues and the lyrics use double entendre often found in hokum-style blues songs. The song has been identified ...
".
It sold well enough that Modern brought Hogg to Los Angeles to cut more sides with their team of studio
musicians
A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
. These songs included his two biggest
hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...
, "Long Tall Mama" in 1948 and another Broonzy tune, "
Little School Girl."
In January 1950, "Little School Girl" reached number 5 on the
''Billboard'' Retail R&B chart and number 9 on the Most Played Juke Box R&B chart.
His two-part "Penitentiary Blues" (1952) was a remake of the prison song "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos".
Hogg's style was influenced by Broonzy,
Peetie Wheatstraw
William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers.
Early life and career
William Bunch was born in Ripley, Tennessee, in 1902, the s ...
and Black Ace.
His playing tended to be rhythmically inconsistent; author and critic
Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke ...
observed that “there is never any beat as such to Smokey Hogg’s music, though a pulse can sometimes be detected”.
His music was popular with record buyers in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and he continued to work and record until the end of the 1950s.
He died in
McKinney, Texas
McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano, Texas, Plano and Frisco, Texas, Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about ...
in 1960 of a haemorrhaging ulcer, at the age of 46.
Relatives and others
Hogg was reputed to be a cousin of
Lightnin' Hopkins
Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...
and to be distantly related to
Alger "Texas" Alexander, but both claims are ambiguous.
Hogg's cousin John Hogg was also a blues musician; he recorded for
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
in 1951.
He is not to be confused with Willie "Smokey" Hogg, a musician based in New York City in the 1960s.
Selected discography
* ''Angels in Harlem'' (
Ace
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...
CDCHD-419;
Specialty
Specialty or speciality may refer to:
* Deed, a contract in law
* Index of speciality, a geometrical invariant
* ''Speciality'' (album), an album by J-Pop singer Nami Tamaki
* Specialty (medicine), a field within medicine
* Specialty (dentistry), ...
SPCD-7020, 1992)
* ''Deep Ellum Rambler'' (Ace CDCHD-780, 2000)
* ''Serve it to the Right (The Combo and Modern Recordings 1947–52)'' (Ace CDCHD-866, 2002)
* ''Midnight Blues'' (Ace CDCHD-1019, 2004)
* ''Who's Heah! – Selected Singles 1947–1954'' (
Jasmine
Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...
JASMCD-3144, 2020)
* ''The Andrew "Smokey" Hogg Collection 1937–57'' (
Acrobat
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...
ADDCD-3351, 2020) 2-CD
* ''The Texas Blues of Smokey Hogg'' (Ace CDCHD-1588, 2021)
See also
*
List of blues musicians
Blues musicians are musical artists who are primarily recognized as writing, performing, and recording blues music. They come from different eras and include styles such as ragtime-vaudeville, Delta and country blues, and urban styles from Chicag ...
*
List of Texas blues musicians
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
List of electric blues musicians
The following is a list of electric blues musicians. The electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, the bass guitar, and/or the harmonica and other instruments. Electric blues is performed in severa ...
References
External links
Illustrated Smokey Hogg discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogg, Smokey
1914 births
1960 deaths
American street performers
American country singer-songwriters
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
Electric blues musicians
Texas blues musicians
Imperial Records artists
Modern Records artists
Specialty Records artists
Federal Records artists
Meteor Records artists
Combo Records artists
Recorded In Hollywood artists
20th-century American singer-songwriters
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
Country musicians from Texas
20th-century American male musicians
American male singer-songwriters
Culture of Kilgore, Texas