Mississippi Blues By J.D. Short and Big Joe Williams
Delmark Records
DL-609
1965

J.D. Short was born in Port Gibson, MS, a small delta town about “90 miles below Vicksburg going south*” in December of 1902.

Almost a year later, across the state two hundred miles to the northeast in Crawford, MS, J.D. Short’s cousin, Big Joe Williams, was born.

Short found his musical passage via the harmonica before learning to play the piano. It wasn’t until he “saw quite a bit of boy playing guitar*” that he tackled that instrument as well. What drew people to Short more than anything was his distinctive vibrato vocals.

Big Joe Williams started with the guitar but added three strings to make it a 9-string instrument that provided a distinctive sound on the acoustic guitar. Big Joe Williams started with the guitar but added three strings to make it a 9-string instrument that provided a distinctive sound on the acoustic guitar. Williams was a busker before finding the Rabbit Street Minstrels in the 1920s. In 1930 he recorded with The Birmingham Jug Band. Williams would later sign with Bluebird Records. During this stretch, Williams brought Muddy Waters on the road with him, providing Waters with his first taste of a traveling musician’s life. Williams would continue to play festivals throughout the 1950s and 1960s and recorded sixteen studio albums through 1974.

They come together here for a great, stripped-down, really raw, country blues release. The tight rhythm between these two is incredible, even though things get a bit messy at times. They were cousins, but they did not play together regularly, and they both had rather singular approaches to music. I think this actually adds flavor to a recording like this. It just feels like two musicians sitting around and playing off each other and taking the sound as it comes.

Even though both names are on this album, this is really a Big Joe Williams album with cousin J.D. joining in. The vocals are a great fit for these songs of darkness, mystery, and deceit. The only knock that I have seen on this release is that there aren’t more vocals from J. D. Short. He only sings on two tracks on the original release. Here, on an expanded release, you get an alternate take on “Stavin’ Chain Blues” that also includes Short’s vocals. You can listen below.

Vocals (A1, A3), harmonica and guitar: J.D. Short
Vocals, guitar (9-string): Big Joe Williams
Producer, Supervised By, Recorded By: Robert G. Koester
Recorded: February 8, 1958
Original Release: July 1965

Track Listing
1 – 4:11 – Stavin’ Chain Blues
2 – 2:54 – Roll & Tumble
3 – 3:25 – Mean Stepfather
4 – 3:24 – You Got to Help Me Some
5 – 3:18 – You’re Gonna Need King Jesus (Alternate Take)
6 – 3:39 – Jumpin’ In the Moonlight (Instrumental)
7 – 3:56 – Rocks & Gravel
8 – 2:49 – Sweet Old Kokomo
9 – 2:54 – Nobody Knows Chicago
10 – 4:11 – Gonna Check Up On My Baby
11 – 3:43 – You’re Gonna Need King Jesus
12 – 3:27 – Rambled and Wandered
13 – 3:20 – Going Back to Crawford, Miss
14 – 4:16 – Stavin’ Chain Blues (Alternate Take)
15 – 1:50 – J.D. Talks

* quote from J.D. Short on track 15 of the expanded release of Stavin’ Chase Blues.