How Long, How Long Blues
Encyclopedia
"How Long, How Long Blues" is a traditional eight bar blues
Eight bar blues
In music, an eight-bar blues is a typical blues chord progression, "the second most common blues form," "common to folk, rock, and jazz forms of the blues," taking eight 4/4 or 12/8 bars to the verse....

 song, made famous by Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...

 on his 1928 Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...

 recording with the guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Scrapper Blackwell
Scrapper Blackwell
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting...

. The song is commonly referred to as "How Long Blues" and is a blues standard
Blues standard
A blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...

 that has been recorded by many artists, not only in blues, but also country and western, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

, and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

.

Song

Carr wrote the music for the song which is a sad tale of life gone wrong. He played an impressive blues piano and accompanied himself aided by Blackwell's single string jazz guitar
Jazz guitar
The term jazz guitar may refer to either a type of guitar or to the variety of guitar playing styles used in the various genres which are commonly termed "jazz"...

 lines in the role of a responsorial voice as well as providing chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

. In contrast to the rural bluesmen of the time, Carr's vocals were emotionally detached, high-pitched and smooth, with clear diction.

The song has been recorded with many lyrical variations, but most versions begin with the line: "How long, how long, has that evening train been gone?"

Legacy

This is the first successful recording reflecting the Northern urban blues style resulting from the black migration north. Carr's partnership with guitarist Blackwell combined his light bluesy piano with a melodic jazz guitar that attracted the sophisticated urban black audience in clubs. His vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistican and influenced such singers as T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...

, Charles Brown
Charles Brown
Charlie Brown is the principal character in the comic strip Peanuts.Charlie or Charles Brown may also refer to:-Athletes:* Charlie Brown from Dumfries who played for home town club Queen of the South...

, Amos Milburn
Amos Milburn
Amos Milburn was an African American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, popular during the 1940s and 1950s...

, Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...

, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 amongst others. Blackwell's jazz single string guitar lines helped pave the way for the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

ists such as Eddie Durham and Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

.

A version appeared on Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...

's 1956 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Lonnie Donegan Showcase. On 1 October 1962, the song was recorded by Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...

 for his album Black and Blue. Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...

 recorded a version on Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna is an American blues-rock band formed by bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen as a spin-off of Jefferson Airplane. It plays acoustic and electric versions of original and traditional blues songs.- Jefferson Airplane side project :...

's first acoustic album in 1970. The Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

 covered the song several times in 1970 during their acoustic sit-down sets. Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...

 recorded the song on his 1997 album, Born in the Delta
Born in the Delta
Born in the Delta is an album by blues pianist Pinetop Perkins that was released on May 27, 1997. Pinetop Perkins was 83 years old when he recorded the album in 1996, having begun his recording career very late in life.- Track listing :...

. The track was recorded by Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 for his 1994 album, From the Cradle
From the Cradle
From the Cradle is a blues cover album by Eric Clapton. Released on 13 September 1994 by Reprise Records, the album was Eric Clapton's long awaited follow-up to his massively-successful live album, Unplugged...

.

A 1955 recording of "How Long Blues" by James Crutchfield
James Crutchfield
James Crutchfield was an American St. Louis, Missouri based, barrelhouse blues singer, pianist, and songwriter, whose career spanned seven decades...

, was released on the CD Biddle Street Barrelhousin in 2000.
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