Kokomo Arnold
Encyclopedia
Kokomo Arnold was an American blues
musician.
Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia
, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca
label
; it was a cover
of the Scrapper Blackwell
blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana
. A left-handed slide guitar
ist, his intense slide style of playing and rapid-fire vocal style set him apart from his contemporaries.
, New York, and as a steelworker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. In 1929 he moved to Chicago and set up a bootlegging
business, an activity he continued throughout Prohibition
. In 1930 Arnold moved south briefly, and made his first recordings
, "Rainy Night Blues" and "Paddlin' Madeline Blues", under the name Gitfiddle Jim for the Victor label in Memphis
. He soon moved back to Chicago, although he was forced to make a living as a musician after Prohibition ended in 1933. Kansas Joe McCoy
heard him and introduced him to Mayo Williams who was producing records for Decca.
From his first recording for Decca on September 10, 1934, until his last on May 12, 1938, Arnold made 88 sides, seven of which remain lost. Arnold, Peetie Wheatstraw
and Bumble Bee Slim
were dominant figures in Chicago blues
circles of that time. Peetie Wheatstraw & Arnold in particular were also major influences upon musical contemporary seminal delta blues
artist Robert Johnson and thus modern music as a whole. Johnson turned "Old Original Kokomo Blues" into "Sweet Home Chicago
", "Milk Cow Blues" into "Milkcow's Calf Blues", while another Arnold song, "Sagefield Woman Blues", introduced the terminology "dust my broom
", which Johnson used as a song title himself.
Arnold's "Milk Cow Blues
" was covered by Elvis Presley
(as "Milk Cow Blues Boogie") at the Sun Studios produced by Sam Phillips
and was issued as one of his early singles, it was later performed by Tyler Hilton
who played Elvis in the 2005 film Walk the Line
. Aerosmith
covered "Milk Cow Blues" on their 1977 album Draw the Line, Dead Moon
covered it on their 1990 album Defiance, George Strait
on his 1991 album Chill of an Early Fall
and Willie Nelson
on the 2000 album Milk Cow Blues
.
In 1938 Arnold left the music industry and began to work in a Chicago factory. Rediscovered by blues researchers in 1962, he showed no enthusiasm for returning to music to take advantage of the new explosion of interest in the blues among young white audiences.
He died of a heart attack in Chicago, aged 67, in 1968, and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery
in Alsip, Illinois
.
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician.
Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia
Lovejoy, Georgia
Lovejoy is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 2,495. During the American Civil War, it was named Lovejoy's Station, and was the site of the Battle of Lovejoy's Station during the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.During the 2000s,...
, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
; it was a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the 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...
blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana
Kokomo, Indiana
Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States, Indiana's 13th largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties....
. A left-handed slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
ist, his intense slide style of playing and rapid-fire vocal style set him apart from his contemporaries.
Career
Having learned the basics of the guitar from his cousin, John Wiggs, Arnold began playing in the early 1920s as a sideline while he worked as a farmhand in BuffaloBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York, and as a steelworker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. In 1929 he moved to Chicago and set up a bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
business, an activity he continued throughout Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
. In 1930 Arnold moved south briefly, and made his first recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, "Rainy Night Blues" and "Paddlin' Madeline Blues", under the name Gitfiddle Jim for the Victor label in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. He soon moved back to Chicago, although he was forced to make a living as a musician after Prohibition ended in 1933. Kansas Joe McCoy
Kansas Joe McCoy
Kansas Joe McCoy was an African American Delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy...
heard him and introduced him to Mayo Williams who was producing records for Decca.
From his first recording for Decca on September 10, 1934, until his last on May 12, 1938, Arnold made 88 sides, seven of which remain lost. Arnold, Peetie Wheatstraw
Peetie Wheatstraw
Peetie Wheatstraw was the name adopted by the singer William Bunch, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers...
and Bumble Bee Slim
Bumble Bee Slim
Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States...
were dominant figures in Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
circles of that time. Peetie Wheatstraw & Arnold in particular were also major influences upon musical contemporary seminal delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
artist Robert Johnson and thus modern music as a whole. Johnson turned "Old Original Kokomo Blues" into "Sweet Home Chicago
Sweet Home Chicago
"Sweet Home Chicago" is a popular blues standard in the twelve bar form. It was first recorded and is credited to have been written by Robert Johnson...
", "Milk Cow Blues" into "Milkcow's Calf Blues", while another Arnold song, "Sagefield Woman Blues", introduced the terminology "dust my broom
Dust My Broom
"Dust My Broom" is a blues standard originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"by Robert Johnson, the Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03475, ARC 7-04-81 and Conqueror 8871...
", which Johnson used as a song title himself.
Arnold's "Milk Cow Blues
Milk Cow Blues (song)
-Original version:The original version was recorded by Arnold in Chicago on September 10, 1934, and released the next month by Decca Records.-Robert Johnson version:...
" was covered by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
(as "Milk Cow Blues Boogie") at the Sun Studios produced by Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
and was issued as one of his early singles, it was later performed by Tyler Hilton
Tyler Hilton
Tyler James Hilton is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Hilton began his professional career in music in 2000. Rolling Stone Magazine compared him to his contemporary, Howie Day, while others have compared Hilton to Elton John, both vocally and instrumentally...
who played Elvis in the 2005 film Walk the Line
Walk the Line
Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash...
. Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
covered "Milk Cow Blues" on their 1977 album Draw the Line, Dead Moon
Dead Moon
Dead Moon was a United States punk rock band from 1987 to 2006, formed in Portland, Oregon. Fronted by singer/guitarist Fred Cole, the band also included bassist Toody Cole, Fred's wife, and drummer Andrew Loomis. Veterans of Portland's independent rock scene, Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn...
covered it on their 1990 album Defiance, George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
on his 1991 album Chill of an Early Fall
Chill Of An Early Fall
Chill of an Early Fall is a 1991 album by American country music singer George Strait. It was released by MCA Records. The album produced the singles "If I Know Me" and "You Know Me Better Than That", both of which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in 1991...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
on the 2000 album Milk Cow Blues
Milk Cow Blues
Milk Cow Blues is an album from American country music artist Willie Nelson. This album was released on September 19, 2000, on the Island Records label. It features many famous blues artists, including B. B. King and Dr. John.-Track listing:...
.
In 1938 Arnold left the music industry and began to work in a Chicago factory. Rediscovered by blues researchers in 1962, he showed no enthusiasm for returning to music to take advantage of the new explosion of interest in the blues among young white audiences.
He died of a heart attack in Chicago, aged 67, in 1968, and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery
Burr Oak Cemetery and Restvale Cemetery
Burr Oak Cemetery is a cemetery located in unincorporated Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Alsip, a suburb slightly southwest of Chicago. As one of the few cemeteries focused on the needs of the African-American community, it is the final resting place of many black celebrities, including...
in Alsip, Illinois
Alsip, Illinois
Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago.Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885...
.
External links
- Illustrated Kokomo Arnold discography
- [ allmusic.com entry]
- African American Registry entry
- Profile page for James Kokomo Arnold on the Find-A-Grave web site