The third hour is this week’s special presentation: an encore of Blues at Chicago’s Furniture Mart. The theme turns on a specific Chicago building and the recordings made there, giving the hour a firm geographic and recording-history frame without needing to impose a musical style that the playlist itself does not support. The Furniture Mart was built in the 1920s, included a recording studio, and was used by Brunswick, Decca, and Vocalion, or ARC, the American Recording Company. That shared address becomes the hour’s organizing fact.
The building’s former address, 666 North Lake Shore Drive, is part of the program’s story. Jazz Record Mart’s Bob Koester told tales of artists who were superstitious about recording there. The source does not ask listeners to accept those stories as more than tales, and the show itself treats the unusual address with suitable humor. The address was later officially changed to 680 North Lake Shore Drive. Whether the old number was “horse hockey” or not, the result is a reason to revisit a body of recordings associated with one Chicago location, something the program notes say happens only every eight or ten years.
Arthur Pettis opens with “That Won’t Do,” followed by Coletha Simpson’s “Down South Blues.” Speckled Red’s “Right String But Wrong Yo-Yo,” Eddie Miller’s “School Day Blues,” and Jim Towel’s “I’ve Been Hoo-Dooed” establish the first stretch. Willie Harris, Son Bonds, and Frank Busby follow with “West Side Blues,” “Old Bachelor Blues,” and “‘Leven Light City.” The program lets these recordings stand together because of their recording location, not because the source claims that they share a single band, subject, or sound.
Milton Sparks’s “I.C. Train Blues” and Art McKay’s “Central Limited” form a particularly neat adjacent pair in title, though no further relationship should be assumed from that placement. Charlie Jordan’s “Signifyin’ at Ya,” Earl Thomas’s “Burying Ground,” Alex Hill’s “Tack Head Blues,” and Hound Head Henry’s “Crying Blues” continue the hour. Their sequence makes clear how much range can sit inside a location-centered feature. The Furniture Mart theme identifies where the recordings were done; it does not flatten the individual artists into a single story.
The closing section includes Lorraine Walton’s “If You’re a Viper,” Bessie Mae Smith’s “He Treats Me Like a Dog,” Wester Taylor’s “World in a Jug,” and Jesse Clayton’s “Neckbones.” These titles provide a final set of distinctive entries, but the editorial interest remains with the program’s premise. Blues Before Sunrise has selected them as recordings made at the former Furniture Mart address, placing the listener in contact with material tied to the same building across the labels named in the notes.
This hour is strongest as a carefully bounded archival excursion. The special does not depend on a familiar anniversary or a generic city survey. It begins with a real Chicago landmark, follows the studio and label connection, acknowledges the strange lore surrounding 666 North Lake Shore Drive, and then gives the playlist room to unfold. The building is the thread. The individual recordings retain their own titles, artists, and presence within the sequence. By the time Jesse Clayton closes the hour, the program has made one address into a practical and memorable way of hearing a varied set of blues recordings.
Hour 3 Playlist
That Won’t Do — Arthur Pettis
Down South Blues — Coletha Simpson
Right String But Wrong Yo-Yo — Speckled Red
School Day Blues — Eddie Miller
I’ve Been Hoo-Dooed — Jim Towel
West Side Blues — Willie Harris
Old Bachelor Blues — Son Bonds
‘Leven Light City — Frank Busby
I.C. Train Blues — Milton Sparks
Central Limited — Art McKay
Signifyin’ at Ya — Charlie Jordan
Burying Ground — Earl Thomas
Tack Head Blues — Alex Hill
Crying Blues — Hound Head Henry
If You’re a Viper — Lorraine Walton
He Treats Me Like a Dog — Bessie Mae Smith
World in a Jug — Wester Taylor
Neckbones — Jesse Clayton