Hour Two of Blues Before Sunrise’s Halloween broadcast turns the clock forward to the 1950s, a golden age of rhythm & blues when supernatural themes prowled the airwaves right alongside love songs and party tunes. These artists didn’t just sing about fear—they made it swing, transforming voodoo, graveyards, and demons into danceable metaphors for desire, danger, and rebellion.

The hour bursts open with Big T Tyler’s “King Kong,” a rollicking novelty number that sets the mood—part monster movie, part jump blues rave-up. Tyler, a fine shouter in the Louis Jordan mold, delivers the kind of oversized energy that makes even a giant ape sound like he belongs on a nightclub stage.

Johnny Fuller’s “Haunted House” keeps the humor alive but adds a hint of menace. Recorded in 1958, it’s one of the defining tracks of Halloween R&B—a tale of one man’s spooky homecoming wrapped in guitar twang and gospel call-and-response. Fuller’s delivery balances laughter and terror, proving that the blues could wear a costume and still stay true.

Then The Sly Fox slinks in with “The Dream,” a bizarre and atmospheric number built on echo and paranoia. It’s the sound of mid-century America dipping into the subconscious, where atomic anxiety met folk superstition. Chuck Berry’s “Down Bound Train” follows, his rare foray into moral storytelling. It’s a gospel-inflected nightmare where a sinner rides a flaming locomotive straight into hell—a chilling reminder that Berry could write parables as well as party anthems.

No Halloween broadcast would be complete without Bo Diddley, and he dominates the next stretch with “Mummy Walk” and “Bo Meets the Monster.” These cuts show Bo at his most playful and self-mythologizing, creating his own comic book universe of rhythm, bravado, and monsters. His trademark beat feels like bones rattling in the dark, and the songs’ primitive power reminds listeners that fear and fun often share the same groove.

The comic streak continues with Pigmeat Markham’s “The Judge,” a theatrical send-up that mixes courtroom satire and vaudeville slapstick. Markham’s booming voice and streetwise humor made him a national personality, but his roots in Black tent show comedy lend this track a haunted history of its own—one that ties performance, parody, and protest together.

Then the mood turns fiery and grim. Eugene Fox’s “Sinner’s Dream” drifts like a sermon from beyond, while Tampa Red’s “The Witching Hour” harks back to the blues’ prewar mysticism, full of midnight warnings and shadowy spirits. From there, Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Black Ghost” and John Lee Hooker’s “Burning Hell” and “Graveyard Blues” drag the listener straight into the Delta’s infernal underworld. Hopkins’ ghost is the eternal wanderer, while Hooker’s hell burns not with flames, but with guilt and groove—each track a slow-motion descent that only he could narrate.

Sunnyland Slim’s “The Devil Is a Busy Man” brings the moral back into focus, a Chicago piano sermon delivered with all the force of Sunday conviction. Sonny Boy Williamson I follows with “Dealing with the Devil,” recorded decades earlier but thematically perfect—a cautionary tale of bargains and blues, proving that every musician eventually has to reckon with his demons.

The set closes with Morris Lane’s “Moon Ray,” an instrumental palate cleanser that floats like smoke over a graveyard—jazz horns shimmering in the twilight, suggesting both rest and resurrection. It’s the calm after an hour of dancing with devils, reminding us that the blues always circles back to beauty, no matter how dark the path.

This hour stands as a reminder that the supernatural in R&B was never just gimmickry. It was metaphor, mirror, and myth. Whether conjuring ghosts or warning of hellfire, these artists were talking about life itself—its dangers, its desires, and the thin line between laughter and fear.

Hour 2 Playlist

KING KONG – Big T Tyler

HAUNTED HOUSE – Johnny Fuller

THE DREAM – The Sly Fox

DOWN BOUND TRAIN – Chuck Berry

MUMMY WALK – Bo Diddley

BO MEETS THE MONSTER – Bo Diddley

THE JUDGE – Pigmeat Markham

SINNER’S DREAM – Eugene Fox

THE WITCHING HOUR – Tampa Red

BLACK GHOST – Lightnin’ Hopkins

BURNING HELL – John Lee Hooker

GRAVEYARD BLUES – John Lee Hooker

THE DEVIL IS A BUSY MAN – Sunnyland Slim

DEALING WITH THE DEVIL – Sonny Boy Williamson I

MOON RAY – Morris Lane