Hour Two of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise finds Sonny Thompson standing at the crossroads of gospel, jump, and rhythm & blues. It’s the sound of postwar America waking up—dance halls buzzing, Sunday services overflowing, and a piano-driven beat pulling both worlds together. For Steve Cushing, this hour is a chance to highlight how Thompson and his contemporaries straddled the line between sacred and secular, crafting a rhythmic language that could move a crowd or lift a congregation.

The set opens with The Five Royales’ “Laundromat Blues,” an ideal starting point for this hour’s exploration. The group began as a gospel quintet before transitioning to rhythm & blues, and their raw harmonies and spiritual phrasing clearly show that lineage. The piano undercurrent—syncopated and soulful—could easily have come from Sonny Thompson’s playbook. That groove leads naturally into Wynonie Harris’ “Good Morning Judge,” a hard-swinging party record driven by piano triplets and brass stabs. Harris may have been the self-proclaimed “Mr. Blues,” but the subtle architecture behind his shouting came from players like Thompson, whose sense of balance kept the music tight but never stiff.

Roy Brown’s “Love Don’t Love Nobody” follows, showcasing a crooner’s phrasing that would later influence Bobby Bland and Little Milton. The slow tempo gives space for the piano to breathe—each chord placed with purpose, bridging blues emotion and pop sophistication. Then comes Camille Howard’s “Money Blues,” an overlooked gem of postwar piano blues. A former member of Roy Milton’s Solid Senders, Howard brought a woman’s touch to the male-dominated R&B scene, and her playing shares the same rolling precision that Thompson used to anchor bandstand and studio sessions alike.

The gospel thread returns with The Pilgrim Travelers’ “I’m Standing on the Highway,” a track that reminds listeners how gospel quartets shaped modern rhythm. Their rhythmic clapping, dynamic call-and-response, and restrained accompaniment all point forward to the rhythmic discipline of Thompson’s work with King Records vocalists. The spiritual momentum carries into Brother Joe May’s “Search Me Lord” and Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “That’s All,” both fiery performances where gospel intensity meets blues rhythm head-on.

Then, the program slides smoothly back toward the club floor with Jimmy Witherspoon’s “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s “Kidney Stew Blues.” Both men were masters of phrasing—each syllable perfectly timed, each pause filled by a pianist who understood the art of restraint. These are the kinds of records where Thompson’s sensibility shines even when his name isn’t on the label: accompaniment that supports without overpowering.

From there, Steve Cushing steers the set into a jump-blues segment that highlights the studio-band brilliance Thompson helped shape. Lucky Millinder’s “Apollo Jump” and Bullmoose Jackson’s “I Love You, Yes I Do” capture the swing-band energy of the late 1940s, where jazz phrasing met blues storytelling. Thompson’s fingerprints are all over this sound—tight horn writing, pulsing basslines, and that essential piano riff that ties everything together.

The hour closes on a spiritual note with The Soul Stirrers’ “By and By,” featuring the young Sam Cooke. It’s a reminder of where this story begins and ends—with the dialogue between sacred fire and secular rhythm. By the time Thompson was crafting hits in the 1950s, the same gospel phrasing had migrated into pop and soul, proving that the accompanist’s role was both musical and cultural.

Hour Two captures that full spectrum. It’s not just about the blues—it’s about the bridge between Sunday morning and Saturday night, and the piano man who understood them both.

Hour 2 Playlist

LAUNDROMAT BLUES – The Five Royales

GOOD MORNING JUDGE – Wynonie Harris

LOVE DON’T LOVE NOBODY – Roy Brown

MONEY BLUES – Camille Howard

I’M STANDING ON THE HIGHWAY – The Pilgrim Travelers

SEARCH ME LORD – Brother Joe May

THAT’S ALL – Sister Rosetta Tharpe

AIN’T NOBODY’S BUSINESS – Jimmy Witherspoon

KIDNEY STEW BLUES – Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson

APOLLO JUMP – Lucky Millinder

I LOVE YOU, YES I DO – Bullmoose Jackson

BY AND BY – The Soul Stirrers