Hour Three of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise steps back in time, tracing the origins of the accompanist’s art long before Sonny Thompson sat down at a piano bench in the King Records studio. To understand Thompson’s style—the careful phrasing, the sense of space, the deep rhythmic conversation between voice and instrument—you have to return to the solo bluesmen and early duos who built the vocabulary of the music. This hour is devoted to those roots: prewar recordings where piano, guitar, and voice tell a story that’s both personal and universal.

The set opens with Joe Pullum’s “Married Woman Blues,” a record that captures the theatricality of early Texas blues. Pullum’s sly vocal phrasing and urban storytelling set the tone for what follows—a deep dive into the world of self-contained artists who carried their own rhythm sections in their hands. Blind Willie Johnson anchors the early part of the hour with two sanctified classics: “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.” His National steel guitar and gruff, sermon-like delivery bridge the sacred and the secular, a sound that would later seep into the phrasing of electric bluesmen like Robert Nighthawk and Otis Rush.

Next comes Yas Yas Girl, one of the forgotten pioneers of the bawdy, blues-woman tradition. Her “Blues Everywhere” and “About My Time to Check” are brash, witty, and filled with confidence—proof that female singers in the prewar years weren’t merely interpreters but authors of their own narratives. They remind listeners that the accompanist’s role, whether at a piano or guitar, has always been to lift the voice, to follow and frame the story.

The hour then moves through a sequence of pianists and songsters who shaped the early sound of blues accompaniment. Walter Roland’s “Early This Morning” and “Back Door Blues” feature rolling left-hand figures and chord patterns that later became cornerstones of urban blues piano. Robert Nighthawk’s “Don’t Mistreat Your Woman” brings slide guitar into the picture, while Monkey Joe Coleman lightens the mood with “Ever Dream You Was Lucky,” a perfect snapshot of 1930s Chicago, where blues and vaudeville rubbed shoulders.

From there, the set gathers steam with Sonny Boy Williamson I’s “Up the Country” and “Jackson Blues.” These early sides capture the harmonica’s transition from novelty instrument to emotional lead voice. Sonny Boy’s interplay between voice and harp became a template for the postwar Chicago sound that Sonny Thompson would later help define.

As the hour unfolds, the focus shifts to barrelhouse and boogie stylists whose rhythmic attack directly foreshadowed Thompson’s approach. Speckled Red’s “Wilkens Street Stomp” and Georgia White’s “Strewing Your Mess” swing with that raw, percussive drive—piano as percussion, rhythm, and melody all at once. Bill Gaither’s “Bad Luck Child” and Yank Rachel’s “She Loves Just Who She Pleases” bring the mandolin and guitar back into the mix, each line bristling with the interplay that defines blues ensemble work.

The hour closes with a stunning two-part performance from Mooche Richardson, “Low Down Barrelhouse Blues, Parts I & II.” It’s a reminder that accompaniment isn’t just background—it’s dialogue. Richardson’s left hand drives the groove while the right spins flourishes that sound both playful and defiant. His work anticipates the rhythmic discipline and harmonic sophistication that Sonny Thompson would later bring to the R&B stage.

Hour Three acts as both history lesson and emotional grounding. By revisiting these early recordings, Steve Cushing reminds us that the art of support—the accompanist’s craft—has always been central to the blues. Before studios, charts, and union dates, there was the simple act of one musician listening to another and finding the right note to make the story whole.

Hour 3 Playlist

MARRIED WOMAN BLUES – Joe Pullum

NOBODY’S FAULT BUT MINE – Blind Willie Johnson

KEEP YOUR LAMP TRIMMED AND BURNING – Blind Willie Johnson

BLUES EVERYWHERE – Yas Yas Girl

ABOUT MY TIME TO CHECK – Yas Yas Girl

EARLY THIS MORNING – Walter Roland

BACK DOOR BLUES – Walter Roland

DON’T MISTREAT YOUR WOMAN – Robert Nighthawk

EVER DREAM YOU WAS LUCKY – Monkey Joe Coleman

UP THE COUNTRY – Sonny Boy Williamson I

JACKSON BLUES – Sonny Boy Williamson I

WILKENS STREET STOMP – Speckled Red

STREWING YOUR MESS – Georgia White

BAD LUCK CHILD – Bill Gaither

SHE LOVES JUST WHO SHE PLEASES – Yank Rachel

LOW DOWN BARRELHOUSE BLUES, PARTS I & II – Mooche Richardson