Hour Two of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise glows with that unmistakable mid-century energy — the moment when jump blues, swing, and gospel all collided to form the DNA of postwar rhythm and blues. It’s the kind of set that reminds listeners why Jim O’Neal’s Living Blues always insisted on seeing the music as a living continuum. These aren’t isolated styles; they’re part of one big story, all pulsing to the same beat.
Steve Cushing opens with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s “I Trusted You Baby,” a sly, urbane piece that blends jazz phrasing with deep blues emotion. It’s a reminder that Vinson, like so many artists of his generation, straddled the line between the two worlds effortlessly. Then come a pair of classic Wynonie Harris tracks — “Here Comes the Night” and “Keep A’Talkin’” — both showing why Harris was one of the most important transitional figures between the big-band shouters and early rock ’n’ roll. His raw, swaggering delivery and sly humor made him a model for every bluesman and rocker who followed.
Floyd Dixon’s “Wine Wine Wine” brings a looser, West Coast flavor to the mix, while Hadda Brooks’ “Feel So Good” reminds us that women were right there shaping the sound — her piano-driven sophistication radiates confidence and swing.
A burst of laughter and rhythm arrives with Pigmeat Markham’s “The Traveling Salesman,” a perfect piece of blues vaudeville, followed by Cat & Jammers’ “Where’s My Baby,” keeping the energy high. Ivory Joe Hunter, one of the smoothest vocalists of the late ’40s, turns in a double feature with “Send Me Pretty Mama” and “Where Shall I Go” — elegant, heartfelt performances that show why his crossover success into pop and R&B came so naturally.
The set then slips back to the earliest roots of the piano blues with Pinetop Smith’s “Pinetop Blues” — a piece that practically defines the term barrelhouse. The humor and bite of Frankie Half-Pint Jaxon’s “Jive Man Blues” follow close behind, a performance from the days when the line between comic and blues singer was paper thin.
The second half of the hour glides into a more classic mood. Roosevelt Sykes appears with “Lost All I Had,” rich and rolling, a reminder that the piano has always been central to the city blues. Then comes a long, luxurious stretch devoted to Ethel Waters, one of the most versatile and vital performers of the 1920s and ’30s. Her sequence — “Waiting at the End of the Road,” “Traveling All Alone,” “Long Lean Lanky Mama,” and “Keep Your Eye on Your Man” — showcases her command of both jazz phrasing and blues emotion. Waters was a bridge between eras, and her recordings never lose their immediacy.
To close the hour, Cushing turns toward the spiritual — an echo of O’Neal’s own respect for the sacred roots that run beneath the secular blues. The Bethel Quartet’s “So Glad I’ve Got the Stone” and Rev. J.M. Gates’ “Rich Man and the Needle’s Eye” remind listeners that the bluesman and the preacher often lived in the same neighborhood, and sometimes inside the same man. The final selection, The Soul Stirrers’ “I Want to Rest,” brings a sense of peace after all that motion — a quiet benediction before the conversation with Jim O’Neal begins in Hour 3.
Hour Two is a tour through the full palette of mid-century Black music — from nightclub shout to church call, from the laughter of the vaudeville stage to the solemn promise of gospel harmony. It’s the soundtrack of the world Jim O’Neal devoted his life to documenting, one record and one story at a time.
Hour 2 Playlist
I TRUSTED YOU BABY – Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson
HERE COMES THE NIGHT – Wynonie Harris
KEEP A’TALKIN’ – Wynonie Harris
WINE WINE WINE – Floyd Dixon
FEEL SO GOOD – Hadda Brooks
THE TRAVELING SALESMAN – Pigmeat Markham
WHERE’S MY BABY – Cat & Jammers
SEND ME PRETTY MAMA – Ivory Joe Hunter
WHERE SHALL I GO – Ivory Joe Hunter
PINETOP BLUES – Pinetop Smith
JIVE MAN BLUES – Frankie Half-Pint Jaxon
LOST ALL I HAD – Roosevelt Sykes
WAITING AT THE END OF THE ROAD – Ethel Waters
TRAVELING ALL ALONE – Ethel Waters
LONG LEAN LANKY MAMA – Ethel Waters
KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR MAN – Ethel Waters
SO GLAD I’VE GOT THE STONE – Bethel Quartet
RICH MAN & THE NEEDLES EYE – Rev. J.M. Gates
I WANT TO REST – Soul Stirrers