Hour One of Blues Before Sunrise’s annual Halloween broadcast dives headlong into the musical graveyard — a ghostly revue where swing, novelty, and prewar blues meet under the flickering neon of midnight radio. Long before Hollywood or rock ‘n’ roll laid claim to Halloween, the blues and jazz musicians of the 1930s and ’40s were already conjuring spirits through sound — and they did it with rhythm, mischief, and plenty of horns.

The show kicks off with Louis Armstrong’s “Skeletons in the Closet,” a 1936 classic from Pennies from Heaven that gleefully winks at death itself. Armstrong’s gravelly charisma turns what could be macabre into pure entertainment — the trumpets dance, the bones rattle, and the graveyard swings. It’s the perfect overture for the hour: sinister but smiling, a Halloween where the ghosts know how to scat.

Then comes Scatman Crothers, Hollywood’s future “Shining” caretaker, in his hipper, jump-blues prime. His run of novelty gems — “The Thing,” “Dead Man Blues,” and “Ghost Riders in the Sky” — show him as one of postwar R&B’s most animated storytellers. His ghost stories swing between cowboy myth and comic terror, bridging the big band era and early rock ‘n’ roll. Crothers’ “Mr. Ghost Goes to Town” ties directly to the 1930s Five Jones Boys version, both steeped in zany wordplay and jazzy ghost parades.

From there, the Ravens deliver “Phantom Stage Coach,” an eerie vocal-group gem that drifts like fog across an abandoned highway. Then Lavaida Carter’s “JoJo the Cannibal Kid” injects some pure vaudeville horror into the mix — a reminder that before monster movies, audiences got their scares from stage acts and radio dramas full of wild sound effects and dark humor.

Cab Calloway takes center stage with “Old Man of the Mountain” and “Ghost of Smokey Joe,” both definitive examples of his ghostly charisma. Cab’s voice slithers and howls, his orchestra whooping behind him like a jazz séance. Nobody balanced menace and mirth like Calloway — his ghosts could jitterbug as easily as they could haunt your dreams.

Next, Joe Lutcher’s “Lavender Coffin” turns death into dancefloor delight, a jump blues anthem that proves the afterlife swings in 4/4 time. Julia Lee’s “Scream in the Night” follows, an earthy, seductive number where Lee’s Kansas City sass meets Halloween theatrics. When Bessie Smith steps in with “The Devil’s Gonna Get You” and “Haunted House Blues,” the mood deepens — no longer camp, but pure blues power. Bessie’s devil isn’t a costume; he’s a metaphor for sin, loss, and the trouble that haunts us all.

Then comes the undisputed king of shock and shriek — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins — whose five-song run forms the demonic heart of the hour. “I Put a Spell on You,” “Little Demon,” “Feast of the Mau-Mau,” “There’s Something Wrong with You,” and “Frenzy” are all wild, unhinged performances that redefined what it meant to be scary in song. Hawkins didn’t just sing about monsters; he became one, complete with stage coffins, capes, and a macabre sense of humor that prefigured everyone from Alice Cooper to Dr. John. His theatrical madness turned the blues into pure horror performance art — and it still chills the airwaves decades later.

Finally, the hour closes with Joe Morris’s “Ghost Train,” a 1949 instrumental that rides out of the darkness with a moaning horn section and rhythm section pulse like wheels on spectral rails. It’s a perfect closer — a train bound for the afterlife, but one you can still dance to before it disappears into the mist.

Hour One proves that the Halloween spirit has been alive in jazz and blues for nearly a century. The ghosts, devils, and skeletons were never just props — they were metaphors for the music itself: timeless, unkillable, and always ready to rise again at midnight.

Hour 1 Playlist

SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET – Louis Armstrong

THE THING – Scatman Crothers

MR. GHOST GOES TO TOWN – Five Jones Boys

DEAD MAN BLUES – Scatman Crothers

GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY – Scatman Crothers

PHANTOM STAGE COACH – Ravens

JOJO THE CANNIBAL KID – Lavaida Carter

OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN – Cab Calloway

GHOST OF SMOKEY JOE – Cab Calloway

LAVENDER COFFIN – Joe Lutcher

SCREAM IN THE NIGHT – Julia Lee

THE DEVIL’S GONNA GET YOU – Bessie Smith

HAUNTED HOUSE BLUES – Bessie Smith

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

LITTLE DEMON – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

FEAST OF THE MAU-MAU – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG ETC – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

FRENZY – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

GHOST TRAIN – Joe Morris