- Smokey Hogg
Andrew 'Smokey' Hogg (
27 January 1914 , near Westconnie,Texas -1 May 1960 ,McKinney, Texas [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:knfyxqy5ldje~T1 All Music Guide biography - accessed January 2008] ] ) was one of the most popular of thepost-war Texancountry blues artists.Life and career
He grew up on the farm and was taught to play
guitar by his father Frank Hogg. While still in his teens he teamed up with a theslide guitar ist and vocalist, B.K. Turner akaBlack Ace and the pair travelled together playing the turpentine and logging camp circuit of country dance halls and juke joints that surrounded Kilgore, Tyler, Greenville and Palestine inEast Texas .In 1937 Smokey and Black Ace were brought to
Chicago ,Illinois byDecca Records to record, and Smokey had his firstgramophone record ("Family Trouble Blues"/"Kind Hearted Blues") released, as by Andrew Hogg. It was an isolated occurrence - he did not make it back into arecording studio for over a decade.. By the early 1940s Hogg was married and making a good livingbusking around the Deep Ellum area ofDallas, Texas .Hogg was drafted in the mid 1940s and after a brief spell with the U.S. military, he continued working in the Dallas area where he was becoming well known. In 1947 he came to the attention of Herb Ritter, boss of the Dallas based
record label , Bluebonnet Records, who recorded several sides with him and leased the masters toModern Records .The first release on Modern was the
Big Bill Broonzy song "Too Many Drivers", and this racked up sufficient sales to encourage Modern Records to bring Hogg out to Los Angeles,California to cut more sides with their team of studio musicians. These songs included his two biggest hits, "Long Tall Mama" in 1949 and another Broonzy tune "Little School Girl" (#9 U.S. R&B chart) in 1950.Blues enthusiasts have reserved most of their approval for his two-part "Penitentiary Blues" (1952), a powerful retelling of the old Texas prison song, "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos".cite book
first= Tony
last= Russell
year= 1997
title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
edition=
publisher= Carlton Books Limited
location= Dubai
pages= p. 117-18
id= ISBN 1-85868-255-X]Hogg's country blues style, influenced by Broonzy,
Peetie Wheatstraw and Black Ace was popular with record buyers in the South during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He continued to work and record until the end of the 1950s, but died ofcancer , or possibly a rupturedulcer , in 1960. [ [http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1960.html Dead Rock Stars Club website - accessed January 2008] ]Relations and confusion
Smokey's
cousin , John Hogg, also played the blues, recording for Mercury in 1951.Smokey was reputed to be a cousin of
Lightnin' Hopkins , and distantly related to Texas Alexander, although both claims are ambiguous. [ [http://www.thebluestrail.com/artists/mus_hogg.htm The Bluestrail.com website information] ]He is not to be confused with Willie "Smokey" Hogg, an imposter who was based in New York and recorded mostly after 1960, taking the name of "Smokey" after Andrew had died. He recorded mostly for
Spivey Records , and his work is primarily a poor imitation ofLowell Fulson . Although Andrew was the younger man, his sound represented an older style in Texas Blues. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg [SMOKEY [|HOGG&sql=11:gxfwxql0ldke~T1 All Music Guide mini-biography on Willie "Smokey" Hogg - accessed January 2008] ]ee also
*
List of blues musicians
*List of Texas blues musicians
*List of Electric blues musicians References
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