Re: Inspiration - compilation from J.J. Milteau

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Just to add from this, I indeed instigated the correction mentioned in the
liner notes. JJ had burned the master for me to listen to and when I heard
this track I thought "Hey, Rhythm Willie ! Wicked !" then checked the titles
and thought "Uh, uh ?"

I called JJ and told him I suspected it was RW rather than RLMC. Since this
was the day before the sleevenotes were to be printed and since all
recording information in the hands of JJ pointed to RLMC, he added the
comment in the sleevenotes but didn't change the track listing. I thought it
was sporting enough considering the fact that there is a lack of reliable
published information on the subject.

I'm told the latest G&D has corrected the mistake, but I guess JJ had been
dealing with whoever owns the originals, and they must still have considered
it to be RLMC on harp...

Ben FELTEN, Editor
www.planetharmonica.com

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Missin" <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 8:52 PM
Subject: Re: Inspiration - compilation from J.J. Milteau


>
> Tom wrote:
> >
> >That's not Robert Lee McCoy playing harp on Lee Brown's "My Driving
> >Wheel" -- it's Rhythm Willie Hood.
> >
> >I believe the first case of this performance being misidentified was
> >in an old version of Godrich & Dixon's discography -- and since G&D
> >was used as a resource by reissue labels, when the song was reissued
> >on a Yazoo comp years later, this wrong ID was perpetuated.
>
>
> If my memory serves me correctly, G&D actually listed the harp player
> on this session (and the one with Peetie Wheatstraw recorded later
> that same day) as being simply "Lee McCoy". It seems to have been
> later writers who assumed that this meant "Robert Lee McCoy". Another
> session with Peetie Wheatstraw actually did have Robert Lee McCoy
> playing harp, but he was listed under his full name, not as "Lee
> McCoy". Things were complicated even further by the first edition of
> Kim Field's "Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers" which suggested
> (wrongly) that Rhythm Willie was actually pianist W.E. "Buddy" Burton.
>
> Although he was later much better known as a singer/guitarist, Robert
> Lee McCoy played harp on many of his early recording sessions, but his
> style was totally unlike Rhythm Willie's. McCoy played mostly in cross
> harp, whereas Willie played straight harp almost exclusively in a very
> jazz-influenced style - it's hard to imagine how they could be
> mistaken for each other. As far as I know, Robert Lee McCoy was never
> called "Lee McCoy" on any of his recordings, nor did he ever use his
> real name of Robert Lee McCollum, although he did use the names
> "Rambling Bob", "Peetie's Boy" and later became best known as "Robert
> NIghthawk".
>
> The late Bob Shatkin was particularly curious as to why that 1939
> session was credited to "Lee McCoy" and speculated that perhaps Willie
> Hood had to use a pseudonym for contractual reasons. I guess we will
> never know.
>
> I agree with Tom that is it disappointing that the error is being
> perpetuated on the "Inspiration" CD, but fortunately it is the only
> disappointment about this album.
>
>  -- Pat.
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