Big Boy Henry - Picking My Peas - Studio Recording 1982

Another un-issued Audio Arts master from Beaufort North Carolina's Blues Veteran, Richard "Big Boy" Henry. This track is from Big Boy's third series of recording dates with us that were recorded between 1982 and 1984 with Lightning Wells producing. Yet another upload of a track originally intended for the never to be issued Audio Arts LP "Mr. President". The Mr. President sessions (as we called them) yielded a dozen or so recordings with band backing tracks recorded live with minimal overdubs. "Mr. President", as released on 45 single was never intended to reflect Big Boy's natural Piedmont Folk Blues style but was produced as a novelty adaptation of his original composition written and performed as his personal protest to Congress's passage of Reagan's 1981 and 1982 budget proposals. Further plans to release Big Boy's Band related recordings were abandoned after "Mr. President" b/w "Cherry Red" received international notice. Notes re Picking My Peas": Big Boy had gotten accustomed to performing and recording with accompaniment and the guys in his band had developed an appreciation for his unique sense of meter and timing as well as those "on the fly changes in chord structure and verse that Big Boy called "inspirations, explaining that such kept his songs fresh! A track of this caliber, using back up musicians wouldn't have been possible only a few months prior to this...when the historic Mr. President project began. The Audio Arts production initiatives on behalf of Big Boy, over a relatively short seven year period are benchmarks in Big Boy's long and sometimes laborious career. The dedication and tireless effort expended by all the musicians, support staff, etc. were instrumental in gaining Big Boy that international acclaim he deserved. One evening I played a live studio dub from a 1/2 track reel to reel, (featured on this channel jghL3lR9kKc) that I had transferred to cassette) for NC Piedmont blues man Big Boy Henry while we traveled by car the hour long jaunt to our temporary studios in Albermarle Beach, NC. He was so impressed by the raw guitar driven energy dominating White's interpretation of the John Lee Hooker composition, that he was inspired to adapt one of his standards "Picking My Peas" using an edgy raunchy electric blues genre that was very unusual for him and recorded the take that evening with the help of his side man/guitarist-under study, Bad Bob Tunnell. Quite a departure from Big Boy's usual approach to the blues. Enjoy it for what it is.

Added 25 Mar 2026