Canned Heat Blues - Tommy Johnson (1928)
Tommy Johnson (1896 -- November 1, 1956) was an influential American delta blues musician, who recorded in the late 1920s, and was known for his eerie falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing. By 1920 he had become an alcoholic and itinerant musician, based in Crystal Springs but traveling widely around the South, sometimes accompanied by Papa Charlie McCoy. In 1928 he made his first recordings with McCoy for Victor Records.The recordings included "Canned Heat Blues", in which he sang of drinking methanol from the cooking fuel Sterno. The song features the refrain "canned heat, mama, sure, Lord, killing me." The blues group Canned Heat took their name from this song. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_%28musician%29
About Papa Charlie McCoy
Blues singer, guitarist and mandolin (often a hybrid banjo-mandolin) player, born May 26, 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi, died July 26, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois. Also known as "Papa Charlie," McCoy made countless recordings with artists like Tommy Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Mississippi Sheiks, Peetie Wheatstraw and Sonny Boy Williamson. His last recording session was with his older brother Kansas Joe McCoy in 1944.
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