A Blue Song
Joe "Guitar" Hughes was a fierce, unsung hero of Houston's Third Ward blues scene. Coming up alongside Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins, Hughes was a staple of Don Robey's Duke/Peacock empire. "A Blue Song" showcases the quintessential Houston guitar sound: a fat, stinging tone with precise, horn-like phrasing. Hughes rarely played chords in his solos, relying instead on aggressive, syncopated single-note runs that demonstrated why he was one of Texas's most respected, if under-recorded, bandleaders. [Session details unverified in standard references.]
The floating-verse lineage for this recording (who else recorded it, where the melody or lyric traveled, and how it was adapted) is still being mapped. This section will trace the song's DNA across the archive.
Contributions welcome at OlMrRead@ccblues.com.