The Melancholic Chords of Sleepy John Estes' Legacy

My Friday nights are never complete without the clink of a wine glass and a journey into the heart of American music history. Tonight, I, Harriet West-Moore, uncork a bottle of sweet red wine and usher you into the world of Sleepy John Estes, a blues pioneer who turned adversity into a legacy. Born into a sharecropping family, Estes crafted a voice that became the whining hallmark of his music, and a homemade cigar box guitar that strummed the chords of resilience. From the fields of Tennessee to the bustling streets of Brownsville, we trace his footsteps alongside legendary musicians like 'Sonny Boy' Williamson and uncover how my own family roots intertwine with his melodies.

As the evening settles in, I raise my glass to loyal listeners, sharing warm shoutouts while reflecting on the universal language of music that binds us. Before the night fades to the upbeat tunes of T-ara, we celebrate the close of our blues series, honoring the man who, despite the challenges of the 1920s blues scene and a brief return to sharecropping, found his rhythm with the help of Victor Records and a fateful collaboration with Robert Nighthawk. Join me for a heartfelt toast to Sleepy John Estes, and let's appreciate the shared experiences that resonate through the strings of his legacy.

Intro/outro music by Soundtripe music

Website: https://moorewineandmusic.com
Email: moorewinemusic@gmail.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Soundstripe Bet Spacer the soundstrike. Hey everyone, happy Friday. This is Harriet Westmore with the More Wine and Music podcast, the podcast where I discuss the history of American music over a glass of wine. I'm drinking sweet red tonight, so that's my wine for the night. I want to welcome everybody on a beautiful Friday. It is warm out here where I live. It is like I think it went up to like 90 in the late 80s or 90 today, so I'm not going to complain about that. Alright, dive in. Remember there are t-shirts available and tote bags and coffee mugs on the wwwmorewineandmusiccom.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Okay, so, without further ado, tonight we're going to go into episode number 10. I've got two more episodes before I go into, to complete the blues genre, before I move on into a different season and different type of music. So we've got two more to go. Episode number 10 is going to be about Sleepy John Estes, and what's so interesting about him is because he comes from the area where my dad is from my dad's, from Ripley, tennessee, ripley, lauderdale County and Bronzeville area. So this is near and dear, close to home, of my family history. Alright, sleepy John Estes is another blues artist worth mentioning due to being a songwriter and having a vocal voice that was described as being his voice was like when he's singing he like, it was like more of a whining, crying type voice I equivalent to like whining, like dang I just forgot his name he's sweat. Okay, that's who I think you know. He whines and every time he sings it's like a whining song. So that's what I think how Sleepy John Estes was, but maybe not like that. But who was he? Who was he as a person? Okay, and how he and what's his contribution to the Muse genre?

Speaker 1: 2:52

Well, john Sleepy Adams Estes was born on January 25th on in 1905 in Ripley, tennessee, which is in Lauderdale County. He was one of 16 children. His father's name, from the sources that I read, was named was Daniel. His mother's name, however, I couldn't find the name of his mother, so there was nothing written about her. But, however, he came from a large, another large family. They were another typical family of sharecroppers. They sharecropped, they were very poor and they earned a living by sharecropping. He was one of the children that had to, you know, do the work as, like everybody else, get out in that field. He probably was like early five years old, as early as you can walk. You were, as you know, most black families down the deep South, they had to get out there and pick that cotton. Don't care how old you were.

Speaker 1: 4:08

A baseball accident caused him to injure his right eye, so I don't know how old that was when he had that accident. But that accident, you know, limit his ability to play any type of sports, obviously because of his eye injured to his eye. So to compensate not being able to play any sports, he took to music. Actually, his father, daniel, was a. He knew how to play the guitar so he taught his son how to play. And little young John would make his own guitar out of throwaway matchboxes and he would use that as an instrument. And he was a I'm sorry, not matchboxes, it was cigar cigar boxes, so he would use cigar boxes. I don't know what type of wiring he would use with those cigar boxes, but he was able to use it as a way of making some type of sound out of it because he was able to play at different parties and local little play in the streets and play a little local parties and picnics in the area. So there you have it. I mean that caused ingenuity to be able to take a match of cigar box and make an instrument out of that. And he also suffered from a blood disorder that caused him that probably created, stemming from his injury from his right eye, and it caused him necrolapsi narcolepsy, I'm sorry, narcolepsy, which is a sepulon disorder, which is hence why he was nicknamed sleeping. I'm not sure exactly what narcolepsy is. I think you just automatically fall asleep a lot, no matter where you are. It's the kind of disorder that, medically, that makes you go to sleep and makes you fall asleep. So, which is why he was nicknamed childhood friends and family who started calling him Sleepy John, which is how he got his name Sleepy John Estes.

Speaker 1: 6:39

In 1915, his family left Ripley and they moved to Bronzeville, which is about 18 miles northwest, into Haywood County, haywood and Ripley and Lauderdale they're right next door to each other. My dad was actually born in. He was born in Lauderdale County. It was one of those stories to where the house that where he was actually born. He wasn't born in the hospital, he was born in a house and part of the house the front part of the house, was in Haywood County and the back portion of the house where he was actually born, was set in Lauderdale. So he was on a birth certificate it was considered Ripley, which is Lauderdale.

Speaker 1: 7:36

So while Sleepy John was living in Bronzeville he was able to meet James Yank Rochelle. If you recall, back in episode eight when I was talking about my distant cousin, sunny Boy Williamson, number one, sunny Boy also played with Yank Rochelle. So Sleepy John also met up with him and played as well with him and during that time they were able to play in the Memphis area. They went to Memphis area and started playing. This was during the time when Sleepy was, you know, in his teens. He was born in 1904. So he was what? Four minus 15 is what 11? He was 11 years. He was young, Wow, he was young, okay, but they would play, they would get together and play and they would play little circuit parties like you know little, you know little, you know little, you know picnics and little house parties, and they would play on those local Brownsville streets, you know, to get some kind of a recognition.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Between the time of 1924 to 1927, sleepy John played in Missouri, in Arkansas, and these times at that time in the 20s, there was this type of music called jug type music, where you a lot of instruments were played with, including jugs, other homemade instruments like washboards, jugs, along with, you know, drums and piano and harmonica. So Sleepy John was able to incorporate jug music in his type of genre and style that he's playing and, matter of fact, he created a little small band and got with another blues artist called, named Hammy Nixon, and he played the harmonica while Sleepy John would sing vocals and play the guitar. But they decided to follow suit as far as the jug music, the jug style playing, and they called themselves the three jugs band. The other person that was a part of that was Jab Jones. Okay, and the three. They decided to play in the Memphis area.

Speaker 1: 10:32

Memphis, you know, as you we've learned in the blues genre genre, memphis is a was a very popular place to play as a blues artist, people from all over the South. If you wanted to make it big, you would go into the Memphis area, such as, you know, people from the Delta and Mississippi. They make their way up into Memphis because you had Bill Street. Bill Street was that pop, the place to be. If you were going to play music, play the blues and hopefully to be discovered, you would, you know, go to Bill Street. So, and Sleepy John and his two band members. They were no exception. They left, you know Tennessee well, left Brownsville area and went farther west into Memphis.

Speaker 1: 11:24

And you know, at that time in the 20s, it was a very competitive because you had, again, you had a lot of people coming up from the Delta, mississippi Delta. You had that style of blues coming into Mississippi and playing and so it was like being competitive, to try to get into these venues to be discovered, unfortunately, sleepy John and his band. They weren't as popular, they weren't able to get into a venues like you know, those like the clubs or bars that were popular for most musicians at that time he was, you know, only thing that they could do is play like on the streets or play at local, you know, parties or picnics and stuff like that. They weren't able to get, you know, famous enough or be recognized enough to be able to get inside a actual, you know more, better venue in Memphis on Bill Street. So you know at that time who was in competition that Sleepy John was with was he was a famous. Another famous blues ours was Sunhouse. And who recognized Sunhouse? He came up from the Mississippi Delta. He's another blues ours that came from the Delta. So Sunhouse was very popular and was in Memphis at that time.

Speaker 1: 13:05

So again, you know it's all about competition. You know it was all about competition and unfortunately Sleepy John and the three jugs band was not able to get the recognition that they you know, you know, could you know deserved actually. So when they figured that says you know, the competition was fierce and work for them were scarce in Memphis, they decided to go up farther north into Kentucky. Again, there aren't any, I wouldn't say. I would say there aren't any large venues in Kentucky. They actually went to Paducah, kentucky. They were able to play again in street, you know, on low parties and street venues like that. I want to take time out to mention a few people who are watching me tonight. Hi, crystal, love you, my brother Ethan. Yes, I'm going to talk about that at the end of what you're saying. I'm going to talk about that at the end of the podcast. Hi, mommy, all right. So after again leaving from Kentucky, I just want to go a farther north into the Missouri, arkansas, and into the Missouri area to play Again.

Speaker 1: 14:46

It seemed like they lost their footing, could not get in like the other more famous blues artists, so they were more regulated to playing just local stuff. It wasn't big time but although in around 1929, Sleepy John was able to record Victor records, since they're represented from Chicago, they went down south and Sleepy John was able to connect with Victor Records company. They were able to do some kind of recording. Love you too, hi Auntie. All right, like I said, they were actually invited. After they recorded a few songs with Victor Records, victor Records invited them to come up to Chicago and continue on to record a little bit more records. Some of the records that they recorded, the songs were called Milk Cow Blues and Mama Blues. A lot of these artists in their songs didn't have much imagination, obviously. So you get these lowdown blues Milk Cow Blues, house Blues those were the type of the titles that they have Thinking that they were able to. Maybe I can do better if we move up north. So they did. Well, it was ours this day down south. They moved up north into Chicago. So they decided in 1931 to move to Chicago. Sleepy John, hammy, nixon and Jab Jones. They decided to move up to Chicago and hopefully try to make it there.

Speaker 1: 17:08

The unique style of Sleepy John again, like I said, was about his voice yeah, more of a crying, whining voice. A company with that was Hammy Nixon's Carmonica. So it gave that blend of that bluesy style that was really really down home because of that whining and crying style, along with that harmonica. So you know that made it unique of what he was able to do Again being in Chicago. They didn't stay long because he was, you know, again they weren't able to break into the Genre of venues that most of the what better known artists were able to do. So they again Regulate it to.

Speaker 1: 18:12

You know, playing in the streets of Chicago, you know for For recognition, which wasn't much. So you know being disillusioned After a while. You know you get hungry because I mean, obviously if you're paying, you know playing for pennies you're not going to really much survive, especially in a major city like Chicago. So sleepy John decided to move back to back to what he knows, which was back down home to Brownsville, and he pretty much gave up playing, he for a little bit. He decided to go back to sharecropping, which I found that was kind of strange. Who leaves the opportunity you wanted to that's, that's a life that most blacks wanted to get away from, and you know, by any means necessary. And but sleepy John decided to Give it up and go back to what he knows. So he went to you know, went back to sharecropping, you know, and played locally. He didn't entirely give up playing his music, he just sharecropped and then played at local gigs, you know family picnics, street or house parties and such.

Speaker 1: 19:34

In 1937 sleepy John was Invited to go to New York City, however, to play and record for DELT, deca label records. He recorded for them between 37, 1937 and 1938. And during that time he had brought along his cousin Charlie Pickett, who played the guitar as is backup, along with hammy Nixon on the harmonica. So he kind of change up the the participants in his van in 1940, he was paired with a young musician called who was named Robert Nighthawk, and Robert Nighthawk he was, like I said, he was young, so he was able to bring a more of a modern style To what sleepy John was playing before. So that kind of gave sleepy a may be a better recognition a little bit because he was able to, you know, pairing up with Robert Nighthawk, he was to be able to infuse a little bit of more modernization in his style of music. Then he what he was doing before and that kind of gave him a little more notoriety.

Speaker 1: 21:04

He became sick in around in 1941. His health was failing, I'm not sure what exactly. I don't know if you're still on, I don't know if you know what his actual health is. Failing health was but it caused him to move back, you know, go back to Brownsville and that's. You know. That's basically where he stayed at that point and he In 50, 1950, he completely lost his eyesight. So both you know he was blind From the injury from his right eye, from as a child, from a baseball injury, and then by 1950, he was completely blind.

Speaker 1: 21:55

But although he was blind, he in 1952, he was invited, he tried to go back into the music and this time he wanted to. He could use connected with the infamous Sam Phillips. Sam Phillips is a very well known back then, very well known record producer for son records and for the song records label and he recorded some music although it didn't get released. So that was kind of the big. You know, pretty much the beginning of the end with him. As far as Pushing out new material.

Speaker 1: 22:45

His music did get some kind of again got more little Recognition back well in 1962. And that was because it was a blues festival that was going on down in that area in Brownsville and you know, usually blues festival it brings back it kind of revise Musicians so it kind of, you know, that helped so people like him on in the he was part of the festival and another blues artist, john Hurt In Sunhouse and skip James, that kind of revital, you know, having that type of festival, kind of revitalize their, their type music. So from there, you know, people gain a little bit of interest, more interest in him. So he, you know try to tour from that, from that festival. He tried to tour a little bit, you know try, because he got a lot of requests to play at certain venues but again his health didn't really allow him to really tour like he would have liked. So he retired from that point into Brownsville and that's where he pretty much lived the rest of his life. He died on June 5th in 1977. He died from a stroke, but in 1991, he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1: 24:35

So that's the story of Sleepy John as this, while he may have been considered an unsung blues artist, his home in Ripley and Brownsville, they make it a point to make sure he's not forgotten. There's what Ethan has mentioned. There's a museum called the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center. That actually has his house on that property so you can actually tour inside the house. I actually had the opportunity to go when I was down there several years ago. I went when I was in Tennessee. I happened to go to the, went to visit the museum and actually went into his house. It was one of those typical houses that you see in the South back in the day, a shanty type house with only two rooms, one bedroom, hardwood floors, but everything was set up the way it was when he was living there. So it's interesting to see those old type shacks of a house that our people lived in way back when and if you go deep, deep in some of the South, we probably still live in today, unfortunately.

Speaker 1: 26:08

All right, so that is the story of Sleepy John Estes. Like I said, I mean it is close to my family because of my dad's side, because my dad was born in that area and I think he actually didn't know him personally. So I got most of my sources from the National Park Museum, national Park Service and the Tennessee Vacationcom website. I see that. Yes, ethan, you're right. He is buried in Durhamville in the Durhamville Cemetery, and a lot of our relatives, along with a lot of our relatives, are buried in that grave site in Durhamville, which is in Durhamville, tennessee, which is in. I believe that's Lotterdale County. Right, ethan, it might be. Yeah, lotterdale. So yeah, so that's where Sleepy John is buried. Okay, I appreciate a lot of family and support. Thank you so much. Okay, yes, it is Lotterdale. I appreciate you guys' support.

Speaker 1: 27:28

Like I said, I have two more episodes I'm going to do into the blues genre. Then I'm going to switch over and start with the jazz. I'm talking about the contemporary jazz that we listened to today. I'm talking about the authentic Count Basie, that type of jazz back in the day, where how it all started. So I'm going to go into that genre. So, if there's two, I got two more. Hey, rebecca, I have a co-worker that's out here. Thank you, if you have any blues person or blues artist that you would like me to do a biography about, please let me know. Like I said, I have two more episodes I'm going to do and then I'm going to switch over into another genre. So, thank you so much. Please support, go on the wwwmorewineandmusiccom website, where I have t-shirts, I have tote bags, I have coffee mugs and it has the More Wine and Music podcast logo on it.

Speaker 1: 28:47

Like I said, I'm drinking my sweet wine for the night and you guys stay cool. It is warm out, but I'm not complaining. Be safe and I love you all. Thank you so much for joining. All right, have a good night and good weekend. Bye, sound T-ara, and don't forget Soundstripe. Soundstripe.