Page 78 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2017

Nicknames and the Blues

LegeNds oF the Past

By CC Rider
I’m CC Rider, back another year to wax on blues got his start when T-Bone Walker fell ill at a concert, and
nicknames. A topic I know well ‘cause I built my life around young Brown hopped up on stage, grabbed T-Bone’s guitar,
the blues, and my career around a nickname. and wrote his signature blues “Gatemouth Boogie” on the
You probably know a bit about this topic too. ‘Cause if you spot. Brown ultimately became best known for his incredible
know the music, you know it’s famous for its nicknames. So, “blues fiddle” playing, but it was his singing that landed him
the nickname. A high school teacher remarked that he had a
how’d you like a little learnin’ on how some of your favorites “voice like a gate.” And so “Gatemouth” was born.
landed theirs? Here’s a list of ten of the best blues nicknames
from the past. Big Bill Broonzy: Superstar guitar-slinger and session
master Big Bill Broonzy also had simple reasoning behind
Ma Rainey: Up first we've got Ma Rainey. And she’s his nickname. They called him Big Bill, well, because he was
up first ‘cause she was one of the first to record the blues. big. Born William Lee Conley Bradley, he took the name Bill
Sometime in the 1880s, she was born Gertrude Malissa Nix Broonzy early on. And by the time he became a star, he was
Pridgett. Quite a name. Maybe a little too much to fit on a as famous for his monster talent as for his, alleged, monster
bill. So she took the last name Rainey, and the first name size. He actually wasn’t all that tall, especially compared to
Ma. Why Ma, you ask? Easy. Because Ma Rainey was the the likes of Howlin’ Wolf. His driver’s license listed him as only
Mother of the Blues.
6 feet 1 ½ inches tall. But he talked a big game, and he sure
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown: Genre-bending loomed large over the music scene.

James “T-Model” Ford Photo by Lou Bopp

T-Model Ford: James Lewis Carter Ford didn’t even pick
up a guitar ‘til he was 58 years old, after his fifth wife left
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown Photo courtesy Alligator Records him. He’d worked blue-collar jobs all his life: plowing fields,
working at a sawmill, graduating to a lumber company
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown: Genre-bending multi- foreman. But it was an early gig as a truck driver that saddled
instrumentalist Clarence Brown could play drums, fiddle, him with his nickname – T-Model Ford – after a truck not unlike
mandolin, viola, harmonica, you name it. Born in 1924, he the one he manned.

76 Blues Festival Guide 2017