Tampa Red:
Tampa Red or ‘The Guitar Wizard’ was the first big star from Chicago’s blues scene. His real name was Hudson Whittaker. Born in Smithsville Georgia, he was orphaned at an early age and moved to Tampa, Florida to live with his grandparents. The Red-headed Tampa worked as a musician and on the vaudeville circuit until he moved to Chicago in the mid-1920s. In Chicago he started working with Tom Dorsey (not the orchestra leader) and together they invented a new kind of blues called hokum (light and peppy numbers filled with lyrical double-entendres).
Tampa played with the house band at Bluebird Records, helping to establish the ‘Bluebird Beat,’ which was the sound coming out of the Chicago record label at the time. He was also very helpful to those in the blues scene. He opened his house to other artists in need, fans, and foreign visitors.
Tampa continued to record into the early 1950s, but rock’n’roll was taking over most of the business. He retired in 1953, having recorded more than 320 sides. In 1955, his wife Frances died. Tampa struggled with this and began to drink heavily. In 1960, he cut two more albums for the Prestige-Bluesville label and completely retired. He died in a nursing home on March 19th, 1981, the same year he was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.
Tampa Red was a huge influence on bottleneck players of the era. He often played with a band or accompanist, which allowed him to stretch out and play some complicated single-note slide runs. He also helped popularize National resonator guitars with the blues crowd. He was usually seen playing a National Tricone guitar, an instrument with a more sophisticated sound than its brother, the single-resonator (Style O and Duolian), played by Son House. The Tricone seemed to sustain better than the Style O, which had a more immediate attack but a faster decay. Both guitars work well for slide and it is merely a matter of personal taste, although, if you like your blues tone more guttural than complex, I would recommend the single-cone guitars.
Song: ‘Denver Blues’
Guitar: National Tricone
Tampa Red or ‘The Guitar Wizard’ was the first big star from Chicago’s blues scene. His real name was Hudson Whittaker. Born in Smithsville Georgia, he was orphaned at an early age and moved to Tampa, Florida to live with his grandparents. The Red-headed Tampa worked as a musician and on the vaudeville circuit until he moved to Chicago in the mid-1920s. In Chicago he started working with Tom Dorsey (not the orchestra leader) and together they invented a new kind of blues called hokum (light and peppy numbers filled with lyrical double-entendres).
Tampa played with the house band at Bluebird Records, helping to establish the ‘Bluebird Beat,’ which was the sound coming out of the Chicago record label at the time. He was also very helpful to those in the blues scene. He opened his house to other artists in need, fans, and foreign visitors.
Tampa continued to record into the early 1950s, but rock’n’roll was taking over most of the business. He retired in 1953, having recorded more than 320 sides. In 1955, his wife Frances died. Tampa struggled with this and began to drink heavily. In 1960, he cut two more albums for the Prestige-Bluesville label and completely retired. He died in a nursing home on March 19th, 1981, the same year he was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.
Tampa Red was a huge influence on bottleneck players of the era. He often played with a band or accompanist, which allowed him to stretch out and play some complicated single-note slide runs. He also helped popularize National resonator guitars with the blues crowd. He was usually seen playing a National Tricone guitar, an instrument with a more sophisticated sound than its brother, the single-resonator (Style O and Duolian), played by Son House. The Tricone seemed to sustain better than the Style O, which had a more immediate attack but a faster decay. Both guitars work well for slide and it is merely a matter of personal taste, although, if you like your blues tone more guttural than complex, I would recommend the single-cone guitars.
Song: ‘Denver Blues’
Guitar: National Tricone