Before and aft of Willie Nelson on my iPod are Willie Mabon and Wille Nix.

Mabon was the more famous of the two. He recorded the original version of I Don’t Know, made famous later by the Blues Brothers. Mabon’s version was a huge hit for Checker Records in 1952, helped usher in the era of rock and roll on Alan Freed’s early radio shows and was covered by another famed white-guy, Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Belushi version is probably better known to my generation, though, if nothing else than for his treatment of the lyric: “If it’s women that kill me, I don’t mind dying”.

Nix was an itinerant tap dancer and vaudevillian before he taught himself drums and played about the south with the likes of B.B. King and Sonny Boy Williamson. He never stayed in one place long enough to make a lot of records but this recording, from The Chess Story, is still readily available. The version recorded by Big Bill Broonzy is thought to have been a big influence on Led Zeppelin.

Willie Mabon – I Don’t Know

Willie Nix – Truckin’ Little Woman

COMMIT WITH CASH: The Chess Story

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 7:22 am and is filed under News, Views, Props and Missives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.