Hamfats' proto RnB

Gettin' Harlem Hamfats' songs thrown in among younger 50s 60s RnB tunes, are such treats!

Hamfats, who? See, this was kinda blues&ragtime supergroup of mid to late 30s around Great Lakes - catering to growing Miss. expat community of Chitown and Detroit. Best known for their 'weedsmoker's dream' of later Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman fame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyjW8FTGxbI weedsmoker's

and otherwise showing their revv'd up & modernized jug band style, freshly up from Memphis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2heVEC2djCE oh red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqs-R0NptEc pitch boogie woogie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5iWPL4_hQ8 little girl

Hamfats' guitarist Joe McCoy may illustrate the musical trek of southern hire hands, from Miss. Delta- via Memphis in late 20s- and up to industrial North http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQR9gboSAI

Joe & Charlie mcCoy evil woman blues (skip james/robert johnson hellhound-theme, really)

Joe left spouse Memphis Minnie behind, heading for richter pastures up North

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSeosDahbTw Joe mcCoy& Memphis Minnie pile driver blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meo36F8-PCY Joe + Minnie levee breaks of later Zep fame

Minnie kept on own career in native Memphis of 40s and even early 50s, creating her very own version of
proto-RnB (of more later). While Joe/Hamfats' stomp became staple diet of Bluebird/Chicago type electrified blues of Washboard Sam/Big Bill during war years.