My "Why did we call ourselves Davenport Johnson?" post (scroll down if you'd like to read it) garnered a lot of emails, and we appreciate that. Thanks to everybody who took the time to get in touch with us. Glad you got a kick out it!
The most interesting one came from one Mr. Josh Larsen. He sent us an image of the label of a Blind Willie Jackson "Sittin' On The Davenport" record he said he found in his local resale shop. See it below on the left.
I gotta tell you it was pretty exciting to see some proof of it's existence. My original internet search yielded nothing and I wasn't sure people would believe that my story was real without a picture.
However the more I looked at Josh's image, the more something seemed a little off to me. While I didn't remember what record company put it out exactly, I could've sworn the label on my grandparent's copy was blue. This bugged me enough that I went onto the net again and scoured around for anything "Blind Willie."
Wow, I had no idea there were so many other blues guitar players using that nick-name. I found Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie Davis, Blind Willie Harris and Blind Willie Dunn.
I also found a Blind Roosevelt Graves, a Blind Tim Russell and a Blind Jeremiah Taylor. Apparently a lot of blues guys were "blind." Hmmm? Maybe they all played with Johnsons. ;-)
Anyway, after an exhaustive search I actually did find a Blind Willie Jackson. He was a gospel singer who had a record out with his brother called "Take Your Burdens to the Lord" backed with "Telephone To Glory." Not likely the same guy who sang about playing with his johnson on the davenport. But very likely the same guy Josh found.
The most interesting one came from one Mr. Josh Larsen. He sent us an image of the label of a Blind Willie Jackson "Sittin' On The Davenport" record he said he found in his local resale shop. See it below on the left.
I gotta tell you it was pretty exciting to see some proof of it's existence. My original internet search yielded nothing and I wasn't sure people would believe that my story was real without a picture.
However the more I looked at Josh's image, the more something seemed a little off to me. While I didn't remember what record company put it out exactly, I could've sworn the label on my grandparent's copy was blue. This bugged me enough that I went onto the net again and scoured around for anything "Blind Willie."
Wow, I had no idea there were so many other blues guitar players using that nick-name. I found Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie Davis, Blind Willie Harris and Blind Willie Dunn.
I also found a Blind Roosevelt Graves, a Blind Tim Russell and a Blind Jeremiah Taylor. Apparently a lot of blues guys were "blind." Hmmm? Maybe they all played with Johnsons. ;-)
Anyway, after an exhaustive search I actually did find a Blind Willie Jackson. He was a gospel singer who had a record out with his brother called "Take Your Burdens to the Lord" backed with "Telephone To Glory." Not likely the same guy who sang about playing with his johnson on the davenport. But very likely the same guy Josh found.
The one Josh sent us on the left, the one I found on-line on the right.
I should have realized when I saw the "5050-B" at the bottom that I was looking at a B-side, and since "Sittin'…" was definitely the A-side, Josh's had to be a fake. Closer inspection shows the words "his Johnson" are clearly a different font than "Blind Willie and" (Check out the capital "J" for starters)… but damn, that's one heck of a Photoshopping job, and I'll admit I was completely fooled for a day or two.
Close up of the same two images.
So no free t-shirt or mug for you Josh, but we'll tip our hat to you for the effort. For a little while you gave me a nice warm feeling inside. Oh, and by the way, I also found out that Blind WIllie Jackson and Brother released the same two songs on Herwin records as well, so don't try to fool us again with that version… it won't work!
In the meantime the search is still on. If anybody can give us some real proof of Blind Willie Jackson's "Sittin' On The Davenport," (it's gotta be out there somewhere!) you'll get the aforementioned free t-shirt and mug of your choice from our shop, here.
In the meantime the search is still on. If anybody can give us some real proof of Blind Willie Jackson's "Sittin' On The Davenport," (it's gotta be out there somewhere!) you'll get the aforementioned free t-shirt and mug of your choice from our shop, here.
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