52 weeks of blues

Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis, as the name suggests, was a regular performer on Chicago’s Maxwell Street for over 40 years. He played in a drone style, often not changing chords throughout a song, and had a powerful, deep voice. Despite recording a few times, Jimmy never found success but entertained thousands of people at the Sunday market on Maxwell Street and is legendary in the Chicago blues scene.
He was born as Charles W. Thompson in the Mississippi Delta town of Tippo on March 2nd, 1925. He was surrounded by the blues as a child and as a teenager his aunt started dating a guitarist from the Northern Hill Country by the name of John Lee Hooker. Although Hooker was slightly older, the two became best friends and Hooker became Charles’ mentor. Hooker had a distinctive and unusual style which he learnt from his step father. Unlike other Delta blues, Hooker’s style was a drone, staying in one chord and adding expression through repeated rhythm trills and jarring melodic breaks.
Hooker had left home as a 14 year old and had taken to the road, after a several years mentoring Charles he was off on the road, ending up in Memphis. Charles continued playing and was well received. In his late teens he too hit the road, performing as a musician and entertainer – including walking on broken glass – in established travelling minstrel shows such as the Rabbits Foot Minstrels and Silas Green’s troupe.
By 1946 he had settled in Detroit, reuniting with Hooker who has moved there in the early 40s and was working in auto factories. The two performed together at house parties and in the bars along Hastings Street on the East Side. They started to attract attention, with Hooker being the more popular. In 1948 Hooker was recorded, releasing “Boogie Chillen” which was an immediate hit and has become on of the most influential blues songs of all time.
Charles continued in the clubs and continued moving, spending a year living in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1952 he was in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded two sides under Charles W. Thompson at Sun Studios – “Cold Hands” and “4th and Broad”. Despite interest with both Bullet and Chess records, the songs were never issued and have been lost.
In 1953, he drifted north again and settled in Chicago’s Maxwell Street area, the home of the exploding Chicago Blues scene. In the late 30s and early 40s black musicians from the south had arrived in the city bringing the country blues with them and Maxwell Street became a venue for outdoor blues. Bo Diddley started his career playing in a band at the Sunday Market in 1943; Muddy Water had settled in the city in 1948 years and was a major success; Howling Wolf had recorded in Memphis in ’51 and in ’52 relocated to Chicago with his band and was electrifying the city with his brand of blues. Charles settled in and became a draw card performing on the street either solo or in various bands. He quickly gained a reputation for his deep country guitar work and entertainingly flamboyant performances.
As other artists gained success, he began to emulate them. His guitar style was already very, very similar to John Lee Hooker’s and his singing altered to include imitations of the Wolf’s trademark howls and Muddy’s vocal styling. His repertoire consisted more and more of versions of popular songs – especially Muddy Water’s music.
In 1964 he purchased the Knotty Pine Grill with his with and would perform out the front to lure customers in. By this time he was using “Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis” or “Jewtown Jimmy” (after the nickname of the Maxwell Street Area” as his name, and under this name he recorded four tracks in 1964 for Testament, a new label formed by journalist and producer Pete Welding to record black artists. Those four tracks lead to a full length self-titled album recorded in 1965 for Electra. Although the record was well received by blues connoisseurs, it failed to find any commercial success, perhaps due to a lack of originality in guitar, vocal performance and songs – most were covers of well known tunes.
Around 1968, chasing success Jimmy moved to Memphis and established a three piece, accompanied by a drummer and a harmonica player, and recorded a 45 with the band name “The Three Tuffs”. It was issued locally but again failed to have any success. Jimmy returned to Chicago and Maxwell Street around 1970 and continued performing on the street, at the market and occasionally in clubs.
Jimmy’s performances started failing in the mid to late 70’s. Gone was the electric guitar and amp, he would bash away on an out of tune acoustic and hum or moan random snippets of songs instead of singing whole pieces. He relied more and more on his Howlin’ Wolf imitation. He had a copy of his record sleeve on a chain around his neck, and increasingly bragged about his reputation, all the while playing bad versions of the same songs he’d played for 20 years. He would invite people to his ‘set’ on Roosevelt and Central Park, where the audience was greeted to a solo acoustic guitar in an empty parking lot. His energetic and eccentric style had turned nasty and unpleasant.
His mental state had deteriorated, fuelled by frustration at his lack of commercial success, slight dementia and perhaps alcohol and drug abuse. His wife reportedly died in a house fire, adding to his woes. He increasingly became a pariah of the community, and an embarrassment to his earlier ability.
By the early 80s he stopped performing altogether and disappeared from the Chicago scene. He turned to the church, becoming a lay preacher and removing himself completely from the life he had known. Sometime in the mid 80s, he started performing again, performing spirituals in his local church and replacing the tattered record sleeve hanging from his neck with a gold cross. He formed a close friendship with the young, white mandolin player Dave Andersen which helped immensely with his recovery.
In 1987 or 88, he returned to the street accompanied by Andersen and percussionist Kenny Tam. He was renewed; he had healed himself; and was back doing what he did best – entertaining the crowds at the Sunday market. His singing became his own again, he added new, modern songs to his performances and his backing band supported his guitar style perfectly. He became a living link to the Chicago blues scene of 40 years earlier.
He returned to the studio and recorded new songs and new versions of old songs, accompanied by Kansas City Red, the legendary drummer who was the major influence on the Chicago Blues sound, and harmonica player Lester Davenport. The tracks were released as another full length LP. Jimmy continued performing on the street, and played at several folk festivals in various states in the early 90s.
Jimmy died of a heart attack in his beloved Chicago on December 28th, 1995, and although he never achieved the commercial success he was after, Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis is remembered as legend of the Chicago blues scene.

“Me and my Telephone”, as is the case with most of Maxwell Street Jimmy’s recorded songs, borrows a lot from earlier songs. Lyrics are taken from many different sources, including Blind Lemon Jefferson, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. He starts with a standard 4 line verse but adds lines when ever he wants in subsequent verses.The guitar work is Jimmy’s own, but is very similar to his mentor and best friend John Lee Hooker.
The song is in standard tuning, played in the key of F# – so put a capo on the second fret. The song only stays in the F# chord and features some really slick and fast ‘trills ‘ hammeron /pull off combinations. The key to doing these successfully is just practising a lot. The technique is easy, it just takes some time to build up the muscle control and speed required to get the smooth sound the Jimmy could get.
All riffs in the song are from the blues scale, using the 7th as an accent point. The riffs are all pretty similar – noodling around the bass strings between the nut and 3rd fret with a few trips into the treble strings but still within the first three frets.
Timing and control is everything with this piece – the main feature of the song is the use of the riffs to highlight the consistent low E (or F# in this case) bass line. Jimmy introduces a shuffle rhythm to the bass line early on and maintains it throughout the whole song. Your thumb is either playing riffs or hitting the bass, and it’s the bass that establishes the background that allows the riffs to work their magic. Jimmy never misses a beat – you can set your watch to how consistent that bass line is. Jimmy gradually adds more and more to that low E and by the end he is playing an Em chord on the beat, while keeping just the low E for the ‘and’ shuffle beat. This takes a lot of control to get the build up right – add a little to each each minute or so until you are going out at the end. Even then, it’s controlled – it’s muted, doesn’t ring out but adds to the harmonic structure in the back ground of the song.
Tap your foot, and make sure your riffs end on the beat. The song looks a lot easier than it is – those fast trills on the bass strings will make or break it – if you are quick and smooth enough you will not have a problem playing this. If you aren’t, slow the beat down, get the timing then gradually increase your speed until you get it.
The Lyrics

You know I'm sitting down here all alone
Just me and my telephone
Yeah an' I ain't got no one to talk with
Just me and my telephone

You know I'm just sitting here wondering baby
I ain't got no one to even, ah, call my own
Yeah I'm sitting in this old big room all alone darling
I'm listening to my little old, old radio

You know the blues have got me
Blues just about to carry me down
Yeah I'm sitting here wondering baby
Would a match box ever hold my clothes?
Yeah you know babe I ain't going nowhere darling
Baby I ain't first go further on up down the road

Ain't it lonesome in your bedroom
Baby you sit in your own room alone
Yeah ain't it lonesome in your bedroom
While we in your own room alone
Yeah you know you ain't got no one to talk to darling
Just you and your telephone

You know its sad and it's lonesome
When you have a care ain't got no one to call your own
You know it's sad and it lonesome
You ain't got no one to even call your own
You know you just gunna keep wondering man
You been driven down from door to door

You know I feel like this morning
Babe I can't even, ah, go to sleep
You know I feel like this morning baby
Babe I can't even, ah, go to sleep
Yeah you know I love you so bad baby
You broke my poor heart in two

Yes, yes
... in this room alone

You know I used to love my baby
But I seen that my baby sure do hate me now
I said my baby used to love me
Seems like my baby sure do hate me know
You know this room has got so lonesome
I believe I got to move on down the line

I say you don't want me baby
Why don't you tell me so
I won't either a little girl of my own
I won't either hang around her door

You know I come home this morning
Trying to do this thing right
Little baby you didn't want me there
Stay at home all the time
But I tell you woman
Ain't it lonely when you in your room alone
Ain't it so bad now now man
You ain't got no one just to call your own

Short and sweet riffs leading into the progression.

I’ve included the first 3 verse here, plus the last verse to illustrate how the low E is built up over the song. The riffs are all very similar, but they are played faster towards the end. Take your time, learn it slow then gradually bring it up to speed. You are aiming for feel more than anything here – The Em chord that he is using for the beat by the end will come naturally as you get into the groove of the song.
Verse 1
Verse 2
Verse 3

Here’s the last verse showing the ‘built up’ bassline Jimmy has going on at the end. It’s an Em chord played on the beat, with the open E and 2nd fret A used on the ‘and’ shuffle beat. I’d recommend playing it with the thumb on the low E and A and fingers up-stroking the G and D strings. I think that’s how Jimmy does it – the minor 3rd on the open G string sounds stronger than the notes on the D or A strings.