Annotation:Milwaukee Blues

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X:1 T:Milwaukee Blues S:Odell Smith (1908-1959, North Carolina) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderately Quick" R:Country Blues D:Columbia 15688-D, North Carolina Ramblers (1930) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/milwaukee-blues Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C e2e2 edcA|c2Ac- c4|d2B2 Gd2B|d2B2 G3c| e2e2 edcA|c2Ac- c4|EGA{B}c- cAG2|(_E=E) C2C4| [M:2/4]FGAc-|[M:C|]c8-|c(^c d2) dc A2|G8-|G6_E2-| =EGAc- cAG2|[M:2/4](_ED)C2|[M:C|]C8-|C8||

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MILWAUKEE BLUES. American, Country Blues Tune/Song (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part.

Odell Smith, fiddle, with the Carolina Buddies, a group that also included Norman Woodlieff (seated), an original North Carolina Ramblers alumnae.

"Milwaukee Blues" was recorded in September, 1930, by Charlie Poole (1892-1931) and the North Carolina Ramblers [1] at Poole's last session. The group had undergone some personnel changes since they started recording in 1925. The fiddler at the time of the recording was Odell Smith (1908-1959), a mill worker who quit his job to record and perform with Poole. After Poole died, Smith went on to play with the Carolina Buddies, then broadcast over WMFR. In the mid-1930's he partnered with guitarist Clifton Kinny "Cliff" Clinard (1915-2001) in bands with a few iterations, particularly as the Rhythm Buddies. Clinard left for service during World War II and Smith found work as a sheet metal worker, but continued to play for dances.

The Rambler's recording was released in 1931, followed soon thereafter by another version by Ramblers guitarist Roy Harvey (with Jess Johnson on vocals), under the pseudonym 'John Martin'. Whether Poole or Harvey wrote "Milwaukee Blues" is open to question. Norm Cohen points out that Harvey worked on the railroads for most of his life (he was the youngest engineer on the Virginian Railway, at age 22) and brought several railroad songs to the Ramblers, including "Bill Mason" and "The Wreck of the Virginian Number Three." Poole himself was no stranger to railroads and lived a peripatetic lifestyle, and could have picked up the basics of "Milwaukee Blues" in his travels. Cohen believes the song derives from a 'tangle' of songs that deals with hoboes and wanderers; he writes:

Charlie Poole, Jr., stated his father wrote "Milwaukee Blues" and among Poole's scrapbooks was a sheet of song titles including "Milwaukee Blues", with the notation "by C.P." In one sense, then, it probably was "his" song, although he was not its author, as modern readers understand the term. More to the point, the title "Milwaukee Blues" is pencilled in alongside a crossed-out title, "Hobo Jones," which more firmly identifies the piece with its true relatives.