J. T. Smith (musician)

John T. Smith (c. 1890 – c. 1940), variously known as the Howling Wolf, "Funny Paper" Smith, "Funny Papa" Smith, and Howling Smith, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.^[1][2] He released around ten singles in his own name or variants thereof, and recorded with Bernice Edwards, Black Boy Shine, Magnolia Harris, and Dessa Foster. His best known song was "Howling Wolf Blues", of which there were a number of variants recorded. Many of his original recordings were unreleased at the time, although all are available on various latter-day compilation albums. Details of his life are minimal and are possibly part-apocryphal.

He has been compared to Blind Lemon Jefferson,^[3] and Smith's guitar playing was similar in styling to that of Texas guitarists around in his lifetime.^[4] One factor that set him apart from his contemporaries was his lyrical compositions, which were highly original. On more than one occasion, his verses were so full that he had to split the song between both sides of the three minute limitation, imposed by the standard 78 rpm disc.^[5]

Life and career

Smith was born probably in Texas, United States. Details of his early life are not known. His first professional role involved him working at the Lincoln Theater in New York City.^[3] He married in the 1920s and spent most of the decade as an itinerant musician, travelling around Texas and Oklahoma, performing at various the parties, fish fries and juke joints, often in the company of Thomas Shaw, Alger "Texas" Alexander, and Little Hat Jones.^[6] He also was seen in the Dallas, Texas, area in the 1920s and 1930s, although he never recorded there.^[4] His first recordings were made in Chicago, Illinois on September 18 and 19, 1930. "Howling Wolf Blues" (parts one and two) was issued by Vocalion (Vocalion 1558) as his first single.^[2] It was noted by several sources that his guitar was often out of tune, even on some of his recordings, and Thomas Shaw commented that Smith was not an accomplished guitarist.^[3][4][5] Another oddity was that although Smith called himself "Funny Papa", his record label Vocalion managed to mistake this for "Funny Paper" Smith, and that was how he was billed on his earliest releases.^[4] He recorded almost twenty numbers for Vocalion in 1930 and 1931, including the aforementioned "Howling Wolf Blues", from which he acquired another pseudonym 'The Howling Wolf.'^[3]

It was reported that Smith frequently worn a stovepipe hat with his name (Funny Papa Smith) stitched upon it.^[3] Between September 1930 and April 1935, Smith recorded forty-one songs, although only half that number were released at the time of his recordings. From 1930, Smith worked at weekends performing with the equalling historically little known Thomas Shaw. In 1931, Smith was arrested after being involved in a fight in a gambling establishment,^[6] and allegedly killing a man in some argument over a woman.^[4]

Smith was imprisoned following the murder charge,^[7] and spent a few years in a Texas penitentiary. In 1935, he recorded some songs for the Vocalion label in Fort Worth, Texas, but they were not released.^[3] Along the way he recorded material with Bernice Edwards, Black Boy Shine, Magnolia Harris, and Dessa Foster.^[2] More than one source noted that Magnolia Harris was probably a pseudonym for the otherwise contractually obliged, Victoria Spivey.^[5][2] In 1939, he toured with Alger "Texas" Alexander, although Smith's subsequent whereabouts are unknown. He is believed to have died in 1940,^[3] although blues historians, Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc, reckoned from their research that it was "after 1947".^[1]

References

Other sources

• Sheldon Harris, Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues Singers (New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1979), ISBN 9780870004254
• Rick Koster, Texas Music (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), ISBN 978-0312254254
• Robert Santelli, Big Book of the Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia (New York: Penguin Books, 1994), ISBN 978-0140159394