Vinyl album cover 1974

Vinyl album back cover 1st edition 1973

Vinyl album inner sleeve 1974
Lyrics for “Blues from the Apple”
CREDITS PRODUCER’S NOTE
By Fred Seibert 2022
Blues From The Apple
Charles Walker & Tom Pomposello was a bluesman. Not a Black
The New York City Blues Band American from the South or the inner city, but a
bluesman nonetheless. From the time he heard the
Oblivion Records OD-4 1974 Animals and the Rolling Stones, he started champi-
oning everyone from Muddy Waters to his hero and
Bill Dicey: harmonica teacher, Mississippi Fred McDowell (see the notes
for Oblivion’s first release, “Live in New York”
Ola Mae Dixon: drums where Tom accompanies Fred on bass guitar). His
Sonny Harden: bass guitar dedication to unearthing unheard blues musicians
Goody Hunt: harmonica led us to record and release “Blues from the Apple,”
an album that was a medley of working New York
Larry Johnson: harmonica City musicians in the early 70s.
Bobby King: rigged snare drum
Lee Roy Little: piano and vocal When I reflect on all the hard work the musicians
put into the recording of “Blues from the Apple,” it’s
Tom Pomposello: bass guitar sad to realize it didn’t even sell out the initial press-
David Lee Reitman: bass guitar ing of 1000 LPs, Oblivion’s poorest selling vinyl LP.
Charles Walker: guitar But it’s probably supports the thesis in our record
company partner Dick Pennington’s liner notes that
Ann Yancey: guitar “the New York City blues scene has been so far un-
derground that even to the avid aficionado it has re-
mained invisible.” Long Island born and raised, Tom
Produced by Honest Tom Pomposello was New York blues biggest supporter. For 30 years
with Fred Seibert he played and advocated local bluesmen on his radio
Engineering: Fred Seibert shows at WKCR and WBAI.
Recorded at WKCR-FM,
Columbia University, NYC During a broadcast in March of 1973 Tom was inter-
Rerecording: viewing New York based (Atlanta born), latter day
country blues musician Larry Johnson. He’d brought
Kevin Behrman, Echo Sound Studio. Levittown, NY
a friend, guitarist and singer Charles Walker, and
Cover Design & Illustration: Frank Olinsky
they spontaneously broke into an acoustic set fea-
Photography: Christine Pomposello, turing Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Decoration Day.”
Tom Pomposello, Roy Langbord, John Dunn During the interview Tom quizzed Charles about the
and Fred Seibert local scene, since he’d been recording singles for
Reissue and booklet essays by Fred Seibert Danny and Bobby Robinson since the 1950s. Tom

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
wasted no time in convincing Dick and me we had
to act to start this review of our blues scene.
“Fred,” said Tom in his big brotherly way, “in this
business, you can never act too soon.”
His wisdom made sense, even if I was skeptical that
we were going to be scooped by Alligator, Rounder
or some other 70s indie. We went right to work on
what was to be a year of scams, flim flams –more
on those later in this booklet– and yes, some awe-
some music.
It seemed like we were re-
cording every week, and
in fact, my notes show we
did well over a dozen ses-
sions to get the album. All
the recording was done in
Columbia University’s WK-
CR-FM’s Studio 3, recently
rebuilt with a custom radio
recording 2-track board Charles Walker & Ola Mae Dixon (left) @ WKCR-FM 1973
and Scully recorders, using
Neumann, Shure, and AKG microphones borrowed
from former student Mark Seiden. Acoustic piano,
rollicking drums, electric guitar, and vocals in a tiny
room made getting balances pretty tough live to
2-track, but all in all the sound was pretty bluesy.
To me, the special sessions were the ones with drum-
mer Ola Mae Dixon and “Foxy” Ann Yancey in the
rhythm section. Ola was a classic 5x5 fireplug, sweet
as the day in long. She’d show up straight off the
subway, put down her case, and, one by one, extract
the entire trap kit from inside of the bass drum. Those
tubs could scream under her powerful arms, and to
my ears you hear her best on the instrumental “It’s
Changin’ Time.” Ann never talked much, and frank-
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
ly, to this 23 year old suburban white kid, sometimes
she was kind of scary. Despite that she captured the
whole flavor of the blues best for me the day she
showed up on for a Saturday session with a pack of
cigarettes, her Stratocaster, and a full length sparkly
evening gown ... all at 1 o’clock in the afternoon.
After a year, we retreated to Tom’s almost one bed-
room home in Commack, Long Island to edit the
hundreds of takes. The coupling Tom’s deep desire
to get it right with the overall looseness of the perfor-
mances made things get hard.
We’d set up our sort-of-pro-
fessional stereo Teac recorder
in his living room around 9
o’clock and start work. We’d
still be at it when his wife
went to sleep in their cur-
tained off bedroom, his three
or four year old son Travis
would collapse around one
in the morning, and when
the sun came up we’d still
be at it. We’d edit the tracks
over and over, trying to capture
the perfect feeling, keeping the tempos straight, and
working hard around the foibles of a couple of lead-
ers (Charles Walker and Lee Roy Little) who, to be
charitable, weren’t always in the best conditions to
have consistent takes.
My notebook show that we brought our sequenced
sides over to Echo Sound Studio in Levittown
where engineer Kevin Behrman helped us balance
the levels between sessions and add a slight touch
of equalization and echo (WCKR had neither). We
sent the reels over to Wakefield Pressing in Phoenix
for mastering and the quietest 1000 vinyl LPs made
in the United States.
www.OblivionRecords.co
TRACK LISTING AND PERSONNEL 6. Juice Head Woman (4:09)
(E. Vinson, L. Zito; Pamco/LZMC, BMI)
1. Scratch My Back (3:23) Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
(J.Moore [Slim Harpo]; Excellorec Music Co., BMI) Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Bill Dicey. Harmonica Lee Roy Little. Piano
Charles Walker. Guitar Tom Pomposello. Bass guitar
Ann Yancey. Guitar Bobby King. Rigged snare drum
Goody Hunt. Harmonica Recorded May 5, 1974
Sonny Harden. Bass guitar
Ola Mae Dixon. Drums 7. Bluebird’s Blues (Medley) (7:23)
Recorded July 29, 1973 (L. R. Little; By Full Co., BMI)
a.Bluebird
2. Black Cat Bone (2:36) b.Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Poor Me
(L. R. Little; By Full Co., BMI) c.Your Evil Thoughts
Lee Roy Little. Piano and vocal d.Hurry Baby, Please Come Home
(L.R.Little; By Full Co., BMI) Lee Roy Little. Vocals and piano
Recorded April 6, 1974 Recorded April 6, 1974

3. Gladly (2:40) 8. Fast, Fast, Women

(C.Walker; By Full Co., BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
and A Slow Race Horse (3:43)
(C. Walker/Sonny Moore; By Full Co., BMI)
Ann Yancey. Guitar Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
Bill Dicey. Harmonica Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Goody Hunt. Harmonica Lee Roy Little. Piano
Sonny Harden. Bass guitar Tom Pomposello. Bass guitar
Ola Mae Dixon. Drums Bobbby King. Rigged snare drums
Recorded July 29, 1973 Recorded May 30, 1974

4. Decoration Day (3:10) 9. It’s Changin’ Time (4:32)

(Sonny Boy Williamson; Arc Music, BMI) (A.Yancey and B.Dicey; By Full Co., BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and acoustic guitar Arranged by Tom Pomposello
Larry Johnson. Acoustic harmonica Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Recorded April 25, 1973 Ann Yancey. Guitar
Charles Walker. Guitar
5. I’m A Good Man David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
But A Poor Man (2:18) Ola Mae Dixon. Drums
(Cecil Gant/L.R.Little; By Full Co., BMI) Recorded May 17, 1973
Lee Roy Little. Vocal & piano
Charles Walker. Guitar 10. Meeting You (5:40)
Foxy Ann Yancey. Guitar (C. Walker; By Full Co., BMI)
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar Charles Walker. Vocals and guitar
Ola Mae Dixon. Drums Lee Roy Little. Piano
Recorded May 17, 1973 Ann Yancey. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
Ola Mae Dixon. Drums
Recorded May 17, 1973

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
BLUES FROM THE APPLE sessions were a year long study in frustration for all
LP LINER NOTES 1974 involved, this album more importantly settles for
the artists more than a decade of the proverbial dead
New York City blues has been one of the Big Ap- ends and rip-offs prevalent in the New York scene. It
ple’s best kept secrets for the past decade and a half. hopefully will bring Charles Walker and members of
While many local bluesmen have remained “active” the band part of their deserved recognition.
at house parties with an occasional gig at a small
club, many others, veterans of a by-gone R&B
era, have pawned their instruments and abandoned
hopes of continuing a career that long ago aban-
doned them. In short the New York City blues scene
has been so far underground that even to the avid
aficionado it has remained invisible.

One of the principal reasons for the decline of much

of New York’s music scene has no doubt been the
gradual exodus of the industry from the East to the
West coast. In the case of the blues, however, there
are a few other less obvious but crucial factors. On
one level, blues, which used to have massive appeal
to black audiences, has been replaced in the popu-
lar genre by contemporary soul music. On another
level, New York is indisputably the center of mod-
ern jazz, with much of a potential blues audience
absorbed in listening to newer black music. And so
while pop audiences stand on mile-long lines out-
side the Apollo, and the musical “intelligentsia”
flock to the city’s jazz clubs, blues has become the
forgotten fore bearer of the idiom. Combine all this
with the fact that public taste is dictated to a large
extent by music entrepreneurs, who see little mer-
it in booking anything besides the big draw rock
groups and you’ve got some idea of New York.
(There are exceptions, of course.)
You might say “Blues from The Apple” has been
fifteen years in the making. It is the first album
featuring New York City’s own urban blues artists
issued in that length of time. While the recording
CHARLES WALKER, 51 years of age,
was born and raised in Macon, Georgia. He began
his professional music career when he moved from
Newark, New Jersey to New York. During the late
fifties, Charles became one of the city’s best known
blues musicians. Those were the days when you
could walk into a club in Harlem and expect to hear
a blues band fronted by Charles or Tarheel Slim or
Hal Paige or Buster Brown or maybe even Wilbert
Harrison if you went on the right night. You could
go into Bobby Robinson’s Record Shack on 125th
Street and expect to come out with the latest blues
releases on labels like Fury, Fire, Vest, Holiday,
Atlas or a score of others. Charles can tell you, he
recorded for them all back then. For a city that was
once bustling with blues, things sure seemed to

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
change overnight. Charles weathered the “dry” pe-
riod nicely however, and still kept trying to hold a
band together through all those years.
One of the men who has played with Charles fairly
regularly since 1959 is LEE ROY LITTLE, a
48 year old Virginia born and bred piano player and
composer. Everybody knows him as “Bluebird” af-
ter his song of the same title. The name stuck when
both Brownie McGhee and B.B. King picked up on
the tune. Beside his records with Charles, Lee Roy
has also recorded under his own name for the Cee
Jay label. Together Charles and Lee Roy wrote and
arranged much of the material on this album, with
Charles providing the impetus for everything (in-
cluding Bluebird’s solo numbers).
The credit for bringing Charles to our attention in
the first place must go to LARRY JOHN-
SON, New York’s contribution to the country
blues. Although Larry is best known for his fast,
finger-picking guitar work (he currently has solo al-
bums on Blue Goose and Biograph), here he backs
Charles with some nice, understated acoustic har-
monica on Decoration Day. The tune was recorded
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
quite spontaneously one evening when Larry had
come up to do an interview for Honest Tom Pom-
posello’s blues show on WKCR-FM and he brought
Charles along. Charles in turn reverted to his roots
with some down home acoustic guitar work on
Larry’s Martin.
All the other harp work on the album is handled by
BILL DICEY and GOODY HUNT. Dicey
has been playing since 1950. He met Charles in the
late sixties and has played with him in between gigs
with Louisiana Red and John Hammond. He’s done
local club dates with Johnny Winter and Muddy Wa-
ters and just about anybody else who comes to town
in need of a strong harp man. He currently fronts his
own group, and the fact that he is not a name famil-
iar to many people really baffles all of us who know
his musical abilities. Listen to his forceful solo lead
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work and beautiful phrasing on ‘Scratch My Back’
as just one example.
GOODY HUNT, the man with the big smile
and the star-studded tooth, is a harp novice on the
other hand. He’s been playing only a short while
under the watchful eye of his crony, Charles Walker.
Charles always had an eye for the women and this
has to be the first blues LP where female sidemen
(how’s that for ambiguity: female sidemen) play a
major role.
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
FOXY ANN YANCEY is a guitarist who
has gigged with many local bluesmen over the
years. She co-authored one of the album’s instru-
mentals, ‘It’s Changin’ Time’, and she contributed
to the sessions in the early stages.
OLA MAE DIXON runs a record store in
the Bronx, and plays drums on the side. To say that
her playing epitomizes the term “backbeat” would
be an understatement.
Also appearing on drums is BOBBY KING.
Originally from New Orleans, Bobby has spent a
good deal of time on the road always looking for a
www.OblivionRecords.co
gig. He has previously recorded with Charles and
nowadays is associated with Larry Johnson. The
fact that he works with a single instrument is as
much a statement of the financial plight of a mu-
sician who makes his living from playing blues
as it is a tribute to a percussionist who can create
as much sound with a rigged snare and brushes as
many drummers do with full paraphernalia.
Finally, there are the three men who shared the
bass playing. SONNY HARDEN is a
friend of Charles’ from the Bronx. His primary
musical interest lies in helping to promote his
son’s soul band. But he still finds time to fill in for
Charles when the situation warrants.
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
DAVID LEE REITMAN is a rock musician
and former DJ, who has also written a number of
articles on blues and rock for various music publica-
tions. Known as “Scarsdale Slim” to his friends and
enemies alike, David just happened to be in the stu-
dio one night when we needed a bass player.
HONEST TOM POMPOSELLO
was on hand to produce the album and coordinate
the whole project. Tom was drafted into service
when a snafu arose at the final session and we
were left bassless, but he is not inexperienced in
these matters having played and recorded with the
late Mississippi Fred McDowell.
Perhaps Charles voiced the best summation for
this whole endeavor: “All I know is that I want the
world to hear me now, ‘cause I’m deeper in the
blues now than I’ve ever been before.”
¿Comprende?
– Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
www.OblivionRecords.co
Living Blues Magazine #18 Autumn 1974
Oblivion was never all that good at working the press, but
between the three of us, Tom was definitely the best when it
came to the blues publicaitons. He was an early, avid sub-
scriber and supporter of “Living Blues,” Jim O’Neal’s and
Amy Van Singel’s Chicago magazine homage to all that is
contemporary in the blues. Tom pushed them relentlessly to
embrace his vision of New York as a comer in the communi-
ty.

Here’s the article Tom wrote for Living Blues that delves
into the blues record scene in the city as it appeared in the
Living Blues Autumn 1974 issue. It not only served as the
best push we had for our album, but in retrospect, as a look
at the virtual end of it as well. Bobby Robinson, the primary
blues and R&B recording entrepreneur featured, soon went
on to help kickstart hip-hop in the city with Enjoy, his rap
record label, and never looked back.

Blues from the Big Apple

By Honest Tom Pomposello

“My name is Charles Walker. I am a 52 year old; I

was born in Macon, Georgia on July 26, 1922. My
father was a blues player. His name was Freeman
Walker, but everyone called him ‘Boweavil.’

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
“Guitar was inherited to me through my father. But tub player. They said they didn’t want no part of
my musical career started back in 1955. At that time leaving their old ladies in Newark and moving over
I was playing in a club called Ben 29 in Newark, to New York. I told her what they said, and she said
New Jersey. We had a three-piece band – a piano – ‘So he hell with them. Backup men are a dime a
man by the name of Larry, a tub bass player call- dozen. I will get you a band to accompany you. I am
er Cooper, and myself. I had made a foot-clapper interested in you and your guitar, and your voice.’ I
which played along with guitar and singing. We told her OK, I would take a chance at it. And that as
played there three nights a week: Friday, Saturday, how I come to say goodbye to Newark, New Jersey,
and Sunday. I New York City
really enjoyed here I come.
playing and the
people enjoyed “When I came
the music.” to New York,
she got me a
“One of the room in this
bartenders hotel 125th and
there had a 5th Avenue.
lady friend who And she got me
lived in New an audition at
York. He told the Baby Grand
her about the Club, also on
live music they 125th Street.
had where he They had a
worked at. So house band
when this lady there and they
came over to gave me some
the club, she nice back-
brought anoth- up. So I got a
er girl friend. Lee Roy Little (left) and Charles Walker circa 1973 booking at the
Her name was May McKay. After Baby Grand, but as my luck would
we finished playing that night, Miss McKay called have it I never did make the booking, because when
me over to her table and asked me if I ever record- I went back to Newark to tell my friends the good
ed? So I told her no. She told me that she managed news and, I wound up getting my jaw broken. (See,
groups and that she knew all the right people in I was quite a ladies man in them days.) But I did re-
New York and she could make me a star. She told cover quickly enough and when I finally got myself
me that I was wasting my talent playing and signing together to play again, I cut my first record, Driving
in these honky-tonk joints in Newark. Home Part I & II.

“So I talked it over with the piano player, and the Charles Walker made his way recording debut for

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
New York based Holiday label, which was owned
and operated by Danny Robinson, brother and
“competitor” of Fire/Fury Records owner Bobby
Robinson. The record, released in the late 1956, did
fairly well for the times. Robinson had a managed
to secure airplay and distribution for his records
partly because he was handling a hot R&B group
called the Love Notes, who had hit it, big with a
tune called United.
Driving Home was a two-
part instrumental, not unlike
Bill Doggett’s then popular
Honky-Tonk. The label credit
featured Maurice Simon on
sax. The late DJ Jack Walter
(no relation to Charles) of
WLIB used the record of the
in time for his morning show,
“Wake Up New York” which
was broadcast live from the
Palm Café on 125th Street.
Although Charles was not
to record again for anoth-
er 3 years, he was working
regularly and manages to put together a top-notch
band “so I could sound as good live as I did on my
records.” In 1959 the band he brought into Danny
Robinson’s studio was a tight one. The resulting
record, issued on the Vest label is perhaps Charles
best known. It Ain’t Right* couples with the instru-
mental Charles Walker Slop* (featuring the harmon-
ica of B. Brown).
The band also included a young incredibly gifted
pianist –composer named Lee Roy Little whom ev-
eryone affectionately called “Bluebird” in reference
to his song of the same title. B. Brown, the featured
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
harmonica man is not to be confused with Buster
Brown of Fire Records and Fannie Mae fame. It
seems though that B. Brown (no one seems to recall
his real name) adopted the pseudonym to cash in on
the reputation and popularity of Buster Brown. And
actually, their harp styles were not dissimilar. B even
did a record called Fannie Mae is Back!) Drummer
Danny Q. Jones rounded out the group with Charles
handling the guitar and most of the vocals.
But Charles also so the band
in a different perspective:
“You know, I always wanted
to have an all-star blue band.
Because Bluebird was a very
good vocalist as well as pia-
no player. And B. Brown and
Danny Q could also hold their
own on vocals.”
In theory, this might have
been an ideal arrangement,
but in practice… “Every-
thing was going fine,” re-
calls Charles “until each one
made a record of their own.
Then each one went out on their own and I was left
alone.” But Charles is not the one to begrudge a fel-
low musician anything. And when Lee Roy and B.
Brown wanted to cut records under their own names,
Charles was more than willing to keep the band
together for their sessions. In 1960 he even wrote
the “A” side of Brown’s first record, Hard Workin’
Man*, which was backed with My Baby Left Me*.
The Vest label credited “B Brown and his Rockin’
McVouts.” B. Brown recorded at least two other re-
cords and then left New York for the South. Charles
believes he is still active musically in Tennessee.
www.OblivionRecords.co
Lee Roy Little on the other hand cut two records
(and two only, as far as I know) for the Cee Jay
label in NY (no connection with Carl Jones’s Chi-
cago C.J. label). Charles played the guitar again on
Lee’s first record, and both sides, were magnificent
examples of bluesy New York R&B at the best:
I’m a Good Man But A Poor Man* and Your Evil
Thoughts* (The second record, without Charles,
was Hurry Baby, Please Come Home* and Let Me
Go Home Whiskey).
Throughout this time Charles managed to stay busy
and in 1963
he was again
invited to
record un-
der his own
name. Tom-
my Robin-
son (name
coincidence
again, since
the man is
no relation
to Bobby or
Danny Rob- Charles Walker and Bill Dicey @WKCR-FM, New York, circa 1973
inson) operated the Atlas/
Angleton labels. He took Charles to a studio in the
old CBS Building. Walker had put a new band to-
gether for the occasion, as he recalls: “I had a young
boy named Bubba on piano, a drummer we called
Peanuts, and Henry Copeland on bass.” The session
yielded on record, Nervous Wreck/Down Heated
Blues, but the band was a short-lived one. None-
theless the record did well enough that the producer
called Charles in again later that year. Studio Musi-
cians were utilizes and the record issued was Wrong
Kind of Woman, backed with Louise.
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
Around this time Walker also had a booking as the
featured attraction out on Long Island in Huntington
Station at the Colonial House. Located just South
of the train station, the club was quiet a popular
nightspot. Charles says, “My record was on the juke
box, and people would wait for me to perform it on
stage, live. They had a house band that backed me
up but they could not play my song good enough.
They didn’t sound nothing like my record.” No mat-
ter, for the Colonial House soon burned down. This
combined with other musical frustrations, caused
Charles to re-evaluate his life in music. “I decided I
would give
up show
business be-
cause I was
not getting
the sound I
wanted and
I wasn’t
making no
progress. It
seemed like
people were
losing inter-
ested in the
blues and I couldn’t even
keep a band together. So I sized up my life. I felt I
didn’t do too bad. When came to N.Y. I didn’t have
nothing. But now I had a wife, an account and a new
car, so I decided to retire from music.”
But 1968, the day after Christmas, Teresa Harrison,
the woman Charles was so attached to died. They
had met in N.Y. in ’59, shortly after he had come to
live in the city. They were married 3 years later and
their lives was evidently quiet a happy one. Charles
found it hard to carry on without her. “By 1970 I had
lost home, money and everything, grieving over the
www.OblivionRecords.co
loss of my wife. So I sold my furniture and decid-
ed to leave New York. And that’s when Mr. Bobby
Robinson came into the picture with me.”
Drummer Bobby King, circa 1974
“Bobby told me he wanted to record me again. I
told him it didn’t make no sense and that it wasn’t
worth it. So he said to me, ‘Charles, you are ready
to record now more than ever. People bought all
those records you did before because you had style
and you were a new face. But now you’re just like
an old whiskey that’s been aged and now people
who tasted you before are ready to taste again, and
they’ll find how you’ve improved with age like that
whiskey. Charles, I am going to be honest with you.
Elmore James was my blues player when he was
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
alive. But now he’s dead and gone, and I feel you
are qualified to be next, I am very willing to invest
my money in you, you see when you had your wife,
your home, and your new car, show business was
not something you took serious. But now you have
lost everything and you’re really living with the
blues everyday.’”
In 1971 Bobby produced one extended session with
Charles and a band they together assembled which
included Lee Roy Little on piano, Bobby King on
drums, and Larry Johnson along with a bassist and a
second guitarist. The proposed album never did
materialize, but Robinson did issue a single on his
reactivated Fury Label Rock Me Mama, and a new
version of Charles original hit You Know It Ain’t
Right. But Robinson, widely known for his guile
as a producer/promo man, failed to do justice to his
reputation. The record went virtually unnoticed ex-
cept in his Harlem record shop and a few isolated
Southern towns, where Bobby still has contracts
“from the old days.” Robinson’s concept of “market-
ing a blues record” had not changed: he felt that he
should sell almost exclusively to a black audience.
While to a small extent Bobby probably realizes that
much of today’s blues audience is young and white,
he made no attempt to send review copies to Living
Blues or Blues Unlimited for instance, nor to under-
ground and college FM radio stations which regular-
ly feature blues shows; but this is another matter.
Charles got another chance to record later that year
for the P&P Label. Producer Peter Brown desire was
to recreate a lot of music in the 50’s and update it for
the 70’s. Charles assembled a band once again that
featured drummer Bobby King, guitarist Bob Malen-
ky and an astonishingly fine harp man, Bill Dicey,
whom Charles had met playing in a bar and who
www.OblivionRecords.co
had worked singles resulted from those sessions.
Charles has a penchant for Muddy Waters-Little
Walter material, and he cut a fine version of Forty
Days and Forty Nights backed with My Babe. The
other record was credited to Bill Dicey, since he
was featured up front on both sides, instrumentally
on Juke and vocally on Hootchie Kootchie Man.
Both Charles and Bill were more than displeased
with this one. “They tried to make me sound like a
60-year old black man,” commented Bill. “They did
all this weird rechanneling to my voice…. I did all
I could to even prevent them from issuing the damn
thing.” Both records, however, were “pick hits” in a
December ’71 issue of Record World magazine. But
this didn’t help either the records or the scene al-
most as sudden as he had originally appeared mys-
terious Peter Brown who vanished from the scene
almost as suddenly as he had originally appeared.
on the album are Lee Roy Little and Bill Dicey as
well as many of Charles’s old (and new) cronies.
This is a record we’re all quite enthused about, but
no one so much as Charles, who says it best: “All I
know is that I want the world to hear me now, cause
I’m deeper in the blues now than I’ve ever been
before.”
*Song titles marked with an * in this article have
been reissued by Flyright Records in England and,
in the cases of Charles Walker and Lee Roy Little,
royalties have been paid.

Last year while talking with Larry Johnson, I asked

him what had ever happened to all the old blues
bands that used to abound in New York City. Lar-
ry admitted that New York blues had really gone
underground, but that a lot of older bluesmen still
got together from time to time and that “one man in
particular, Charles Walker, he’s still tryin’ to hold a
band together and he sometimes plays around town
and in the bars around Harlem.”

I met Charles soon after, got to know and like him

and had him up on my radio show a couple of
times. Subsequently, we produced a couple of re-
cording sessions for radio with very gratifying re-
sults.

Oblivion Records will be issuing Blues From the

Apple: The Charles Walker New York City Blues
Band this fall. Strangely enough this will be the first
New York City urban blues band album in almost
15 years! Featured prominently along with Charles
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 Vinyl LP labels 1974
Layout: Fred Seibert
Handlettering: Lisa Lenovitz (Eaton)
Pressing & printing:
Wakefield Manufacturing
Phoenix, Arizona

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
RECORDING
“BLUES FROM THE APPLE” Part 1
Recently, it’s been the first time in decades I’ve
heard the “Blues from the Apple” recordings
through headphones. I’ve no objectivity, of course,
but the tracks sound pretty darned good. Most of the
imperfections that seemed glaring to me at the time
of the original mastering seem to have mostly dis-
appeared, and what’s left is the unprocessed (some-
times too raw) music. I was particularly surprised
by a number of things on the recordings, and given
that they were among Oblivion’s most complicated
–the final tally had 11 musicians and seven separate
sessions– I thought I’d lay out a number of the chal-
lenges we went through in getting all the funk down
on tape in the first place.
There would be no Oblivion without Columbia Uni-
versity’s WKCR-FM, where all of the LP’s sessions
were recorded in Studio 3. The performance room
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
was at most 20’x40’ and during the summer of 1972
had been rebuilt with a grant from the University
utilizing, such as it was, our student construction
labor and electronic’s expertise. Though the stu-
dio was optimized as an alternative radio broadcast
booth, former student David Reitman had been in-
creasing the amount of live music radio shots at the
station so we tried to push the limits of our budgets
to take those into account. But, there were still plen-
ty of constraints.
We used brand new state of the art Scully stereo
recorders, but they were far the then industry stan-
dard of 16 tracks. The station team custom built the
board with then-modern sliders for our microphone
inputs, but there were maybe six inputs (we had to
use outboard Shure mixers to add more mikes), no
equalization, no compression, no reverb or echo,
and only left/center/right selectors for each mic to
create a stereo “soundstage.” The station had a few
beautiful sounding, older ribbon microphones, but
www.OblivionRecords.co
we were able to rely on a large array of more con-
temporary condenser mikes a friend of ours had
stolen from Ohio University the previous year. We
were thrilled to have as much as we had, but, for
music recording, it was almost like having a hand
tied behind our backs.

Without the most basic tools for modern band re-

cording I tried to find out everything I could about
how sound came out of acoustic instruments and
guitar amplifiers, how the different kinds of micro-
phones worked best, and how the electronics turned
everything in to recorded impulses. Session after
session we all experimented with the best ways to
set up our room, baffle the musicians, and try and
get a semblance of a decent recording. Occasionally,
we got there.

Photograph (clockwise from top left):

Charles Walker, Bill Dicey, Ola Mae Dixon,
Sonny Harden, Goody Hunt, Honest
Tom Pomposello, Foxy Ann Yancey, Fred Seibert

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 The final album mastering added a little equalization
and echo, and then eased the stereo tracks together a
bit so our hard left/right limitations wouldn’t be so
jarring.

* From the 1974 Blues from the Apple liner notes:

Bill Dicey has been playing since 1950. He met

Charles in the late sixties and has played with him in
between gigs with Louisiana Red and John Hammond.
He’s done local club dates with Johnny Winter and
Muddy Waters and just about anybody else who
RECORDING comes to town in need of a strong harp man. He cur-
“BLUES FROM THE APPLE” Part 2 rently fronts his own group, and the fact that he is
not a name familiar to many people really baffles all
Listening back, my treasured “Blues from the Ap- of us who know his musical abilities. Listen to his
ple” tracks –a cover of Slim Harpo’s “Scratch My forceful solo lead work and beautiful phrasing on
Back” and the original “It’s Changin’ Time,” both “Scratch My Back” as just one example.
instrumentals– featured the electric harmonica of
Bill Dicey and guitar by Ann Yancey, backed by a Foxy Ann Yancey is a guitarist who has
rhythm section section of one or two guitars, elec- gigged with many local bluesmen over the years.
tric bass, and drums. She co-authored one of the album’s instrumentals,
‘It’s Changin’ Time’, and she contributed to the ses-
The small, powerful trap drums of Ola Dixon were sions in the early stages.
in the far left corner with four mikes and a couple of
thin baffles in front, the only acoustic instrument in
Scratch My Back
the room, spread in stereo across the two tracks. The Bill Dicey. Harmonica
harp and guitar amplifiers were close miked with no Charles Walker. Guitar
’gobos’. The stereo sound is primarily leakage from Ann Yancey. Guitar
Goody Hunt. Harmonica
the sounds in the room bleeding into the drum and Sonny Harden. Bass guitar
guitar mikes. Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded July 29, 1973
The recordings feel a bit sonically squeezed. Our
primitive radio studio had no compressors, limit- It’s Changin’ Time
Arranged by Tom Pomposello
ers, equalizers, or echo chambers. The impression Bill Dicey. Harmonica
comes from the typical way Bill set up his electric Ann Yancey. Guitar
harmonica. He held a cheap microphone and his Charles Walker. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
harp in two hands, connected to an amp with plen- Ola Dixon. Drums
ty of reverb, and then would overblow. I put up my Recorded May 17, 1973
recording mike directly in front of his amp.

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co

RECORDING
“BLUES FROM THE APPLE” Part 3
Recording Lee Roy (Bluebird) Little, the pianist and
second vocalist in Charles Walker’s blues band, had
its own challenges, the least of which were technical.
But, let’s start with those.
The WKCR “house piano” was an well kept Sohmer
upright. It comfortably fit in our 20’x 40’ studio, but
recording it could tough. Forty years on, my brain
is getting pretty hazy, so even though I placed the
microphones on the sessions. An email survey of
my college radio co-workers recalled a variety of
approaches. For the two solo tracks there were two
mikes low on the soundboard, capturing the piano in
stereo. On the group tracks, we’d slightly open the
top of the instrument and record right in front of the
strings. Of course, there’s be a condenser microphone
with a windscreen for his beautiful baritone singing.
Lee Roy was a wonderful bluesman, who performed
with incredible emotion. But, the bigger issue in his
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
suppressing his career was Lee Roy’s personal hab-
its, as he was known to be quite a tippler (producer
Tom Pomposello knew his brands). His singing was
never less than eloquent, and you can hear a solid
blues piano technique in everything he plays although
the runs are a little jagged.
The repertoire he had in his head was wide and
varied, and he was a prolific composer. But, try as we
could to get it all down on tape, each take would inev-
itably end in a breakdown. We kept the reels running
though, and during 1973 and 1974 we got enough that
my one true skill, music editing, came into play when
we were able to stitch together “Bluebird’s Blues,” a
studio constructed medley of some of Lee Roy’s fa-
vorites.
* From the 1974 Blues from the Apple liner notes:
One of the men who has played with Charles fairly
regularly since 1959 is Lee Roy Little, a 48
year old Virginia born and bred piano player and com-
poser. Everybody knows him as “Bluebird”
after his song of the same title. The name stuck when
both Brownie McGhee and B.B. King picked up on
the tune. Beside his records with Charles, Lee Roy
has also recorded under his own name for the Cee
Jay label. Together Charles and Lee Roy wrote and
arranged much of the material on this album, with
Charles providing the impetus for everything (includ-
ing Bluebird’s solo numbers).
Black Cat Bone &
Bluebird (Medley)
Lee Roy Little. Vocals and piano
Recorded April 6, 1974
I’m A Good Man But A Poor Man
Lee Roy Little. Vocal & piano
Charles Walker. Guitar
Foxy Ann Yancey. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded May 17, 1973
www.OblivionRecords.co

RECORDING
“BLUES FROM THE APPLE” Part 4
I left this track, “Fast, Fast Women and A Slow
Race Horse,” for last. For sure, I always got a kick
out of the lyrics* (take a look at page 28) because it
truly might have been Charles’ story, but the tortur-
ous editing process is what I’ve remembered most.
And honestly, as I played in back in headphones the
other day, my ear didn’t the seemingly hundreds
Tom and I made in the original.
This one was tricky for a number of reasons. First
and foremost I think is that while Charles had all
the requisite narcissism to lead a band (and con us
into making an album) he wasn’t a particular strong
musical leader. So generally, it was always the
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
rhythm sections that kept the band together.
But, on this session the rhythm had an interesting
substitute. Instead of the drums being wo-manned
by the rock solid traps of Ola Mae Dixon, snare
drummer extraordinaire Bobby King** aka “Profes-
sor Six Million (Larry Johnson’s acoustic accom-
panist) was sitting in. Bobby produced an awesome
sound with one, small drum, but alone he was no
match for Charles and Lee Roy and the pushing of
the tempos up and down. The result was that we
must have printed 15 takes of this song during the
marathon session.
Now, add in my producing partner Tom Pomposello
and his desire for the perfect track. He couldn’t let
this one go. We did the editing for this album all
during the days and nights in his Long Island one
bedroom apartment with his five year old son Travis
and wife Christine trying to live their lives and get
a little sleep. That didn’t deter Tom from insisting
that we take four bars from this take, one bar from
that one. Every verse was a pastiche and amalgam
of magnetic tape, carefully cut and spliced into the
final take. And remember, all of these takes were
mixed live, directly to two track tape, not only with
variations in speed, but with subtle distinctions of
mix too!
Oh! And isn’t there a spoken intro somewhere
around here we can use?
Ah, youth. We had a great time recording “Blues
from the Apple,” all trials and tribulations aside.
While it wasn’t fast women or a slow race horse that
made us lose all our cash, blues and jazz recording
made our lives pretty damn good at the time.
* Tom said the song was Charles’ adaption of one
www.OblivionRecords.co
by one Sonny Moore (not the one from Skrillex),
but my Google research turns nothing up on Sonny
or his music. Or especially his fast women.

** From the Blues from the Apple liner notes:

Originally from New Orleans, Bobby King
has spent a good deal of time on the road always
looking for a gig. He has previously recorded with
Charles and nowadays is associated with Larry
Johnson. The fact that he works with a single instru-
ment is as much a statement of the financial plight
of a musician who makes his living from playing
blues as it is a tribute to a percussionist who can
create as much sound with a rigged snare and brush-
es as many drummers do with full paraphernalia.

Fast, Fast Women and A Slow Race Horse

Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Lee Roy Little. Piano
Tom Pomposello. Bass guitar
Bobbby King. Rigged snare drums
Recorded May 30, 1974

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
LYRICS FOR
“BLUES FROM THE APPLE”
Producer and Oblivion Records partner was dedi-
cated blues scholar, having done first hand research
with his teacher Mississippi Fred McDowell and ab-
sorbed all the investigations of others over the 20th
Century.
Tom himself was a multi-instrumentalist and took
the blues techniques seriously, but he was adament
that all of the rock gods obsessions with instrumen-
tal prowess was just so much malarkey.
It was the oral tradition of Black Americans that
made up the real blues. And because of his focus
we included the lyrics to all the tracks from “Blues
from the Apple.” After all, there wasn’t one blues
that wasn’t an amalgam of all that had come before.
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
BLACK CAT BONE
By Lee Roy Little
Well I believe to my soul
That my girl have a black cat bone.
Well I believe to my soul
That my girl have a black cat bone.
You know she treat me so mean
I can’t let the sweet woman alone.
Don’t ya know she got me runnin’ ‘round here
Well in this old lonesome room.
Don’t ya know she got me runnin’ ‘round here
Well in this old lonesome room.
I believe I’m gonna lose my mind.
Well I just can’t keep from cryin’
Will you turn me loose me baby, can’t go nowhere
Wherever you go, you know that I’ll be there.
That’s why I believe to my soul
That my girl have a black cat bone.
I believe to my soul
That my girl have a black cat bone.
You know she treat me so mean
I can’t let the sweet woman alone.
She got a black cat bone.
(repeat)
She treat me so mean
I can’t let the sweet woman alone!
©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI
www.OblivionRecords.co
GLADLY DECORATION DAY
By Charles Walker By Sonny Boy Williamson

Who’s gonna let you have your way People, I once had a sweet woman
Do anything you say Lord know she was a nice and kind to me
Gladly, gladly for your love, sweet love. in most every way
Gladly, child for your love. People, I once had a sweet woman
She was nice, kind, lord now in every way
Gonna work hard each and every day Now since that woman died and left me
Bring home all my pay I get the blues on every Decoration Day
Gladly, gladly for your love, sweet love.
Gladly, child for your love. You know I was standing by my baby’s bedside
These are the last words I heard my woman say
Now the snap of your fingertips You know I was standing by my baby’s bedside
I’ll be at your command These are the last words I heard my woman say
Touch of your sweet lips, now She said: Charles I want you to bring sweet flowers
You’ll have me eating right out of your hands. Bring them on every Decoration Day.

I’ll forever be true You know my heart kind of struck now sorrow
Do anything you want me to Hate to see the Lord take my sweet baby away
Gladly, gladly for your love, sweet love. I said: Darling you know I’m gonna remember you
Gladly, child for your love. On each and every Decoration Day.
©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI
Now you people are all out having your fun
Just like the flowers that blooms in May
Poor me I got to sit here grievin’ and worried
Thinkin’ about that sad Decoration Day.
©1964, Arc Music, BMI

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
I’M A GOOD MAN JUICE HEAD WOMAN
BUT A POOR MAN By Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and L. Zito
By Cecil Gant and Lee Roy Little
I got a juice head woman and
Well I traveled from town to town she stay drunk all the time
Seem like everybody, baby, want to throw me down I got a juice head woman and
Cause I’m a good man, poor man she stay drunk all the time
Will you understand? When she can’t get her liquor
Boy she almost lose her mind.
I go down to the train station
And I looked up on the wall She drinks whiskey like it’s water
You know my money was too light Gin just like it’s lemonade
I couldn’t go nowhere at all. She drinks whiskey like it’s water
Gin just like it’s lemonade
Well the burden that I’m carryin’ She makes me go to work kind of early
You know is so heavy to me While she lays around in the shade.
It seem like there ain’t nobody
In this world that’s a help for me. I worry when she’s loud and rowdy
I worry when she’s nice and quiet
I’ll be all right baby, just give me a break It’s gettin’ so doggone expensive
Good things come to those who wait To keep up her whiskey diet.
I’m a good man, but a poor man I’ve taken her to the doctor and this is what he said:
Will you understand? That woman and her liquor,
©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI Gonna be the death of me.
©Pamco/LZMC, BMI

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
BLUEBIRD’S BLUES (Medley) I believe in my own tears, baby
By Lee Roy Little I believe I’m goin’ to drown.

a. Bluebird d. Hurry Baby,

Well it’s love time and the sun is shining bright Please Come Home
Well it’s love time and the sun is shining bright Hurry baby won’t you please come home
Bluebird won’t you sing for me I’m tired of being here all alone
Bluebird you know you’re not treating me right. Hurry baby won’t you please come home
I’m gettin’ very tired of being here all alone.
Hey, hey Bluebird, hey Bluebird
Why don’t you sing to me Catch the first thing head this-a-way
Every time you clap your wings I can’t hold out another day
Leave me with pain and misery. Hurry baby, will you come on home
I’m gettin’ very tired of being here all alone.
b. Don’t You Ever Get Tired of
Hurting Poor Me You need no key
You make my eyes run over all the time Don’t have no luck
Seems like you’re happy when I’m out of my mind. You walk right on in
You don’t love me, but you won’t let me be Don’t have to knock
Don’t you ever get tired of hurting poor me. Hurry baby, hurry now baby
Baby please come on home.
You must think I look bad with a smile ©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI
‘Cause you haven’t let me wear
one of those little things
Still I come running back, why this must be
Don’t you ever get tired of hurting poor me.

c. Your Evil Thoughts

Your evil thoughts baby
Keep me worries all the time, all the time
Your evil thoughts baby
Keep me worries all the time, all the time
I believe your evil thoughts
Are goin’ to make me lose my worried mind.

I walked the four corners

In this old lonesome town
Got me walkin’ these four corners
In this old lonesome town

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
FAST, FAST WOMEN AND
A SLOW RACE HORSE
By Charlies Walker and Sonny Moore
Take a little while ago I was doing all right
Workin’ hard, savin’ my money
Gettin’ my rest at night.
Let me tell you what (now) happened Jack
Fast woman took me to the race horse track
Bet my money like it wasn’t no good
Finally broke me like they said she would.
Fast, fast women and a slow race horse
Got me in the shape I’m in Lord, Lord
Ain’t got a dime about to lose my mind
Don’t even have no friends
Let me tell you the natural facts:
Women and horses made me blow all my cash.
Ridin’ around in my big Cadillac
Finance man come and take it back
Takin’ those chicks out to wine and dine
Didn’t make my pay note on due time
Let me tell you a natural fact:
Women and horses made me blow my Cadillac.
Fast, fast women and a slow race horse
Got me in the shape I’m in Lord, Lord
Ain’t got a dime about to lose my mind
Don’t even have no friends
Let me tell you the natural facts:
Women and horses made me blow all my cash.
Fast, fast women and a slow race horse
Got me in the shape I’m in Lord, Lord
Ain’t got a dime about to lose my mind
Don’t even have no friends
Let me tell you the natural facts:
Women and horses made me blow my Cadillac.
©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
MEETING YOU
By Charles Walker
Way last winter, yes, the ground was
covered with snow
Way last winter, yes, the ground was
covered with snow
The evil woman put me out now people
I didn’t have no place to go.
I didn’t have no money, my shoes was kinda thin
I didn’t have no money, my shoes was kinda thin
I didn’t even have a decent pair of trousers
To go to Sunday School in.
I grabbed my hat now, I did not even frown
I grabbed my hat now, I did not even frown
Well there ain’t no one woman
Who can keep a good man down
Well I finally got a lucky break now baby
Everything begin to come my way
Well I finally got a lucky break now baby
Everything begin to come my way
(since I met you!)
I’ll get my pockets back full of money
Be able to change clothes each and every day!
©1974, By Full Co., Inc. BMI
www.OblivionRecords.co
 FRANK
OLINSKY
AND THE
BLUES

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
When I was four years old my parents drove up to
our new house in one of the bedroom “develop-
ments” that were creating the suburbs of the 1950s
and standing on a dirt hill in the backyard was the
5 years old Frank Olinsky, and a lifelong friendship
began. He was already showing an awesome artistic
talent and then, as teenagers, Frank was the neigh-
borhood music freak who introduced me to records
ranging from the Monkees to the Mothers of Inven-
tion and everything in between. So Frank was an
obvious choice when we needed an album cover for
Blues from the Apple.

It wasn’t a particularly easy assignment. Tom Pom-

posello’s vision of the LP was to expose what was
essentially an underground music in New York,
the blues. So while Charles Walker was nominal-
ly the leader of the sessions, it was actually a kind
of anthology album (Charles sang on only five of
the nine tracks). Frank solved the dilemma with his
usual blend of grace, class, and humor, and properly
represented “The Apple” of the 1970s with an eaten
out apple core.

Frank went on to start a studio I hired to create the

famous MTV logo. He rightfully became one of the
most renowned album cover designers of his gener-
ation, working with everyone from Sonic Youth and
the B-52s to Gillian Welch, from the Kronos Quartet
to the Smashing Pumpkins.

Frank’s the greatest.

“Blues from the Apple”

LP cover illustration and design by
Frank Olinsky
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
Big Shots from the Apple.
Oblivion’s efforts at photography were pretty pa-
thetic. I suppose when you’ve got severely limited
resources something’s got to go. With one excep-
tion, we either used snapshots or pretended we were
doing something better when we weren’t.
The most unusual results came from the Polaroid
Big Shots that “Blues from the Apple” co-photog-
rapher Roy Langbord and I had a brief infatuation
with in 1974, and ended up as a bunch of the stu-
dio photography for the album. The Big Shot was a
kind of weird portrait only camera with a fixed focal
length. You needed to physically move the camera
Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4
back and forth a few feet from the subject to bring it
into proper focus! As was always the case with Po-
laroid there were a number of film options, includ-
ing color, black & white, and, interestingly, black &
white negative film, unusual for a consumer Pola-
roid.
The camera itself looked pretty unusual. Take a look
at it here.
The Big Shot had its 15 minutes of fame when art-
ist Andy Warhol started using it. He took shots of
anyone he found at a party and then used some for a
series of now famous silkscreen series.
www.OblivionRecords.co
 Charles Walker

Some blues
“big shots”

Lee Roy Little

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 Bill Dicey

Some more
blues “big shots”

Lee Roy Little

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 Behind the
“big shots”

Tom Pomposello Fred Seibert

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 And, of course,
the ultimate
“big shot,”
more Charles

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 IS THIS
PICTURE
THE BLUES,
OR WHAT?

Foxy Ann Yancey at

WKCR-FM, Studio 3
Columbia University
New York City 1974
Photograph by
Roy Langbord

FoxyAnn Yancey is the guitarist on “It’s Changin’ I can’t tell you much about Ann. Google doesn’t turn up
Time,” one of my favorite tracks on “Blues From The a thing, and at the time we just stayed out of her way.
Apple.” She seemed too tough for kids from the suburbs like us.

Looking at this picture –scratches and all– taken by my
great friend, Roy Langbord reminds
me of why the whole experience of
having this label was worth it.
You can’t tell everything from the
cropping in the picture. The session
was in the middle of the day’, but
that didn’t stop Ann with dressing
up in an eye catching evening dress,
black with silver spangles, and
those rhinestone earrings.
But years later, I looked back at some of the session’s
contact sheets, taken at the same time as
the money shot.
I had it all wrong about Ann.
It doesn’t make me like her playing any
less, or the photograph and all it
represents. I suppose it proves that “a
picture is worth a thousand words” isn’t
all there is.

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
 SCAMS AND FLIM FLAMS.

A shame to end on this note, Charles had passed away in

but it’s the way it ended with his mid-50s from lung cancer,
Charles and us. could we come to a memorial at
116th Street & Lenox Avenue
In retrospect, it’s no surprise to (also, not a great neighborhood
me that “Blues from the Apple” in those days)? We get to the
was Charles Walker’s only al- funeral home to greet a large
bum as a leader after 20 years gathering of well wishers, a mix
of singles for Bobby and Danny of folks from the neighborhood
Robinson’s labels. Charles was a and new fans from our recording
talented musician, but he was an efforts. The service itself was a
ace huckster. Two stories in par- large piece of drama. Charles’
ticular stand out in my memory. wife Josephine and girlfriend,
drummer Ola Mae Dixon, trying
We had a session planned and to out cry each other, and best,
at the last minute Charles called Lousiana Red’s impassioned
and said he was without a guitar. eulogy, only marred by the fact
We scrambled and were able to that Red had never met Charles).
borrow a 12-string electric from our friend, composer As things are about to begin, Tom and I get taps on our
Robert Alpert. Afterwards, Charles had another request. shoulders.

“Boys, I loved this gi-tar so much... and I’ve got a
gig tonight. Could I bring it back tomorrow?”
Sure thing Charles. After all, he was our recording
artist.
Next morning rolls around and so does Charles. But,
instead of a guitar he hands me a pawn ticket from
a shop in the South Bronx. Let’s leave out the fact
that we were dead broke. This was the 70s; the South
Bronx was a suicide zone, especially for white kids
(ever see the movie Fort Apache, The Bronx?).
Fast forward a couple of years. The album had come
and gone, our least well received release. Oblivion
itself is on its last legs, and we get a call that poor
“Excuse me gentlemen,” says the funeral director in
the expected hushed tones. “Please, could you join
me in the back room?”
Tom and I look at each other, shrugged our shoul-
ders, and head to his office.
“Gentleman, I’m told that you are the managers of
Mr. Walker’s record company.” Uh-oh. “Mrs. Walk-
er” –which one?“– “Mrs. Walker informs me that
you gentlemen will be paying the balance of expens-
es for the service. Unfortunately, without that pay-
ment Charles’ ceremony cannot continue.”
Oh jeez. The final hustle.

Blues from the Apple CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND OD-4 www.OblivionRecords.co
BLUES FROM THE APPLE INDEPENDENT
Charles Walker and AMERICAN
the New York City Blues Band MUSIC

Oblivion Records OD-4

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