JC: Who gave that birth date??? I�m 70 - don�t rush me. That�s old enough for now, thank you very much. Don�t age me any faster!
DW: Your first singles - "Straighten Up, Baby," "Hold Me In Your Arms," "Oh, Baby," and "Cotton Crop Blues", backed by Hare and Willie Nix - were recorded by Sun Records in 1950, not 1954?
JC: I recorded on Sun in 1950. I was one of the original artists. Sam Phillips recorded before moving on to Elvis, Jerry Lee (Lewis), Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. We knocked those sides out in just a day...never saw a dime...not back then...and not since, but it did help me get started. By 1954, I had hooked up with Muddy Waters, moved to Chicago and stayed in Muddy's band for 12 years, until 1966.
DW: Hamilton�s own jazz-blues legend, Jackie Washington, was the first black DJ in Canada. You had your own 15-minute blues programme on KWEM radio in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1952, at the age of 17? Were you the first black radio DJ in the U.S.?
JC: Obviously I wasn�t the first black DJ in America. There were DJs in New York and such way back, plus Sonny Boy had his show on the air way before me (the original �King Biscuit Time�).
DW: I�ve only just recently become a radio DJ, at the age of 50, promoting blues music strictly as a fan. There are a number of legendary Canadian musical celebrities (John Dickie, Bob Segarini, Kim Mitchell, Randy Bachman, and Jeff Healey, himself) that are now hosting their own radio shows, to promote their personal music preferences. Do you see yourself getting back into broadcasting?
JC: My show wasn�t talking in the conventional sense. I had a more of a live music type of show. We played about 15 minutes of music every day and the station ran some commercials. I really wasn't doing much speaking like a true DJ. I LIKE hearing my music played on the radio; that�s about as far as it goes, though. My voice isn�t really clean enough to handle that gig nowadays.
DW: The 1994 CD, �Fore Day Blues, is not listed in your discography, and yet, with the exception of the song, ��Fore Day Blues�, being changed to �Blues in My Sleep�, it appears to be the same set of songs as the 1995 release, The Best of the Verve Years. Could you explain that for me?
JC: �Fore Day Blues is a bootleg. Play The Best of the Verve Years. The sound is better and it is a legitimate record. They [bootleggers] simply steal the material, put it out, and no one gets paid except the people stealing the music ---- DON�T BUY IT! [Interviewer note: I found and borrowed the above-mentioned bootlegged album from a library.]
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