From:  "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Apr 9, 2004  2:30 am
Subject:  This Is My Story : Eddie Boyd
 
EDDIE BOYD (By Dominic Turner)

Born Edward Riley Boyd, 25 November 1914 (some sources say 13 November), Stovall
(Mississippi)

Died 13 July 1994, Helsinki, Finland

Starting out as a guitarist but ultimately making his name as a pianist, Eddie
Boyd is universally known in blues circles for his powerful "Five Long Years."
But this oft covered Chess blues classic was by no means the only highlight of
an excellent career.

Born on Frank Moore's Stovall plantation near Clarksdale in the heart of the
fertile Mississippi delta (his cousin, Muddy Waters, was born there just a few
months later), Boyd taught himself to play the guitar at a young age. After a
hard day's work in the fields, he would take to the legendary Mississippi juke
joints in the evening, playing and singing the blues to rowdy audiences of black
workers. But it was a tough upbringing, and Boyd, frustrated by the unfair
segregationist policies, ran into trouble after a fight with a white youth (some
accounts suggest that Boyd threw a hayfork!). As a result of that incident, he
joined the hordes of Southern blacks who moved further north to seek their
fortune, and settled in Memphis around 1931.

The move to an even more stimulating musical environment soon rubbed off, and he
learned to play the piano, developing a style that owed much to Roosevelt Sykes
and Leroy Carr. He continued to play regularly in the city's bars and juke
joints, often appearing on Beale Street as a pianist and singer with his band
the Dixie Rhythm Boys.

But Boyd's real yearning was to commit his music to record, and in 1940 he
ventured further northwards up the Mississippi to the historic capital of the
blues, Chicago. By now an accomplished pianist, he felt very much in his element
in the "windy city" and soon became a prominent figure on the local blues scene,
collaborating with luminaries such as Johnny Shines and Muddy Waters. He also
found regular work on studio sessions for the RCA Victor and Bluebird labels
with John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Jazz
Gillum and Tampa Red. Together with producer Lester Melrose, these musicians
gave rise to what became known as the "Bluebird beat", a powerful group-based
style where drums, bass and piano provided dynamic support for the leader's
guitar and voice. Boyd played on some of the classic recordings of harp legend
Sonny Boy Williamson I, such as "Elevator Woman" (1947). In the same year, he
played piano on a session with Big Maceo, after the latter had suffered a
paralysis to his right-hand side. Melrose also gave Boyd the opportunity to
record his own material, billing him as "Little Eddie Boyd". He debuted as a
solo artist for RCA Victor in 1947 and remained with the label until 1949,
recording a total of 21 swinging R&B sides in five sessions for the company.

At about this time, Eddie Boyd wrote the song that was to become his signature
tune. Convinced that "Five Long Years" was something special, he personally
financed a recording session with J. T. Brown's Boogie Band, and then sold the
disk to J.O.B. Records. It was released in 1952 and gave Boyd his greatest
success, topping the R&B charts. Today the song is rightly considered a blues
standard, boasting cover versions by Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, B.B.
King, John Lee Hooker, Ike & Tine Turner, Junior Parker, Junior Wells, Lazy
Lester, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Long John Baldry and Frank Frost. to name but a few!


Eddie Boyd had made a name for himself, and the big entrepreneurs in Chicago sat
up. Top DJ Al Benson briefly signed him to his own Parrot label, before selling
the contract to Chess in 1953. In his first year with the historic blues label,
Boyd cut two more R&B monsters: "24 Hours" and "Third Degree". Nevertheless, his
spell at Chess really should have yielded greater success. Unfortunately, he
failed to hit it off with Leonard Chess from the outset, and as time went on
things further deteriorated. Chess allegedly told Boyd that he was "talentless",
and made no bones about airing his view that the pianist's songs would sound
better if recorded by Muddy Waters!

Boyd's career then received a severe blow in 1957 when he was involved in a very
serious car crash in Illinois. This left him in a hospital bed for some three
months, and when he finally recovered he realised that his relationship with the
Chess management had reached the point of no return. Boyd promptly moved on to
Narvel "Cadillac Baby" Eatmon's Bea & Baby label, and recorded a series of eight
sides in 1959 (with Robert Lockwood Jr. on guitar). But Bea & Baby was very much
a low profile outfit, light years from Chess. Boyd switched from label to label
but his popularity had waned considerably, and obscurity beckoned.

Almost by chance, he found himself on the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival
touring roster, and decided that perhaps his future lay in Europe. An appearance
at the Hague Blues Festival (the first big blues concert ever to be organised in
Holland) followed in the same year, and Boyd realised that not only was Europe
relatively free of the racial discrimination that had plagued him in the U.S. it
also promised to be the starting place for the blues revival, with ample
recording opportunities for past greats like himself. Switching residence from
Paris to Belgium, he also found time to visit London and record an LP for ace
blue producer Mike Vernon in 1967. Backing him on this Blue Horizon release were
none other than Fleetwood Mac, with a marvellously tasteful Peter Green on lead
guitar. A second LP featured John Mayall on harmonica, together with Green, and
a rhythm section of John McVie and Aynsley Dunbar.

In 1970, he married a Finnish girl and settled in Helsinki, continuing to gig
regularly in Finland over the next two decades. A serious heart condition caused
by a defective valve forced him to undergo heart surgery in 1980, but he
recovered sufficiently to delight an enthusiastic crowd at the Chicago Blues
Festival in 1986, and went on to record a cassette of gospel music in 1993. Boyd
passed away the following year at Melilahti Hospital in Helsinki at the age of
80.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING:
a.. "Third Degree" [Charly, 1993] - 20-track compilation of Boyd's fifties
Chess output. Has the added advantage that it's relatively easy to get hold of!

b.. "7936 South Rhodes" [BGO, 1996] - Originally released on Epic. Excellent
backing by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

c.. "The Complete Recordings 1947-1950" [EPM Musique, 2001] - Hardly complete,
but it complements the Charly collection quite nicely by documenting Boyd's
early recordings for RCA Victor