Blues at Home Musician Elmore "Elmo" Williams passes at 83

Blues at Home Musician

Elmore "Elmo" Williams
passes at 83

February 6, 1933 - February 16, 2016

 

 

Elmore Williams, Jr., was born in Natchez in 1933. His

father was a blues guitarist who worked as a cement

finisher, and was killed while traveling to work in

Biloxi. Elmore was 10.

Elmore first began performing at local gatherings as

a teenager. He was drafted into the Army and

returned to Natchez after being discharged. He

started singing in a band led by John Fitzgerald and

featuring guitarist James Woods and drummer

Hezekiah Early. The trio often performed at Haney’s

Big House in Ferriday, Louisiana, the biggest club in

the region. In the mid-1950s, Williams formed his own

band, which played at Natchez area venues. In the

1970s and 1980s, Elmore performed mostly at

weddings and informal get-togethers. In 1984, he

performed at the World’s Fair in New Orleans and

traveled to the Netherlands. Elmore worked in

sawmills, a bakery and a dairy when not performing.

He returned to music full-time when the owners of

Oxford’s Fat Possum Records tracked him down and

recorded him with former bandmate Hezekiah Early.

In 1998, Fat Possum recorded

Takes One To Know One,

featuring the Natchez duo. Following its release,

Elmore and Hezekiah toured across the U.S., traveled

to Japan and made multiple visits to Europe.

“I ain't never thought about nothing else to do. I made more playing music than I was working them old jobs. My mama was working and making $9 a week. I was making $11. We pooled that money up there to come on up with my siblings, and it was rough. I didn't get a chance to finish school...I did get a ninth grade education. And I had to go to regular work and I said well, I ain't going

back. I just went on in life with that.”

-- Elmo Williams

 

We have lost Elmo Williams.  In 2011 my team and I drove to Natchez, Mississippi from my hometown of Vicksburg, about a 75 minute drive.  We were meeting Mississippi born living blues legend, Elmore "Elmo" Williams Jr., to include him in the Blues @ Home project. We followed him through his warm paneled kitchen to a comfortable den, we set up, and he slowly shared his layered life in the blues.  Elmo's wife had passed a year earlier, and he was carrying deep pain... it settled on every word. Even as he shared his raucous blues history, he spoke of his wife and family until it brought tears to all of us.  I chose to paint his image with his family portrait and the last supper present in the background...a seemingly opposite surrounding for a blues legend!  He was personally tortured by his church's stance on the blues, but he found grace in both and held to each for dear life!  Elmo, your talents will be so missed, thank you for leaving us your music and your story!  Blessings to your family and friends in their loss.   

 

- H. C. Porter 

 

Learn more about Blues@Home here

 

H.C. Porter Gallery, 1216 Washington St. Vicksburg, MS 39183

601 - 661 - 9444 . hcporter@hcporter.com . www.hcporter.com

 

Remembering L. C. Ulmer, Blues@Home Legend

Blues at Home Legend

L. C. Ulmer passes at 87

August 28, 1928 - February 14, 2016

 

     Lee Chester "L. C." Ulmer was born in 1928 in Stringer, Mississippi, and later moved to a plantation near Moss Hill with his musical family. L. C. grew up surrounded by music from family and local musicians who played at picnics, fish fries, and on his front porch.  

      He began playing guitar when he was 9 years old and, by the time he was 14, he was building railway trestles and playing regularly at juke joints. He traveled a lot around the Southeast, playing guitar for gospel quartets and taking various blues jobs at local clubs. In 1955, he ended up in Arizona, where he recorded advertisement songs and played with famous musicians such as Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, and Fats Domino.
     After a brief stint in California, where he made his living playing on the streets, L. C. moved back to Laurel briefly before moving to Joliet, Illinois, where he lived for 37 years working construction, running an automotive shop and performing regularly as a one-man band. He performed on shows with well-known blues performers Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed.  

After returning to Mississippi in 2001, L. C. has performed festivals across the state. He has traveled to Cuba, Italy, and Egypt to perform, and in 2011, he recorded his first CD, Blues Come Yonder, on the Hill Country Records label.

"My daddy taught us all how to work. He said... 'Ain't nobody going to give you nothing.' He wasn't wrong about that. And I found that out later on when I got to traveling. Good thing I knowed how to play the guitar and sing... Well I was pretty good on that. I got to be the ace of traveling - traveling blues man. Look at me. I'm getting big now."

-- L. C. Ulmer

L.C. had the sweetest spirit...the only non-smoking, non-drinking, vegetarian, read the Bible 12 times bluesman that ever existed, I feel certain! My team and I spent the day with him at his home in Ellisville, Mississippi in 2010, recording his words and capturing his image for the Blues @ Home project. Truly a living blues legend of Mississippi!   I chose to paint my image of him with the washtub framing his head as a nod to the early Russian tender saints paintings with the halos floating majestically behind them.  He is at home with God now, picking up specks of lint and putting them in old tomato cans just to keep Heaven tidy! Thank you L.C. for all that you have given us! You will be remembered and dearly missed. My love goes out to his friends and family.

- H. C. Porter

Learn more about Blues@Home here! 

H.C. Porter Gallery, 1216 Washington St. Vicksburg, MS 39183

601 - 661 - 9444 . hcporter@hcporter.com . www.hcporter.com

Thank You B.B.

Riley "B.B." King September 16, 1925 - May 14th, 2015 A Legend, A Legacy Thank you B.B. King for being a part of Blues @ Home. No tribute to Mississippi's blues legends would be complete without "The King of The Blues", and I am honored to have included his portrait and voice in Blues @ Home, my documentation of Mississippi Blues Legends.  B.B. King was the greatest ambassador for blues in Mississippi, therefore his legacy is vital to the state's overall blues story. His childhood performances were on street corners in the Mississippi Delta and though he went on to perform on international stages, he never forgot his origins. He recalled in an interview: "I used to sit on the corners here in Indianola at the  corner of Church Street and Second. And, that's  when I would play, and people used to give me  money. Would you believe that, during this time,  I was making twenty-two dollars and a half a week driving tractors,  but some nights -- on Saturday evening, I'd make fifty to sixty dollars -- I made a hundred dollars --  just sitting on the corner playing." -- B. B. King I would like to thank B.B. King for his participation in the Blues @ Home project. His music and his story will live on, and I am humbled and grateful to have played a small role in preserving his legacy. - H. C. Porter Learn More About Blues @ Home Here STAY CONNECTED          H.C. Porter Gallery, 1216 Washington St. Vicksburg, MS 39183 601 - 661 - 9444 . hcporter@hcporter.com . www.hcporter.com

Terry Evans

H.C. Porter recently added a 30th musician to Blues @ Home. A legendary musician, performer and songwriter, Terry Evans is a Vicksburg native. H.C. Porter, who has her gallery in downtown Vicksburg, caught up with Evans while he was home on tour from Los Angeles. 

Porter photographed him at the railroad tracks along the Mississippi River. Evans showed he was right at home and is a great addition to our list of Mississippi legends.

For information on this project and to find out how to sponsor a painting, visit the Blues @ Home site or contact the H.C. Porter Gallery at 601-661-9444.

Purchase prints online of the paintings that have been completed to-date and will make up the nationally traveling exhibition.

Blessissippi

Blues @ Home was honored to be part of the recent Blessissippi Crossroads Concert event in Clarksdale. The event was a fund-raiser for Delta State University's Delta Music Institute and was hosted by actor Morgan Freeman and Explore.org founder, Charles Annenberg Weingarten.

H.C. Porter and Lauchlin Fields, project manager for Blues @ Home, were excited to showcase some of the photographs and paintings from the project during the weekend at Son House Gallery right down from the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero Blues Club, where the concert was held Saturday night.

Daryl Hollingsworth found a way to hang a couple of the paintings from the ceiling of Ground Zero.

This painting of Super Chikan, one of the 29 Blues @ Home featured musicians, was on display as Super Chikan jammed on stage.

H.C. Porter had the opportunity to speak about the project on stage.

Blues @ Home is trucking along as H.C. continues to create the portrait paintings. We still have painting sponsorships available. Visit the Blues @ Home Web site to learn more about sponsoring a painting.

Sharde Thomas

H.C. Porter added fife player Sharde Thomas as the 29th and final blues legend to Part One of Blues @ Home.

Sharde, at 22, has already established herself as a legend like her legendary grandfather, Otha Turner.
Here is a clip from Sharde's interview with H.C. She explains how she was introduced to the fife by her grandfather...

Limited edition photographs of Sharde from this photo shoot will be available for viewing and purchase soon in our online Blues @ Home photo gallery. We have only 10 more painting sponsorships available. It's not too late to be part of this historic project documenting Mississippi blues legends. Visit the Blues @ Home website for information, and be sure to stay tuned for all the latest news on the project.

Mississippi Arts Hour

H.C. Porter recently talked about her career and the Blues @ Home project on Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Mississippi Arts Hour. Here she is with Mary Margaret Miller of the Mississippi Arts Commission, who conducted the interview:

Follow the link to hear the hour-long interview: http://mpbonline.org/mississippiartshour/mah_12_11_11_hc_porter/.

Pat Thomas

H.C. Porter traveled back to Leland to add Pat Thomas, the son of blues legend Son Thomas, to Blues @ Home.

Pat is a legend in his own right, known across the world for his down-right Delta country blues.

H.C. photographed the bluesman in various locations around Leland, capturing Pat's true blues spirit.

Pat Thomas is the 27th legend to join Blues @ Home and the final participating legend in what will now be Blues @ Home: Part One. Beginning in January, the artist will paint the 27 musicians she has already captured for the first in a two-part series of Blues @ Home paintings and oral histories. Stay tuned at www.hcporter.com/bluesathome for more information on the project. The collection is expected to be complete by early spring and available for exhibition soon after. 

We have only eight sponsorships left for this first series. Visit our sponsorship page for more information on how to pre-purchase one of these amazing paintings and join all the excitement surrounding H.C. Porter's cool, new project!

Zac Harmon

Blues @ Home spent some time with blues legend Zac Harmon at his father's store, Harmon's Drugstore, on Farish Street this week.

Zac, a huge advocate for promoting Mississippi as the Birthplace of America's music, is a perfect addition to Blues @ Home as our 26th legend! The Mississippi blues was instilled in Zac at an early age. He watched street performers and blues musicians from his father's store, right in the heart of Jackson's vibrant entertainment district.

"I always tell folks everywhere I go, the thing about being from Mississippi, you know...blues is like air down here. And if you breathe, you're gonna' get some blues," Zac told us.

Cadillac John

H.C. Porter and collector and friend Tom Johnson traveled the blues highway to Renova, home of Cadillac John Nolden, Blues @ Home's 25th blues legend.

Cadillac John, 84, said playing the blues makes his feel good.

"I just feel better when I'm out there doing it," he told H.C. during his interview.

Photos by Tom Johnson

Bobby Rush

Bobby Rush has become synonymous with the Mississippi blues. He opened his home in Jackson to us Monday and signed on as Blues @ Home's 24th blues legend.

Bobby Rush is an entertainer even in his own living room...

Blues on Farish...Jesse Robinson

We headed to historic Farish Street in Jackson Monday to add blues legend Jesse Robinson to the Blues @ Home project.

Jesse has been on the Mississippi blues scene for about four decades now, and he has been a big part of putting Farish Street on the blues map.

H.C. Porter photographed Jesse inside the legendary Peaches Restaurant right there on Farish.

For Monday's shoots, we were joined by award-winning filmmaker and fellow Mississippi native Paige Williams.

 Paige, who has directed films, such as Mississippi Queen and From Place to Place, tagged along to document H.C. Porter's collection of photographs and oral histories for the Blues @ Home project.

 Stay tuned for a short film by Paige and her film company, Porch Productions, which will help promote the project.

Eddie Cusic

Eddie Cusic of Leland opened his home to Blues @ Home and joined our incredible list of living legends.

Eddie showed us his genuine, down-home blues stylings...

Ben Payton

Jackson blues legend Ben Payton joins Blues @ Home as our 21st musician:

We had a good time chatting and jamming with Ben Payton during the photo shoot and interview:

You can see Ben perform live Sept. 16 at Soulshine Pizza in Madison. Find out more details on upcoming Ben Payton performances on his website.

To purchase limited edition Blues @ Home photos from this photo shoot and others, contact H.C. Porter Gallery at 601-661-9444 or hcporter@hcporter.com. You can also find out more about how to sponsor one of the 40 exclusive Blues @ Home paintings.

Terry Harmonica Bean

Blues @ Home headed to Pontotoc to hang with Terry Harmonica Bean, who was home between gigs, to add him to the project as our 20th living legend. 

We found out why "harmonica" is his middle name...

Call 601-661-9444 or e-mail hcporter@hcporter.com to inquire about ordering limited edition photographs from this shoot or any others from the Blues @ Home project.

Super Chikan!

We added James "Super Chikan" Johnson as Blues @ Home's 19th musician. Here he is jamming in his usual style on one of his homemade guitars (notice the chicken shape) at his Clarksdale workshop.

YZ Ealey

YZ Ealey, our third Natchez bluesman, showed off his guitar chops while H.C. Porter photographed him for the Blues @ Home project.

Seventy-four-year-old YZ grew up playing the guitar and listening to local street musicians in and around Natchez. He continues to be a staple for the Natchez blues scene, and he is our 18th blues legend. Stay tuned for photos from his shoot at the Blues @ Home limited edition photo gallery.

Hezekiah Early

Blues @ Home's second Natchez stop was to visit with drummer and harmonica player Hezekiah Early.

Muhammad Ali, who was in Natchez filming a movie, called Freedom Road, in 1979, inspired Hezekiah to play the harmonica and drums simultaneously, which has become his signature style.

Hezekiah, 76, has been playing music since he was 11. After a lifetime of playing music and working a full-time job, he teamed up with Elmore Williams in 1998 to record an album with Fat Possum Records.

He and Elmore continue to perform together across the state. Check out photos from the Hezekiah Early shoot, coming soon to the Blues @ Home limited edition photo gallery.