Pete "Guitar" Lewis

I've been wanting to do a Johnny Otis post here since I started this thing. However, I've concluded it's just too daunting a task. Among being a bandleader, DJ, civil rights activist, dad to Shuggie Otis, nightclub owner and A&R guy, Johnny Otis has been influential in nearly every kind of music posted here at the Flu. Well, maybe not the hillbilly stuff, but he did write "Crazy Country Hop."

Instead, today we'll focus on one of his many great sidemen, Pete "Guitar" Lewis, a little celebrated but great guitar player who made way too few recordings, and most of them are as a member of Johnny Otis' band. Lewis was Otis' guitar player from 1948 to 1957. Below we have one of his solo recordings on Federal (the b-side of this record is by Pete "Harmonica" Lewis, where he displays his formidable talent on another instrument), A couple of sides with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, and one with the same band backing "Big Mama" Thornton. You can also hear PGL on the original version of "Hound Dog" at this post.

Dig it...















Download: "Shake It" 1952, mp3














Download: "I Smell A Rat" 1952, mp3.














Download: "Freight Train Boogie" 1950, mp3.















Download: "Raggedy Blues" 1952, mp3.

Buy music by Pete "Guitar" Lewis, "Big Mama Thornton", and Johnny Otis
at Amazon or your local independently owned record store.

Elvis' Record Collection

Photo © Alfred Wertheimer

It's well documented that Elvis was a degenerate, and more than likely that he was a record collector too. So, in commemoration of his 72nd birthday, I'll kick off this flagship posting of the boogie woogie flu with some chestnuts that the King recorded and brought to a larger audience. Hopefully, his records were in better condition than mine. Check out Pete "Guitar" Lewis on "Hound Dog". There are two versions of "Tomorrow Night" here. Elvis recorded a beautiful version based on Lonnie Johnson's signature number that never saw the light of day until thirty years after the fact. The Lavern Baker version was recorded around the same time as Elvis' and is something to behold. I had to include Elvis himself, so we get his version of "My Baby Left Me" by Arthur Crudup, songwriter of Elvis' first single, "That's All Right".

Happy Birthday Elvis.


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Download:















"Hound Dog" mp3
by "Big Mama" Thornton, 1952.














"Baby Let's Play House" mp3
by Arthur Gunter, 1954.














"Blue Moon of Kentucky" mp3
by Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, 1947.















"Good Rockin' Tonight" mp3
by Wynonie Harris, 1948.















"Tomorrow Night" mp3
by Lonnie Johnson, 1948.















"Tomorrow Night" mp3
Lavern Baker, 1955.















"My Baby Left Me" mp3
by Elvis Presley, 1956.