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Roosevelt Sykes – Feel Like Blowing My Horn
Delmark DE 632
recorded in 1970, released on LP in 1973 and on CD in 1997

Roosevelt Sykes, one of the most influential blues pianists to bring country blues to the city, is the father of the modern blues piano style. Previous Delmark albums focused on his magnificent work as a keyboard artist, vocalist and blues writer. This album, featuring Robert Lockwood, Jr. on guitar with the addition of King Kolax, Sax Mallard and a swinging rhythm section, demonstrates Sykes’ place as an early figure in the heavily jazz-tinged blues tradition to emerge from Chicago and New Orleans in the ’30s and 40’s. Such Crescent City R&B artists as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Smiley Lewis and many more are indebted to Sykes for his early pioneering in this field.

1 Feel Like Blowing My Horn 2:56
2 My Hamstring's Poppin' 3:55
3 I'm A Nut 3:00
4 Blues Will Prank With Your Soul 3:26
5 Jubilee Time (Alternate) 3:21
6 All Days Are Good Days (Alternate) 3:06
7 Sykes' Gumboogie 4:20
8 Rock-A-Bye Birdie 3:07
9 Moving Blues 3:54
10 Don't Bat Your Eye 5:22
11 All Days Are Good Days 2:41
12 Eagle Rock Me, Baby 3:09
13 Jubilee Time 3:18
14 Love The One You're With 4:20

Total Time: 49:55

All compositions by Roosevelt Sykes,
except 3, Public Domain

Tracks 5, 6, 10, and 14 previously unissued.

Personnel:

Roosevelt Sykes - piano, vocals
King Kolax - trumpet
Sax Mallard - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Robert Lockwood Jr. - guitar
Dave Myers - bass
Fred Below - drums

Recorded Sound Studios, Chicago, on August 10 & 11, 1970

Stu Black - Engineer
Al Brandtner - Design
Jim Brinsfield - Photography
Robert G. Koester - Photography, Producer, Supervisor
Andre Souffrant - Cover Photo

Liner notes by Bob Koester

Roosevelt Sykes, one of the most influential blues pianists to bring country blues to the city, is the father of the modern blues piano style. Previous Delmark albums focused on his magnificent work as a keyboard artist, vocalist and blues writer. This album, featuring Robert Lockwood, Jr. on guitar with the addition of King Kolax, Sax Mallard and a swinging rhythm section, demonstrates Sykes’ place as an early figure in the heavily jazz-tinged blues tradition to emerge from Chicago and New Orleans in the ’30s and 40’s. Such Crescent City R&B artists as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Smiley Lewis and many more are indebted to Sykes for his early pioneering in this field.

King Kolax and his trumpet never appeared on a Sykes' Victor or Columbia records of that period - he was too busy leading his own band (which included the great John Coltrane) but he helped Sykes with arrangements and business advice, etc.

Oett "Sax" Mallard played alto in those days on numerous Victor and Columbia blues dates. Many think he plays even better on tenor here. Like Kolax, his music is heavily influenced by mainstream jazz and early bop.

Robert Jr. Lockwood isn't really as angry as he looks here, though he is mysterious sometimes. He is Robert Johnson's step-son and plays a lot of Robert's songs on his own album (STEADY ROLLIN' MAN, Delmark 630). In the fifties, he recorded often with Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Otis Spann, and others.

Dave Myers' bass can be heard on a lot of records. He, brother Louis and Fred Below comprised The Aces, one of the tightest rhythm sections in Chicago. You've probably heard them many times behind Junior Wells, Little Walter, Johnny Young, or on their own.

Fred Below was the guy you called when you needed a dependable, rock-steady drummer who never let you down. He even worked as a one-man pit band in a theater but that's another story. Below's photo may suggest a force of evil, but in actuality it his immense power and drive coming to the fore.

The session engendered high spirits and much excessive energy, and "Sykes' Gumboogie" was a spontaneous jam that luckily was captured for posterity by a quick minded engineer. Few second takes were needed!



Roosevelt Sykes Biography

Born January 31, 1906, in Elmar, Arkansas, died in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 17, 1984.

Considered by musicians and music historians the father of the modern blues piano style, Roosevelt Sykes possessed a much-copied keyboard style and a fine voice that, for over half a decade, brought him a vanguard of followers in America and Europe. His playing served as a model for such blues pianists as Peter Chatman, a. k. a. Memphis Slim. During the 1930s he performed solo piano pieces and with sidemen ranging from jazz drummer "Big" Sid Catlett to slide guitarist James "Kokmo" Arnold. A genial man with a vibrant personality, Sykes had an ability to entertain as well, often bringing audiences blues and rag-influenced numbers filled with risque humor. By the 1940s Sykes's incorporated elements of jump blues and continued to play in a formidable manner which kept him employed as a full-time musician until his death in the early 1980s.

Roosevelt Sykes was born on January 31, 1906, the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas, a community he later described, in Honkers and Shouters, as "Just a little sawmill town." In 1909 Sykes moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri. He often returned to his grandfather's farm near West Helena and played the organ in a local church. By 1918 he taught himself the art of blues piano and, three years later, left home to work as an itinerant pianist in Louisiana and Mississippi gambling establishments and barrelhouses. He led a life of a rambler, playing music for his economic survival. As Sykes told Margaret McKee and Fred Chisenhall, in Beale Black & Blue, "When I did get started, I wouldn't do nothing else, just play piano ... If I didn't play, I didn't eat."

While in St. Louis, Sykes performed jobs as soloist and occasionally joined up with other musicians like guitarist Big Joe Williams. He later attributed his early piano influences to local (unrecorded) St. Louis musicians such as "Red Eye" Jesse Bell, Joe Crump, Baby Sneed, and his most important mentor "Pork Chop" Lee Green. During his period with Green - which included a stint in Providence, Louisiana - Sykes learned Green's rendition of the "Forty-Four Blues" style. As Peter J. Sylvester observed in A Left Hand Like God, "`The Forty-Four Blues' was a popular theme in the South and many pianists attempted to master its intricate separated rhythms in the bass and treble."

In 1929 Sykes encountered Jesse Johnson, the owner of the Deluxe Record Shop, in St. Louis. Sykes, who at the time performed at an East St. Louis club for a dollar a night, quickly accepted Johnson's invitation to record him in New York. Accompanied by Johnson, Sykes arrived in New York by train in June 1929, and entered the Okeh studios at 11 Union Square. Of the numbers he performed was a version of "Forty-Four Blues," featuring vocals based on the theme of a .44 pistol. During the same year, while attending a session for Paramount, Sykes received the musical sobriquet "The Honey Dripper," from a song written by the recording date's leader, singer Edith Johnson. Though some have attributed Sykes's nickname to his sexual prowess, Johnson contended that she gave him the nickname in reference to his kind disposition and outgoing personality.

In the early 1930s, Sykes moved to Chicago. During the depression years, he recorded for several labels under various pseudonyms. For the Victor label he recorded as Willie Kelly on the classic 1930 side "32-20 Blues." Two years later, he cut his popular number "Highway 61 Blues" for Gennett Records's subsidiary label, Champion. During these years Sykes served as a back-up pianist for more than thirty singers including Mary Johnson and James "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden.

Through the recruiting efforts of Mayo "Ink" Williams, Sykes signed with Decca in 1934. His 1936 Decca side "Driving Wheel Blues" emerged as a blues classic (its modern reincarnation recorded by Herman "Little Junior" Parker in 1960). Sykes settled in Chicago in 1941 and, within a short time, became a house musician for the Victor/Bluebird label. Though the label marketed him to be the successor for Fats Waller (who recorded on the same label and died in 1943), Sykes found success as the creator of his own style and remained active as a session man, recording with such musicians as Robert Brown a. k. a. Washboard Sam. In 1943, while in Chicago, Sykes formed his own group, the Honeydrippers, which often numbered twelve musicians, and within its ranks many of the city's finest horn players. Traveling with his group, Sykes played venues like the Palace Theater in Memphis. In performing with a larger ensemble, Sykes worked to conform his loose solo-oriented piano style to formal chord sequences. He recalled, in Beale Black & Blue, how he "took up harmony, by having me a band. I had to tell the fellows what I wanted them to do.... But I didn't play what I told them, see, 'cause I never could play anything over again just alike."

In the post World War II years, Sykes recorded on several labels: Victor in 1945-1949, Specialty in 1946-1947, and Regal in 1949. In the liner notes to Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973, John Sinclair noted: "The music of Roosevelt Sykes, so timelessly buoyant, so fresh and personal at times, transcended every vagary of the marketplace and lived a vibrant life of its own, no matter what current fads of stylistic alterations held sway, all through the turbulent years between 1929 and 1949." Sykes moved to New Orleans in 1954 and, despite the wane in the popularity of blues by the mid 1950s, continued to play in small clubs around the Crescent City. After returning to St. Louis in 1958, he moved to Chicago in 1960, where he was "rediscovered" by enthusiasts of the folk music revival.

The folk and blues revivals of 1960s brought a vibrant resurgence to Sykes's career. In later years, he graced the stage wearing a wide-brimmed hat, three-piece suit, and smoking a cigar that was characteristically poised in the corner of his mouth. By the early 1960s, he recorded for Bob Koester's Delmark label, cutting the album Mistake in Life. In 1961 Sykes toured Europe and appeared in the Belgian film Roosevelt Sykes the Honeydripper. In 1965 and 1966, he toured with the American Folk Blues Festival. While in Europe in 1966, he cut the album Roosevelt Sykes, Gold Mine for Delmark. During the decade he also recorded for specialty labels such as Bluesville, Storyville, and Folkways.

A resident of New Orleans in the late 1960s, Sykes often played at the Court of the Two Sisters. In 1969 he appeared as the opening act for the first annual Ann Arbor Blues Festival, playing before an audience of cheering young admirers. As Bob Koester recalled, in the liner notes to Roosevelt Sykes, Gold Mine, "He wound up in an historic confrontation-duo with the King of the Blues himself. I will never forget this set--B. B. left the stand with tears in his eyes." Sykes opened the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in the fall of 1970, and, as Jim O'Neal noted in the Down Beat review of the event, "barrelhoused his way through an enjoyable set."

In 1972 Sykes appeared in the French film Blues under the Skin and in September 1973 made a triumphant return to the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, a set captured on the LP Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, Volume 3. That same year, Delmark released Sykes's album Feel Like Blowing My Horn, featuring such Chicago-based bluesmen as guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. and drummer Fred Below. In 1976 he took part in the BBC television series The Devil's Music-A History of the Blues. He appeared on John Hammond Jr.'s 1978 Vanguard LP Footwork, in a guest performance of the "Forty-Four Blues." Sykes worked festivals and concert dates until his death of a heart attack on July 17, 1984, in New Orleans.

A man who lived life by his musical talent and ability to communicate with people of all walks of life, Sykes, in Beale Black & Blue, cited the real inspiration behind his musical talent. "Blues is a talent you're born with from God. He gave me the gift," explained Sykes. "I didn't even take a lesson in my life."

by

Roosevelt Sykes's Career
Around age ten played church organ; 1918 taught himself piano; from 1921 left home to play barrelhouses in West Helena; during the mid 1920s worked nightspots in Lake Providence, Louisiana; moved to St. Louis late 1920s; recorded on Okeh label 1929 and Victor in 1930; performed in Memphis in early 1930s; recorded for Bluebird label in Chicago 1933; recorded with the Decca label 1934-1941; formed the Honeydrippers in 1943 and played venues in the South; recorded on Victor label 1945-1949 and Specialty 1946-1947; on Regal label 1949; recorded for the United label 1951-1954 and Imperial in 1954; played club dates in Mississippi and St. Louis during late 1950s; recorded for Bluesville label 1960; worked Chicago clubs early 1960s; recorded for Delmark label 1963; toured with the American Folk Blues Festival 1965-1966; performed at Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969-1970 and Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973; performed colleges and clubs throughout 1970s and early 1980s.

Famous Works
Selective Works
Solo work Roosevelt Sykes (1929-1941), Story of the Blues, 1988.
Roosevelt Sykes, 1929-1934, Matchbox.
Roosevelt Sykes Vol. 2 1936-1951, Blues Documents.
Boogie Honky Tonk, Oldie Blues.
Dirty Mother for You, Bluetime.
Hard Driving Blues, Delmark, 1995.
Feel Like Blowing My Horn, Delmark, 1973.
Gold Mine, Delmark, 1992.
Raining In My Heart, Delmark.
At Webster College, Document.
The Country Blues Piano Ace, Yazoo.
Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973, Vol. 3, Schoolkids Records, 1996.
With others The Blues Of Lonnie Johnson, Swaggie (import).
Washboard Sam, Rockin' My Blues Away, RCA (Bluebird) Heritage Series, 1992.
John Hammond, Footwork, Vanguard, 1978.
Collections Postscripts, 1927-1933. The Piano Blues, Vol. 5, Magpie.
Hard Time Blues: St.Louis, 1933-1940, Mamlish.
Nashville Jumps-R&B from Bullet, 1946-1953, Krazy Kat.
Memphis and The Delta-1950s, Blues Classics.
Legends of the Blues Vol. 2, Columbia, 1991.
The Blues: A Smithsonian Collection of the Classic Blues Singers, Sony Music, 1993 .
Further Reading
Books

McKee, Margaret and Fred Chisenhall, Beale Black & Blue: Life and Music on Black America's Street, Louisiana State University Press, 1981.
Shaw, Arnold, Honkers and Shouters: Golden Years of Rhythm & Blues, MacMillan Pub. Co. Inc., 1978.
Silvester, Peter J., A Left Hand Like God: A History of Boogie Woogie Piano, Da Capo, 1988.
Periodicals
Down Beat, October 1, 1970.
Living Blues, Autumn 1983.
Liner notes Koester, Bob, Roosevelt Sykes, Gold Mine, Delmark 1992.
Sinclair, John Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973, Vol. 3, Schoolkids Records, 1996.
Films Roosevelt Sykes "The Honey Dripper," (Belgium) 1961.
Roosevelt Sykes, 1971.
Blues under My Skin, (France) 1972.
Out of the Black into the Blues, (France) 1972.
The Devil's Music-A History of the Blues, (England), 1976.

https://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608001358/Roosevelt-Sykes.html


WIKIPEDIA page

Roosevelt Sykes
Also known as The Honeydripper
Born January 31, 1906
Elmar, Arkansas, U.S.
Died July 17, 1983 (aged 77)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Genres Blues, boogie-woogie
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Instrument Piano
Years active 1921–1983
Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906 – July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper".

Career
Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The Sykes family was living in St. Louis by 1909. Sykes often visited his grandfather's farm near West Helena. He began playing the church organ around the age of ten.[1] "Every summer I would go down to Helena to visit my grandfather on his farm," he told biographer Valerie Wilmer. "He was a preacher and he had an organ I used to practice on, trying to learn how to play. I always liked the sound of the blues, liked to hear people singing, and since I was singing first, I was trying to play like I sang."[2] Sykes was baptized at 13 years old, his lifelong beliefs never conflicting with playing the blues.[3]

At age 15, he went on the road playing piano in a barrelhouse style of blues. Like many bluesmen of his time, he traveled around playing to all-male audiences in sawmill, turpentine and levee camps along the Mississippi River, sometimes in a duo with Big Joe Williams, gathering a repertoire of raw, sexually explicit material.[4] In 1925 Sykes met Leothus "Lee" Green, a piano player in a West Helena theater playing a mix of blues, ragtime, waltz, and jazz to accompany silent movies.[5] They worked the Louisiana and Mississippi work camp and roadhouse circuit together, with the older man acting as mentor and protector to Sykes.[3] "I just been pickin' a little cotton," Sykes would say from the stage, "and pickin' a little piano."[6] The more experienced Green taught him the style, characterized by separate bass and treble rhythms, that would become the basis for "44 Blues".[1] Sykes' wanderings eventually brought him back to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met St. Louis Jimmy Oden,[7] the writer of the blues standard "Goin' Down Slow".

After a few years Sykes found work at Katy Red's, a barrelhouse across the river in East St. Louis, Illinois. He was paid room and board, and a dollar a night.[6] In 1929, he was spotted by a talent scout and sent to New York City to record for Okeh Records.[8] The talent scout was Jesse Johnson, who owned De Luxe Music Shop. After Sykes had played a few songs on the store's piano Johnson offered him the opportunity to make his first recordings.[6] His first release was "44 Blues" which became a blues standard and his signature song.[8] Sykes recalled: "I started making records 14th of June 1929. I had been playing eight years or so before I started recording. The first number I made was a hit, '44 Blues', and every record I made was a star ever since." Sykes picked up his nickname "the Honey Dripper" while playing on a session for singer Edith Johnson later in 1929, during which she recorded "Honeydripper Blues".[3] Johnson later said she gave him the name due to his kind disposition and easygoing personality.[9] Sykes claimed the sobriquet dated back to his childhood, "Girls used to hang around me when I was a young kid. So the boys say, 'He must have honey.'" Sykes invested his earnings from recording in an illegal speakeasy that sold fried fish and alcohol, a business he continued at various locations for years.[3] He recorded for different labels using pseudonyms, including "Easy Papa Johnson" for Melotone Records, "Dobby Bragg" for Paramount Records, "Willie Kelly" for Victor Records, and "the Bluesman" for Specialty Records, in the 1930s and 1940s. During this period he befriended another blues musician, the singer Charlie "Specks" McFadden, and accompanied him on half of McFadden's recordings.[10]

Sykes and Oden moved to Chicago, where Sykes found his first period of fame when he signed a contract with Decca Records in 1934.[8] In 1936 he recorded "Driving Wheel Blues" for Decca. He was soon a sought-after session pianist for the Bullet and Bluebird labels.[11] Sykes and Oden continued their musical friendship into the 1960s.

In 1943 Sykes began performing with his band The Honeydrippers. The band often had as many as twelve musicians, including many of Chicago's best horn players.[9] Despite the growing urbanity of his style, he gradually became less competitive in the post–World War II music scene. After his contract with RCA Victor expired, he recorded for smaller labels, such as United, until his opportunities ran out in the mid-1950s.[8]

Sykes left Chicago for New Orleans in 1954, as electric blues was taking over the Chicago blues clubs.[2] He also recorded two sessions for Imperial Records in 1955, that were produced by Dave Bartholomew.[12] He moved back to Chicago in 1960 as the folk music revival rekindled interest in the blues. He toured Europe and performed at blues festivals in the United States. In the late 1960s Sykes moved back to New Orleans, where he played at clubs, including the Court of Two Sisters.[1] When he recorded in the 1960s, it was for labels such as Delmark, Bluesville, Storyville and Folkways, which were documenting the quickly passing blues history.[6] He lived his final years in New Orleans, where he died from a heart attack on July 17, 1983. He was buried at Providence Memorial Park in New Orleans in an unmarked grave.

Technique
Sykes said in his later years he decided to become a bluesman when he heard St. Louis piano player Red-Eye Jesse Bell.[6] He named St. Louis musicians including Bell, Joe Crump, Baby Sneed, and his mentor "Pork Chop" Lee Green as his early influences.[9] Leothus Lee "Pork Chop" Green, is thought to have schooled Sykes in mastering separate but complementary bass and treble rhythms.[2]

Sykes had a big voice and a heavy foot.[13] In his voice that could be piercing yet had a mellow side, he sang with beautiful vibrato and at times intricate embellishment. His piano style featured a simple left hand, frequently with single repeated notes on the beats, and with great rhythmic complexity in his right hand. Throughout his career his music was harmonically uncomplicated, seldom using more than the three standard blues chords. His technique was more akin to blues guitarists than to other piano players who were recorded at the time.[7] Though he was highly skilled on breakneck boogie-woogie numbers, Sykes shone on slow and moderately paced blues. His left hand played a strong bedrock bass, keeping the beat, as his right hand roamed the length of the keyboard. He used the piano as a lead instrument rather than as part of the rhythm section. It was a style that worked without accompaniment, as well as with larger bands.[14]

As his career progressed Sykes showed greater sophistication in the lyrics he wrote, including pop music influences, than in his playing or singing. Some of his later blues are in an 8-bar pattern, like pop or gospel, rather than in his earlier 12-bar manner.[6] Sykes moved easily from country boogie-woogie to his urban blues piano style. A blues virtuoso, he played blues in an older way, adding flourishes, notes, and chord changes where he felt necessary, even if it meant adding or subtracting a beat. Nevertheless, Sykes was sensitive as an accompanist, responding to other musicians’ changes.[3]

Sykes’ vocal trademark was his practice of singing half a measure ahead of his accompanying piano.[7] Author Paul Oliver stated, "His habit of anticipating a phrase on the piano gave a rhythmic impetus to his sung lines."[15]

Legacy
Sykes had a long career, spanning the pre-war and postwar eras. His pounding piano boogies and risqué lyrics characterize his contributions to the blues. He was responsible for influential blues songs such as "44 Blues", "Driving Wheel", and "Night Time Is the Right Time".

He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1999.[16]

Discography
The Return of Roosevelt Sykes (Bluesville, 1960)
The Honeydripper (Bluesville, 1961)
Blues (Folkways, 1961) with Memphis Slim
Face to Face with the Blues (Columbia, 1961)
The Honeydripper: Roosevelt Sykes Plays and Sings the Blues (Columbia, 1962)
Roosevelt Sykes Sings the Blues (Crown, 1963)
Hard Drivin' Blues (Delmark, 1964) with Homesick James
Roosevelt Sykes in Europe (Delmark, 1966 [1969])
The Meek Roosevelt Sykes (Carson, 1969; Jewel, 1973)
Chicago Blues Festival (Black & Blue, 1970) with Homesick James
Feel Like Blowing My Horn (Delmark, 1970 [1973])
The Honeydripper's Duke's Mixture (Barclay, 1971)
Roosevelt Sykes is Blue and Ribald...A 'Dirty Mother' for You (Southland, 1972)
Dirty Double Mother (BluesWay, 1973)
Music Is My Business (Blue Labor, 1975 [1977])
The Original Honeydripper (Blind Pig, 1977)
Boot That Thing 1929–1941 (Acrobat ADDCD-3019 [2CD], 2008) includes material recorded for the OKeh, Victor, Paramount, Champion, and Decca labels.
References
"Roosevelt "The Honeydripper" Sykes (1906–1983)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
"Roosevelt Sykes". 64parishes.org. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
McCulloch, Bill; Pearson, Barry L. (1999). American National Biography Sykes, Roosevelt (31 January 1906- 11 July 1983). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195128001.
Oakley, Giles (1997). The Devil's Music. Da Capo Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-306-80743-5.
"Leothus Lee Green: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters. New York City: Macmillan. pp. 14–17. ISBN 0-02-061740-2.
"Roosevelt Sykes". Thebluestrail.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. pp. 171–72. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
"Roosevelt Sykes Blues Pianist". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
Yanow, Scott. "Charlie McFadden: Complete Recorded Works 1929–1937 – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
"Roosevelt Sykes Could Play Those 88's". African American Registry. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2006.
"Roosevelt Sykes – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
Cowdery, Charles K. (1995). Blues Legends. Gibbs Smith Publisher. ISBN 0-87905-688-6.
Cohn, Lawrence (1993). Nothing But The Blues – The Music And The Musicians. Abbeville Press. ISBN 1-55859-271-7.
Oliver, Paul (2011). Sykes, Roosevelt. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2093508. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
"Blues Hall of Fame Inductees – 1999". Blues.org. Archived from the original on January 19, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2006.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Sykes

ALLMUSIC Biography by Bill Dahl

Next time someone voices the opinion that blues music is simply too depressing to embrace, expose them to a heady dose of Roosevelt Sykes. There was absolutely nothing downbeat about this effervescent pianist, whose lengthy career spanned the pre-war and postwar eras. Sykes' romping boogies and hilariously risqué lyrics on songs like "Dirty Mother for You," "Ice Cream Freezer," and "Peeping Tom" characterize his monumental contributions to the blues idiom. He was a pioneering piano pounder responsible for the seminal pieces "44 Blues," "Driving Wheel," and "Night Time Is the Right Time."

Sykes began playing while growing up in Helena. At age 15 he hit the road, developing his rowdy barrelhouse style around the blues-fertile St. Louis area. He began recording in 1929 for OKeh and was signed to four different labels the next year under four different names (he was variously billed as Dobby Bragg, Willie Kelly, and Easy Papa Johnson). Sykes signed to Decca Records in 1935, where his popularity blossomed. After relocating to Chicago, Sykes inked a pact with Bluebird in 1943 and recorded prolifically for the RCA subsidiary with his combo the Honeydrippers, scoring a pair of R&B hits in 1945 (covers of Cecil Gant's "I Wonder" and Joe Liggins' "The Honeydripper"). The following year, he scored one more national chart item for the Victor logo, the lowdown blues "Sunny Road." He also often toured and recorded with singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden, the originator of the classic "Going Down Slow."

In 1951, Sykes joined Chicago's United Records, cutting more fine sides over the next couple of years. A pair of Dave Bartholomew-produced 1955 dates for Imperial in New Orleans included a rollicking version of "Sweet Home Chicago" that presaged all the covers that would surface later on. A slew of albums for Bluesville, Folkways, Crown, and Delmark kept Sykes on the shelves during the '60s (a time when European tours began to take up quite a bit of the pianist's itinerary). He settled in New Orleans during the late '60s, where he remained a local treasure until his death. Precious few pianists could boast the thundering boogie prowess of Roosevelt Sykes.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roosevelt-sykes-mn0000284104#biography