JOHNNY Geechie TEMPLE

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By some Johnnie 'Geechie' Temple is regarded as one of the unsung heroes of the early blues, whilst at the other extreme, some others regard him as a lightweight figure of little consequence in the history of the blues. Born in Canton, near Jackson, Mississippi, in 1906, Temple was a contemporary of the McCoy Brothers, Joe and Charlie, and was almost certainly influenced by blues greats such as Skip James, Son House, Rubin Lacey and Tommy Johnson who were performing in the Jackson area during Temple's formative years. He learned to play guitar and mandolin as a child and by the time he was a teenager, he was playing at house parties and fish fries and other local events. Temple eventually moved to Chicago in the early 1930's, where he often performed with childhood friends Charlie and Joe McCoy. He began recording in 1935 and, accompanied by Charlie McCoy, released "The Evil Devil Blues", his version of the Skip James song "Devil Got My Woman". (Reputedly James was not impressed by Temple's version and referred to him as dummy incapable of duplicating his style. Temple advocates later claimed that Temple had made no attempt to duplicate James but had his own radically different understanding of the harmony.)

For a while Temple also joined the Harlem Hamfats which the McCoy brothers had helped form in 1936, and in the same year he released "Louise Louise Blues" on Decca Records. Although he never achieved major blues star status, Temple's records sold consistently well throughout the late1930's and 1940's. He has also been credited by some as one of the first blues artists to develop the now-standard bottom-string boogie bass figure, generally credited to Robert Johnson. His recording career ended after the Second World War as the popularity of acoustic blues waned, but he continued to perform, frequently with Big Walter Horton and Billy Boy Arnold. Eventually he left Chicago and returned to Jackson where he continued to play the clubs and juke joints until ill health forced him into retirement in the early 1960's. Johnny Temple died in in Jackson in 1968, aged 62.

    The Evil Devil Blues