Lonesome Sundown
Encyclopedia
Cornelius Green known professionally as Lonesome Sundown, was an American
blues
musician
, best known for his recordings
for Excello Records
in the 1950s and early 1960s.
, Louisiana
. At the age of 18, he moved to New Orleans and worked in various jobs including as a porter at the New Southport Club, a casino
in Jefferson Parish
. He returned to Donaldsonville by 1948 and, inspired by Muddy Waters
and John Lee Hooker
, began taking guitar lessons from a cousin. In 1953, after a brief period as a truck driver in Jeanerette, Louisiana
, he moved again to work at the Gulf Oil Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas
. By this time he had begun to take his music more seriously, jamming at local clubs, and in 1955 was invited by Clifton Chenier
to sit in with his new band, the Zydeco Ramblers, at the Blue Moon Club in Lake Charles
. Chenier offered him the post of second guitarist in the band, alongside first guitarist Phillip Walker
. Green toured with them as far as Chicago
and Los Angeles
, where Chenier's recording of "The Cat's Dreaming" was inspired by Green falling asleep during a session, and where Green auditioned for producer Bumps Blackwell but failed to get a contract.
Green married later in 1955, left the Zydeco Ramblers, and moved to Opelousas, Louisiana
where he began playing with Lloyd Reynauld and writing his own material. He recorded a demo
tape, and took it to producer J. D. "Jay" Miller in Crowley
. Miller was impressed, gave the singer/ guitarist the stage name
"Lonesome Sundown", and recorded his debut single
, "Leave My Money Alone" b/w "Lost Without Love", which he leased to Excello Records in 1956. The follow-up, "Lonesome Whistler" b/w "My Home Is A Prison", was more successful, and Sundown became one of Miller's south Louisiana stable of musicians. Although he never had a chart
hit
, he recorded for Miller for eight years, and his records sold in respectable quantities, his output including "Don’t Say A Word" (featuring Lazy Lester
on harmonica
), "I'm a Mojo Man," "You Know I Love You," "I Stood By (And Watched Another Man Steal My Gal)," "My Home Ain't Here," and the much covered
, "Gonna Stick To You Baby." Unusually for Louisiana musicians, Sundown's style of the blues
was more in keeping with the sound of Muddy Waters than that of Jimmy Reed
, and his sombre and melancholic recordings and instantly recognizable style were described by Miller as "the sound of the swamp".
Sundown continued to work with Miller into the early 1960s, and in 1964 recorded "Hoo Doo Woman Blues" b/w "I’ve Got A Broken Heart", recordings which have been described as among "the last ethnic down-home blues 45
s aimed exclusively at the Negro market". However, by 1965 Sundown had become disillusioned with his lack of success, experienced a traumatic divorce, retired from the music industry to work as a laborer, and joined the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith Fellowship Throughout the World Church, where he eventually became a minister. He was persuaded back to the recording studio
s in 1977, and recorded another blues album
, Been Gone Too Long, co-produced by Bruce Bromberg
and Dennis Walker, originally for Joliet Records. Despite its quality, disappointing sales ensued, even after being reissued on Alligator
. His final single release was 1977's "I Betcha".
Sundown did several concert
s, including an appearance at the 1979 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
, and tours of Sweden
and Japan
with Phillip Walker, but then walked away from the music business for good. In 1994 he suffered a stroke
, and he was no longer able to speak. Sundown died in Gonzales, Louisiana
, in April 1995, aged 66. He was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 2000.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, best known for his recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
for Excello Records
Excello Records
Excello Records was an American blues record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label...
in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Biography
Green was born on the Dugas Plantation near DonaldsonvilleDonaldsonville, Louisiana
Donaldsonville is a city in and the parish seat of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the west bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 7,605 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:Acadians began to settle in the area in...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. At the age of 18, he moved to New Orleans and worked in various jobs including as a porter at the New Southport Club, a casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
in Jefferson Parish
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....
. He returned to Donaldsonville by 1948 and, inspired by Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
and John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, began taking guitar lessons from a cousin. In 1953, after a brief period as a truck driver in Jeanerette, Louisiana
Jeanerette, Louisiana
Jeanerette is a city in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States. Known as "Sugar City", it had a population of 5,997 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Iberia Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Early years:...
, he moved again to work at the Gulf Oil Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
. By this time he had begun to take his music more seriously, jamming at local clubs, and in 1955 was invited by Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
to sit in with his new band, the Zydeco Ramblers, at the Blue Moon Club in Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
. Chenier offered him the post of second guitarist in the band, alongside first guitarist Phillip Walker
Phillip Walker
Phillip Walker was an American electric blues guitarist, most noted for his 1959 hit single, "Hello My Darling", produced by J. R. Fulbright. Although Walker continued playing throughout his life, he recorded more sparsely.-Career:Walker grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, and by his mid-teens was...
. Green toured with them as far as Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, where Chenier's recording of "The Cat's Dreaming" was inspired by Green falling asleep during a session, and where Green auditioned for producer Bumps Blackwell but failed to get a contract.
Green married later in 1955, left the Zydeco Ramblers, and moved to Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
where he began playing with Lloyd Reynauld and writing his own material. He recorded a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
tape, and took it to producer J. D. "Jay" Miller in Crowley
Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley is a city in and the parish seat of Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 14,225 at the 2000 census. The city is noted for its annual International Rice Festival. Crowley has the nickname of "Rice Capital of America", because at one time it was a major center for...
. Miller was impressed, gave the singer/ guitarist the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
"Lonesome Sundown", and recorded his debut single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Leave My Money Alone" b/w "Lost Without Love", which he leased to Excello Records in 1956. The follow-up, "Lonesome Whistler" b/w "My Home Is A Prison", was more successful, and Sundown became one of Miller's south Louisiana stable of musicians. Although he never had a chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
, he recorded for Miller for eight years, and his records sold in respectable quantities, his output including "Don’t Say A Word" (featuring Lazy Lester
Lazy Lester
Lazy Lester is an American blues harmonica player, whose career spans the 1950s to the 2000s....
on harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
), "I'm a Mojo Man," "You Know I Love You," "I Stood By (And Watched Another Man Steal My Gal)," "My Home Ain't Here," and the much covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
, "Gonna Stick To You Baby." Unusually for Louisiana musicians, Sundown's style of the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
was more in keeping with the sound of Muddy Waters than that of Jimmy Reed
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
, and his sombre and melancholic recordings and instantly recognizable style were described by Miller as "the sound of the swamp".
Sundown continued to work with Miller into the early 1960s, and in 1964 recorded "Hoo Doo Woman Blues" b/w "I’ve Got A Broken Heart", recordings which have been described as among "the last ethnic down-home blues 45
45
Year 45 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vinicius and Sabinus...
s aimed exclusively at the Negro market". However, by 1965 Sundown had become disillusioned with his lack of success, experienced a traumatic divorce, retired from the music industry to work as a laborer, and joined the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith Fellowship Throughout the World Church, where he eventually became a minister. He was persuaded back to the recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s in 1977, and recorded another blues album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Been Gone Too Long, co-produced by Bruce Bromberg
Bruce Bromberg
Bruce Bromberg is an American Grammy Award winning producer of blues music.He was born in Chicago, and raised there and in Park Forest, Illinois. In 1958 he moved with his family to Los Angeles, and began working for various record labels...
and Dennis Walker, originally for Joliet Records. Despite its quality, disappointing sales ensued, even after being reissued on Alligator
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
. His final single release was 1977's "I Betcha".
Sundown did several concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, including an appearance at the 1979 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana...
, and tours of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with Phillip Walker, but then walked away from the music business for good. In 1994 he suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, and he was no longer able to speak. Sundown died in Gonzales, Louisiana
Gonzales, Louisiana
Gonzales is a city in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,156 at the 2000 census. It has been called the "jambalaya capital of the world" and is famous for its annual Jambalaya Festival. Gonzales is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.State...
, in April 1995, aged 66. He was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 2000.
Selected discography
- Lonesome Lonely Blues (1970) - Excello
- Been Gone Too Long (1977) - HighToneHighTone RecordsHighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
External links
- [ Biography at Allmusic.com]
- Full discography at Koti.mbnet.fi