“My Pencil Won’t Write No More.”  “Banana In Your Fruit Basket.”  “Pin In Your Cushion.”  “Ram Rod Daddy.”  “Please Warm My Weiner.”  “What Kind Of Scent Is This.”  “Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me.”  “Ants In My Pants.”  Just exactly what is going on here?

Bo Carter is going on here.  And with blues songs entitled such as those found above, an obligation to delve into his life and blues career seems appropriate.

Carter was born Armenter (some researchers have suggested Armentia) Chatmon in Bolton, Mississippi in Hinds County in the lower western third of the state in either 1892, 1893, or 1894 (again, dates vary by researchers).  Carter was the boy child of a freed slave (Henderson Chatmon) and his wife (Eliza Chatmon), both of whom played instruments; his father the violin, and his mother the guitar.  As one would suspect, due to the musical interests of his parents, Carter and his siblings were encouraged to embrace music and to learn an instrument.  One, brother, Lonnie Chatmon, would take up the violin, while the other brother, Sam Chatmon, embraced the bass early on.  However, Bo and Sam were fluent on a number of other instruments, including banjo, clarinet, and mandolin mainly. 

1928 was an important year for all involved, as Bo and his brothers, plus a singer and guitarist by the name of Walter Vinson joined forces and presented themselves as The Mississippi Sheiks, coincidentally, a name that came to be as the result of the Rudolph Valentino movie of the same name.

The Mississippi Sheiks were very popular, and played not only the blues, but whatever music was demanded of the occasion at which they were performing, including dance tunes and ragtime tunes.  The group was popular not only with Black audiences, but with Caucasian ones, as well.  It should be noted that Carter also managed The Mississippi Sheiks.  The band recorded roughly 80 total selections, including the 1930 blues staple “Sitting On Top Of The World.”  This group will be profiled in an upcoming Curt’s Blues blog.

But 1928 was also singularly important to Carter, as he made his first recording that year backing a musician by the name of Alec Johnson, and before long, he was recording as a solo artist, in that year recording what became a staple in the blues and other musical genera, “Corrine, Corrina.” 

It was during the late 1920s, as well, that Carter began to lose his eyesight.  While “Corrine Corrina” was a success for him, Carter began to record what could be classified as a lewder form of blues, often called “hokum.”  Hokum can be defined as a form of blues that uses humor combined with suggestive analogies to make sexual references.  As we have seen from his song titles above, the cuts were not-so-veiled with double entendre leanings.  Their risqué and even indecent names, though, propelled Carter to become one of the most successful blues recording artists of his day, with him producing in the neighborhood of 110 total songs that were released on the Okeh, Vocalion, Columbia, and Bluebird labels.

It should be noted that while Carter is primarily remembered for his “vulgar” brand of blues, he also did record many more conventional selections; however, when one mentions Carter, those in-the-know immediately depart to discussions of his uproariously coarse blues offerings.

Carter continued recording until 1938, and also was classified as partially blind during this period.  He lived in Glen Allan, Mississippi for a bit, actually doing some farming despite his limited vision.  He then moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1940, where he was said to have performed on the streets.  It was not long, however, that Carter then retired from the music business altogether.

So, what was it about Carter’s music that made him so appealing.  First, as previously referenced, his bawdy approach to the blues gave him a unique lane in which to operate as a recording artist; the blues buying public naturally gravitated toward his amusing thinly-veiled sexual content that resonated with the sheer utter joy of carnal bliss.  Fans found his likeable voice the perfect vehicle for his tales of risqué blues situations.

Carter played guitar in a multitude of keys, making his brazen works uniquely sounding from song to song.  He produced complex guitar phrasings, again, rendering his songs singular.

But, in the end, it all comes back to the abundant sexual subject matter dripping from his tunes that brought Carter wide acclaim. 

Carter’s retirement from the blues came before the folk and blues revival of the later 1950s and early 1960s resurrected the careers of many early blues pioneers and opened a whole new world to their music.

Carter never performed again and passed away in 1964 in Memphis due to the lingering effects of previous strokes and a cerebral hemorrhage.  Carter was returned to Mississippi and buried in Sharkey County.

The great Document Records label offers the complete recorded output of Bo Carter on five CDs, along with selected of his work on numerous compilations.  The link to Document Records’ web site is below where you can search for Carter’s work.  If for some reason the link does not work, a simple search for “Document Records” on the web will get you there.  Document is to be applauded for its compilation of the blues’ pre-war artists.

Document Records – Vintage Blues and Jazz (document-records.com)