There’s no big mystery surrounding why I picked Johnny Temple to be the focus of this week’s artist profile.  Simply, I was listening to the Document Records collection entitled Johnny Temple Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 3 – 1940-1949 and I was struck, as I often am, by the magnificent quality of work from an artist who I haven’t just sat back and enjoyed in some time.

Temple was born in mid-October, 1906 in Canton, Mississippi, a locale in Madison County, an area just about in the middle of the state.  At some point, his family moved to the Jackson, Mississippi area, and by all accounts that is where Temple’s formative years played out.  Of course, as would be expected during this time period in the blues-fertile Delta region, the blues was all around Temple, and as a young child he showed an interest in music, choosing both the mandolin and guitar as his instruments of choice. 

Details regarding Temple’s youthful years, as is often the case with more obscure early blues artists, are scarce.  What research has determined is the by the time he was in his teenage days he had sufficiently developed his musical skill set to be playing the local house party circuit, along with other proceedings, in his community.  As fate would have it, while in Jackson, Temple met and became friends with Skip James, the temperamental and somewhat standoffish man who become a legend in the blues for his shadowy brand of blues characterized by his use of open D-minor tuning using a fingerpicking technique that was coupled with his high unnerving falsetto vocal style.  You see, a developing Temple had rich blues influences to draw upon while developing his singular blues style.

In the early 1930s period, Temple made a move to Chicago where he wasted no time in becoming a frequent figure on the city’s blues landscape, one where he often worked with both Charlie McCoy (aka Papa Charlie McCoy and Tampa Kid– a slide guitarist) and Joe McCoy (aka Kansas Joe McCoy – a guitar player and vocalist).  The two recorded as The McCoy Brothers at one point.

1935 would be a significant year for Temple.  He recorded four sides for Vocalion Records, but in 1936 he began a recording partnership with Decca Records that saw the 1937 release of what arguably can be considered his most well-liked song, “Louise Louise Blues.”  By the time 1940 rolled around, Decca had released a total of 32 song by Temple, with a few including the backing of The Harlem Hamfats, an aggregation formed to back the top blues and jazz talent of the day that included the aforementioned McCoy brothers.

After 1940, Temple continued to record for various labels including Bluebird, Queen, Decca, and Miracle, and though his music was of very good quality, and appreciably sold, he never achieved the level of fame he sought.  By the time 1950 came about, Temple was playing a dual role; he was continuing to perform in Chicago, most often with blues harmonica virtuosos Big Water Horton and Billy Boy Arnold, plus, he acted as something of an ombudsman for blues talent arriving in the city from the South in the years after WWII.

As the mid-1950s arrived, Temple left Chicago and returned to Jackson, Mississippi.  Once back down South, Temple continued his blues work in the city’s various venues, but it was not to last forever for him in the hardscrabble life of a blues musician. 

Temple, as other blues musicians have similarly done, left the music and became a preacher.  He continued forward in his devotion to religion until his final days, when in late November, 1968 he succumbed to the ravages of cancer at the age of 62.

So, what was the appeal of Temple’s blues?  He was a very articulate and clearly understood singer, declamatory, often drawing out the last syllables of a stanza for emphasis and effect.  His guitar work was fleet.  No doubt while in the Delta region during his early years he counted as contemporaries Son House and the previously mentioned Skip James, rendering him a solid template from which to frame his future musical endeavors.  However, what should be noted is that Temple was influential in forming the boogie bass foundation played on the bottom string, a methodology that has traditionally been credited to Delta blues legend Robert Johnson.

There is something of a mystery that surrounds Temple; somewhere along the line he acquired the nickname “Geechie.”  Generally, that term is affiliated with the Georgia Sea Islands and the folks who work agriculture in that area, but no obvious link between Temple and the region has ever been proven.

And yet one other fact about Temple is quite interesting.  In the late 1940s, Temple recorded “Olds “98” Blues,” a rocking song that predates Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88,” a tune that many consider the first rock-n-roll song.  Controversy has swirled about whether Temple indeed made the first true rock-n-roll record, and one listen to Temple’s cut provides fuel for that argument, as it appears to break down the barriers that led to rock-n-roll as have been attributed to Brenston’s famed tune.

If you’ve not before considered Johnnie Temple and his excellent blues, now just may be the time for you to do so.  You are sure to find much to savor.