Like any blues fan, I have my favorite artists, regional styles, instruments, and overall sound; I guess what I’m indicating is that I have my inherent biases when it comes to the blues.  And when I was a graduate student at Indiana University preparing my Master Degree thesis on the notion of travel in blues lyrics, I acknowledged such in the accompanying blues discography that I provided as part of my research and work.  Especially when you write about music, in this case the blues, being upfront about one’s partialities is an honest way to let those who consider your words to understand that you’re not dismissing the work of certain artists as inferior; rather, you’re simply speaking to what moves you and how your thoughts may help frame their views of the blues.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the early vaudeville style of blues and the singers associated with that period, nor have I ever been particularly enamored with the “sweet” style of blues played by the big bands, Also, I’m not very interested in fife and drum forms of music that feed directly into the blues genre.  But, my personal preferences aside, as someone who has spent years researching the blues and all its relevant influences and forms, I’ve dedicated myself to the study and understanding of all sub-sections of the blues experience in an attempt to be the best well-rounded academic that I can be.  Not doing so would render me merely and conveniently staying in my safe little corner of the much larger blues sandbox.

All that said, one of the forms of the blues that I find extremely intriguing is what I guess I and may others call swamp blues.  I see swamp blues as that freer, more metrical adaptation of the typical Louisiana expression that has at its core the decided Cajun, New Orleans, zydeco, and soul music roots.  I find it to be an unsophisticated (not in a bad way) variety of blues, with definite boogie designs as its backbone, and its consequence is generally highly pleasing to the listener; I’ve not yet found someone who doesn’t like swamp blues.  It has a relaxed cadence, and even when its practitioners decide to send a tune up-tempo, to speed things up somewhat, its disposition remains in the casual nature of a typical slow blues offering.

This past week I found myself again and again turning toward my numerous Excello label collections by swamp blues artists like Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, Lightnin’ Slim, Silas Hogan, and many others.  I also dived head first into my Excello label compilation CDs, and it is in those that I always seem to find the more obscure swamp blues artists who are not as well-known but whose brand of swamp blues is eminently pleasing.  One such artist is Whispering Smith, and his story, as much of it as has been researched and is known, is my focus here.

Born Moses Smith in late January, 1932 in Union Church, Mississippi, a locale in Jefferson County in the state’s southwest area, Smith came to be renowned by blues fanatics as yet another one of those mysterious swamp blues harmonica players and singers whose work, while obscure, is as thrilling as any of the bigger names who came to define the swamp blues parlance.

As is so very often the case when dealing with the particulars of a shadowy blues artist somewhat on the fringes of the music, very little is known of Smith’s formative years.  What is established, however, is that by the 1960s Smith was accompanying the likes of swamp blues legends Lightnin’ Slim and Silas Hogan on certain of their recordings.  It was through these opportunities to be a sideman that his broader talents were recognized by famed Excello record producer J.D. Miller.  As such, Miller invited Smith to record tracks under his own performing name, “Whispering,” for the Crowley, Louisiana-based Excello imprint.

So, 1963 saw Smith record “Mean Woman Blues” and “Don’t Leave Me Baby,” with 1964 affording him the chance to record “I Can’t Take It No More” and “I tried So Hard.”  The B sides of Smith’s early recordings are as equally intriguing as his classic swamp blues flavored A sides, with “Live Jive,” “Hound Dog Twist,” “Cryin’ Blues,” and “Baby You’re Mine” being especially thrilling. 

Smith was a powerful singer, rather rough in delivery, and his harmonica playing, while a bit basic, was highly effective and that which created musical breaks in his music that carried the swamp blues tradition forward with great respect.  Listening to Smith’s output, one would think it came during the heyday of swamp blues, but it didn’t, and there was the issue with his chance for upward mobility in the swamp blue field.

Whereas an Excello label swamp blues star like Slim Harpo cut his first sides for the label in 1957 with the hits “I’m A King Bee” and “Got Love If You Want It,” with his run of top-tier recognizable cuts running their course by 1966 or 1967, Smith was a relative latecomer to the swamp blues game, and due to this, he missed many of the opportunities that early on in the swamp blues craze could have propelled his career upwards.  As it was, Smith’s recordings were being made at a time when the regard for swamp blues was beginning its downward movement.

By 1970, Excello was willing to take one last chance on Smith and brought him back into the studio, though without J.D. Miller’s production efforts, to record a full-length album released in 1972 entitled Over Easy, though it became clear that it did not live up to Smith’s former quality standards.  It was a full-on production with guitar, bass, drums, horns, keyboards, and backing vocals.  The collection saw the light of day on the Blue Horizon label in the U.K., as well.

A year later in 1973, Smith was included on the famed American Blues Legends ’73 series of shows, and he did have two of his selections from the performances released on an album of tunes gathered from the events, seeing the light of day on the Big Bear Records label. Additionally, a 1972 release on the Excello imprint entitled Montreux Blues Festival included four Smith cuts. 

In 1983, a single with “Just Like A Woman” and “Hound Dog Howl” was released on the Sunland Records label under Smith’s name with The Mighty House Rockers, with the tunes including Smith, guitarist Tabby Thomas, and pianist Henry Gray.  The imprint also released singles in 1978 and 1983 with Thomas and Gray each credited as the leader, with the others comprising The Mighty House Rockers.

By 1984, Smith was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he passed away.

There are various compilations available that contain Smith’s potent swamp blues work.  If not for the timing of the start of his recording career, Smith could very well have achieved greater recognition, opportunities, and an upward career arc.  But Smith’s early swamp blues work is to be celebrated and appreciated.  Seek it out.