Back to the Future – Skiffle and Blues Harp (1956)

Lonnie Donegan was the King of Skiffle. In the 1950s he played some great country blues songs like Rock Island Line, Stewball,  Midnight Special, Mule Skinner Blues… but he never had the chance to play with a blues harp player.  

30 years later Lonnie got more recognition for what he has achieved and made a tribute album with Rory Gallagher, Elton John, Brian May Ringo Starr and Leo Sayer on blues harp.

One of my favourite Donegan recordings is one called “I’m a Roving Rambler” and earlier this year I was playing this track for my friend , Marty McFly, who was over from Chicago. I said I thought it was crying out for a bit of blues harp.


Here is how it starts….

Lonnie Donegan – Roving Rambler intro

Marty was playing around with his valve amplifier at the time and suddenly there was a blue flash and some white smoke and he disappeared. The clock was about to strike midnight so I sorted out the amplifier. I plugged it back in and it sparked, crackled back to life and the valves (tubes) started to glow.

Suddenly Marty reappeared looking all excited. He said that when the smoke cleared after the explosion he had found himself in the studio with Lonnie Donegan, back in 1956. And then, just as they finished recording a take of Roving Rambler, he had a blackout and when he woke up, he was back in the UK with me again in 2020.

It did not make any sense to me or my other friend, “Doc“ Brown. Then I noticed that there was an alternative, previously unreleased take on the CD I was listening to. I played the track and I began to wonder if it might have been true. Have a listen….

Lonnie Donegan and Blues Harp

Who do you think is playing harp on the recording?

The answer is at the end.

It wasn’t Michael J. Fox!

More Skiffle information.

I have been through a few hundred Skiffle tracks from the 1950s from the UK, in the last few weeks, looking for any bands that featured the harmonica with little success.  What I found was that the only person playing anything like blues harp at this time was Cyril Davies.

Cyril recorded sessions with Beryl Bryden and his own group with Alexis Korner which played at the Skiffle, and the Barrelhouse and Blues Club at the Round House Club in Soho. Cyril eventually became the friends with Sonny Terry and James Cotton on their trips to the UK and he moved to amplified harp and in 1962 he and Alexis recorded the ground breaking “R&B at the Marquee” which helped to launch the British Blues Boom.

Other examples of harmonica in Skiffle bands include Chris Barber on the “Backstairs Session” and some melodic chromatic solos by John Wadley Original Barnstormers Spasm Band. In the mid 1960s the blues music scene split into pop music and a more traditional blues scene in the folk clubs where many good blues harp players could be heard.

Skiffle came out of the British interest in US country blues and traditional jazz. The interest in American music of the people went back before the Second World War and was heightened during the war period with the mixing of American servicemen, coloured and white, and their music and recordings, with the British people. One attraction was the associated dances. After the war, British traditional jazz bands were formed and regular venues were established where you could listen, dance and even get to play.

By the early 1950s this had become very popular and the bands of Ken Colyer, Humphrey Littleton, Sandy Brown and Chris Barber were well established. It was quite normal to have a beer break and in this interval, some of the musicians would get together and play songs by Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, the Jug Bands, and other country blues numbers. The instrumentation was very basic – guitars, a wash-tub bass and maybe a suitcase for percussion.  As the Chris Barber Band started to play concerts in the big theatres they included some of their interval “skiffle” music into their performances. These songs were led by their banjo player, Lonnie Donegan, who played guitar on these songs. It was the unexpected success of their recording of their concert version of Leadbelly’s “The Rock Island Line” which launched Skiffle as a mainstream music style.

The success of the recordings by professional bands led to the proliferation of skiffle bands in youth groups, church groups, scouts and schools. They were the sort people who had previously started harmonica groups.

The Pioneer Skiffle Group

The Pioneer Skiffle Group of Sidcup, Kent.
The Harmonica is an ideal instrument for taking the melody line with the usual skiffle backing of guitar, bass, drums and piano. The instrument is regularly featured by the popular Pioneer Skiffle Group, shown in this photograph sent to us by Mr. K. S. B. Clark of Sidcup. From Harmonica News, December 1957

The fire of the Skiffle movement burned brightly for three or four years but it became much more of a pop music style. Out of the ashes of Skiffle came many young people who had got a taste for performing and playing guitars and they started to make their own Rock and Roll and Blues music, the Beatles, the Shadows, Jimmy Page …

Skiffle still lives on. There is a band called The Lonegans who play around the South East of England and raise money for the MIND Charity. Lonnie Donegan’s son Peter is a well known musician and singer of Country Music.


The harp player on the Lonnie Donegan track is Joe (one-take) Filisko – www.joefilisko.com !

Rare Early Blues Harp Recordings by Singers and Sidemen introduced by Joe Filisko.

You may have heard of some of these performers and groups but there will probably be others that are new to you. Joe Filisko shares his awesome knowledge of the early blues harmonica players and the techniques they developed to play the instrument. The music styles range from early jazz to country blues and popular novelties. If you like this, Part 2, you can listen to Joe on Part 1, on The Archivist web page.

Most of the recordings are from rare 78rpm shellac records, so be ready for the surface noise. In most cases there are no master recordings and for some of the performances only one or two 78s are known to have survived intact.

Over to Joe………

Rare Early Blues Harp Recordings by Singers and Sidemen introduced by Joe Filisko. by The Archivist on Mixcloud

0 Introduction , Joe Filisko , 0:00
1 Long Haired Doney , Johnny Woods , 0:20
2 Stove Pipe Blues , Daddy Stovepipe , 3:00
3 Mean Low Blues , Blues Birdhead, 7:45
4 Central Track Blues , William McCoy , 12:00
5 One Mint Julep , Peg Leg Sam , 16:00
6 Black Pine Waltz , Gwen Foster , 19:22
7 Key to the Highway , Jazz Gillum , 24:06
8 Police and High Sheriff , 0llis Martin , 27:18
9 Mouth Organ Blues , Hezekiah Jenkins , 31:03
10 You Belong To Me , Arteleus Mistric , 34:40
11 Blues , Wild Bill Phillips , 40:14
12 Sugar Blues , Salty Holmes/Mattie O’Neil , 44:01
13 Son Brimmer’s Blues , Will Shade/ Memphis Jug Band , 47:40
14 Boarding House Blues , Rhythm Willie , 51:33
15 Mistreatin’ Mama , Jaybird Coleman , 55:20
16 Step It Up and Go , Jordan Webb/Brownie McGhee , 59:50
17 St Louis Blues , Willie “Red” Herman , 63:25
18 Jack 0′ Diamonds , Percy Randolph , 66:20
19 Fourth Avenue Blues , Eddie Mapp , 68:30
20 Tampa Blues , Sheffield and Skoodle Dum Doo , 71:53
21 Troubled ’bout My Soul , Frank Palmes , 75:23
22 Wabash Blues , Johnny O’Brien , 79:54
23 Go Back Home , Hot Shot Love , 83:45
24 Beale Street Breakdown , Jed Davenport ,87:04
25 Baby Please Don’t Go , Whispering Smith , 90:50
26 Hill’s Hot Sauce , Robert Hill , 93:52
27 She’s Got Good Dry Goods , Walter Horton/Little Buddy Doyle , 97:12
28 Drink, Drink, Drink , Robert Diggs , 100:35

You can buy the original double CD without Joe’s added information from – Bluebeat Music

Joe Filisko’s web site

Ben Hewlett’s web site

Rare Early Solo Instrumental Blues Harp Recordings introduced by Joe Filisko.

Sit back and listen to Joe Filisko introducing 31 solo harmonica recordings from the 1920-30s. The recordings include many examples of train imitations, fox chases and early blues tunes. Joe mentions which harp and key he thinks is the correct one so maybe you will be inspired to play along. Part 2 is now available here – Rare Early Blues Harp Recordings by Singers and Sidemen introduced by Joe Filisko.

You may have heard of some of the performers but there will probably be others that are new to you. Most of the recordings are from rare 78rpm shellac records, so be ready for the surface noise. In most cases there are no master recordings and for some of the performances only one or two 78s are known to have survived intact.

This video is dedicated to Joe Filisko for sharing his awesome knowledge of the early blues harmonica players and the techniques they developed to play the instrument, and also to Ben Hewlett for contacting me when the recording had been taken offline and explaining how valuable this resource is for teaching blues harmonica. This is an updated version as a video with subtitles to help people with difficulties in understanding the speech.

Over to Joe…

Rare Early Solo Instrumental Blues Harp Recordings introduced by Joe Filisko.
Introduction , Joe Filisko, 0:00
1 Cracker Cops , Sonny Terry, 0:30
2 McAbee’s Railroad Piece , Palmer McAbee, 4:15
3 Fox Chase , DeFord Bailey, 8:00
4 Middling Blues , George “Bullet” Williams, 11:30
5 Fast Train , Lonnie Glosson , 15:00
6 Rain Crow Bill Blues , Henry Whitter : 19:00
7 Train , Salty Holmes , 22:40
8 Red Pig , Kyle Wooten , 22:20
9 Train Imitations and the Fox Chase , William McCoy , 28:15
10 Up Country Blues , DeFord Bailey , 32:24
11 The Fox Chase , Wayne Raney , 36:21
12 Frisco Leaving Birmingham #3 , George “Bullet” Williams , 39:15
13 Mocking the Dogs , Edward Hazelton , 42:55
14 The Fox end the Hounds , Roger Mathis , 44:30
15 The Alcoholic Blues , DeFord Bailey , 47:4616
16 Mama Blues , William McCoy , 50:30
17 Train and Model-T Race , Curly Fox , 54:45
18 The Old Time Fox Chase , Henry Whitter , 57:40
19 Riding the Blinds , Eddie Mapp , 60:40
20 Dixie Flyer Blues , DeFord Bailey , 64:40
21 C & N.W Blues , D.H Bert Bilbro , 68:25
22 Fox Chase , Salty Holmes, 72:30
23 Devil in the Woodpile , Noah Lewis, 74:20
24 Lost John , Lonnie Glosson , 77:50
25 Pan-American Blues , DeFord Bailey , 81:35
26 Lost John , Walter “Red” Parham , 85:15
27 Mocking the Train , Edward Hazelton , 87:05
28 Lost John , Oliver Sims , 88:25
29 Muscle Shoals Blues , DeFord Bailey , 92:15
30 When the Saints Go Marching In , Jesse Stroller, 95:55
31 Poor Little June Bug , Sonny Terry , 97.15

You can buy the original double CD without Joe’s added information from – Bluebeat Music

Joe Filisko’s web site

Ben Hewlett’s web site