Tampa Red
Tampa Red in the early 1930s
Background information
Also known as	Hudson Whittaker The Guitar Wizard
Born	Hudson Woodbridge (1903-01-08)January 8, 1903 Smithville, Georgia, U.S.
Died	March 19, 1981(1981-03-19) (aged 78) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Chicago blues hokum
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer, songwriter
Instruments	Slide guitar kazoo
Years active	1920s–1960s
Labels	Vocalion Bluebird RCA Victor

Hudson Whittaker (bornHudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903^[1] – March 19, 1981), better known by his stage nameTampa Red, was an AmericanChicago blues musician. His distinctive single-stringslide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues guitarists such asBig Bill Broonzy,Robert Nighthawk,Muddy Waters, andElmore James.^[2]

In a career spanning over 30 years, he also recorded pop,R&B andhokum songs. His best-known recordings include "Anna Lou Blues", "Black Angel Blues", "Crying Won't Help You", "It Hurts Me Too", and "Love Her with a Feeling".^[3]

Tampa Red was born Hudson Woodbridge inSmithville, Georgia. The date of his birth is uncertain, with Tampa himself giving years varying from 1900 to 1908. The birth date given on his death certificate is January 8, 1904. His parents, John and Elizabeth Woodbridge, died when he was a child, and he moved toTampa, Florida, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and adopted their surname, Whittaker.^[4] He emulated his older brother, Eddie, who played the guitar around the Tampa area, and he was especially inspired by an old street musician called Piccolo Pete, who first taught him to play blues licks on the guitar. Red also picked up some knowledge from early recordings of female blues singers likeMa Rainey,Bessie Smith, andIda Cox. In an interview with Martin Williams, Red told Williams "That [1920] record of "Crazy Blues" by Mamie Smith, it was one of the first blues records ever made. I said to myself, 'I don't know any music, but I can play that.'"^[2]

By 1925, having already perfected his slide technique, he had moved toChicago, Illinois, and began his career as a street musician, adopting the name "Tampa Red", with reference to his childhood home and his light-colored skin.^[4] His big break came when he was hired to accompany Ma Rainey. While in Chicago, he metThomas A. Dorsey, also known as Georgia Tom. Dorsey was an accomplished pianist, composer, and arranger who had performed and recorded with the leading female blues singers of the era, in particular Ma Rainey. Dorsey introduced Red toJ. Mayo Williams, the frontman forParamount Records in Chicago, who arranged a recording session for him in 1928.

His first recording "Through Train Blues" did not have as much success^{[clarification needed]} since it was the B-side to "How Long How Long" byBlind Lemon Jefferson, who was Paramount's biggest star at the time.^[4] It was Red's second recording, "It's Tight Like That", that caused a national sensation. The song reportedly came about when Mayo Williams heard them playing with a tune, borrowed from aCharley Jordan song, built around the then-popular catch phrase, "Tight Like That." Williams loved it and insisted they record it right away.^[4] Played in a bawdy and humorous style that became known ashokum, it ended up selling one million copies. Red would later recall people standing outside of record stores waiting to buy it.^[4] Since the song was composed by both Red and Dorsey, they shared around $4,000 in royalties from the song.

Tampa Red's early recordings were mostly collaborations with Dorsey.^[4] The two recorded almost 90 sides, sometimes as theHokum Boys or, withFrankie Jaxon, as Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band. In 1928 and 1929, besides making their own records, he and Georgia Tom appeared on recordings by Ma Rainey, Madilyn Davis, Lil Johnson, and female impersonator Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon.^[4]

In 1928, Red became the first black musician to play aNational steel-bodiedresonator guitar, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year in which they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single-string runs instead ofblock chords, which was a precursor of later blues and rock guitar soloing.^[5] The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s by Randy Clemens, a music shop owner and guitarist, and later sold to the Experience Music Project inSeattle.^[6] Red was known as "The Man with the Gold Guitar", and into the 1930s he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard". In 1931, Red recorded "Depression Blues", including the topical lyrics, "If I could tell my troubles, it would give my poor heart ease, but Depression has got me, somebody help me please".^[7]

Red's partnership with Dorsey ended in 1932, but he remained much in demand as asession musician, working withJohn Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson,Memphis Minnie,Big Maceo, and many others.^[4] He signed withVictor Records in 1934 and remained on their artist roster until 1953. He formed the Chicago Five,^[8] a group of session musicians who created what became known as the Bluebird sound, a precursor of the small-group style of laterjump blues androck and roll bands.^[4] Red was a friend and associate of Big Bill Broonzy andBig Maceo Merriweather. He achieved commercial success and some prosperity. His home became a centre for the blues community, providing rehearsal space, bookings, and lodgings for musicians who arrived in Chicago from theMississippi Delta as the commercial potential of blues music grew and agricultural employment in the South diminished.^[9]

By the 1940s, Red was playing an electric guitar. In 1942, his "Let Me Play with Your Poodle",^[8] was a number 4 hit onBillboard's new "Harlem Hit Parade", a forerunner of theR&B chart. His 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)", another R&B hit, was covered byElmore James.

He was "rediscovered" in theblues revival of the late 1950s, like many other surviving early-recorded blues artists, such asSon House andSkip James. He made his last recordings in 1960.

Red's wife, Frances Whittaker, died on November 21, 1953. The loss was reportedly a great blow to him, and he became an alcoholic.^[10] When blues expertJim O'Neal discovered him on Chicago'sSouth Side in 1974, he was living with his female companion, 81-year-old Effie Tolbert. Red was reportedly in a much worse shape than in his earlier years, and his electric guitar rested under a bed while his National steel guitar had been stolen (it was recovered in a pawn shop in 1994, and eventually sold to the Experience Music Project in Seattle for $85,000).^[11] Tolbert died on December 10, 1974, and accounts of Red's past mental problems discouraged friends from taking him into their homes. By January 1975, he was at a state hospital in Chicago.

Red lived out his final years in Central Nursing Home, where he died from a heart attack while eating breakfast on the morning of March 19, 1981. According to a newspaper obituary published by Jim O'Neal, his funeral was held at Biggs & Biggs Funeral Home, and he was buried in Mount Glenwood Memory Garden, in the Chicago suburb ofWillow Springs.

Red was one of the most prolific blues recording artists of his era. It has been estimated that he recorded 335 songs on 78-rpm records,^[12] of which 251 were recorded between 1928 and 1942, making him the blues artist with the most recordings during that period.^[13] Most of his singles were released beforeBillboard magazine began tracking blues (and other "race music") in October 1942, and accurate sales records are not available. However, he had four singles that placed in the R&B top ten between 1942 and 1951.^[14]

Red recorded alternate versions (usually designated "No. 2", "No. 3", etc.) of some of his early songs. Songs with alternate versions are marked with a plus sign. He recorded some singles with collaborators, credited as the Hokum Boys, Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band, Papa Too Sweet, and other names.

He also played as a sideman on recordings byBig Maceo Merriweather, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson,Memphis Minnie,Ma Rainey, andVictoria Spivey.^[12]

Although he was a prolific singles artist, Red recorded only two albums, which were released late in his career. Various compilation albums have been released since his death by different record companies, often with significant overlap, but some compilations focus on certain aspects of his style or original record labels.

• Tampa Red atFind a Grave
• AllMusic biography
• Tampa Red discography atDiscogs
• Tampa Red atIMDb
• Entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia
• Big Bands Database Plus "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band"Archived 2007-04-18 at theWayback Machine
• National Reso-phonic Guitar History
• E-notes biography^{[permanent dead link]}
• The TAMPA RED Page
• Tampa Red recordings at theDiscography of American Historical Recordings.

• 1903 births
• 1981 deaths
• People from Lee County, Georgia
• African-American guitarists
• African-American male singer-songwriters
• American male singer-songwriters
• American blues guitarists
• American male guitarists
• American blues singers
• American slide guitarists
• Chicago blues musicians
• RCA Victor artists
• Bluebird Records artists
• Vocalion Records artists
• American blues pianists
• 20th-century American male pianists
• 20th-century American guitarists
• Musicians from Tampa, Florida
• Guitarists from Florida
• Guitarists from Illinois
• Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
• 20th-century American pianists
• 20th-century African-American male singers
• 20th-century American male singers
• 20th-century American singers
• Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
• Singer-songwriters from Illinois
• Singer-songwriters from Florida

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