Charley Jordan (July 11, 1890 – November 15, 1954) was an American

St. Louis blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

, as well as a

talent scout In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout ...

, originally from

Mabelvale Mabelvale was a small, unincorporated train station town in southwestern Pulaski County, Arkansas, until being annexed into Little Rock following a special election that was held on May 3, 1973. The area today is part of Little Rock's seventh wa ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, United States. He was known for a unique style that drew on his rural roots. The Killer Blues Headstone Project placed a headstone for Charley Jordan.

Life and career

Jordan recorded numerous

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

for

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

and

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

between 1930 and 1937, and also performed with some well-regarded bluesmen from the 1920s to the 1940s. Jordan played with

Peetie Wheatstraw William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers. Early life and career William Bunch was the son of James Bunch and Mary (Burns) Bun ...

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

Casey Bill Weldon William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901 or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an American country blues musician. Some details of Weldon's life are unconfirmed. According to some sources, he was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, an ...

and

Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "Wh ...

. Noted for his "crisply firm guitar", he had most of his biggest hits, including "Keep It Clean", in the early to mid-1930s. Later in that decade and into the 1940s, he worked frequently with

Big Joe Williams Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the s ...

Spinal injury

In 1928, Jordan was shot in the spine, this was due to his extramusical career as a bootlegger. This gave him a long term disability and caused him to walk with crutches thereafter (which can be seen in the few

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

s of Jordan available). Jordan died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

in 1954 in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Discography

A partial discography is available online.

Songs

*"Big Four Blues" *"Got Your Water On Blues" *"Crazy With the Blues" *"Dollar Bill Blues" *"Honeysucker Blues" *"Hunkie Tunkie Blues" *"I Couldn't Stay Here" *"Just a Spoonful" *"Keep It Clean" *"Raidin' Squad Blues" *"Stack O'Dollars Blues"

Compilations

*1992 - ''Charlie Jordan Vol. 1, 1930 - 1931'' -

Document A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" or ...

*1992 - ''Charlie Jordan Vol. 2, 1931 - 1934'' - Document *1992 - ''Charlie Jordan Vol. 3, 1935 - 1937'' - Document *2004 - ''The Essential Charley Jordan'' - Classic Blues

References

Other sources

* * * ''Charlie Jordan Vol. 1, 1930 - 1931'' : sleeve notes on Charley Jordan

External links

Rokkets Discography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Charlie 1890 births 1954 deaths People from Pulaski County, Arkansas Country blues musicians American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Arkansas Vocalion Records artists Deaths from pneumonia in Missouri St. Louis blues musicians American bootleggers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Arkansas 20th-century American male singers American male singer-songwriters