Arthur Lee Stevenson (May 7, 1926 – May 7, 1991), known as Kansas City Red, was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

drummer and vocalist who played a major role in the development of urban blues. He performed and recorded with many notable blues artists, such as

David "Honeyboy" Edwards David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. Biography Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.

Robert Nighthawk Robert Lee McCollum (November 30, 1909 – November 5, 1967) was an American blues musician who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk. He was the father of the blues musician Sam Carr. Nighthawk was in ...

Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...

, and Walter Horton.

Biography

Stevenson was born in Drew, Mississippi. After he was rejected for military service in 1942, he took a brief trip to Kansas City and became known Kansas City Red. David "Honeyboy" Edwards was his first musical influence. He started following Robert Nighthawk in the early 1940s, and when Nighthawk's drummer was ill and unable to play a gig, Red offered to fill in, even though he had never played drums. He was Nighthawk's drummer until around 1946. Nighthawk recorded Red's song “The Moon Is Rising”. Red became part of

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

's inner circle, playing on the famed ''King Biscuit'' radio show in

Helena, Arkansas Helena is the eastern portion of Helena–West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. It was founded in 1833 by Nicholas Rightor and is named after the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips, an early settler of Phillips County and the n ...

. He had brushes with the law and trouble with women and jealous boyfriends in the South and in California before moving to southern Illinois. He moved to Chicago in the 1950s and was a regular performer in Chicago blues clubs, playing with

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of h ...

, Walter Horton, Sunnyland Slim,

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and ...

Blind John Davis Blind John Davis (December 7, 1913 – October 12, 1985) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. He is best remembered for his recordings, including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie". Biography Davis was born in ...

Johnny "Man" Young Johnny "Man" Young (January 1, 1917 – April 18, 1974) was an American blues singer, mandolin player and guitarist, significant as one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after the Second Worl ...

Robert Lockwood, Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly ...

Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. Biography Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing ...

Floyd Jones Floyd Jones (July 21, 1917 – December 19, 1989) was an African-American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after World War II, and a number of h ...

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...

, and Easy Baby (Alex Randall), among others. He briefly played with Honeyboy Edwards, and in the 1950s he formed a band with

. He led his own bands, including one in which

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

gained some early professional experience. He owned and operated well-known clubs on Chicago's West Side, such as the Boola Boola, the Shangri-La, and the Club Reno.

Music and performance style

Red's music career lasted more than 40 years. The blues reviewer David Whiteis wrote that Red's vulnerable personality likely prevented his career from breaking out of the local circuit. According to Whiteas, Red was known to openly weep when he sang "I Am a Prisoner", a song he wrote about the time he spent in jail in 1980. However, Whiteis stated that Red "played a major role in transforming the blues from a southern tradition to a forward-looking urban form." Whiteis described his drumming style as “one of the most identifiable in Chicago Blues, 'busy and eccentric… punctuated by cymbal crashes" and controlled in with drum rolls. His signature solo, "Freedom Train", was marked by explosive drumming unanticipated in the middle of a slow blues shuffle. Whiteis wrote that Red's "legacy transcend dhis musical contributions" by virtue of his owning various clubs, his encouragement of artists and listeners from diverse backgrounds, and his "warm and amiable" style as emcee of his ongoing jam sessions in numerous clubs, including B.L.U.E.S. and the V and J Lounge, which were attended by musicians and fans from throughout Chicago.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kansas City Red 1926 births 1991 deaths American blues drummers Blues musicians from Mississippi Chicago blues musicians American blues singers JSP Records artists P-Vine Records artists Earwig Music artists 20th-century African-American male singers