Little Hatch (October 25, 1921 – January 14, 2003)Doc Roc

Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Accessed October 19, 2011. was an American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

singer, musician, and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

player. He variously worked with George Jackson and John Paul Drum.

Biography

Hatch was born Provine Hatch Jr., in

Sledge, Mississippi Sledge is a town located in Quitman County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 368. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. Demogra ...

. He learned to play the harmonica from his father. Hearing blues and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

, Hatch knew he wanted to make music for a living. When he was 14 years old, his family moved to

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 ...

, and the

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 ...

scene there caught his attention. Hatch joined the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

in 1943. After his tour of duty, he relocated to

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, in 1946. He worked for a

cartage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk - from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to cloth ...

company for two years and then founded his own cartage business and married. In the early 1950s, Hatch began jamming in blues clubs in Kansas City. He closed his business in 1954 and took a job with

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

. In 1955, he formed and fronted his own band, playing on the weekends and a few nights a week. This group continued to perform for more than 20 years. By the late 1950s, Hatch's harmonica style became influenced by

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

players such as

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

Snooky Pryor James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his ...

and

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...

. A performance by Hatch was recorded by German exchange students in 1971, and these recordings were released on the album ''The Little Hatchet Band'', but its distribution was limited to Germany and Belgium. Hatch retired from Hallmark in 1986. His band, Little Hatch and the House Rockers, was hired as the house band of the Grand Emporium Saloon in Kansas City. A cassette tape of his blues performances at the Grand Emporium was released in 1988. In 1993, the Modern Blues label released ''Well, All Right!'', his first nationally distributed album. In 1997, Chad Kassem opened Blue Heaven Studios and founded the APO label. Kassem had befriended Hatch in the mid-1980s and asked him to be his first signed recording artist. The album ''Goin' Back'' was released in 2000, followed by ''Rock with Me Baby'' in 2003. From 1999 to 2001, Hatch occasionally toured other parts of the United States and twice toured Europe. He settled in Kansas City and performed locally, frequently playing at BB's Lawnside Bar-B-Q and other venues. Hatch died in

El Dorado Springs, Missouri El Dorado Springs is the largest city in Cedar County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,493 at the 2020 census. The name is commonly shortened to El Dorado or El Do. Geography El Dorado Springs is located at (37.870872, -94.021024 ...

, in January 2003.

Discography

*''The Little Hatchet Band'' (1971) *''Well, All Right!'' (Modern Blues Recordings, 1993) *''Goin' Back'' (APO, 2000) *''Rock with Me Baby'' (APO, 2003)

References

External links

Little Hatch - ''Goin' Back''
from APO Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatch, Little 1921 births 2003 deaths American blues singers American blues harmonica players Electric blues musicians Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Sledge, Mississippi Deaths from cancer in Missouri 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers United States Navy personnel of World War II