Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) 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 ...

singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back,

crooning Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

. Music historian

Elijah Wald Elijah Wald (born 1959) is an American folk blues guitarist and music historian. He is a 2002 Grammy Award winner for his liner notes to ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz''. Life Wald was born in 19 ...

has called him "the most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century". He first became famous for "

How Long, How Long Blues "How Long, How Long Blues" (also known as "How Long Blues" or "How Long How Long") is a blues song recorded by the American blues duo Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. It became an early blues standard and its melody inspired many later ...

", his debut recording released by

Vocalion Records 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 ...

in 1928.

Life and career

Leroy Carr was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

on March 27, 1904 or 1905, and was raised in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mar ...

. Carr was a self-taught piano player. After dropping out of high school, Carr travelled with a circus, and in the early 1920s served in the U.S. Army. Carr returned to Indianapolis and worked in a meat-packing plant. He was married in 1922. Carr worked as a bootlegger during

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...

, and became a known musician at parties. Carr had a longtime partnership with the guitarist

Scrapper Blackwell Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell (February 21, 1903 – October 7, 1962) was an American blues guitarist and singer, best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was an acoustic s ...

. His light bluesy piano combined with Blackwell's melodic jazz guitar attracted a sophisticated black audience. The two recorded with

beginning in the 1920s. His first hit was

, recorded in 1928. Elijah Wald described Carr's music as "carefully written, blending soulful poetry with wry humor, and his music had a light, lilting swing that could shift in a moment to a driving boogie. Rather than Smith's vaudeville jazz combos or Jefferson's idiosyncratic country picking, Carr sang over the solid beat of his piano and the biting guitar of his constant partner Francis (Scrapper) Blackwell. The outcome was a hip, urban club style that signaled a new era in popular music". Carr was among the most prolific and popular blues artists between 1928 and 1935. His recording career was cut short by his early death, but he produced a large body of work. Some of his most famous songs include "Papa's on the House Top" (1931), "When the Sun Goes Down" (1931), "Blues Before Sunrise" (1932), "Midnight Hour Blues" (1932), and "Hurry Down Sunshine" (1934). He recorded for Vocalion until he signed with Victor's

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

imprint, where he made his final recordings.

Last recordings and death

Carr had a severe

alcohol addiction Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

. His last recording session was held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

on February 25, 1935, in which the reportedly temperamental Blackwell stormed out before the session was finished and Carr recorded his final song, "Six Cold Feet in The Ground", as a solo. Two months after the session, and a month after his 30th birthday, he died of

nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation ...

and was buried in Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Legacy

Carr's vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistication, influencing such singers as

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

, Charles Brown,

Amos Milburn Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn exce ...

Jimmy Witherspoon James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mot ...

, and

, among others.

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and

Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972) was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948. Rushing was known as " Mr. Five by ...

recorded some of Carr's songs, and Basie's band shows the influence of Carr's piano style. Carr's music has been recorded by a long list of artists, including

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

, Ray Charles,

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...

Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Biography Dupree was a New Orleans ...

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...

, Memphis Slim,

Barrelhouse Chuck Barrelhouse Chuck (born Harvey Charles Goering; July 10, 1958 – December 12, 2016) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues pianist, keyboardist, singer, and songwriter. He claimed to be the only Chicago blues pianist to have studied u ...

and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list o ...

. Carr was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1982.

Discography

*''Blues Before Sunrise'' (Columbia, 1962) *''Masters of the Blues'', vol. 12 (Collector's Classics, 1971) *''Leroy Carr 1928–34'' (K.O.B., 1971) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell: Naptown Blues 1929–1934'' (Yazoo, 1973) *''Singin' the Blues 1937'' (Biograph, 1973) *''Leroy Carr'', vol. 2 (Collector's Classics, 197?) *''Don't Cry When I'm Gone'' (''The Piano Blues'', vol. 7) (Magpie, 1978) *''Leroy Carr 1928'' (Matchbox, 1983) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell: Great Piano-Guitar Duets (1929–1935)'' (Old Tramp, 1987) *''Leroy Carr 1929–1934'' (Document, 1988) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell 1929–1935'' (Best of Blues, 1989) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell 1930–1958'' (RST, 1989) *''Naptown Blues'' (Aldabra, 1992) *''Leroy Carr'', vols. 1–6 (Document, 1992) *''Leroy Carr'', vols. 1–2 (''The Piano Blues'' series) (Magpie, 1992) *''Southbound Blues'' (Drive, 1994) *''Hurry Down Sunshine'' (Indigo, 1995) *''Naptown Blues'' (Orbis, 1996) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell: How Long Blues 1928–1935'' (Blues Collection, 1997) *''American Blues Legend'' (Charly, 1998) *''Sloppy Drunk'' (Catfish, 1998) *''Prison Bound Blues'' (Snapper, 2001) *''P-Vine Presents 21 Blues Giants: Leroy Carr'' (P-Vine, 2001) *''The Essential Leroy Carr'' (Document, 2002) *''Whiskey Is My Habit, Women Is All I Crave'' (Columbia, 2004) *''Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell: The Early Recordings of an Innovative Blues Master'', vol. 1, ''1928–1934'' (JSP, 2008) *''How Long How Long Blues'' (Wolf, 2008) *''When the Sun Goes Down 1934–1941'' (JSP, 2011)

References

Bibliography

* Wald, Elijah (2004). ''Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues''. HarperCollins. . *

External links

*
Illustrated Carr discography

Leroy Carr Biography
on Blues Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Leroy 1905 births 1935 deaths African-American pianists American blues singers American blues pianists American male pianists Burials in Indiana Musicians from Indianapolis Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee RCA Victor artists Vocalion Records artists Deaths from nephritis 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American pianists