"That's All Right"or "That's Alright" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

song adapted by

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

singer and guitarist Jimmy Rogers. He recorded it in 1950 with

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 ...

on harmonica. Although based on earlier blues songs, music writer John Collis calls Rogers' rendition "one of the most tuneful and instantly memorable of all variations on the basic blues format". The song became a blues standard and has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists.

Origins

Jimmy Rogers has acknowledged that "That's All Right" draws on ideas from other bluesmen, including Robert Junior Lockwood and

Willie Love Willie Love Jr. (November 4, 1906 – August 19, 1953) was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II. Biography Love was born in Duncan, Mississippi. In 1942, he ...

. However, he feels he pulled it all together: "I put some verses with it and built it that way. I built the song". Lockwood had performed it years earlier in Helena, Arkansas, which

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

confirmed: "'That's All Right', that Robert Jr.'s song", he added. In 1947, Othum Brown recorded "Ora Nelle Blues" (Chance 1116), described as "substantially the same song".

on harmonica accompanies Brown on vocal and guitar and some pressings of the Chance single are titled "That's Alright" and credited to "Little Water J." Blues researcher Tony Glover suggests that Jimmy Rogers played lead guitar on the first take of the song and that Brown took the theme from Rogers. An earlier version of "Ora Nelle Blues" was recorded on a "one-shot vanity disc" by Floyd Jones on vocal and guitar with Little Walter providing second guitar.

Composition and recording

On August 15, 1950, Jimmy Rogers recorded "That's All Right" at the end of recording session for Muddy Waters. Little Walter on harmonica and Ernest "Big" Crawford on bass also participated, but Muddy Waters does not appear. The trio performed the song as a moderate- to slow-tempo

twelve-bar blues The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly ba ...

. It features Rogers' guitar and plaintive vocals, with Little Walter playing in the style of Sonny Boy Williamson I. Despite the title, the lyrics indicate "clearly ... it is not 'all right'":

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

issued the song as Rogers debut single for the label, backed with "Ludella". Although it did not reach the singles charts, "That's All Right" became immediately popular with Chicago blues musicians. It also cemented Rogers' relationship with

Leonard Chess Leonard Samuel Chess (born Lejzor Szmuel Czyż; March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969) was a Polish-American record company executive and the founder of Chess Records alongside his brother Phil. He was influential in the development of the recor ...

, leading to his nine-year association with Chess Records. Rogers performed the song throughout his career, recording additional studio and live versions of the song.

Legacy

In 2016, "That's All Right" was inducted into the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...

Blues Hall of Fame. In the inductee announcement, the Foundation called it a "poignant reflection sung in Rogers’ characteristically warm and empathetic style, with Little Walter's sensitive support on harmonica". It also identifies the song as a blues standard, which has been "recorded by dozens of artists over the years".

References

{{Reflist 1950 singles 1958 singles Blues songs Year of song unknown Chess Records singles