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Title: Ball N' Chain
By: Thornton, Big Mama
Released by: Arhoolie Records
Released on: 1968
Rating (out of 10): 9
Date: 10/26/2001

Big Mama Jukes it Out!

Since Koko Taylor is my favorite lady blues singer, it didn’t take me long to “discover” Big Mama Thornton. After all, Koko is often compared to her and is described as the heir to Big Mama’s throne as Queen of the Blues. As soon as I learned that Koko was singing in the same tradition as Big Mama Thornton, I knew what my next blues CD had to be.

The store I went to only had one of Big Mama’s CDs, and it wasn’t the recommended Peacock Recordings of Hound Dog and other songs. No matter, because I’m happy with the Arhoolie release Ball N’ Chain, which turns out to contain some songs from the mid-1960's tour of Europe Thornton took (along with some other great blues artists who appeared on Ball N' Chain, including Buddy Guy and Mississippi Fred McDowell). It also contains some songs from a 1968 session with Muddy Waters and his band, so I’m not complaining!

Born Willie Mae Thornton in 1926 in Montgomery, Alabama, she began much like Koko Taylor by singing gospel in her father’s church.

By the age of 14, she was hooked on the blues and left home to perform, eventually settling into Houston in 1948 and recording with the Peacock label. In 1953, Big Mama recorded the song for which she will be associated forever—the real original recording of “Hound Dog.”

It rose to become Number 1 on the R & B charts and inspired a parallel song called “Bear Cat” to be recorded on the Sun label by Rufus Thomas. A little later, Elvis covered the song (using a version he’d heard by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys) and sold millions of copies. But Big Mama’s recording was the first, and in many ways is the definitive version.

The version here on Arhoolie features Buddy Guy on the guitar and Walter Horton playing the harp. Then there is Big Mama. This woman has one great set of lungs and you've got to hold on to your seat when she begins to wail with far more intensity and feeling than you’ve heard on other versions.

Listen to Big Mama emphasize the “ain’t nothing” far more than Elvis’ tamer version. To give you an idea of the feeling Big Mama puts into it, here are some of the words she screams out during Buddy Guy’s bridge on the song:

O swim just a little bit . . .
Ahhhh shake it, but don’t break it!
Everything gonna be all right!
Come on in, Baby, let’s have a good time!
Ahhhh, get it Buddy!
That’s what I’m talkin’ about . . .
Make it good to the feet!


Thornton’s album contains several traditional blues songs covered by numerous people, including the lead off song ”Sweet Little Angel.” Most blues bands and artists also perform ”Little Red Rooster” as part of their repertoire, along with many other Willie Dixon songs. Big Mama supplies her usual energy and assorted shouts, but she adds rooster sounds while Buddy Guy supplies some dog sounds on his guitar that I haven’t heard on other versions.

“Your Love is Where it Ought to Be” is standard blues, and is most notable here for Big Mama showing she can play the harp and do her own drumming.

Even if it didn’t contain Big Mama Thornton’s two biggest hit songs, ”School Boy” and ”My Heavy Load” would be enough reason to grab Ball N' Chain. Big Mama shows more versatility here by toning down her singing to accompany the Delta Blues slide guitar playing of Mississippi Fred McDowell.

As she sings “Hey, baby, where did I lose this heavy load,” and continues humming, you can hear her transformed voice match the melancholy mood spun by McDowell’s acoustic guitar. It almost seems like a different person singing these two numbers.

Tracks 9 through 14 are most notable because they are recorded with the Muddy Waters Blues Band. My favorites in this section are the two that sound very much like typical Muddy Waters songs: the upbeat “Black Rat” (in which the singer suspects her man isn’t loyal but is determined to find his trail), and the mid-tempo “Bumblebee” (in which the woman expresses her love for her man).

Songs like these contain obvious metaphors that get the audience laughing and feeling along with the singer. Blues doesn’t require heavy analysis or post-graduate degrees to figure out—it’s all in the performance, and Big Mama delivers the goods. The lyrics are pretty straightforward here.

Bumblebee, bumblebee, why don’t you come back home
Bumblebee, bumblebee, why don’t you come back home
You got the best ol’ stinger than any bumblebee I ever seen

You stung me this morning and I been lookin for you all day long
I say you stung me this morning and I been lookin for you all day long
Lord he got me the best way this morning; I hate to see my bumblebee leave home


The final two songs come from a 1968 session recorded in Hollywood with Edward Houston on guitar, Curtis Tillman on bass, Everett Minor on tenor sax, Nathaniel Dove on piano, and Gus Wright on the drums.

Though the ”Wade in the Water” version here is serviceable, one of Ball N' Chain's highlights is the final number, which inspired Janis Joplin to record ”Ball N’ Chain.”

I’m not going to claim that Big Mama’s rendition tops the intensity that Janis shows in her Monterey Pop Festival finale because I don’t think that is possible for anyone—not even Big Mama. But it is certainly worthwhile to hear the original version here.

Willie Mae Thornton’s powerful voice is smoother but still cuts some mean licks and makes you move with the slow beat and feel the depth of the love described. She forces you to listen:

Oh, baby, why everything ever happen to me
Oh, baby, why everything ever happen to me
I know my love gonna last forever, o yeah, for eternity
Ball n’ chain . . . turn me loose.


I can’t say definitively that Ball N’ Chain is Willie Mae Thornton’s best album because I haven’t heard The Peacock Recordings yet, but I do know that this Arhoolie recording contains some real gems. It's a keeper.

Be sure to check out her two big hits here (”Hound Dog” and ”Ball N’ Chain”), the two songs she does with Mississippi Fred McDowell in Delta-blues style, and “Black Rat” and “Bumblebee” (which she recorded with the Muddy Waters Band).

With Koko Taylor continuing to promote Big Mama by performing the real blues version of ”Hound Dog,” I expect a few more people will discover Willie Mae’s incredible talents in the near future. You can’t go wrong with Ball N' Chain.

© Copyright CultureDose.com 10/26/2001

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