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This is a beautiful E copy of Bluebird B-7115. The B side, "Tough Luck," features Robert Lee McCoy aka Robert McCollum aka Robert Nighthawk. McCoy was his mother's maiden name; he changed it from McCollum after getting in trouble with the law, and changed it again after his hit "Prowling Night-Hawk" from his first recording session on 5 May 1937. "Tough Luck" derives from the same marathon session; in fact, this was the first song he recorded, in company with Sonny Boy Williamson and Joe Williams. (Sonny Boy recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" the same day.) In the Wolf LP compilation of McCoy's pre-war recordings, Paul Oliver says that there is "a certain dour tone and continuity of tune that makes many of McCoy's blues seem all one--but there are subtle surprises: the slow boogie guitar on 'Tough Luck,' for instance." It's true that the heavy guitar playing on the bass strings dominates this track, and McCoy's voice sounds as plaintive and world-weary here at the beginning of his career as it did at the end of his life. The A side features Tampa Red in a rare appearance at the piano, with great guitar by Willie B. James, singing "Taking It and Make My Get Away," recorded in 1936. The coupling is interesting in that Tampa Red never changed his style and remained faithful to the pre-war Bluebird beat, while Nighthawk made the transition to post-war modern blues. Record is graded E with clean surfaces and nice labels.
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