Anthology of American Folk Music
Volume 3: Songs, Track 70
EXPRESSMAN BLUES
Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell 
Recorded Memphis, TN: May 17, 1930
Yank Rachell, vocal and mandolin; John Estes, guitar; Jab Jones, piano
Originally released on Victor 23318B
John Adam Estes (1904-1977) was from Brownsville, Tennessee. He was blind in one eye from being struck as a boy while playing baseball -- (eventually he lost the sight in the good eye, too) -- his appearance caused him to earn the nickname "Sleepy." Estes spent his musical career in Memphis playing the same streets as many of the famous jug bands, which he played with occasionally. He played with the Three J's and the harmonica player Hammie Nixon, but the musician he most frequently collaborated with was mandolinist James "Yank" Rachell (1908-1997). Rachell and Estes met in 1919 and played together for many years. Even though Expressman Blues is credited to Estes, Rachell is the vocalist on this track. At the time of his death in 1977, Rachell was performing with rock musician John Sebastian, and he might have been the last surviving artist featured on the Anthology. Pianist Jab Jones (ca. 1880s-1940s) was from Mississippi and also played with the Memphis Jug Band (see Tracks 66, 81).
Estes was one of the few bluesmen who continued to record in the Thirties. Starting in 1937, Estes toured with the African-American musical group, The Rabbit Foot Minstrels. After the decade was over, Estes worked as a farmer for many years until, like many of the others on this Anthology, he was rediscovered by the folk revival. He took part in the Newport Folk Festival and the 1970 and 1973 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. With Rachell, he made some new recordings for the Chicago-based Delmark label during the 1960s.
FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS of Estes see:
I Ain't Gonna Worried No More (YZ 2004c); Sleepy John Estes 1929-1940 (FW RBF8c); and from his later career, The Legend of Sleepy John Estes (DMK 603c); Broke and Hungry (DMK 608a); Sleepy John Estes in Europe (DEL 611c); Brownsville Blues (DMK 613c); Electric Sleep (DMK 619c); Down South Blues, 1935-1940 (MCA 1339a) and the collections (Kings of Country Blues (AH 1085a); Mississippi Delta Blues Jam, Vol. 2 (AH 386c); Out Came the Blues (DEC 4434a); American Folk Blues Festival '64 (EVD 26100c); Rural Blues (FW RF202c); The Country Blues (FW RF1c); Blues Rediscoveries (FW RBF11c); Songs of Love, Courtship and Marriage (LC LBC 2a); Bluebird Blues (RCA 518a); Blues Masters, Vol. 12 (RH 71129c); The Sun Records Collection (RH 71780c); Kings of Memphis Townm 1927-1930 (Roots 333a); Early Mandolin Classics, Vol. 1 (RND 1050c); Blues at Newport (VG 79145c, VG 115/6c); Bluesmen/Newport (VG 77/78c); The Newport Folk Festival 1964: The Evening Concerts, Vol. 1 (VG 9184a); Great Bluesmen at Newport (VG 155c); Harmonica Masters (YZ 2019c); and recordings by Rachell include Blues Mandolin Man (BP 1986a); Mandolin Blues (DMK 606a); Chicago Style (DMK 649c); Pig Trader Blues (Slippery Noodle 0007d).Legends of the Blues, Vol. 1 (COL 46215c); Before the Blues, Vol. 2 (YZ 2016c); Jazz Vol. 2 (FW 2802c); and Don't You Leave Me Here (YZ 1004c).
For additional information on Jefferson see Samuel Charters, The Country Blues, New York: De Capo Press, 1959, pp. 57-72.
Other recorded versions include:
Blues: Lonnie McIntorsh (Roots 333a).
