The Ongoing Adventures of Little Joe Washington, Houston Blues Legend - Episode 2

by Sonny James

After the initial meeting of this blues legend, I began to inquire around to find out more about this man. Skinny G kept telling me things about how great and what a bad ass guitar player Little Joe was. That he was one of the cats who hung out with Joe Hughes, and Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland and people like that. So by chance, there was a blues jam at a place called the Evening Shadows hosted by a harmonica player who played in Joe Guitar Hughes' band named Sonny Boy Terry.

I saw Sonny Boy Terry at another jam at a place called Billy Blues and he told me to come over to his jam, I believe it was on a Tuesday night. He hosted a jam at the Evening Shadows. I made it over there a few times, and it was really great. I got to hear Joe Guitar Hughes with his back up band, with bass player Spare Time Murray, and on occasion I got to hear another Houston great called Trudy Lynn. It was always a real happening. This was the "other side of the track" blues jam if you know what I mean.

One one special night when I showed up I could feel the electricity in the air. Johnny Clyde Copeland was in the house. I talked with Sonny Boy Terry and he told me that they were outside and asked me if I wanted to meet them. He took me over to Johnny Clyde Copeland who was standing around with Joe Guitar Hughes, Spare Time Murray, I believe Clarence Holliman and other Houston third ward blues legends.

After being introduced to Johnny Clyde Copeland (never will forget that moment, hahaha), I brought up Little Joe Washington's name among them. These were some of the people that put Houston on the blues map. When I mentioned Little Joe Washington's name, you should have seen their facial expressions change! You would have thought they were kids in a candy store. Johnny Copeland said "Little Joe Washington has forgot more than most of us know about playing the guitar". He said "We all came up together, Albert Collins, myself and Joe Hughes. And Little Joe was one of the baddest among us. But then he took off to Mexico", (where it has been reported that he held down a steady gig for seven plus years at the Hobby Bar in Juarez. Little Joe told me tht when he played at the Hobby bar, he would play and the people would start fighting and he would play more to make them continue to fight. One man said he was looking for Little Joe because when he was down in Juarez during this time, that Little Joe and his three piece was the baddest thing around. That LIttle Joe was playing Hendrix type riffs and was doing many of the antics that was done at that time. I remember thinking to myself, that if he was doing that in 1962, that Hendrix was doing Little Joe riffs. The man, whose name I believe is Paul, said that Little Joe disappeared to California and he remembers seeing Little Joe open for Freddy King on tour. And then all of a sudden he was gone again.)

I was wondering inside, thinking to myself "Is this the same fellow that I just saw a little while ago who was basically homeless living in an abandoned building, playing for tips whenever he could and then disappearing, a blues legend'?

They went on to say that when a blues slinger would come to town, they would do what was termed 'cutting head', which is a guitar term meaning that he needs to know what the hell he was doing. It was an old tyme gun slinging situation where they would face off. They would go to the El Dorado club and face this guitar player who was holding fort there. Or go to this club in fifth ward and face whoever was there. And yet, in all this, Little Joe Washington stood out as one of their peers. I had to find out more...