Leroy Carr

Leroy Carr ranks among the earliest architects of urban blues in its non-electric guise, although the label ordinarily refers to the amplified band style that followed World War II. Working alongside guitarist Scrapper Blackwell in Indianapolis, the pianist emerged as one of the leading blues figures of his era, writing and cutting close to 200 sides in a brief lifetime, among them the enduring pieces "How Long, How Long," "Prison Bound Blues," "When the Sun Goes Down," and "Blues Before Sunrise." These expressive, atmospheric performances, limited to piano and guitar, prompted author Sam Charters to describe Carr as "a city man" whose singing never carried the raw force of country bluesmen, and led reissue producer Francis Smith to state, "He, perhaps more than any other single artist, was responsible for transforming the rural blues patterns of the '20s into the more city-oriented blues of the '30s."

Nashville-born, Carr arrived in Indianapolis while still a child and learned piano through self-instruction during his teens. He left school in mid-adolescence to pursue an itinerant existence, playing at parties and dances throughout the Midwest and South while holding a succession of short-term positions that included work with a circus, Army service, a brief period as a bootlegger, and a short marriage.

Carr eventually drifted back to Indianapolis, where he met Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. The pair began performing together and soon entered the studio for Vocalion, releasing "How Long How Long Blues" before the year closed. The recording became an immediate and unforeseen success. For the next seven years Carr and Blackwell produced a series of landmark Vocalion sides that included "Midnight Hour Blues," "Blues Before Sunrise," "Hurry Down Sunshine," "Shady Lane Blues," and numerous others.

During the early '30s Carr stood among the most popular blues artists in the country. His professional standing remained strong even as alcoholism increasingly destabilized his private life, an addiction that ended his life in April 1935. He left behind a vast catalog whose reach extended to later performers such as T-Bone Walker, Otis Spann, and Champion Jack Dupree.