Biography
The resurgence of blues interest in later decades revived the trajectories of numerous long-dormant practitioners in the genre. Guitarist Peppermint Harris exemplified this pattern after his 1951 R&B chart-topper "I Got Loaded," a memorable salute to intoxication. No one anticipated further material from him by 1995, yet Home Cooking producer Roy C. Ames persuaded the veteran to complete Texas on My Mind for Collectables. Though the album fell short of the intensity found in Harris's early-1950s recordings, its appearance restored him to public view.
Harrison Nelson, Jr. gained crucial support in his early twenties from Lightnin' Hopkins, who nurtured the younger musician's growth within Houston's blues community. Once prepared, Harris joined Hopkins on a trip to Gold Star Records that produced no immediate outcome, although his debut 78 appeared there in 1948 under the name Peppermint Nelson.
Bob Shad's Sittin' in With label introduced Harris's initial efforts to wider audiences, most prominently the 1950 hit "Raining in My Heart." Sessions often lacked formality, with one reportedly held inside a Houston bordello, and Shad supplied the Harris surname after failing to remember the correct one.
In 1951 Harris shifted to Eddie Mesner's Aladdin Records and cut more disciplined sides in Los Angeles, regularly featuring Maxwell Davis as saxophonist and bandleader. Success with "I Got Loaded" prompted a series of further drinking-themed numbers, including "Have Another Drink and Talk to Me," "Right Back on It," and "Three Sheets in the Wind," though subsequent efforts in that vein yielded diminishing returns.
Additional affiliations followed with Money, Cash, RCA's short-lived "X" subsidiary, and Don Robey's Duke, the latter reportedly the site where Harris wrote "As the Years Go Passing By" for Fenton Robinson. A more enduring tie began in 1965 with Stan Lewis's Jewel Records in Shreveport, Louisiana, allowing Harris to remain active beyond isolated singles. He later held assorted day jobs in Houston, one at a record pressing plant, before settling first in Sacramento, California, and then in New Jersey near his daughter.
Harrison Nelson, Jr. gained crucial support in his early twenties from Lightnin' Hopkins, who nurtured the younger musician's growth within Houston's blues community. Once prepared, Harris joined Hopkins on a trip to Gold Star Records that produced no immediate outcome, although his debut 78 appeared there in 1948 under the name Peppermint Nelson.
Bob Shad's Sittin' in With label introduced Harris's initial efforts to wider audiences, most prominently the 1950 hit "Raining in My Heart." Sessions often lacked formality, with one reportedly held inside a Houston bordello, and Shad supplied the Harris surname after failing to remember the correct one.
In 1951 Harris shifted to Eddie Mesner's Aladdin Records and cut more disciplined sides in Los Angeles, regularly featuring Maxwell Davis as saxophonist and bandleader. Success with "I Got Loaded" prompted a series of further drinking-themed numbers, including "Have Another Drink and Talk to Me," "Right Back on It," and "Three Sheets in the Wind," though subsequent efforts in that vein yielded diminishing returns.
Additional affiliations followed with Money, Cash, RCA's short-lived "X" subsidiary, and Don Robey's Duke, the latter reportedly the site where Harris wrote "As the Years Go Passing By" for Fenton Robinson. A more enduring tie began in 1965 with Stan Lewis's Jewel Records in Shreveport, Louisiana, allowing Harris to remain active beyond isolated singles. He later held assorted day jobs in Houston, one at a record pressing plant, before settling first in Sacramento, California, and then in New Jersey near his daughter.
Albums
