Biography
Aaron and Marion Sparks issued a limited body of recordings between 1932 and 1935, yet they merit broader attention for originating “61 Highway Blues,” the piece most often linked with Mississippi Fred McDowell, and “Every Day I Have the Blues,” the enduring standard first ascribed to Memphis Slim and indelibly associated with Count Basie and his featured singer Joe Williams. Their “I Believe I’ll Make a Change” also supplied a motif that quickly hardened into a core element of the blues perennial “Dust My Broom.”
Sullie and Ruth Gant welcomed the brothers into the world on May 22, 1908, in Tupelo, Mississippi; the boys later assumed the surname of Ruth’s second husband, Carl Sparks. Aaron displayed early brilliance, absorbing the blues from an older back-room whiskey seller named Arthur Johnson. Once the family settled in St. Louis in 1920, he obtained formal instruction at school and refined his barrelhouse and blues piano technique in local speakeasies.
The Sparks Brothers were dark-skinned identical twins who stood nearly six feet tall. Aaron was remembered for a mild temperament, whereas Marion’s quick temper repeatedly drew him into brawls. Both trafficked in bootleg liquor and carried police records; Marion alone was arrested more than fifty times, chiefly on charges of gambling, drinking, and disorderly conduct.
Their initial session took place in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 25, 1932, under the adopted names Pinetop— Aaron’s deliberate nod to Clarence Pinetop Smith—and Lindberg, which alluded to Marion’s noted skill at the Lindy Hop. On August 2, 1933, the brothers and several other St. Louis singers joined Roosevelt Sykes for a Victor/Bluebird date in Chicago that produced the first recorded appearance of the opening line of “Every Day I Have the Blues,” sung by Elizabeth Washington on “Whiskey Blues,” as well as the debut waxing of “61 Highway.”
Marion Sparks recorded as Flyin’ Lindburg with fiddler Bill Lowry and pianist Peetie Wheatstraw on August 24, 1934. The brothers’ final known date occurred on July 28, 1935, when they were paired with guitarist Henry Townsend; Aaron was billed as Pine Top and Marion as Milton Sparks. Aaron sang on his own sides, one of which remains the earliest recording of “Every Day I Have the Blues” under that precise title, while Walter Davis supplied piano for two of Marion’s performances.
Aaron continued working the piano at countless house parties, in St. Louis taverns such as the Hole in the Wall and the Dirty Inn, and across Bloomington, Illinois, alongside pianist Arthur Henderson. Estimates of how long he survived after July 1935 vary, though the most generous suggests another decade before alcoholism and related hazards claimed him.
After serving a manslaughter sentence stemming from a 1936 dance-hall altercation, Marion obtained steady employment with a construction crew, settled into a tranquil domestic routine, and became a regular churchgoer until his death in 1963. With the exception of two sides on which Aaron accompanied Charlie Specks McFadden, the Document label gathered the brothers’ complete recordings onto a single CD in 1994.
Sullie and Ruth Gant welcomed the brothers into the world on May 22, 1908, in Tupelo, Mississippi; the boys later assumed the surname of Ruth’s second husband, Carl Sparks. Aaron displayed early brilliance, absorbing the blues from an older back-room whiskey seller named Arthur Johnson. Once the family settled in St. Louis in 1920, he obtained formal instruction at school and refined his barrelhouse and blues piano technique in local speakeasies.
The Sparks Brothers were dark-skinned identical twins who stood nearly six feet tall. Aaron was remembered for a mild temperament, whereas Marion’s quick temper repeatedly drew him into brawls. Both trafficked in bootleg liquor and carried police records; Marion alone was arrested more than fifty times, chiefly on charges of gambling, drinking, and disorderly conduct.
Their initial session took place in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 25, 1932, under the adopted names Pinetop— Aaron’s deliberate nod to Clarence Pinetop Smith—and Lindberg, which alluded to Marion’s noted skill at the Lindy Hop. On August 2, 1933, the brothers and several other St. Louis singers joined Roosevelt Sykes for a Victor/Bluebird date in Chicago that produced the first recorded appearance of the opening line of “Every Day I Have the Blues,” sung by Elizabeth Washington on “Whiskey Blues,” as well as the debut waxing of “61 Highway.”
Marion Sparks recorded as Flyin’ Lindburg with fiddler Bill Lowry and pianist Peetie Wheatstraw on August 24, 1934. The brothers’ final known date occurred on July 28, 1935, when they were paired with guitarist Henry Townsend; Aaron was billed as Pine Top and Marion as Milton Sparks. Aaron sang on his own sides, one of which remains the earliest recording of “Every Day I Have the Blues” under that precise title, while Walter Davis supplied piano for two of Marion’s performances.
Aaron continued working the piano at countless house parties, in St. Louis taverns such as the Hole in the Wall and the Dirty Inn, and across Bloomington, Illinois, alongside pianist Arthur Henderson. Estimates of how long he survived after July 1935 vary, though the most generous suggests another decade before alcoholism and related hazards claimed him.
After serving a manslaughter sentence stemming from a 1936 dance-hall altercation, Marion obtained steady employment with a construction crew, settled into a tranquil domestic routine, and became a regular churchgoer until his death in 1963. With the exception of two sides on which Aaron accompanied Charlie Specks McFadden, the Document label gathered the brothers’ complete recordings onto a single CD in 1994.