Biography
Wesley Wilson took the common blues habit of adopting stage names to unusual lengths, deploying so many aliases that any account of his life risks becoming a list of monikers. One of these was Pigmeat Pete, under which he performed with a partner billed as Catjuice Charlie; other identities he used on record included Kid Wilson, Jenkins, Socks, and Sox Wilson. He may have sensed future confusion with the unrelated Chicago performer Wesley Willis and chosen to multiply his own names accordingly. His closest collaborator was Leola Wilson, who appeared under fewer disguises yet still answered to Coot Grant far more often than to her birth name, Leola Pettigrew. The pair performed and recorded as Grant & Wilson, Hunter & Jenkins, and Kid & Coot, among additional billing variations.
They began working together around 1905 and married seven years later. The nickname Coot Grant apparently grew out of an affectionate shortening of “cutie,” while the source of Catjuice Charlie remains obscure. Pigmeat Pete’s given name was Harry McDaniels. Wilson played piano and organ and, together with his wife, composed roughly four hundred songs; their best-known piece, “Gimme a Pigfoot,” became strongly identified with Bessie Smith.
Many of their other titles leaned heavily on food and domestic imagery that could unsettle listeners, among them “Find Me at the Greasy Spoon (If You Miss Me Here),” “Dirty Spoon Blues,” “I Don’t Want That Stale Stuff,” “Boop-Poop-A-Doop,” and “Dem Socks Dat My Pappy Wore.” Record companies refused to release the especially graphic “Throat Cutting Blues.” In the 1920s and early 1930s the couple worked steadily with leading ensembles such as Fletcher Henderson’s band and the Mezz Mezzrow–Sidney Bechet Quintet, appeared in musical comedies, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and revues, and collaborated onstage with Louis Armstrong. They also performed in the film Emperor Jones alongside Paul Robeson.
Opportunities dwindled after the mid-1930s. No recordings were made between 1933 and 1938, and nearly another decade passed before the pair resurfaced writing and recording for Mezzrow’s King Jazz label. By 1949 Wilson’s health had declined to the point that he could no longer perform. Leola Wilson remained active in music for several additional years before disappearing from the scene.
They began working together around 1905 and married seven years later. The nickname Coot Grant apparently grew out of an affectionate shortening of “cutie,” while the source of Catjuice Charlie remains obscure. Pigmeat Pete’s given name was Harry McDaniels. Wilson played piano and organ and, together with his wife, composed roughly four hundred songs; their best-known piece, “Gimme a Pigfoot,” became strongly identified with Bessie Smith.
Many of their other titles leaned heavily on food and domestic imagery that could unsettle listeners, among them “Find Me at the Greasy Spoon (If You Miss Me Here),” “Dirty Spoon Blues,” “I Don’t Want That Stale Stuff,” “Boop-Poop-A-Doop,” and “Dem Socks Dat My Pappy Wore.” Record companies refused to release the especially graphic “Throat Cutting Blues.” In the 1920s and early 1930s the couple worked steadily with leading ensembles such as Fletcher Henderson’s band and the Mezz Mezzrow–Sidney Bechet Quintet, appeared in musical comedies, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and revues, and collaborated onstage with Louis Armstrong. They also performed in the film Emperor Jones alongside Paul Robeson.
Opportunities dwindled after the mid-1930s. No recordings were made between 1933 and 1938, and nearly another decade passed before the pair resurfaced writing and recording for Mezzrow’s King Jazz label. By 1949 Wilson’s health had declined to the point that he could no longer perform. Leola Wilson remained active in music for several additional years before disappearing from the scene.
Albums