Sonny Scott

Precious little is known about Sonny Scott, a blues guitarist and singer whose approach to the music places him in league with Ed Bell, Blind Boy Fuller, Curley Weaver, Furry Lewis, and Buddy Moss. The recordings by which he is remembered were cut with fellow Alabama native Walter Roland for the American Record Company in 1933. Roland's "Red Cross Blues" (not to be confused with an identically titled tune by Bluebird recording artist Walter Davis) gradually gained a strong measure of relevance within the blues repertoire, through Scott's cover and subsequent versions by Forest City Joe, Robert McCoy, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Champion Jack Dupree. In 1933, Scott and Roland took themselves to New York City in the company of barrelhouse blues singer Lucille Bogan and spent a few days making records. Some were issued under the names of the Jolly Two or the Jolly Jivers. Roland, who usually provided piano accompaniment on Bogan's recordings, cut a number of guitar duets with Scott, who managed to release a small number of records under his own name. A sampling of this elusive artist's works have been reissued on 1933, a 17-track disc put out by the Story of the Blues and RST Blues Document labels. He is also heavily featured on volume one of Roland's complete works on Document (5144), and appears on that label's useful compilation Alabama & the East Coast (5450). A truly comprehensive Sonny Scott anthology has yet to materialize. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide