Portrait : Blues Boy Willie

The man from Memphis… Texas

There's a town in Texas about 130 km south east of Amarillo, in the middle of endless cotton fields, named... Memphis. It's in this “Texas Delta” that one William Daniel McFalls better known as Blues Boy Willie was born in 1946. His father was then a tent show musician known as West Texas Slim that once accompanied Ma Rainey. He was blowing the harmonica and the young Willie wanted to do the same. When his father was out at work he used to sneak in and snatch one of his dad's harps to practice. Later, his father left the “devil's music” to become a preacher, and the young Willie would sing gospel in his dad's church.

Memphis, Texas

After school and a couple of years at the Clarendon College in Texas, where he learned how to play bass, more determined to make a living in music than ever, McFalls Jr. switched to guitar and toured the college circuit for some time before moving to L.A. to join his musician brothers and for almost a decade played the Californian clubs circuit in their band.

Back in Texas, he spent years roaming restlessly the Texas chitlin' circuit and building a solid base of local followers seduced by his singing, guitar playing and most of all his harmonica in front of different successive groups. His hectic concert schedule led him to visit about every West Texas juke earning him the title of “Juke Joint King”. Until his childhood friend, Gary B.B. Coleman, opened him the doors at Ichiban Records in 1989.

His first album, Strange Things Happening, was released the same year, recorded in Atlanta and produced by Coleman who also played piano and guitar. One of the songs, “Fishing Trip", was covered by Koko Taylor the next year on her album Jump for Joy. Willie also introduced the recurrent character of Leroy that will surface again in some of his next opuses. This promising debut work opened a six-album-in-six-year stretch.
His music is a kind of urbanized country blues and he is an imaginative lyricist, full of humor.

In 1990 Be Who?, again produced by Coleman, brought him some national recognition with the mischievous title track who features a hilarious dialog between himself and his wife Miss Lee about the legitimacy of his children.

On Be Who 2, out in 1991. Willie continued to exploit his comedy songs vein.

Released in 1992, I Got The Blues was his fourth and last album produced by Coleman who died in 1994.
Later, Willie confessed to Living Blues Magazine that the albums recorded with Coleman never satisfied either men because they had to have the “Ichiban Sound”.

Jimmy O'Neill produced Willie's next Ichiban works, starting with Don't Look Down, issued in 1993. Apart from the funky sound of the opening track “Injustice”, and from Willie's original “I Smile Because I Love You”, the style evolved into a definite horn-filled soul mood with originals co-written with his Wife Lee, and covers (Buster Benton's “So Close”, Joe Samples-Will Jennings' “Better Not Look Down”, Erroll Sistrunk's “Disco Blues”). Without forgetting a version of Tony Joe White's “Rainy Night In Georgia” to close the album.

Juke Joint Blues (1994), produced by the same Jimmy O'Neill, turns back to an appealing classic Texas rock-blues style : the catchy opening title track, the funky “One Step From Poverty” and “I've Seen Blues Like I've Never Seen Before”, “Crazy Life”, “Whose Clothes Is These?”, “Fat Cat Faye”.
There's room left for more soul-oriented numbers : “I Should Have Listened”, the humorous “Marry Myself”, “A Sudden Change”.
Willie's delivers the typical funny vocals and humorous lyrics that are one of his trademark, including a re-appearance of the character of Leroy here and there, punctuated with his usual social commentaries.

Willie left Ichiban and after a 8-year pause, went back in studio to record Back Again, produced by Johnny Rawls and released in 2002 on Rawls' new label Deep South Sound. Not a bad album but a Rawls' work more than a Willie's opus, made of rather classic mid to up-tempo soul blues titles with horn section, female background choir, heavy bass, mainly written by Rawls (seven of the ten tracks).
Willie concentrates on singing with a changed vocal texture, and without touching his harmonica except on the closing number. Standing out from the Rawls tracks is “Get Loose”. Only on this track as well as on the last two, co-written by the two men, Willie's vocal style surfaces again. A king of transition work...

The same year, capitalizing on Willie's charts success, Ichiban, which has filed for protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999, released American Roots : Blues, a 14-song collection of the best cuts from his six Ichiban albums.

After Ichiban definitely disappeared, Willie teamed up with the impressive guitarist Johnny “Reverb” Holston. They first recorded a 5-title acoustic blues EP, Can Stop No Hurricane, in 2009 on the Creative Audio label.

Their collaboration continued through Willie's next recordings : the excellent Back Porch Blues (2010) on the Funny Stuff label, and the outstanding Can't Deny The Blues (2013) on Jekee, both initially digital-only releases.
The first sees the return of the “real” Willie in an all-acoustic duo with his partner Johnny Holston for a vintage Texas Delta blues relaxed live-in-studio atmosphere. Holston's acoustic guitar sounds profound, and Willie's vocals and harmonica more soulful and moving than ever.
Notable tracks include the outstanding “Squeeze Me”, “Hungry Harp Blues”, the great “Catfish Head Gumbo”, an elegant “Tribute To Jimmy Reed”, and “Ol' Train A Comin'” in a true country blues style. “I'm Not the Fool I Look” is enhanced with a bass, and the duo also goes through an honest version of “The Dock Of The Bay” made famous by Otis Redding.

Can't Deny The Blues is enhanced by a raw electric sound, voluntarily using a light reverb as if it was recorded live, and the tempos are irresistibly fast and energetic. Real juke-joint music that's rocking the house : electric versions of two tracks from the previous opus, “Catfish Head Gumbo” and “I'm Not the Fool I Look”, and new songs like “Juke Joint In The Barn” illuminated by a fine performance of Holston on wah-wah, the exciting “Let's Go Poppin'”, “You Gotta Short Circuit” or the very political “Worse Blues We Ever Had”. For good measure, the two men deliver a blazing version of “Mojo Working”,
Johnny Holston, rightly nicknamed “Reverb”, puts out scorching guitar parts around Willie's great voice and harmonica. There's also a slower soulful number like “West Texas Wind”. Probably Willie's best work so far.

In 2019, Blues, Then & Now came out on the Funny Stuff label. A strange album made up of re-recordings of songs already released on the two previous opuses, Back Porch Blues and Can't Deny The Blues. Johnny Holston's work on guitar and Willie's harmonica are completed by the keyboards played by Joel K. Louis. Willie's thick baritone voice is more seducing than ever.

In his interview for Living Blues in February 2016 (*), Willie mentions a mysterious album and a yet unreleased project  :“I’ve done four records since I left Ichiban : Back Again, Don’t Get Out of the Blues, Back Porch Blues and Can’t Deny These Blues. [...] I have a gospel harmonica album recorded in the studio but it’s not out yet. It’s called the Songs of Daniel. Right now it’s just harmonica on it.”

What happened to these projects, especially the first one, apparently released according to BBW? I couldn't find any answer anywhere. If anybody have updated info about this mysterious Don’t Get Out of the Blues, please do not hesitate to share in the comment section... ■

* The Living Blues interview :
→ Text version : http://digital.livingblues.com/publication/?i=288552&article_id=2385242&view=articleBrowser
→ PDF version (go to p.42) : https://cdn.coverstand.com/21747/288552/87a9755d46f34866675f11cb7e57d6c9ef364c4e.1.pdf

 
Albums (Audio)

Gary B.B. Coleman

► Strange Things Happening (1989) : https://youtu.be/qKpxlGP-LGE
► Be Who? (1990) : https://youtu.be/wVYTl43dwZA (wrong track list)
► Be Who 2 (1991), excerpt :
→ "Where is Leroy?" : https://youtu.be/oon5-aZAz1s
► I Got The Blues (1992) : https://youtu.be/N45psikzkCc
► Don't Look Down (1993) : https://youtu.be/nzyaRub3GUg

Johnny Rawls & BBW

► Juke Joint Blues (1994) : https://youtu.be/tbqJJ53tlsM
► Back Again (2002) : https://youtu.be/WKmn_9BzuS0
► American Roots : Blues (2002) : https://youtu.be/pUXGrvU6eCI
► Back Porch Blues (2010) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLeZBfgFiqWndXRhH6teD1Wi_InORcG-8
► Can't Deny The Blues (2013) : https://youtu.be/_euuwkhpiOo
► Blues, Then & Now (2019) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lTyRA9d8ipvVvSq_GAjPrIg643X1sCDGY

Docs
► Two short documentary films :
→ Blues Boy Willie : Born With The Blues, Texas Country Reporter, 2008 : https://youtu.be/HylkDtAje7Q
→ Portrait : https://youtu.be/025DAksEyGA

Live Videos

► Tuckers' Blues, Dallas, TX, 2010 :

→ https://youtu.be/NPQyqIFxTdw
→ https://youtu.be/NmgHnU2XdIQ

► Sealy Flats, San Angelo, TX, 2011 :
→ “Killin' Floor” : https://youtu.be/FxSeYniE06s
→ “Lucille” : https://youtu.be/ABGrQjQ6Yuc
→ “Today I Started Loving You Again” : https://youtu.be/4dUubonGGwo

► “Baby Please” (Percy Mayfields), Monterey Blues Festival, 2011 : https://youtu.be/T_bnxlLcyEY
► Slow Blues Medley, Maggie Mae's, Austin, TX, 2011 : https://youtu.be/3tRqPBF-0JA
► “She's Fine” (AC Reed) with The Caravan of All Stars, 1st Annual Catfish Festival, Konocti Casino and Resort, CA, 2012 : https://youtu.be/eVLZmy1BpFg

► “Mojo Working” with the Texas Blues Rangers, 2012 : https://youtu.be/rxNXBlEOTMM
► Rock & Blues, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Amarillo, TX, 2014 : https://youtu.be/xADUaCBwzy4
► “Sweet Home Chicago“, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Amarillo, TX, 2016 : https://youtu.be/IzY9R7pCSu8
► “Be Who” with Fat~Cat, 2017 : https://youtu.be/sYstqu2PFJ0
► “Big Boss Man”, 2017 : https://youtu.be/CzjCi7T6nms
► Blues Boy Willie picking his guitar, 2017 : https://youtu.be/UTvYhmZ-kUo

Blues Boy Willie & Johnny "Reverb" Holston

BBW with Johnny "Reverb" Holston

► With The Texas Blues Runners, Simply Texas Blues Festival, San Angelo, TX, 2011 :
→ “Same Ole' Fishin' Hole” : https://youtu.be/USsxq3Ue9h4
→ “Something Freaky” : https://youtu.be/z8DceVRgQ9U
► Sealy Flats, San Angelo, TX, 2012 :
→ “She's Nineteen Years Old” : https://youtu.be/fN4UU1ZhbW0
→ Blues Jam : https://youtu.be/DDAiFOc4AII
→ Blues Jam : https://youtu.be/DDAiFOc4AII
►“Catfish Head Gumbo”, 2014 : https://youtu.be/0B-3HJon8s8
► Texas Country Reporter Festival, 2016 :
→ “Dust My Broom” : https://youtu.be/Q1YMa_Rrg-Y
→ “Party All Night” : https://youtu.be/Ioux3MkAbbk
→ “I'm Not The Fool I Look” : https://youtu.be/vMztFYtAvnw
→ “The Blues Had a Baby, They Named it Rock and Roll” : https://youtu.be/yr5fW3NGalk
→ Final medley : https://youtu.be/mirOC-fesDY
► “West Texas Wind”, date unknown : https://youtu.be/ubTYd4yLHsI
► Blues Boy Willy [sic!] On Sessions, date unknown :
→ On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=897316491763098
→ On Vimeo (log-in requested) : https://vimeo.com/166253299

Blues Boy Willie, 77 today