Smokey Hogg

We head back to the Metroplex for the Dallas-Fort Worth Record Show at the Grapevine Convention Center (1209 S. Main St) from 10:00 until 5:00. Accordingly, let's pay tribute to another DFW music great, Smokey Hogg. Born Andrew Hogg in rural Rusk County in 1914, he was a fast learner who began playing professionally in his mid-teens, moved to Deep Ellum, and made a record for Decca with his friend Black Ace at 23. After military service he began recording regularly and in the late Forties cut a series of blues classics on Modern. His biggest success was his version of "Little Schoolgirl" (originally by Sonny Boy Williamson 1) which reached #5 on the r&b charts and inspired covers by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Junior Wells/Buddy Guy among others. Hogg died in 1960, so he didn't live to see his big hit become a rock and roll staple with versions by the Yardbirds, Rod Stewart, the Grateful Dead, Ten Years After, Taj Mahal, Johnny Winter, Paul Butterfield, and about a hundred more.