Biography:
Jerry "Boogie" McCain (born 1930, Gadsden, Alabama) says that nobody is above the blues--that if you live long enough, you're going to get them. "The blues come from wanting, not getting; needing, not having. That's where the blues come from, see, blues is a feeling. And it's not just about a woman leaving a man or a man leaving a woman," he explained. Perhaps because he speaks the language of the blues so well, this harmonica master and songwriter has attracted fans worldwide. He has toured Europe several times, performs at national blues festivals and recently was featured in the February cover story of Living Blues magazine. In spite of national and international attention, McCain is only beginning to gain recognition in his home state.
Jerry McCain earned the nickname "Boogie" when he began playing harmonica on the streets of Gadsden at the age of five. Several of his uncles played the harmonica, and his mother and aunt played guitar in the church, but his real musical influences were the blues musicians he heard on the jukebox at his father's barbecue stand when he was growing up in the 1930s and '40s. He began imitating the sound of blues legends Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Terry. It was the music of Little Walter that inspired McCain to launch his own recording career.
He made his first commercial recording in 1953 on the Trumpet label in Jackson, Mississippi and has since recorded on a variety of blues labels. His most recent album, I've Got the Blues All Over Me , is his fourth for Ichiban Records since 1989. He recorded his best known song, "She's Tough," in 1960, which was covered by the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Back in the early days of his career McCain traveled from town to town on what was known as the "chitlin' circuit," performing in juke joints all over the South, but always returning to Gadsden, Alabama. All the while he was developing his own performing style and perfecting crowd-pleasing techniques like playing the harmonica with his nose. "I used to play like everybody. Sonny Boy Williams [sic], Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Sonny Terry. Anybody that played harmonica," said McCain. "Now I did that for years in the '50s, in the '60s, and then in the '70s I started to changing my style." Then in the '80s, I got my own style."
McCain said that all blues harmonica players had started sounding like to him, so he began modeling his harmonica breaks after the musical phrasing of jazz horn players and guitar players. "Most harmonica players don't hit those licks," he bragged.
He prefers to write songs that tell a story and many of these stories are borrowed from his own experience. True to the blues tradition, his songs have a personal side to them, but they also provide social commentary and criticism. Jerry McCain writes about the world around him, as in his song "Burn the Crack House Down" on his Love Desperado . "Everywhere you go is crack," he said. "I just put that song together on account of all this crack all over the world. Most of my songs tell a story. I don't like to write a song, just to be writing a song to make some money. I must tell a story. I have to tell a story." ~Anne Kimzey~
Title: Better Late Than Never
Label: Boogie Down Records
Track List:
Disc 1
01. Ain't No Use for Drug Abuse
02. Look At Me
03. Blues Tribute
04. They Call Me Boogie
05. Burn the Crackhouse Down
06. Courtin in a Cadillac
07. The Cost of Livin Is Too High
08. East of the Sun
09. I Ain't Henpecked
10. House Party Boogie
11. If I'm Your Fool
12. Keep Your Business to Yourself
13. A Little Bit of Something
14. Long Arm of the Law
15. Mommas Gone
Disc 2
01. Mercy Mercy
02. You Are Messing With Me Baby
03. Potato Patch
04. Pull Up in My Garage
05. She Tore Me Up
06. She's Tuff
07. Spoiled Rotten (To the Bone)
08. Steady (Fifties Classic)
09. Strut Your Stuff
10. Sue Somebody
11. Strange Things
12. This Stuff Could Kill Me
13. Ting Ting Tigaloo
14. I Want to Be Your Sant Claus
15. I Am Waiting On Jesus
Title: The Jigs Up
Label: Atom Bomb
Track List:
01. My Next Door Neighbor
02. Bad Credit
03. Courtin' In A Cadillac
04. The Jig's Up
05. Run Uncle John! Run
06. That's What They Want
07. Things Ain't Right
08. Trying To Please
09. You Don't Love Me No More
10. If It Wasn't For My Baby
11. Groom Without A Bride
12. Listen! Young Girls
13. Stay Out Of Automobiles
14. Wine-O-Wine
15. East Of The Sun
16. Love To Make Up
17. Crazy 'bout That Mess
18. Fall Guy
19. It Must Be Love
20. Geronimo Rock & Roll
21. A Cutie Named Judie
22. I Want Somebody To Love
23. I Want Somebody To Love
24. I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From A Rock & Roll City
25. Turn Your Damper Down
26. Rock & Roll Ball
27. My Next Door Neighbor
28. What About You
29. Tuff Stuff
30. She's Tough
31. Red Top
Title: This Stuff Just Kills Me
Label: Music Maker Recordings
Track List:
01. Where You Been
02. Super Woman
03. This Stuff Just Kills Me
04. Viagra Man
05. Slave Master
06. My Deal at the Crossroads
07. Jealousy
08. Ain't No Use for Drug Abuse
09. Mama's Gone
10. Madison Mood
11. Deadbeats
Title: Turn Your Damper Down
Label: Black & Allright
Track List:
01. Run Uncle John! Run
02. Turn your Damper Down
03. I Need Somebody to Love
04. You Don't Love me no More
05. Crazy About TYhat Mess
06. Stay out of automobiles
07. Bad Credit
08. Trying to Please
09. My Next Dorr Neighbor
10. Courtin'in a Cadillac
11. That's What Trey Want
12. Steady
13. She's Tough
14. I'm A King Bee
12. Pull up in My Garage
Title: Unplugged
Label: Music Maker Recordings
Track List:
01. Olla Mae
02. Gal Named Mary
03. Sexual Harassment
04. Excited By Your Charms
05. If Love Kills Me
06. Bad Love Blues
07. Sun Won't Shine
08. Take My Love and Leave Me Flat
09. I Got You
10. If You Love Me
11. Look At Me
Title: Struttin' My Stuff
Label: Ichiban
Track list:
01. Strut Your Stuff
02. Sue Somebody
03. Hold It Right There
04. 1-900 Number
05. Vote
06. It's Gonna Be Good
07. Dr. Love
08. Get You off My Mind
Title: Somebody's Been Talking
Label: Westside Records
Track List:
01. Honky Tonk, Pt. 1 - (previously unreleased)
02. Put It Where I Can Get It
03. Soul Spasm
04. Somebody's Been Talking
05. Juicy Lucy
06. Stick 'Em Up
07. Sugar Baby
08. Love Ain't Nothing to Play With
09. She's Crazy 'Bout Entertainers
10. Honk Tonk, Pts. 1-2 - (previously unreleased)
11. Homogenized Love
12. 728 Texas (Where the Action Is)
13. I Don't Care Where I Get Moving
14. Midnight Beat
15. Honk Tonk, Pt. 2 - (previously unreleased)
