Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an influential American blues singer and pianist born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 1905. After moving to Indianapolis with his mother during the Great Migration, Carr became a self-taught musician, honing his skills in local speakeasies during the Prohibition era. His partnership with guitarist Francis "Scrapper" Blackwell led to the duo's first recording, "How Long How Long Blues," in 1928, which quickly became a hit. Carr distinguished himself with a smooth vocal style and precise diction, contrasting sharply with the rougher sounds of many contemporary blues artists. Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, he gained significant popularity, producing other notable hits such as "Naptown Blues" and "Corn Licker Blues." Unfortunately, Carr's health declined due to alcoholism, and he passed away in 1935 shortly after his last recording. His legacy, while initially overshadowed, has been recognized for shaping the urban blues style that influenced countless musicians and transformed perceptions of African American popular music.
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Subject Terms
Leroy Carr
Singer and blues musician
- Born: March 27, 1905
- Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee
- Died: April 29, 1935
- Place of death: Indianapolis, Indiana
Carr brought a smoother, more elegant style of blues performance to recording studios of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Collaborating with guitarist Francis “Scrapper” Blackwell, Carr produced blues music that was piano-based, and his sorrowful singing, his precise diction, and his well-dressed image became the model for an urban blues sound.
Early Life
Leroy Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 1905. Few details of his early life are known. His parents separated when he was very young, and his mother moved with her children to Indianapolis. Carr arrived in Indianapolis just as the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern cities was commencing. Indianapolis was at the time a national center for automobile production and a major rail nexus. During the era of Prohibition, the city also became a major destination for Midwesterners seeking to evade the liquor laws. In illegal taverns that sprang up, known as “speakeasies,” Carr mastered singing and piano playing.
Carr was a self-taught piano player who worked in a circus as a young man and also joined the Army. He married after his discharge, fathered a daughter, and stayed in Indianapolis. In the early 1920’s, Carr principally worked as a meat packer and a bootlegger. By the mid-1920’s, Carr had begun working in the speakeasies of Indianapolis as a piano player and singer. In these venues, he met Francis “Scrapper” Blackwell, a bootlegger who sometimes worked as a guitarist, and the two began to perform as a duo. Carr’s reputation grew during this period to the point that he began booking gigs elsewhere in the Midwest and as far south as Memphis, often without Blackwell, whose profitable bootlegging kept him in Indianapolis.
Life’s Work
In 1928, the burgeoning reputation of Carr and Blackwell as performers attracted the interest ofVocalion Records, a record label headquartered in Chicago. The duo made their first recording in Indianapolis in June of that year, and the resulting record, “How Long How Long Blues,” was an immediate hit. While the song’s subject—a man inquiring after the last train taking his sweetheart away—was a familiar one, Carr’s lyrics and delivery made the song memorable.
Unlike the coarse, less-than-intelligible vocals of the country blues singers making “race” records of the era, Carr sang in a smooth and tuneful voice with precise diction and articulation. Instead of shouting, he sang as though he were conversing with a few close friends. As strong record sales led to an increasing demand for the duo’s performances, Carr cultivated an image as a well-groomed, well-spoken city dweller. This persona was in direct contrast to the gruff, rural images of other blues musicians of the day. With his distinctive style, Carr became possibly the most successful blues singer of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, his career barely touched by the Great Depression.
Into the early 1930’s, Carr and Blackwell continued to produce best-selling records and remained a popular stage act throughout the Midwest and upper South. “Naptown Blues” and “Corn Licker Blues” were major hit records, and the duo enjoyed great prominence into 1935. Nonetheless, both musicians were hard drinkers, and by the early 1930’s, Carr’s health had begun to deteriorate. They had their last recording session in February, 1935, by which time Carr’s vocal skills were beginning to falter. He died two months later. Eerily, his last recording was a solo number, “Six Feet Cold in the Ground.”
Significance
Carr’s posthumous reputation was slow to recover. When white blues enthusiasts revived the market for the genre during the 1950’s, Carr’s urbane, soft-spoken style did not fit the then-popular image of a blues musician. Nonetheless, Carr’s urban blues style was later appropriated by countless musicians and originated a concept that later came to dominate African American popular music: the suave, well-dressed urban insider.
Bibliography
Russell, Tony. “Leroy Carr.” In The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. Offers an overview of Carr’s career and life and analyzes his place in blues history.
Shaw, Arnold. Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues. New York: Macmillan, 1978. In this comprehensive discussion of the rhythm-and-blues movement, Shaw offers a brief, yet interesting discussion of Carr.
Wald, Elijah. “The Bluesman Who Behaved Too Well.” The New York Times, July 18, 2004. Brief but insightful article on Carr by an authority on early blues musicians. Written in conjunction with a CD release of some of Carr’s music, the article conveys what made Carr’s recordings distinctive.