Armenter Chatmon was known as Bo Carter, a member
of the famous Chatmon family from Bolton, Mississippi and part of the
Mississippi Sheiks. Bo had a successful solo career and was known
to be a master of the double entendre with lyrics that were often quite
funny. The fact that he was an excellent and original guitarist
made him an entertaining performer, and the bawdy nature of his songs
made them popular as party music. He recorded over 100 songs
during his life. Despite the sexual content of many of his songs,
this was not Bo’s nature. According to his brother, Sam,
Bo’s songs were just a way to make a living. He went blind
in the late 1920s and took up the life of a street singer. His
recording career began in 1928, when he was the first to record the
popular Corrine, Corrina. According to Honeyboy Edwards, Bo Carter actually wrote
the Sheiks Sitting on Top of the World. He quit performing in the early 1940s and lived
in poverty with his wife near Beale Street in Memphis.
“Go back ol’ Devil and look upon your
shelf...” That’s not exactly what I heard this morning in
the motel room when Eddie woke up and stretched his arms over his head
and broke a fingernail on his bed’s headboard. We decide to
record even though we are certain to miss a few notes along with the
fingernail. Bolton is a small farming community only a few miles west
of Jackson, Mississippi. We drive into town on an otherwise Good
Friday to record Bo Carter’s Old
Devil. The schools are closed and
recent rains have left a damp pavilion behind the old school building
begging us to disturb the peace.
