J. T. Smith (musician)
| J. T. Smith | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John T. Smith |
| Also known as | The Howling Wolf "Funny Paper" Smith "Funny Papa" Smith Howling Smith |
| Born | c. 1890 probably Texas, United States |
| Died | c. 1940 Unknown |
| Genres | Texas blues, blues |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, human voice |
| Years active | 1920s–1940 |
| Labels | Vocalion |
| Associated acts | Bernice Edwards |
John T. Smith (c. 1890 – c. 1940), variously known as the Howling Wolf, "Funny Paper" Smith, "Funny Papa" Smith, and Howling Smith, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released around ten singles in his own name or variants thereof. He also recorded with Bernice Edwards, Black Boy Shine, Magnolia Harris, and Dessa Foster. His best-known song was "Howling Wolf Blues", of which several variants were recorded. Many of his original recordings were unreleased at the time. All are now available on compilation albums. Little is known about Smith, and some reported details of his life may be apocryphal.
Smith's music has been compared to that of Blind Lemon Jefferson, and his guitar playing was similar in style to that of other Texas guitarists around in his lifetime. One factor that set him apart from his contemporaries was his lyrical compositions, which were highly original. On more than one occasion, his verses were so full that he had to split the song between both sides of the three-minute limitation imposed by the standard 78-rpm disc.
Smith was probably born in Texas. Details of his early life are not known. His first professional role involved him working at the Lincoln Theater in New York City. He married in the 1920s and spent most of the decade as an itinerant musician, travelling around Texas and Oklahoma, performing at parties, fish fries and juke joints, often in the company of Thomas Shaw, Alger "Texas" Alexander, and Little Hat Jones. He also was seen in the Dallas, Texas, area in the 1920s and 1930s, but he never recorded there. His first recordings were made in Chicago on September 18 and 19, 1930. "Howling Wolf Blues" (parts one and two) was issued by Vocalion (Vocalion 1558) as his first single. Several sources have noted that his guitar was often out of tune, even on some of his recordings, and Shaw commented that Smith was not an accomplished guitarist. Another oddity was that although Smith called himself "Funny Papa", his record label Vocalion managed to mistake this for "Funny Paper" Smith, and that is how he was billed on his earliest releases. He recorded almost twenty songs for Vocalion in 1930 and 1931, including the aforementioned "Howling Wolf Blues", from which he acquired another pseudonym, "The Howling Wolf".
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