Sam Carr

Major Works

• Jelly Roll Kings ~ Frank Frost, Sam Carr / Audio CD / Released 1999
• Keep Yourself Together-   Frank Frost, Sam Carr / Audio CD / Released 1996
• Rockin' the Juke Joint Down (1979)
• Off Yonder Wall

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Sam Carr: A Biography
By T.C. Hudson (SHS)

This man by the name of Sam Carr is a talented musician. Born on April 17, 1926 in Friar's Point, Mississippi, Sam Carr's extensive and outrageous career of fifty years began when he earned  a spot in his father's band. Sam's father was blues man, Robert Nighthawk, who often took Sam on his gigs. Sam actually danced in front of the band and performed during breaks as well when he was only eight or nine.  He made his appearance on his own in the early forties when he was a working as  a doorman and  a chauffeur.

Sam Carr played bass in his father's band in the nineteen-forties, but later he moved to Saint Louis with a friend that was in his father's band named Frank Frost,  a  guitarist  and  lead singer. They start ed another band that included Little Willie Foster on harmonica and Carr played bass and guitar. In 1959  Carr and Frost moved back to Mississippi. By now Carr was  playing the drums,  and the band cut two albums. They had  a recording contract with the Chicago-based Earwig label. They called themselves the Jelly Roll Kings (The Big Book of Blues).

Sam Carr and Frank Frost have spent forty years together playing the blues. The two of them,  Sam and Frank,  persist in their crazy blues. They first recorded in the sixties for Sam Phillips' Phillips International Records but kept on recording with each other for Evidence label. When the ordinary drum set is  not quite enough, they say that Sam plays  walls, microphone stands, guitarists' backs , even the seat he sits  on or anything he can hit. Sam’s band had a song Rockin’ the Juke Joint Down in 1979. It was a big hit for people. This song made people get interested in their band. It was rocking in all of the Delta juke joints and  concerts all over the country.  Sam and Frank recorded a song with Big Jack Johnson recently called Off Yonder Wall with Fat Possum Records (www.bluesfestivals.com).   Sam and Frank are a team.  They have played together since they were kids.

Today Sam is 73 years old and lives in Dundee, Mississippi. Sam was picked for 1999 Blues Instrumentalist  of the Year as a drums candidate He has a real good chance of winning this award this year (http://www.blues.org/bluenews/handynews/012599.html). 

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Timeline

1926 - Sam Carr was born in Friars Point, Mississippi on April 17

1940 - He began his career playing bass in his father's band.

1950 - Carr moved to St. Louis where he started a band that included Frank Frost on guitar and Willie Foster on harmonica.

1959 - The band stopped backing up Sonny Boy Williamson and they  moved back to Mississippi.

1960 - The group first recorded for Sam Phillips' International Records.

1962 - Big Jack Johnson joined Sam's band and they cut two albums.

1970 - Everybody was interested in the band.

1978 - They signed a recording contract with the Chicago-based Earwig label, now calling themselves the Jelly Roll Kings.

1979 - They released a song called Rockin' the Juke Joint Down.

1999 - Carr  is up for a Blues Instrumentalist of the Year award. 

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Related Websites

Biography and info on Carr's music on Delta Boogie site.

Information about Frank Frost and Sam Carr and their talents on King Biscuit site.

Article called Down Home in Helena with Frank Frost and Sam Carr.

Interview with Frank Frost and Sam Carr on Maxwell Street site.

Photograph of Frank Frost and Sam Carr.

Review of Off Yonder Wall by Jelly Roll Kings says The Jelly Roll Kings are Big Jack Johnson, Frank  Frost and Sam Carr. Their music is blues, plain and   simple--funky good time Mississippi juke joint blues.

Web site for Big Jack Johnson says that Johnson  built a reputation around Clarksdale, Mississippi, as a  guitarist with a great ear. but  a  chance jam session helped catapult Johnson out of the Delta onto a world stage in 1966,  when guitarist Johnson joined drummer Sam Carr and multi-instrumentalist Frank Frost onstage at Clarksdale's  Savoy Theatre, and from the beginning, the chemistry was obvious.

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Bibliography

Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues 1993:. 81-83.

Stripling, Kurt. http://www. kingbiscuitfest.org/kbbf97/franksam.html: SamCarr,web publishing 305 spin 

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