Memphis Minute - Second Day of Black History Month

If you left Atoka Oklahoma at 3am you would get to Memphis in time for lunch. Music sometimes takes a little longer. Lowell Fulson was born in Atoka but left to make great music, recording early West Coast Blues with Bob Geddins in Oakland after serving in the Navy in World War II. His songs like “Reconsider Baby” have become blues standards. His 1948 song about a man awake late at night worrying about where his woman was made it to the top ten of the R&B charts. A few years later a Memphis DJ picked it up. He and his band recorded it in 1951 at the segregated YMCA with a Modern Records field recording crew. His earlier efforts at Sam Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service on Union Avenue had not yielded good results. A legend was born on that day in that hastily fabricated studio. But on this day in 1952, BB King’s rendition of "Three O'Clock Blues" topped Billboard’s R&B chart and remained at number 1 for five weeks. Celebrate African-American History Month with music!