Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

This week’s Classic Americana feature honors Clarence Williams, a piano player, composer, bandleader, singer and producer who was very influential in the world of popular music — especially jazz and blues — starting in the 1920s and continuing through the mid-20th century.

Born on October 8, 1898, in Louisiana, Williams ran away from home at age 12 to join a traveling musical show — rising in the ranks from costume assistant to singer and master of ceremonies. By the 1910s, Williams was based in New Orleans, where he was well regarded as a pianist, composer and music arranger, and he also got his start producing live Vaudeville shows. 

After touring with W.C. Handy, Williams settled in New York City in 1920, where he became deeply involved in the music scene; in particular, working with Black artists in both live settings and in the fast-growing industry of recorded music. Williams produced and performed on numerous recording sessions, including with such artists as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Williams also performed with his wife, blues singer Eva Taylor (whose given name was Irene Gibbons), and at their home in Queens, New York, they hosted parties and events to help Black artists to network and to collaborate — even rubbing elbows with such Harlem Renaissance figures as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington and Zora Neale Hurston.

As a songwriter, Williams wrote a number of songs, including the double-entendre blues standard “Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” first recorded by Bessie Smith and later recorded by Nina Simone, and he’s also credited for the song “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It,” recorded by Washboard Sam in 1937 and by Hank Williams, who made it a hit, in 1949. 

For our Classic Americana pick this week, we’ll feature another song written by Clarence Williams and performed by the great blues singer Bessie Smith; Williams himself plays piano on this 1923 recording. The name of the song is “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home.”

Williams’ career as a composer was sadly cut short in 1956 when he was struck by a taxi in New York and lost his sight as a result of the accident. Clarence Williams died on November 6, 1965. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

In 1968, three years after Clarence Williams’ death, TV series The Mod Squad made its debut on ABC. One of the main characters on that show was Linc Hayes, a role played by the actor Clarence Williams III. As his name suggests, Clarence Williams III was the grandson of musician Clarence Williams. Among his many other notable roles, Clarence Williams III played the father of Prince’s character, The Kid, in the 1984 movie, Purple Rain.

External Links

Clarence Williams – Songwriters Hall of Fame

Clarence Williams, entrepreneur and jazz and blues musician – African American Registry