Although Willie West is a contemporary of Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, Johnny Adams, King Floyd, Chris Kenner, Jessie Hill and Benny Spellman, his career has been overlooked partially because his resume lacks a national hit. Nevertheless, West’s string of excellent, albeit obscure singles, prove that he’s a top-rank New Orleans artist. Hopefully the release of his first CD, and the reissue of some of his early material, will attract some well-deserved attention.

Willie was born Millerd West on December 8, 1941, in Raceland, Louisiana, a town not far from New Orleans on Bayou Lafourche. As a teenager he listened to Bobby Bland, B.B. King and Eddie Bo records that Poppa Stoppa and Larry McKinley played on the radio. On occasion West would visit nearby Thibodeaux where two of his earliest influences lived—Guitar Slim and James “Thunderbird” Davis.

“Slim had a room behind the Sugar Bowl Club,” said West. “He’d sit outside his room during the day with a jug of black port wine plucking on his guitar. I was too young to go into the club, but one night I looked in the window and Slim was playing the guitar and hanging from the rafters.

“Bird [Davis] was Slim’s buddy and they performed together. I learned a lot from Bird. He could sing spirituals that would make you want to cry and he was a great showman. He could do things with that mic stand that were outrageous. After Slim died, Bird made some gigs with my band before he moved to Houston and started making records.”

West had a cousin who played guitar, and together they formed the Sharks, a four-piece band with West on vocals. The Sharks played Raceland clubs like Tee Maws, a white club where they performed every Sunday, and the Two Tone, the town’s black club.

They also played in nearby Donaldsonville, Napoleonville, Morgan City and Houma. The group was performing in Houma when they were spotted by Dorothy Lee, who owned the Rustone record label. Lee saw potential in West and the Sharks and sent them to New Orleans to record “You Stole My Heart” b/w “Sweet Little Girl.” Nothing much happened with the initial single but West’s second record, “Did You Have Fun” b/w “A Man Like Me” started the ball rolling.

“When the record came out Dorothy gave a copy to Diggie Doo and Rootie Tootie, who were disc jockeys at WXOK in Baton Rouge,” said West. “She told them if they played it, she’d buy them a fifth of scotch. They played it and the record started to sell.”

Lee didn’t really need to supply the enticement, as the ballad “Did You Have Fun” was the perfect fit for this area. The single started to break in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast. Chess Records leased the master, which gave “Did You Have Fun” a significant push, but it missed the charts.

“Percy Stoval (a New Orleans hooking agent) was calling me for dates, but I couldn’t make them because Diggy Doo and Rootie Tootie had me tied up—they booked me between Baton Rouge and Texas. I never got royalties from “Did You Have Fun.” All I got was $70 to buy an outfit for a show.”

With “Did You Have Fun” as a calling card, West was invited to open shows for Eddie Floyd, Jimmy Reed, Freddy King, Barbara Lynn, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Garnett Mimms and Solomon Burke. Rustone released one other single, “Willie Knows How,” which paired West with a Houma frat band, Emmet and the Jades.

“I was the first black artist to record with a white band in that area,” said West. “Considering the era, that was a big deal.”

By 1962, Rustone had folded and West was recruited by Porgy Jones, who was producing and working as a talent scout for Frisco, a New Orleans label that had Danny White on its roster. West cut three singles for Frisco, including the great “I’m Back Again” and ”Am I The Fool,” with Art Neville and George French supporting. (Some of West’s Frisco material is being reissued this month on Ace Records.)

“Those records got a little bit of airplay but they never got off the ground,” said West.

At the time, West was working around New Orleans with several bands, including Oliver and the Rockettes, Deacon John and the Ivories, and Edgar Blanchard and the Gondoliers.

“I worked with many great groups in the 1960s,” said West. “We played fraternities, clubs and we traveled quite a bit too. Back then you really had to put on a show. I didn’t just sing, I danced too. I did all those James Brown splits. They called me Little Willie West then because I didn’t weigh but 125 pounds. I was so small I used to buy my pants off the boys rack at the department store.”

By 1966, West had moved to New Orleans when Allen Toussaint signed him to Deesu, one of several labels he owned with Marshall Sehorn. West’s first Deesu release, “Hello Mama” b/w “Greatest Love,” may have been rushed into the market. Both songs had previously been recorded by Lee Dorsey. Toussaint erased Dorsey’s vocals and had West overdub his on the master tape. The single started to show some promise, but then stalled.

West then remade “Did You Have Fun,” but it suffered a similar fate to his initial Deesu outing. Locally owned and chronically under-financed, Dover Records distributed Deesu but went out of business in 1968 not long after “Did You Have Fun” was pressed.

“It was frustrating,” said West. “I had records out but they weren’t being played on the radio and you couldn’t find them in the stores.”

From recording at Cosimo’s Studio, West had befriended the Meters, who periodically used him on live dates as a vocalist. The Meters also backed him on a Warner Brothers single, “Chasing Rainbows,” (later covered by Johnny Adams) which according to West didn’t get promoted.

By 1973, West’s days with the Meters were numbered, as Cyril Neville joined the group as permanent vocalist. That was also the year Toussaint was working on a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film called Black Sampson that starred Bill Cosby. Toussaint needed a vocalist to sing the title track and West got the call.

Around this time, West began working in several French Quarter clubs, employment he has tolerated on-and-off for 25 years.

“There are some good groups down there,” said West. “But it’s more or less just a job and a lot of hard work. The clubs make a lot of money selling drinks to tourists, but the musicians don’t make much. I was recently working a club on Bourbon Street where we were making $10 a man per set. They cut us to $8. I just told the owners I’d just as soon stay home as make that small amount of money.”

In 1977, Cyril and Art had left the Meters and West returned to the group. He toured with the group and cut an unreleased LP with them in the late 1970s. However, after several personnel changes, by 1980 the Meters were pretty much defunct.

West returned to the grind of working French Quarter clubs as well as performing at some upscale black venues like Prout’s and Mason’s. West has remained busy doing live work, but until recently, he hadn’t stepped inside a studio in nearly 20 years. A year ago he teamed up with keyboardist/producer Bobby Love, who had just returned to New Orleans from Los Angeles. Together they began working on recording a CD.

“We took a long time picking material before we went in the studio,” said West. “There’s a couple of ballads on it, but it’s definitely a blues record—that’s my direction.”

As of mid-February, West and Love were putting the finishing touches on From West With Love at Carl Marshall’s Studio. Love intends to shop the CD to labels on the West Coast, but if he has no takers, he’ll put the CD out on his own label. Love wants to get the CD out by Jazz Fest, even though West won’t be appearing there this year as he had in previous years.

Currently, West has regular gigs at Joe’s House of Blues and the Other Place, and is looking forward to the release of his first CD.

“I’m really fired up about it,” he said. “It’s the first time I got to go into the studio and do what I wanted to do. It’s going to be great.”

 

Black Top Records has signed pianist Henry Butler. Butler completed a semi-solo blues album in February at Loyola University. Snooks Eaglin is featured on a few tracks. Look for a Jazz Fest release date.

Reverend Thomas Taylor (see Allen ToussaintBobby LoveNew Orleans R&BR&BSingersSoulTalkin' 'bout New OrleansWillie West