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Way back in ‘04 I posted a track by the Hokum Boys which was the Georgia based group featuring Blind Blake and Black Rob, these Hokum Boys were session players in the Chicago jazz scene and were thrown together as a quick cash in the Hokum craze. I’m not the biggest Hokum fan around, but regular Honey readers will know I do love a good version of the Gambler’s Blues also known as St. James Infirmary. These Hokum Boys recorded two takes on the song and both are fantastic and feature some non standard instrumentation for the song - No. 2 features a great banjo lead and No. 1 has a little Spanish influence in the guitar runs, though I think the vocal preformance really steals the show from the guitar/piano work.

The Hokum Boys - Gambler’s Blues (1929)
The Hokum Boys - Gambler’s Blues No. 2 (1929)

Bogus Ben Covington got his title for pretending to be a blind on the minstrel circuit. Ben Covington may have been Ben Curry, who recorded one of the earliest versions of the Dirty Dozens and was a travel mate of Speckled Red. I don’t think I’ve heard Ben Curry, but Oliver et al are normally right about this sort of thing. Convington was also known as “The Human Pretzel” which makes him easily the most talented blues musician to come out of the minstrel circuit. I mean Jim Jackson couldn’t even juggle.
Bogus Ben Covington - Adam and Eve In The Garden (1928)