Many years ago someone gave me a boxed trading card set called “Heroes of the Blues.” It contains 36 cards, each a cartoon rendering of a legend of the early blues: Blind Lemon Jefferson, John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy; Memphis Minnie, Charley Patton, Jaybird Coleman, Barbecue Bob and many others. Historian Stephen Calt provides a biography of the artist on the back of each card. And each musician or group is beautifully drawn in full color by underground comix legend R. Crumb. As for Mr. Crumb, according to Denis Kitchen’s archives:
The life of Robert Crumb, the most famous of the underground cartoonists, is an open book. He draws and writes unashamedly about the most intimate aspects of his existence in his comics and sketchbooks. He has been documented by the BBC, and several filmmakers, including Terry Zwigoff, whose remarkable Crumb won a Sundance Award. He’s also an accomplished musician and collector of vintage 78 rpm records.
Crumb has also done some terrific album cover art work, notably for Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Frank Stokes is card -5- in the set, about whom Stephen Calt writes that his playing career started at the beginning of the 20th century and was centred around Memphis where he was one of the that cities most popular entertainers. He recorded 28 sides between 1927 and 1929, usually accompanied by Dan Shane.
His best known recording was something called “Mr. Crump Don’t Like It,” which apparently had a national association with W.C. Handy.