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Microfic: Pretend

for @drarrymicrofic prompt 'pretend'

Some nights he comes and lies in my bed. He gives me his anger, his grief, his sadness. I carry them for a little while. Everywhere else he has to tell people all is well. I won't ask that of him, and I think that's why he keeps coming back.

#drarry #drarrymicrofic #post-war blues #maybe eighth year? you decide #editing brain is not much interested in writing

Floyd Jones - "Big World" Chicago Piano Song released in 1951. Compilation released in 1991. Blues

The deeply underappreciated bluesman, Floyd Jones, who was born in Arkansas and then became a fixture of Chicago's post-war scene, didn't actually end up producing much of a catalog himself. Although he'd played blues in the Windy City from his arrival in the mid-40s up until his death in 1989, Jones had only ended up totaling a dozen original compositions of his own throughout his long career. But when it comes to his overall lack of original recorded output, it is essential to stress quality over quantity. According to writer Justin O'Brien, who was quoted in a 1990 article in the Chicago Tribune that reported on a memorial that was held in Jones' honor after his passing, all of his works "have a consistent quality to them-this brooding intensity, this tremendous sadness."

The article continues:

Jones played with some of the greats-Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sunnyland Slim, James Cotton and Jimmy Rogers-but he never made it big himself. The bespectacled singer wasn't even flamboyant enough to earn a nickname. His big brush with fame came when the band Canned Heat recorded a hit song called "On the Road Again," which resembled Jones' song of the same name in more than just title. Jones took on the record company and received a royalty settlement in the early 1970s.

But before Jones had actually ever recorded "On the Road Again" in 1953, he had already released its predecessor, "Dark Road," in 1951, which is pretty much the same song, but with a few different lines. And on the b-side of that record was another beaut too, "Big World," which just like its a-side, starred Floyd on vocals and guitar, but also included the aforementioned legend Sunnyland Slim on piano too, whose own intermittent bouts of fluttering and heavy pawing at his instrument contrasted nicely with the floatier and higher-pitched trumpet of Billy Howell. Just dig the big, sloppy sound that comes out on the instrumental bridge between this trio on this tune. I think it represents that thick and 'brooding intensity' that Justin O'Brien alluded to in his article about Floyd 👍.

So he never put out much music of his own throughout his decades-long career, but when Floyd Jones did, you could be rest assured that it would be solid gold, and this song here serves as a prime example.