Plum Bayou native was a music pioneer
George W. Thomas was the first to publish boogie-woogie songs, which were key in the development of country music, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll music.
Thomas was born on March 9, 1883, to Fannie Bradley and George Washington Thomas Sr., in Plum Bayou, near Pine Bluff.
Thomas was the second-eldest of 13 children. In the late 1890s, the family moved to Houston, Texas, where Thomas Sr. was a deacon at the Shiloh Baptist Church and where Thomas
Jr. learned to play music. He also learned about music outside of the church environment.
Thomas and his musically talented younger brother and sister, Hersal and Sippie Wallace, would sneak out of their house and follow the ragtime music to the local traveling tent shows. There they listened to blues singers and became acquainted with its style and sound.
In 1903, Thomas married Octavia Malone. In 1904, Malone gave birth to their daughter, Hociel, and died soon after. Hociel was raised by her grandmother Fannie Bradley and her aunt Sippie Wallace while Thomas pursued his musical career.
Thomas, an accomplished pianist, was providing music for silent films and theatrical performances, and playing at parties and juke joints.
In 1910, he befriended Clarence Williams, a fellow musician in the theater circuit and the owner of a publishing company. By 1911, Thomas had ventured into composing, marrying his blues-and-ragtime-inspired music with dance-driven rhythms. During this time, he wrote and performed “Hop Scop Blues,” the first song with a boogie-woogie style bass line.
By 1914, Thomas and Williams had moved to New Orleans, where Thomas continued to compose, joined Williams in publishing music, and performed at chitlin struts (parties
held by Black Americans during segregation).
In 1916, Thomas’ popularity grew after he published “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues,” a reimagining of the “Hop Scop Blues” song he wrote years before. In 1919, he wrote “Muscle Shoals Blues,” before moving to Chicago in 1920. By 1920, Thomas was the sole proprietor of the George W. Thomas Music Publishing House, as Williams had moved to Chicago. In 1921, Thomas published “Muscle Shoals Blues,” a lively ragtime song with a boogie-woogie bass line.
In 1921, Thomas and Hersal introduced the north to the boogie-woogie piano with their song “The Fives,” which inspired musicians like Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Clarence Lofton who borrowed from Thomas’ style.
In 1923, Thomas published “The Rocks,” the first boogie-woogie song and his most famous composition. That year, Sippie and Hersal moved to Chicago, where Thomas helped them meet Ralph Peer, the general manager of OKeh Records. Three months after signing with OKeh Records, Sippie became a well-known blues star.
In 1926, Hersal suddenly passed away, right before his 20th birthday. Thomas wrote and published “They Needed a Piano Player in Heaven So They Sent for Hersal,” a tribute to Hersal’s life and legacy.
By the late 1920s to mid1930s, Thomas’ composing and publishing declined, as he released fewer and fewer songs. In March of 1937, Thomas died just a few days before his 54th birthday, after falling down a flight of stairs. He was credited with more than 100 compositions, including numerous boogie-woogie songs which were key in the development of country music, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll.
This article is from ExplorePineBluff.com, a program of the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission. Sources: www.pbjunction.com — George W. Thomas, Jr.: Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie Legend; www.bertoltpress.com — The Composition That Established Boogie-woogie: The Fives. Image courtesy: https://bertoltpress.com/