Smokey Joe Baugh

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Born Joseph E. Baugh, 25 July 1932, Helena, Arkansas Died 19 November 1999, Monterey, California One of the more shadowy figures at Sun, Smokey Joe Baugh was around the Memphis music scene from an early stage. Born in Helena, AK, he embarked on a musical career in 1947 working as a pianist in Memphis and West Memphis. Around 1952 he joined the Shelby Follin Band, and for a few months he and bandmate Paul Burlison performed with Howlin' Wolf on radio KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas. Subsequently he joined Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys, with whom he recorded, appeared on local radio and toured with many of the Sun package tours. The record they made for Sam Phillips was "Split Personality"/"Lonely Sweetheart" (Flip 502), released in the spring of 1955. On the A-side, credit goes to "Bill Taylor & Smokey Jo" (in capitals), "Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys" (in smaller print). Baugh had a gravelly voice which was the result of a natural condition, rather than a conscious attempt to sound black. He cut four sessions for Sun as Smokey Joe in 1955-56 and had one single released, "The Signifying Monkey"/"Listen To Me Baby" (Sun 228, also released as Flip 228). "The Signifying Monkey" was recorded on August 25, 1955, and its lyrics have a long history in black music. In fact, the story is such a central part of black culture that an entire book has been written on the subject : "The Signifying Monkey : A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism", by Henry Louis Gates

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