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by David Beardsley
Bennie Smith was one of St. Louis’ leading blues guitarists, with his musical heritage firmly rooted here in St. Louis. Many St. Louisans were fortunate enough to have seen Bennie share his musical genius. The following chronicles Bennies life in his own words. As we prepared for the interview, Bennie cued up some appropriate background music (early Vernon Guy and Clayton Love).
STLBlues: Bennie, have you lived in St. Louis all of your life?
BS: I was born on October 5, 1933 over on Gratiot in south St. Louis. I went and stayed a few months in Arkansas.
STLBlues: When did you first get into music and performing?
BS: Oh, I was…at that time, about 11 or 12. I was real young. Well, my cousin Floyd Robinson bought me a guitar, and I didn't have any strings. So his brother, Eddie Robinson, bought me some strings. I was trying to get it tuned up. I had a cousin who stayed across on Jefferson. He was gonna take the guitar home and tune it up and bring it back for me. Somehow, he got in a fight and broke the guitar over somebody’s head.
Then my brother, Calvin (he was working at the time), said, “I’ll go out and buy you a guitar.” So he went out and bought me another little Stellar. I was playing on that thing for quite a while. I used to play with it around the house a lot, picking at it, making a lot of noise. My brother Calvin, he would come up and say “Yeah, one of these days you might learn how to play.”
STLBlues: I understand you taught guitar to Ike Turner?
BS: We had quite a few places that we were playin’ around town. That’s when my relationship with Ike [Turner] started. Ike had come in town during that time, too. He had heard about me. He was playing piano for BB King. He was a pretty darn good piano player, but he wanted to play guitar. So we got together and started playing. He learned that song, Okie Dokie Stomp, a different way, ’cause he wanted to put a whole lot of different stuff in it. So I think he called it Prancing.
My relationship with Clayton Love, I recorded with Clayton Love — quite a few songs. I recorded Box Top and quite a few songs with Ike. His first recording was Box Top.
STLBlues: Over the years you’ve played with people like Little Milton and Aretha Franklin.
BS: Aretha, yes. She came in town and she wanted to put a band together, so they called me. I got Stumpy and George, who plays bass. We went and played at Kiel Auditorium down here on Market Street. We had a really nice time.
That’s the first time she ever kissed me (laughs). That was when I first met Joel Carlos and the Bop-A-Dears in the 1940s. He had a little show where they would dance, come out and do the limbo, crawl under fire and stuff. That’s when I was on Cates, playing at the Red Top. I started playing at the Red Top with Jimmy Johnson, Martell Oates and Chuck Bernard. That’s when I got together with Morris Henderson…singing with Little Herbert, Stacey Johnson and Vernon Guy. They called themselves “The Turbans.” They were little boys then. They were singing around town.
During that time, I started playing with Billy Gayles, too. We were playing at the American Legion post on Kingshighway. During that time, I met Billy with The 5th Dimension. Then I started teaching guitar a little bit to quite a few people.
Ike was in California, and sometimes he’d call me and say, “get some guitar players together and send them out here.” I was teaching so many people in my basement!
STLBlues: So you’ve played with or taught just about everybody!
BS: Yeah, I’ve played with Oliver Sain, Billy Gayles, Ike Turner, Albert King (who called me Alvino Ray), Bobby Bland and Little Milton. Bobby Bland and The Minstrels would come in, and they didn’t want nobody to play but me and Jimmy Johnson, Martel Oates and Chuck Bernard. We were playing behind them, and we put some soul on them! That’s the time Little Milton outsung Bobby Bland. I said, “Oh wow!” Ike Turner was in the other room, shooting dice (laughs).
Years ago, Little Milton got my drummer from me. He paid a little more an hour. Took me a long time to teach that drummer! Besides Al Saint James and Howard Yates, he was the only drummer who could make a roll with one hand. I was teaching him, and finally got him to do it. It was something else! Little Milton snatched him. I went on the road, and six months later in Atlanta, that’s when I met Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. We played at the Peacock Hotel at that time.
I didn't tell you about BB King. The first time I played with BB, he didn’t have an amplifier. We was playin’ over at the Club Riviera. Roosevelt said, “bring one of your ampifiers over here!” So I brought this one. We had a band you wouldn’t believe — out of sight! We had Stumpy on drums, Roosevelt played bass, we had Clayton Love playin’ piano. BB King came out and played, and there were only five or six people in the place!
Bennie was honored with a Mayoral Proclamation at the 2006 Big Muddy Blues
Fest, where he was a headline act. Bennie passed away soon after, on Sept. 10, 2006, but his music and memories of him will live forever.
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