WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.459 I want you to picture the history of music, specifically 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:07.679 the blues, as this massive roaring engine. Okay. 00:00:08.169 --> 00:00:09.970 We usually only look at the shiny chrome parts 00:00:09.970 --> 00:00:12.330 on the outside, you know, the front men, the 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:14.349 names on the marquees. Right, the Muddy Waters, 00:00:14.490 --> 00:00:18.910 the BB Kings, the icons. Exactly. But deep inside 00:00:18.910 --> 00:00:21.269 that engine, down in the boiler room where it's 00:00:21.269 --> 00:00:23.690 hot and greasy, there are these gears that are 00:00:23.690 --> 00:00:25.949 actually driving the whole thing. They're taking 00:00:25.949 --> 00:00:28.589 the heat, they're making the machine move, but 00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:30.969 nobody ever sees them. And if one of those gears 00:00:30.969 --> 00:00:33.390 breaks... The machine just spits it out. Spits 00:00:33.390 --> 00:00:35.509 it out, replaces it, and just keeps running without 00:00:35.509 --> 00:00:38.979 missing a beat. That is a grim... but incredibly 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:41.979 accurate metaphor for the Chicago blues scene 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:44.899 in the 1940s and 50s. It was an industrial machine 00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:47.520 as much as it was an art form. Today we are doing 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.539 a deep dive into one of those gears. We are talking 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:53.060 about a man who was right there at the ignition 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:56.020 point of the post -war electric blues. He was 00:00:56.020 --> 00:00:57.759 in the room when the sound changed. He played 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.619 with the Titans, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:04.379 Jimmy Rogers. But for decades, this guy was a 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:07.439 ghost. And we mean a literal ghost in the archives. 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:09.780 I mean, to give you a sense of just how erased 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:14.859 this man was, as late as 1973, his job, it is 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:17.799 to find this stuff, their entire job. They could 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:20.000 only find a single photograph of him in existence. 00:01:20.379 --> 00:01:23.040 Just one. Which is wild when you consider he 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.540 was arguably the heartbeat of the most important 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:28.420 band in Chicago. We're talking about Leroy Foster, 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:32.109 known on the streets as. Babyface Leroy. And 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:33.530 this deep dive is going to be a little different. 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:36.810 We aren't just tracing a biography. We're dissecting 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:39.489 a tragedy. Yeah, we're looking at how a legacy 00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:42.629 gets dismantled by, what, corporate maneuvering, 00:01:42.629 --> 00:01:45.170 bad luck, and just the brutality of the nightlife. 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:47.129 It really is a case study in the difference between 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:49.329 talent and success. You can have all the talent 00:01:49.329 --> 00:01:51.349 in the world, but if the business side decides 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:53.590 to crush you, you can just disappear. So let's 00:01:53.590 --> 00:01:56.290 reconstruct the Phantom. Who was Babyface Leroy 00:01:56.290 --> 00:01:58.670 before he became a footnote? Well... If you look 00:01:58.670 --> 00:02:01.390 at the demographics, Leroy Foster is the archetype 00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:04.430 of the great migration bluesman. He was born 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:07.450 down in Algoma, Mississippi, February 1st, 1923. 00:02:07.709 --> 00:02:10.050 And like so many others. Right. Fleeing Jim Crow 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:13.050 South or just looking for a paycheck that wasn't 00:02:13.050 --> 00:02:16.250 tied to a plow, he heads north. He lands in Chicago 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.620 in the mid -1940s. And we should set the stage 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:22.080 for Chicago then. It's not a polite place. Yeah. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:25.659 It's chaotic. It's loud. And the music scene 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:27.539 is incredibly competitive. You couldn't just 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:30.039 show up and be mediocre. Absolutely not. The 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:32.460 competition was ferocious. But Foster didn't 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:35.800 waste time. He seemed to have this magnetic quality. 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:39.199 By 1946, he's already gigging with heavyweights. 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:42.020 Already? Yeah. He's backing Sunnyland Slim, a 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:44.659 premier pianist. He's working with John Lee, 00:02:44.819 --> 00:02:47.360 Sonny Boy Williamson, the harmonica legend. So 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:49.719 he wasn't some... kid in the back. No, Foster 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:51.599 wasn't an apprentice. He was right in the mix 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:53.840 from the jump. And this leads to the moment where 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:55.900 the chemical reaction happens, the meeting that 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:57.800 changes the sound of the entire city. Right. 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:01.280 It's 1946. Foster's at a recording session and 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.659 an acquaintance introduces him to another recent 00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:06.500 arrival from Mississippi, a guitar player named 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:09.120 Muddy Waters. And just like that, the pieces 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.280 are on the board. Exactly. Foster joins Muddy's 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:15.229 band. And here's where Foster's value really 00:03:15.229 --> 00:03:18.590 shines. He was what they call a double threat. 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:21.370 He played guitar, but also. He also played drums. 00:03:22.050 --> 00:03:25.449 And in the trio they formed with a third musician 00:03:25.449 --> 00:03:28.870 named Jimmy Rogers, that versatility was crucial. 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:30.949 They could swap instruments. They could fill 00:03:30.949 --> 00:03:33.370 out the sound. I want to pause on the specific 00:03:33.370 --> 00:03:36.969 trio Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers and Leroy Foster, 00:03:37.069 --> 00:03:39.289 because in the source material, there's this 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:41.750 detail about their nickname. Oh, yeah. And honestly, 00:03:41.870 --> 00:03:43.349 it tells you everything you need to know about 00:03:43.349 --> 00:03:46.289 their attitude. They call themselves the Headhunters. 00:03:46.669 --> 00:03:48.990 It is an incredibly aggressive name for a band, 00:03:49.050 --> 00:03:51.330 isn't it? It sounds like a street gang. It does, 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:53.689 but they weren't out there mugging people. No, 00:03:53.710 --> 00:03:56.270 but they were mugging other bands, musically 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:57.870 speaking. You have to understand the cutting 00:03:57.870 --> 00:04:00.590 culture of Chicago clubs at the time. Great, 00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:02.370 let's unpack cutting, because I think people 00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:05.069 imagine a polite battle of the bands. Oh, no. 00:04:05.349 --> 00:04:08.229 This was musical warfare. So imagine you're a 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:11.030 band playing a club. You've got your gig. Your 00:04:11.030 --> 00:04:14.629 steady gig. The headhunters would show up, undivided, 00:04:14.629 --> 00:04:17.569 walk onto your stage during your break, or even 00:04:17.569 --> 00:04:20.449 while you're playing, plug in, and just try to 00:04:20.449 --> 00:04:22.550 play so much better, louder, and harder than 00:04:22.550 --> 00:04:25.029 you that you were effectively humiliated. That 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:27.689 is brutal. They were literally trying to take 00:04:27.689 --> 00:04:30.350 your job. They were cutting your head off, metaphorically. 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:32.529 It was an assertion of dominance. And you have 00:04:32.529 --> 00:04:34.329 to remember, they were bringing a new sound. 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:36.889 This wasn't the old acoustic stuff. Not at all. 00:04:37.259 --> 00:04:40.519 This wasn't the quiet country blues of the 1930s 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:43.639 anymore. This was electrified. It was amplified. 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.899 It had a heavy backbeat, and Leroy Foster was 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.139 the engine room of that unit. So they're just 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:51.639 terrifying other musicians. And then, just to 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.259 make it unfair, they add Little Walter on harmonica 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:56.540 later on. Which basically creates the Beatles 00:04:56.540 --> 00:04:58.839 of the blues. It is arguably the most legendary 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:00.899 lineup in the history of the genre. Muddy Waters, 00:05:01.259 --> 00:05:03.819 Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, and Babyface Leroy. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.379 That's the one. So we have the super group, and 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:09.139 Leroy Foster isn't just a sidekick. He's a core 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:11.959 member of the Headhunters. But he wants to be 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.199 a star in his own right, doesn't he? Oh, for 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:16.759 sure. He's not content just being Muddy's drummer. 00:05:17.129 --> 00:05:19.689 And he had the talent for it. No question. He 00:05:19.689 --> 00:05:22.129 had the talent to back up that ambition. He was 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:24.970 hustling hard in the late 40s. He recorded with 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:28.250 pianist Lee Brown in 45, his first time on wax. 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:30.769 Yeah, OK. He backed James Beale Street Clark 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:33.230 for Columbia. He was reporting for the opera 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:35.730 label, Aristocrat Records, J .O .B. Records. 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:37.930 He was putting in the work to build the Leroy 00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:40.970 Foster brand. But the brand hits a wall or maybe 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:45.589 a catapult. Initially in 1950. This is the centerpiece 00:05:45.589 --> 00:05:48.129 of our story today. The Parkway Session. January 00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:50.889 1950. This is the moment where everything aligns 00:05:50.889 --> 00:05:53.250 for Leroy and then immediately breaks. Set the 00:05:53.250 --> 00:05:55.110 scene for this session. It's a small label, right? 00:05:55.170 --> 00:05:58.050 Annie. Parkway Records. And in the room you have 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:00.170 the Headhunters, essentially. You have Leroy 00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:02.730 Foster, Muddy Waters, Little Walter. And Jimmy 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:04.730 Rogers. And Jimmy Rogers. Though the notes say 00:06:04.730 --> 00:06:07.610 Rogers was late, classic musician style, so he's 00:06:07.610 --> 00:06:09.189 only on a couple of tracks. And they record a 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:11.600 song called Rollin' and Tumblin'. Now, I listen 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.899 to this track specifically for this deep dive, 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.680 and polished is not the word I would use. Definitely 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:19.079 not. It's the opposite of polished. It sounds 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:21.639 frantic. It sounds primal. It feels like the 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.079 recording equipment can barely handle what they 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:27.019 are doing. It's raw energy. And that's why it 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:30.139 matters. On this track, Leroy Foster is on lead 00:06:30.139 --> 00:06:32.740 vocals and drums. Little Walter is weaving in 00:06:32.740 --> 00:06:35.000 and out on the harmonica playing lines that no 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.279 one had ever heard before. And Muddy. And Muddy 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:39.699 Waters is playing this piercing slide guitar 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:42.720 and doing these ensemble hums in the background. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:45.000 The sources mention a review from the Chicago 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:48.019 Defender. Now, for context, the Defender was 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:50.319 the newspaper for Black America. That's right. 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:53.199 They were usually reviewing high society, jazz, 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:56.470 church events. You know, more sophisticated stuff. 00:06:56.509 --> 00:06:58.850 They didn't usually bother with gritty down -home 00:06:58.850 --> 00:07:01.449 blues from the bar. Exactly. The down -home stuff 00:07:01.449 --> 00:07:03.910 was seen as low culture by some of the elite. 00:07:04.069 --> 00:07:07.410 Yeah. But this record, this record was so undeniable 00:07:07.410 --> 00:07:10.370 that the reviewer, Edward Myers, had to write 00:07:10.370 --> 00:07:12.410 about it. And his description is perfect. It 00:07:12.410 --> 00:07:15.370 is. He said the song had the sound and beat of 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:18.670 African chant. African chant. That implies something 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:21.029 hypnotic, something rhythmic. It's not just a 00:07:21.029 --> 00:07:23.810 song. It's a ritual. It implies that it tapped 00:07:23.810 --> 00:07:26.970 into something ancient. It wasn't a pop song 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.670 with a verse and a chorus. It was a groove, a 00:07:29.670 --> 00:07:31.769 feeling. And that review should have been the 00:07:31.769 --> 00:07:33.569 signal flare. That should have been the moment 00:07:33.569 --> 00:07:36.050 Leroy Foster became a household name. He had 00:07:36.050 --> 00:07:37.970 the hit, he had the review, he had the band. 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:40.230 He also had a problem, and the problem's name 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:43.910 was Leonard Chess. The boss of Chess Records. 00:07:44.209 --> 00:07:47.189 We need to explain the power dynamic here. Parkway 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:50.670 is a small indie label. Chess Records is the 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:54.470 800 -pound gorilla of Chicago blues. And Muddy 00:07:54.470 --> 00:07:56.810 Waters, who is playing that distinctive slide 00:07:56.810 --> 00:08:00.649 guitar on Leroy's record, belongs to chess. Right. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.759 Muddy was under an exclusive contract with Leonard 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:06.139 Chess. Now, usually in those days, musicians 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.319 would moonlight. For extra cash. They needed 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.779 the cash. They would record under fake names 00:08:10.779 --> 00:08:13.540 on other labels. They'd call themselves the Lonesome 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:15.459 Drifter or something. But you can't disguise 00:08:15.459 --> 00:08:17.740 Muddy Waters' slide guitar. You cannot. It's 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:19.839 like a fingerprint. Leonard Chess hears this 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.079 Parkway record rolling and tumbling, and he knows 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:26.120 instantly. That's his artist playing on a competitor's 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.120 record. And helping a competitor sell copies. 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.540 Exactly. So what does a businessman like Leonard 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:34.919 Chess do? Does he sue? Does he call the lawyers? 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.820 He does something much more vicious. He weaponizes 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:41.059 the market. He drags muddy waters into the Chess 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:44.320 studio and forces him to record his own version 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.700 of Roland and Tumblin. He forces him to cover 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:50.100 his friend's song. Immediately. And with a very 00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:52.240 specific goal. The historians are clear on this. 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.620 The goal was to kill the sales of Leroy Foster's 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:59.090 version. How could he do that? Jess had better 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:01.509 distribution. He had more money to bribe DJs. 00:09:01.529 --> 00:09:03.830 He had the trucks to get the records into stores. 00:09:04.110 --> 00:09:06.629 By releasing a Muddy Waters version of the same 00:09:06.629 --> 00:09:09.669 song, he just flooded the market. That is incredibly 00:09:09.669 --> 00:09:11.750 cold. It's not just business competition. It's 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:14.529 erasure. He basically cannibalized the art to 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:16.690 protect his contract. And it worked. The Muddy 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:19.110 Waters version became the standard. The Leroy 00:09:19.110 --> 00:09:21.710 Foster version, the original raw African chant 00:09:21.710 --> 00:09:24.269 version, got buried. And Parkway couldn't fight 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:26.210 back? Parkway Records didn't have the muscle 00:09:26.210 --> 00:09:28.320 to fight back. I want to pause and think about 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.659 what that does to a person. You are Leroy Foster. 00:09:32.100 --> 00:09:34.500 You just made a masterpiece with your best friends, 00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:37.940 and then your friend's boss forces your friend 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:40.840 to re -record it and crush you. Yeah. That has 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:43.179 to destroy the dynamic in the band. It destroyed 00:09:43.179 --> 00:09:46.419 everything. After signing with Parkway, Foster 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:49.100 actually left Muddy Waters Band. Do we think 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:52.759 he left because he was angry? Or because he thought 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:55.000 he was about to be a star? The sources suggest 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:57.659 he gambled on himself. He likely thought, I have 00:09:57.659 --> 00:09:59.899 this hit record on Parkway. I don't need to be 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:02.750 a sideman anymore. I'm going solo. It was a bet 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:05.610 on his own talent. It was. But because Chess 00:10:05.610 --> 00:10:08.370 crushed the record, the bet failed. The bet failed. 00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:11.610 And then, to make matters worse, the Parkway 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:14.409 label itself folded soon after. So he's out of 00:10:14.409 --> 00:10:16.889 the band, his hit record is dead, and his label 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:19.029 is bankrupt. He's free -falling. He did try to 00:10:19.029 --> 00:10:20.629 recover, right? It wasn't immediate silence. 00:10:20.909 --> 00:10:22.950 He tried. He went to J .O .B. Records, another 00:10:22.950 --> 00:10:26.330 label, and recorded sessions in 1951 and 1952. 00:10:26.470 --> 00:10:29.509 Yeah. But the magic was dissipating. And not 00:10:29.509 --> 00:10:32.110 much came out of it. Only one single came out 00:10:32.110 --> 00:10:35.129 of those sessions. Pet Rabbit, backed with Luella. 00:10:35.309 --> 00:10:37.850 Pet Rabbit. This is a great title, but it didn't 00:10:37.850 --> 00:10:40.190 chart. It didn't. And this brings us to the other 00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:42.509 side of the phantom. We've talked about the business 00:10:42.509 --> 00:10:44.350 crushing him. But now we have to talk about the 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:47.250 man himself. Yes. Because the lifestyle of a 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:51.370 1950s blues man was not conducive to mental health. 00:10:51.610 --> 00:10:54.429 You mentioned his nickname was Babyface. That 00:10:54.429 --> 00:10:57.389 implies a sort of innocence. But the description 00:10:57.389 --> 00:11:00.700 of his life is, well... it's not innocent far 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:03.840 from it the sources describe his reputation in 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.440 the streets very clearly he was known for three 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:10.120 things drinking singing and clowning clowning 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:12.379 that's an interesting word in this context it 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:14.600 suggests he was the life of the party the guy 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.139 making everyone laugh which as we know is often 00:11:17.139 --> 00:11:19.440 a defense mechanism it's the tears of a clown 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.940 syndrome the loudest guy in the room to hide 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:24.000 the fact that you're hurting and the drinking 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.480 was severe We're talking about full -blown alcoholism. 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:29.539 So you combine the professional heartbreak, the 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:32.340 chess records incident, with the grinding poverty 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:34.580 of the musician's life, and then you add addiction 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:38.159 on top of it. It's a spiral. And it spun down 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.779 incredibly fast. We are talking about 1950 being 00:11:41.779 --> 00:11:44.059 his peak chance. Eight years later. By 1958, 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:47.360 he's gone. 1958? He died that young? Leroy Foster 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.600 died on May 26, 1958. He was only 35 years old. 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:55.080 35? That is tragically young. Just barely over 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:57.480 a decade after he arrived in Chicago to change 00:11:57.480 --> 00:11:59.840 the world. What was the cause? Officially, a 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.559 heart attack. But the notes are clear that alcoholism 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.899 was the heavy contributing factor. His body just 00:12:04.899 --> 00:12:08.019 gave out. So the machine we talked about at the 00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:10.580 beginning, it broke the gear. It broke the gear 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:12.860 and moved on without a setter. Foster was buried 00:12:12.860 --> 00:12:15.360 at Fernoak Cemetery in Griffith, Indiana. And 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.360 this is the final insult to his legacy. What 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.600 happened? For decades, there was nothing there. 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:21.779 You mean literally nothing? An unmarked grave. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.240 Just a patch of grass. No name, no dates, no 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.120 headhunter. If you walk past it, you would never 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:27.659 know that one of the architects of the Chicago 00:12:27.659 --> 00:12:31.379 Blues was lying there. That is haunting. It really 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:34.100 drives home how fragile history is. You can be 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:37.840 the man in 1948 cutting heads in the clubs. And 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:40.980 by 1968, you're just Earth. And that remained 00:12:40.980 --> 00:12:43.779 the case for over 50 years. He was just gone. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.340 But... And I'm glad we can pivot to a slightly 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:48.559 lighter note here. This isn't entirely the end 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.480 of the story. No. There are people doing the 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.799 work to fix these holes in history. Yes. There 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:55.779 is a nonprofit organization called the Killer 00:12:55.779 --> 00:12:58.379 Blues Headstone Project. Which is the best name 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:00.259 for a nonprofit I've ever heard. It's fantastic. 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:03.299 And their mission is exactly what it says. They 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:05.940 track down the unmarked graves of blues legends 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:08.299 and they raise money to buy them headstones. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:12.299 And they found him. In 2012. 54 years after he 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:15.200 died, they finally placed a marker for Leroy 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.960 Foster. So he has a name again? He has a name. 00:13:18.059 --> 00:13:20.580 It's a small bit of redemption. It acknowledges 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:22.940 that he existed, that he mattered. Before we 00:13:22.940 --> 00:13:24.500 wrap up, I want to make sure the listener knows 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:26.460 there is music out there to find. We talked about 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:29.120 Roland and Tumblin and Pet Rabbit, but what else 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:31.259 did he leave behind? The discography is slim, 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:34.899 sadly, but it's potent. You should look for a 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:38.039 locked -out boogie, red -headed woman, and a 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:41.370 track called Bull Weevil. Bull Weevil? Classic 00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:43.769 blues themes. Absolutely. And when you listen 00:13:43.769 --> 00:13:45.809 to them, don't just listen to the song. Listen 00:13:45.809 --> 00:13:48.029 to the energy. Try to hear the guy who's walking 00:13:48.029 --> 00:13:50.210 into clubs and cutting the heads off the competition. 00:13:50.649 --> 00:13:53.230 That fire is still in the grooves of the record. 00:13:53.529 --> 00:13:55.649 So when we step back and look at this deep dive, 00:13:55.830 --> 00:13:59.210 what is the takeaway? Why does Babyface Leroy 00:13:59.210 --> 00:14:01.889 matter to someone listening today who might not 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:04.509 even be a huge blues fan? I think he represents 00:14:04.509 --> 00:14:08.590 the dark matter of history. We spend so much 00:14:08.590 --> 00:14:10.850 time looking at the stars, the muddy waters, 00:14:11.009 --> 00:14:14.029 the Elvis Presleys. Right. But the universe is 00:14:14.029 --> 00:14:17.330 held together by the dark matter, the people 00:14:17.330 --> 00:14:18.870 who made the connections, who set the rhythm, 00:14:18.950 --> 00:14:21.509 who drove the van, who brought the energy. Leroy 00:14:21.509 --> 00:14:24.429 Foster was the glue of the Chicago scene. And 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:26.730 his story is a warning, too. It is. It's a warning 00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:28.409 that talent isn't enough. Yeah. You can have 00:14:28.409 --> 00:14:30.110 the African chant sound. You can have the reviews. 00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:33.129 But if the business decides to crush you, if 00:14:33.129 --> 00:14:34.730 a Leonard Chess decides you are inconvenient, 00:14:35.169 --> 00:14:37.580 you can be erased. It makes you wonder about 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:40.120 the what -ifs. If Leonard Chess hadn't forced 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:42.980 that cover version, maybe Parkway Records survives. 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.919 Maybe Leroy Foster becomes a star. Maybe he doesn't 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.500 drink himself to death at 35. It's the butterfly 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:52.019 effect. One business decision in 1950 arguably 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:54.980 cost a man his life and his legacy. And that 00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:56.539 leads to the thought I want to leave you with 00:14:56.539 --> 00:14:59.399 today. We know about Leroy Foster now because 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.200 of a few fragile shellac records and a group 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:05.039 of volunteers who bought a stone in 2012. Right. 00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:07.649 But if the man who helped Electric Blues take 00:15:07.649 --> 00:15:09.710 over the world was almost completely forgotten, 00:15:10.009 --> 00:15:13.049 who else is down there? That is the chilling 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:15.450 question. How many other headhunters are lying 00:15:15.450 --> 00:15:17.409 in unmarked graves waiting for someone to come 00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:19.409 along and tell their story? Probably more than 00:15:19.409 --> 00:15:21.629 we will ever know. A sobering thought to end 00:15:21.629 --> 00:15:23.889 on. Thanks for taking this deep dive with us. 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:26.169 Go listen to some Babyface LeRoy. Keep the ghosts 00:15:26.169 --> 00:15:27.889 alive. We'll see you next time.