Long “Cleve” Reed & Little Havery Hull

While they don’t have much influence as many of their counterparts, having only released 6 songs on the short lived Black Patti Label in 1927, Long “Cleve” Reed and Harvey Hull exemplified the best qualities of blues music. Billing themselves The Down Home Boys, they played a variety of southern music ranging from hokum, blues, and country. In 1927 they release 3 records under the Black Patti record label, headed by J. Mayo “Ink” Williams who’s best known as the talent scout for Paramount Records. Only a few 100 copies were pressed of the records and the label shut down months later, but in more recent times these records have become some of the most valuable records every because of the scarcity. There is only one copy known to exist of “Original Stack O' Lee Blues,” backed by “Mama You Don’t Know How.” It’s in hands of famed 78 record collector Joe Bussard and is valued at $60,000-70,000, the most valuable of any 78 record. Not much else is known about the lives of these men.