The eldest son of a Baptist preacher George W. (as Clay Custer) made what is widely considered the first boogie woogie-inflected recording with his piano composition 'The Rocks' composed with his younger brother Hersal. On this broadcast, John Sheridan and The Jim Cullum Jazz Band play Thomas’ rarely heard piece, 'New Orleans Hop Scop Blues.' Thomas wrote his ‘Hop Scop Blues’ in 1911, and published it in New Orleans in 1916. A piano player from Houston, Texas, with the patriotic moniker George Washington Thomas Jr., is regarded as the first to publish sheet music of a twelve bar blues progression written with a boogie woogie bass line.
Jelly Roll Morton recalled early masters of boogie woogie with names like Stavin’ Chain, Skinny Head Pete, Papa Lord God, the Toothpick or Porkchops.
