Robert Nighthawk - Biography
By J Poet
Robert Nighthawk was a singer and songwriter, but is primarily known for his work on slide guitar, with a style that influenced Elmore James, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Earl Hooker, J. B. Hutto, Hound Dog Taylor and Duane Allman. He recorded sporadically for various labels during his life, but with the exception of his hit, “Prowling Nighthawk,” none of them were particularly successful. He liked traveling the country, playing where he could, and avoided the limelight, choosing to go his own way.
Nighthawk (Robert Lee McCollum) was born in Arkansas in 1909. At 15 he was playing harmonica at dances, parties, and picnics with his brother Samuel on guitar and vocals. He was still working a day job, getting paid a dollar a day, when he took guitar lessons from Houston Stackhouse in 1931. Soon hey were playing dances and parties, and when country singer Jimmie Rodgers saw them on a street corner, he hired them to be his backing band for a one-nighter in Jackson, MI. Nighthawk also met a young Muddy Waters and played guitar at the party after Waters’ first wedding.
Nighthawk moved to Memphis in 1932 and played in a jug band and hung out with Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, Memphis Slim, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, and Big Joe Williams. In 1936 Nighthawk moved to St. Louis and went by the name Robert Lee McCoy, hiding out from the law, although details about his alleged crime are murky. He made his first recordings, as Robert Lee McCoy, for the Bluebird label and played sessions backing up Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Williams, and Sleepy John Estes. He played on Williamson’s hit “Good Morning Little School Girl.” He also recorded for other labels as Rambling Bob and Peetie’s Boy. One of his first hits was “Prowling Night Hawk” on Bluebird, and he took the song’s title as his musical alias. These recordings are collected on Robert Nighthawk: Prowling With The Nighthawk (2005 Document) along with other early recordings for United, and Robert Lee McCoy: The Bluebird Recordings 1937-1938 (1997 RCA).
In 1940, Nighthawk moved on to Chicago to do session work. He put together a swing band and played guitar, banjo and harmonica with the group. He also opened a used record store in his brother’s basement on South Wabash Street. In 1942 he was back in his hometown; he got an electric guitar and put together a band with his son from an early marriage, Sam Carr, on drums, Earl Hooker on second guitar and Pinetop Perkins on piano. When Perkins left, Ike Turner replaced him. Nighthawk’s slide guitar work was the main draw, and everywhere he went, his slashing guitar work impressed fans and other guitar players. The Nighthawk band played throughout the south and landed a regular radio spot on KFFA in Helena, moving on to WROX in Clarksdale.
In 1948 Muddy Waters helped Nighthawk get a contract with Aristocrat, which later became Chess Records. He made sides under his own name and his band name, The Nighthawks. Some of these sides are on the compilation The Aristocrat of the Blues (1997 Chess/MCA). He also made some records for the United label collected as Bricks in My Pillow (1994 Delmark).
From 1952 to 1964 Nighthawk played throughout the delta at juke joints and bars, but he didn’t record again until 1964 when Rounder captured him playing on Maxwell Street for tips. Live on Maxwell Street 1964 (1965 Rounder, 2000 Bullseye Blues) shows Nighthawk’s prowess on slide and electric guitar, and stands as one of the greatest live albums in any genre. He stayed around Chicago for a few years, packing clubs and traveling as far north as Toronto with his smoking band. In 1966 he went back home to Helena and played bass in the band of Houston Stackhouse as well as fronting his own combo. He made a few more recordings that appear on Masters Of Modern Blues: Robert Nighthawk/Houston Stackhouse (1994 HighTone). He died on November 7, 1967 of heart failure. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1983; the location of his grave is unknown.