Willie Hall

Willie Hall, best known by his colorful nickname Drive'em Down was a New Orleans blues and boogie woogie piano player. He never recorded, but has had a great influence on blues and rock and roll.

His earthy song, "Junker's Blues", with its stories about needles and reefer and the Angola prison farm was recorded in 1940 by Champion Jack Dupree, who called Drive'em Down his "father". In 1949 Fats Domino reworked the song as "The Fat Man", the first of his 35 Top 40 hits. The melody was used by Professor Longhair for "Tipitina" and by Lloyd Price for "Lawdy Miss Clawdy".