James "Boodle It" Wiggins

James "Boodle It" Wiggins was an American blues singer and musician. His best known recordings were "Keep Knockin' An You Can't Get In", a precursor of both "Keep A-Knockin'" and "I Hear You Knocking"; plus his versions of "Corrine, Corrina" and "Shave 'Em Dry", albeit slightly re-titled.

Wiggins recorded eight tracks that were released in his lifetime by Paramount Records, and another six that were not issued until later. The latter six were originally earmarked for Vocalion Records or Brunswick Records. His accompanists on his recorded work are thought to include variously Bob Call, Blind Leroy Garnett, and Charlie Spand on piano.

Wiggins is believed to have been discovered in Dallas, by R. L. Ashford, a scout for Paramount Records. However, Big Bill Broonzy told Paul Oliver that Wiggins originally came from Louisiana. Wiggins subsequently recorded eight sides, in three separate sessions, for Paramount between 1928 and 1929. Variations were then recorded by Lil Johnson in 1935 and Louis Jordan in 1939. According to Rolling Stone, Jordan had heard the James Wiggins and Kokomo Arnold versions.

On October 12, 1929, in Richmond, Indiana, Wiggins recorded another four sides, "Forty-Four Blues", "Frisco Bound", "My Lovin' Blues" and "Weary Heart Blues" for Paramount, plus another two in Grafton, Wisconsin that the same month. These were also issued by Paramount (12916).

Wiggins survived a lynching in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1929, when a white woman took offence at his refusal to step aside for her on a public street. A local mob shot him four times and lynched him, although he survived the ordeal.

It is supposed that Wiggins died in c. 1930, although details are unknown.

Lyrical similarities Wiggins, in common with some other blues musicians, tended to recycle some of his song lyrics, with the lines "I wake up every morning..." and "I woke up this morning...", identified in three of his songs - "Evil Woman Blues" and "Forty-Four Blues", and the latter deviation in "Frisco Bound".

Discography Year A-side B-side Record label 1928 "Evil Woman Blues" "Keep Knockin' An You Can't Get In" Paramount Records 1929 "Forty-Four Blues" "Frisco Bound" Paramount Records 1929 "My Lovin' Blues" "Weary Heart Blues" Paramount Records 1929 "Corrine Corrina Blues" "Gotta Shave 'Em Dry" Paramount Records