Robert Crumb’s illustrations have a signature style assumed to be entirely of his own creation, but like most artists he drew inspiration for his style from somewhere, and for Crumb that somewhere is an old set of ads for Paramount Records.
These wonderfully illustrated ads ran in the Chicago Defender over 80 years ago, telling the stories behind popular “race music” songs like Lock-Step Blues and So Lonesome by artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and Ma Rainey.
Crumb’s interest in old timey music and illustration make the influence pretty clear, and he paid homage to the artists, and artwork, found on these old Paramount Records ads in a series of trading cards which are now collected in R. Crumb’s Heroes Of Blues, Jazz & Country.
Read more about The Amazing Old Paramount Records Ads That Inspired R. Crumb over at Dangerous Minds