"It's Tight Like That" is a hokum or dirty blues song, recorded by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom on October 24, 1928.
[1] Hudson Whittaker and Thomas A. Dorsey met by playing in the backing band accompanying Ma Rainey on her numerous tours.
"[9] Red supplied the words, and Dorsey wrote the music, modeled after Papa Charlie Jackson’s "Shake That Thing".
Tampa Red on bottleneck guitar and Georgia Tom playing the piano supplied the musical accompaniment.
It was "Grievin' Me Blues", accredited to Georgia Tom alone, even though his vocals and piano playing were accompanied by Tampa Red on guitar.
[19] Several sequels of "It's Tight Like That" were waxed by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom (who, as Thomas A. Dorsey, was later to be hailed as 'the father of black gospel music').
[2] Dorsey became the music director at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, a role he undertook for fifty years.
[8] In an induction statement, the song is described as " a playful vocal duet to rework a hot street slang phrase, [it is] a prime example of the good-time music known as hokum".