He had a hit with "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" (1936) and was active on the Chicago blues scene for a number of years leading up to World War II.
[1] It was once thought that Gordon was born in St. Louis, but that was based solely on his performance on the B-side of a single by the St. Louis–born Peetie Wheatstraw, following a session recorded in October 1938 with the guitar player Lonnie Johnson.
[1] Gordon's backing ensembles, sometimes billed as the Vip Vop Band, variously included such notable blues and jazz musicians as Scrapper Blackwell, the brothers Papa Charlie McCoy and Kansas Joe McCoy, members of the Harlem Hamfats, Frankie Newton, Pete Brown, Buster Bennett, and the drummer Zutty Singleton.
[1][4] This ability to base backing units around a jazz-blues fusion of musicians was started by the Harlem Hamfats, but Gordon's use of this arrangement proved the basis for many later blues bands.
[8] Gordon also recorded some dirty blues, with his songs "Hard Lead Pencil" and "How You Want It Done", both of which were reissued on the compilation album Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon.