Bukka White

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Bukka White
Bukka.jpg
Background information
Birth name Booker T. Washington White
Born (1909-11-12)November 12, 1909
Between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, United States
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genres Delta blues, country blues
Occupation(s) Singer, guitarist, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, steel guitar, fiddle, piano
Years active Late 1920s–1977

Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1909 – February 26, 1977)[1] was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" is a phonetic spelling of White's first name, though he preferred "Booker."

Biography

Born south of Houston, Mississippi,[2] White was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and King's grandmother were sisters).[3] White himself is remembered as a player of National resonator guitars. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano.

White started his career playing the fiddle at square dances. He claims to have met Charlie Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this;[4] regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. White typically played slide guitar, in an open tuning. He was one of the few, along with Skip James, to use a crossnote tuning in E minor, which he may have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey.

He first recorded for Victor Records in 1930.[5] His recordings for Victor, like those of many other bluesmen, fluctuated between country blues and gospel numbers. Victor published his photograph in 1930. His gospel songs were done in the style of Blind Willie Johnson, with a female singer accentuating the last phrase of each line.[6]

Nine years later, while serving time for assault, he recorded for folklorist John Lomax. The few songs he recorded around this time became his most well-known: "Shake 'Em On Down," and "Po' Boy."

Bob Dylan covered his song "Fixin' to Die Blues", which aided a "rediscovery" of White in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey and Ed Denson, which propelled him onto the folk revival scene of the 1960s. White had recorded the song simply because his other songs had not particularly impressed the Victor record producer. It was a studio composition of which White had thought little until it re-emerged thirty years later.[7]

White was at one time managed by experienced blues manager Arne Brogger. Fahey and Denson found White easily enough: Fahey wrote a letter to "Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi." Fahey had assumed, given White's song, "Aberdeen, Mississippi", that White still lived there, or nearby. The postcard was forwarded to Memphis, Tennessee, where White worked in a tank factory. Fahey and Denson soon traveled to meet White, and White and Fahey remained friends through the remainder of White's life.[8] He recorded a new album for Denson and Fahey's Takoma Records, whilst Denson became his manager.

White was, later in life, also friends with fellow musician Furry Lewis. The two recorded, mostly in Lewis' Memphis apartment, an album together, Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party! At Home.

File:ParchmanGateNewPhoto.JPG
"Parchman Farm Blues" was about the Mississippi State Penitentiary

One of his most famous songs, "Parchman Farm Blues", about the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman Farm) in Sunflower County, Mississippi, was released on Harry Smith's fourth volume of the Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 4. His 1937 version of the oft-recorded song,[9] "Shake 'Em On Down," is considered definitive, and became a hit while White was serving time in Parchman.[10]

White died in February 1977 from cancer, at the age of 67, in Memphis, Tennessee.[1][11][12] In 1990 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (along with Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson). On November 21, 2011, The Recording Academy announced that "Fixin' to Die Blues" was to be added to its 2012 list of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients.[13]

Legacy

File:Bukka White sign.jpg
Memorial marker for Bukka White

The Led Zeppelin song "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", on the band's 1970 album Led Zeppelin III was based in large part on White's "Shake 'Em on Down."[14] "Custard Pie", a song on Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti, also references "Shake 'Em on Down."[14]

The 1963 recordings of White's song "Shake 'em on Down" and spoken-word piece "Remembrance of Charlie Patton" were both sampled by electronic artist Recoil (mostly a one-man effort by Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode) for the track "Electro Blues For Bukka White" on the 1992 album Bloodline. The song was reworked and re-released on the 2000 EP Jezebel.

In 1995, White's "Aberdeen, Mississippi" was covered as "Aberdeen" by guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his debut album Ledbetter Heights. It reached number 23 on the Billboard (North America) Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1996.[15]

On January 26, 2010, Eric Bibb released Booker's Guitar (TEL 31756 02) through Telarc International Corporation after becoming inspired by the hidden stories Bibb felt through holding White's famous guitar.

White's song "Parchman Farm Blues" was recorded by Jeff Buckley, and was released posthumously on the bonus disc of Buckley's album Grace: Legacy Edition.

Discography

Studio albums

Live album

  • Country Blues (Sparkasse in Concert, 1975)

Compilations

  • Parchman Farm 1937–1940 (Columbia, 1969)
  • Baton Rouge Mosby Street (Blues Beacon, 1982)
  • Aberdeen Mississippi Blues 1937–1940 (Travelin' Man, 1985)
  • Parchman Farm Blues (Orbis Records, 1992)
  • Shake' Em on Down (New Rose, 1993)
  • The Complete Bukka White 1937–1940 (Columbia, 1994)
  • 1963 Isn't 1962 (Adelphi, 1994)
  • Good Gin Blues (Drive, 1995)
  • Shake 'Em on Down (Catfish, 1998)
  • The Panama Limited (ABM, 2000)
  • Revisited (Fuel, 2003)
  • Aberdeen Mississippi Blues: The Vintage Recordings 1930–1940 (Document, 2003)
  • Mississippi Blues Giant (EPM, 2003)
  • Fixin' to Die (Snapper, 2004)
  • Parchman Farm Blues (Roots, 2004)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Stephen Calt claims, in his book about Skip James: I'd Rather Be the Devil, that White claimed to know Patton merely because Fahey was a fan of the long dead bluesman.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ In the liner notes for American Primitive, Vol. 1, which features White's I am in the Heavenly Way, Fahey states that White "... had no particular interest in religion. Victor went and hired the woman from a local Baptist church for this recording. Trying to imitate Blind Willie Johnson."
  7. ↑ I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues by Stephen Calt, p. 243
  8. ↑ In his collection of autobiographical sketches, How Bluegrass Music Ruined My Life, John Fahey reminisces about his and White's time catching catfish together. He also remarks that White had, by the time of his rediscovery, largely forgotten how to play guitar, but had become an even more adept lyricist.
  9. ↑ Furry Lewis, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Wade Walton, and R. L. Burnside have all recorded version of "Shake 'Em On Down", as have countless others.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Bukka White at Find a Grave
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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