Blind Lemon Jefferson

Blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson has been called the most influential bluesman in the history of blues singers. While his recording career was prolific but short--almost 100 titles from 1926-29--he became arguably the most popular blues singer in black America. Born in Couchman, TX, in 1897, he was one of seven children. Blind from birth, he learned how to play the guitar in order to scrape together money to make a living. In 1917 he moved from his rural East Texas home to Dallas, where he played on street corners in the Deep Ellum section of the city for spare change. His lyrical skills, offbeat and intricate guitar style and showmanship attracted regular customers, and he was eventually able to earn enough money to support a wife and child. In addition to the blues, he also played spirituals, work songs and folk tunes, He traveled around the South, played in the Mississippi Delta, and in 1925 a record-store owner in Dallas recommended him to a contact at Paramount Records. Executives there liked his style and invited him to Chicago to record. He recorded some songs under the name Deacon L.J. Bates, and his recordings were critical and financial successes. He also recorded many of his own compositions, such as "Match Box Blues", "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" and "That Black Snake Moan". He died in 1929, although there was no official certificate of death. There are various stories about how he died--one is that he froze to death in a Chicago snowstorm, another is that a sudden heart attack killed him. In 1980 he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame.