Happy Birthday to "*Skip James*":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifixq95ldke, born on this day in 1902 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Despite recording only a few sides for Paramount Records in 1931 and two albums in the 1960s, James had such an arrestingly unique style that he was a key influence on many Mississippi bluesmen, including the fabled Robert Johnson.Skip James (born Nehemiah Curtis James) is viewed as the foremost practitioner of what is known as the "Bentonia" school of Mississippi blues (Bentonia was a small town about 10 miles from James' birthplace of Yazoo City). Players in the Bentonia style had a shared repertoire of songs, and they often used unique guitar tunings and chord voicings that set them apart. Their music also tended to have a dominant minor-key tonality not typically heard in other styles. James made use of all these elements and placed his distinctive voice over the backdrop, singing with a high, falsetto phrasing that was often described as melancholy and haunting.James started out playing the piano in high school, then switched to the guitar when his friend Henry Stuckey showed him how to play. Stuckey and James performed together as a duo through the 1920s and '30s, providing entertainment at picnics and dances. In 1930 a record store owner in Jackson, Mississippi discovered James and sent him to Grafton, Wisconsin to record for Paramount Records. In two days he recorded twenty-six sides, but the timing of their release was unfortunate: the Depression nearly destroyed the recording business, and James' records failed to sell. The disappointment hit James so hard that he quit playing the blues and moved to Dallas, where he formed a gospel group to back up his father, a minister.James became a minister himself and made frequent preaching tours throughout the South, eventually returning to Mississippi in the mid-1940s. For almost two decades he worked entirely outside the music business. Then in 1964, he was discovered by folk guitarist John Fahey. Fahey and his friends managed to persuade James to perform at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, where he was a smash. His success at the festival brought bookings at folk and blues clubs around the country as well as festivals, where he often performed with Mississippi John Hurt. Riding on the wave of this long-overdue recognition, James recorded two albums for Vanguard during the '60s, _Skip James Today!_ (yeesh, what a title...) and _Devil Got My Woman_.Skip James moved to Philadelphia in the mid-'60s, ultimately dying of cancer in 1969. The video clip below shows him performing his song "Crow Jane" in 1967. At first I found the subtitles kind of patronizing, but I have to admit that further into the song they become helpful. It's a short tune, but what a great slice of James' unique style.
Spike says
Wow, I've never seen him perform; that is great. You might enjoy the book, _I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues_ by Stephen Calt (Da Capo Press 1994). It's a brilliant biography, as is Calt's definitive _King of the Delta Blues: The Life and Music of Charlie Patton_, written with Gayle Wardlow (Rock Chapel Press 1988). Both books question earlier assumptions about blues history, are the product of enormous research, and are fun to read.
yotochan says
You only need to hear Skip James once to know
he's in the elite group of blues artists. Well loved by
the public and fellow performers, his unique voice is
captivating. I sound like an album jacket!
mousetrap says
yotochan sez: "...I sound like an album jacket!"
*AND* you seriously dated yourself by referencing an "album jacket!" Sounds right to me, though....heh.
Happy Birthday to "*Skip James*":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifixq95ldke, born on this day in 1902 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Despite recording only a few sides for Paramount Records in 1931 and two albums in the 1960s, James had such an arrestingly unique style that he was a key influence on many Mississippi bluesmen, including the fabled Robert Johnson.Skip James (born Nehemiah Curtis James) is viewed as the foremost practitioner of what is known as the "Bentonia" school of Mississippi blues (Bentonia was a small town about 10 miles from James' birthplace of Yazoo City). Players in the Bentonia style had a shared repertoire of songs, and they often used unique guitar tunings and chord voicings that set them apart. Their music also tended to have a dominant minor-key tonality not typically heard in other styles. James made use of all these elements and placed his distinctive voice over the backdrop, singing with a high, falsetto phrasing that was often described as melancholy and haunting.James started out playing the piano in high school, then switched to the guitar when his friend Henry Stuckey showed him how to play. Stuckey and James performed together as a duo through the 1920s and '30s, providing entertainment at picnics and dances. In 1930 a record store owner in Jackson, Mississippi discovered James and sent him to Grafton, Wisconsin to record for Paramount Records. In two days he recorded twenty-six sides, but the timing of their release was unfortunate: the Depression nearly destroyed the recording business, and James' records failed to sell. The disappointment hit James so hard that he quit playing the blues and moved to Dallas, where he formed a gospel group to back up his father, a minister.James became a minister himself and made frequent preaching tours throughout the South, eventually returning to Mississippi in the mid-1940s. For almost two decades he worked entirely outside the music business. Then in 1964, he was discovered by folk guitarist John Fahey. Fahey and his friends managed to persuade James to perform at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, where he was a smash. His success at the festival brought bookings at folk and blues clubs around the country as well as festivals, where he often performed with Mississippi John Hurt. Riding on the wave of this long-overdue recognition, James recorded two albums for Vanguard during the '60s, _Skip James Today!_ (yeesh, what a title...) and _Devil Got My Woman_.Skip James moved to Philadelphia in the mid-'60s, ultimately dying of cancer in 1969. The video clip below shows him performing his song "Crow Jane" in 1967. At first I found the subtitles kind of patronizing, but I have to admit that further into the song they become helpful. It's a short tune, but what a great slice of James' unique style.
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