Snooky Pryor

Snooky Pryor (September 15 1921 – October 18 2006 [ [http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2006b.html Dead Rock Stars Club] ] ) was an American blues harp player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his hands along with the harmonica, although his earliest records in the late 1940s he did not utilize this method.

Career

James Edward Pryor was born in Lambert, Mississippi and developed a Delta blues style influenced by both Sonny Boy Williamson I and Sonny Boy Williamson II. He moved to Chicago around 1940.

While serving in the U.S. Army he would blow bugle calls through the powerful PA system, which led him to experiment with playing the harmonica that way. Upon discharge from the Army in 1945, he obtained his own amplifier, and introduced the sound to Maxwell Street audiences, becoming a regular in the Chicago blues scene.

Pryor recorded some of the first postwar Chicago blues records in 1948, including "Telephone Blues" and "Snooky & Moody's Boogie" with guitarist, Moody Jones. He moved south to Ullin, Illinois in 1967. He quit music for carpentry in the late 1960s but was persuaded to make a comeback.cite book
first= Tony
last= Russell
year= 1997
title= The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
edition=
publisher=Carlton Books Limited
location= Dubai
pages= p. 157
id= ISBN 1-85868-255-X] After he dropped out of sight, Pryor was later re-discovered and resumed periodic recording until his death in nearby Cape Girardeau, Missouri at the age of 85.

In January 1973 he appeared with the American Blues Legends tour which played throughout Europe, alongside Homesick James. Whilst on this tour they recorded an album in London, "Homesick James & Snooky Pryor".

Some of his better known songs include "Judgement Day" (1956), and "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" from "Snooky" (1989), "How'd You Learn to Shake It Like That" from "Tenth Anniversary Anthology" (1989) and "Shake My Hand" (1999).

Discography

ingles

*"Boogie" (A-side) "Telephone Blues" (B-side) (1948) Planet
*"Someone to Love Me" (a) "Judgement Day" (b) (1956) Vee Jay Records

Albums

*"Homesick James & Snooky Pryor" (1973) Virgin Records, London
*"Do It If You Want To" (1973) ABC Records, Los Angeles, New York
*"Snooky" (1989) Blind Pig Records
*"Snooky Pryor" (1991) Paula Records
*"Johnny Shines and Snooky Pryor: Back To The Country" (1991) Blind Pig Records
*"Snooky Pryor: Too Cool To Move" (1992) Antones
*"In This Mess Up to My Chest" (1994) Antones
*"Mind Your Own Business" (1996) Antones
*"Snooky Pryor: Shake My Hand" (1999) Blind Pig Records
*"Snooky Pryor and his Mississippi Wrecking Crew" (2002) Electro-Fi
*"Mojo Ramble" (2003) Electro-Fi

ee also

*Chicago Blues Festival
*San Francisco Blues Festival
*List of Harmonica blues musicians
*List of Chicago blues musicians
*List of harmonicists
*Chicago blues

References

* [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/P/Pryor_Snooky/2000/07/06/748912.html Interview on "Canoe"] from July 2000, accessed December 1, 2006

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:nt8m964o3ep8~T1 Biography] from Allmusic
* [http://www.blindpigrecords.com/index.cfm?section=artists&artistid=49 Pryor biography] from Blind Pig Records
* [http://www.hohnerusa.com/artistspryor.shtml Pryor bio] from the Hohner Harmonica Company, which has a [http://www.hohnerusa.com/MP3/Pryor.mp3 Pryor sound clip] (mp3 format)
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1944241,00.html Obituary] from The Guardian accessed December 1 2006
* [http://www.klbc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=45 Obituary] at KLBC radio accessed December 1 2006
* [http://www.wirz.de/music/pryorfrm.htm Pryor discography] accessed December 19 2007