- Bukka White
Bukka White (
November 12 1909 –February 26 1977 ) was adelta blues guitarist andsinger . "Bukka" was not anickname , but a misspelling of White's Christian name by his second (1937)record label , (Vocalion).Biography
Born Booker T. Washington White near Houston,
Mississippi , he gave his cousinB.B. King , a Stella guitar, King's first guitar. White himself is remembered as a player of Nationalsteel guitar s. He also played, but was less adept at, thepiano .White started his career playing the
fiddle atsquare dance s. He claims to have metCharlie Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this; [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.] regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. White typically playedslide guitar , in anopen tuning . He was one of the few, along withSkip James , to use acrossnote tuning inE minor , which he may have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey.He first recorded for the
Victor Records label in 1930. His recordings for Victor, like those of many other bluesmen, fluctuated betweencountry blues and gospel numbers. His gospel songs were done in the style ofBlind Willie Johnson , with a female singer accentuating the last phrase of each line. [ 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."]Nine years later, while serving time, 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 andED Denson , which propelled him onto thefolk revival scene of the 1960s. White had recorded the song simply because his other songs had not particularly impressed the Victorrecord producer . It was a studio composition of which White had thought little until it re-emerged thirty years later ["I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues" by Stephen Calt, p. 243] .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 tank factory. Fahey and Denson soon travelled to meet White, and White and Fahey remained friends throughout White's life. [ In his collection of autobiographical sketches, "How Bluegrass Music Ruined My Life", John Fahey reminisces about he and White's time cat fishing together. He also laments that White had, by the time of his rediscovery, largely forgotten how to play guitar, but had become an even more adept lyricist.] . He recorded a newalbum for Denson & Fahey'sTakoma Records , whilst Denson became his manager.White was, later in life, also friends with fellow
musician ,Furry Lewis . The two recorded, mostly in Lewis' Memphisapartment , an album together, "Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party! At Home".One of his most famous songs, "Parchman Farm Blues", about the
Mississippi 's infamousParchman Farm state prison, was to be released on Harry Smith's fourth, never realized, volume of theAnthology of American Folk Music . His 1937 version of the oft-recorded song, [Furry Lewis,Mississippi Fred McDowell , Wade Walton, andR.L. Burnside have all recorded version of "Shake 'em on Down", as have countless others.] "Shake 'em on Down," is considered definitive, and became a hit while White was serving time in Parchman. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/bukka-white Bukka White: Information and Much More from Answers.com ] ]White was sampled by electronic artist Recoil 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".
References
External links
* [http://www.wirz.de/music/whitebuk.htm Illustrated Bukka White Discography]
* [http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/musicians/BWhite.html Bukka White Biography and Discography]
* http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:67d5vwrva9uk~T1
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