“Although he was supposed to be completely blind, I still believe he could see a little bit. If he couldn’t, he darn sure could feel his way ’round — the old wolf!” – blues singer Victoria Spivey on Texas bluesman “Blind” Lemon Jefferson
He was blind but people who knew him thought he could probably see. “He could shoot the head off a chicken …” said one guy.
Born in 1893, he got his start playing on street corners in Dallas. He then traveled around the Mississippi Delta, playing in whatever joint that would have him. (Legend has it T-Bone Walker was his guide, and he paid him in guitar lessons.) He and the legendary Lead Belly were friends, and Lead Belly wrote a song in tribute to Jefferson called the “Blind Lemon Blues”:
A talent scout heard him somewhere along the way, thought he was amazing (as he was, both voice and musicianship) and brought him up to Chicago to record a couple of songs. That “couple” turned into 100+ songs. He became famous on a national level (practically unheard of for bluesmen at that time who mostly toiled in brilliant obscurity in their own particular region. It would take Alan Lomax in the 30s/40s seeking all those guys out – many of whom were still alive – and folks like The Rolling Stones whose whole early career paid tribute to the music made by all those guys – to bring national awareness to this rich portion of America’s cultural history. They all were put on tape. We have a record of them now. Suddenly these dudes living in shacks in the Delta, strumming on a guitar, were hired to play folk festivals all around the country. A wonderful turn-around.)
Unfortunately, Jefferson didn’t live long enough to experience that. He died at 36, an event still cloaked in mystery. His dead body was found on the street on Chicago after a harsh snowstorm. People thought he might have had royalty money in his pocket from his recordings and he was robbed. Nobody really knows though.
His most famous song has the heart-stopping title “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” Those are the words on his gravestone in Wortham, Texas.
Fans raised the money for the stone.
This is great! Hadn’t heard the Leadbelly song before. I love Blind Lemon Jefferson’s guitar work, it’s fun and surprising to someone like me at least who is much more used to Mississippi Delta blues. He is one of those people I came to through secondary sources. For the longest time I thought Nick Cave had just made him up. Wow, I thought. How clever is Nick Cave, coming up with such a perfect bluesman name as Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Jessie!! I had no idea about that Nick Cave song. Thank you thank you for linking to it!
I’m always eager to share about this very overlooked NC album, The Firstborn is Dead! Opening track is the relentless and prophetic Tupelo, which draws on John Lee Hooker and Leadbelly to turn a song about the Tupelo flood into an almost eschatological tale of Elvis’s birth. It’s so good!
Thus endeth my youtube linking privileges for the near future!
with my italics and exclamation point I impute a slightly inaccurate vibe to the album.The Firstborn is Dead!!!