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His musical style was individualistic, and Jefferson's singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar.<ref>Dicaire, 144.</ref> He was not influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, as they did not seek to imitate him as they did other commercially successful artists.<ref>Charters.</ref> However, later blues and rock and roll musicians attempted to imitate both his songs and his musical style.<ref>Dicaire, 144.</ref> His musical style was individualistic, and Jefferson's singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar.<ref>Dicaire, 144.</ref> He was not influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, as they did not seek to imitate him as they did other commercially successful artists.<ref>Charters.</ref> However, later blues and rock and roll musicians attempted to imitate both his songs and his musical style.<ref>Dicaire, 144.</ref>


==Biography==
===Early life===
Jefferson was born ] near ] in ], near present-day ].<ref>Dicaire, 140.</ref> Jefferson was one of eight children born to ] Alex and Clarissa Jefferson.<ref>Dicaire, 140.</ref> Disputes regarding his exact birth date derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of ], and Lemon Jefferson's birth date is indicated as September 1893 in the ].<ref>1900 US Census; Census Place: Justice Precinct 5, Freestone, Texas; Roll: T623 1636; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 37.</ref> However, the ] recorded his birth date as 1894, and indicated the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near Lemon Jefferson's birthplace.<ref>1910 US Census; Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Navarro, Texas; Roll: T624_1580; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 98; Image: 982.</ref>


In his 1917 ], Jefferson gave his birth date as October 26, 1894, further stating that he then lived in ], and that he had been blind from birth.<ref>World War I Draft Registration records; Dallas County, Texas; Roll: 1952850; Draft Board: 2</ref> In the ], he is recorded as having returned to the Freestone County area, and he was living with his half-brother Kit Banks on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.<ref>1920 US Census;Census Place: Kirvin, Freestone, Texas; Roll: T625_1805; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 24; Image: 231.</ref>


Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens, and soon after he began performing at ] and parties.<ref>Dicaire, 140.</ref> He also became a ], playing in ] towns in front of ] and on corners.<ref>Dicaire, 140.</ref> According to his cousin, Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for ''Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides'':
:They was rough. Men was ] and selling ] and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night.


By the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with fellow blues musician ].<ref>Dicaire, 141.</ref> In Dallas, Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in Dallas' ] area. Jefferson likely moved to Deep Ellum in a more permanent fashion by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as ].<ref>Dicaire, 141.</ref> Jefferson taught Walker the basics of blues guitar, in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide.<ref>Dicaire, 141.</ref> Also, by the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife, and possibly a child.<ref>Dicaire, 141.</ref> However, firm evidence for both his marriage and any offspring is unavailable.


===The beginning of the recording career===
Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, in December 1925 or January 1926, he was taken to ], ], to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, Jefferson's first two recordings from this session were ] songs ("I Want to be like Jesus in my Heart" and "All I Want is that Pure Religion"), released under the name '''Deacon L. J. Bates'''. This led to a second recording session in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues," were hits; this led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues," which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 ] were issued, all but one for ]. Unfortunately, Paramount Records' studio techniques and quality were infamously bad, and the resulting recordings sound no better than if they had been recorded in a hotel room. In fact, in May 1926, Paramount had Jefferson re-record his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at ], and subsequent releases used that version. Both versions appear on compilation albums and may be compared.


===Success with Paramount Records===
]
It was largely due to the popularity of artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and contemporaries such as ] and ] that Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (although there is debate over the reliability of this as well); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by ], Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a frequently seen compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of pigeonholing his music into one regional category. He sticks to no musical conventions, varying his ]s and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in ] during the early 1920s at which time Davis and fellow entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.<ref>"Walter Davis: Fist and Skull Banjo," by Wayne Erbsen, Bluegrass Unlimited: March 1981, 22-26 </ref>

Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to ], he took Jefferson with him, and OKeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues" backed with "Black Snake Moan," which was to be his only OKeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than on his Paramount records at the time. When he had returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, under ] ].

In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his now classic songs, the haunting "]" (once again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates) along with two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be." Of the three, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" became such a big hit that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.

===Stories===
As his fame grew, so did the tales regarding his life, often personally involving the teller. ] states that as a boy, he was employed by Jefferson to lead him around the streets of Dallas; he would have been of the appropriate age at the time. A Paramount employee told biographer ] that Jefferson was a womanizing sloppy drunk; on the other hand, Jefferson's neighbor in Chicago, ], reports him as being "warm and cordial," and singer ] states that Jefferson always refused to play on a Sunday, "even if you give me two hundred." He is claimed to have earned money wrestling before his musical success, which is further claimed as proof that he was not blind at the time (something of a ''non sequitur''). ] elliptically credits Jefferson as someone who "could sure ''feel'' his way around."

===Death and grave===
Jefferson died in Chicago in December 1929. The cause of death is unknown, and though rumors swirled that a jealous lover poisoned his coffee, a more likely scenario is that he died due to a heart attack after being disoriented during a snowstorm (another scenario is that he froze to death). The book "Tolbert's Texas" claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty cash payment by a guide taking him to Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by pianist ]. Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (now Wortham Black Cemetery). Far from his grave being kept clean, it was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas Historical Marker was erected in the general area of his plot, the precise location being unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, but a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. In 2007 the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery and keeping his wishes his gravesite is being kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham Texas.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}

==Discography and awards==
{{See also|Blind Lemon Jefferson discography}}

Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the ] sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including ] and ]. The white North Carolina performer ] credited listening to Jefferson's recordings as his first exposure to the blues, which would powerfully influence his own style.

He was the author of many tunes covered by later musicians, including the classic "]." Another of his tunes, "]," was recorded more than 30 years later by the ], albeit in a ] version credited to ], who himself did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Given this influence, it is unfortunate that many of the details of his life remain shrouded in mystery, perhaps forever; even the only known picture of him, shown here, is heavily retouched, with a fake tie painted in by hand. However, at the time, "]" and its white cousin, "]," were not considered to be worthy of consideration as art, rather as a low-cost product to be sold and soon forgotten.

*Blind Lemon Jefferson is the featured musician on a ] ].
*] has always maintained that Jefferson was a huge influence on his singing and guitar playing.

The ] listed one song by Blind Lemon Jefferson of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.<ref></ref>
{| class=wikitable
|-
| colspan=2 align=center |
|-
! Year Recorded
! Title
|- align=center
| 1927
| ]
|- align=center
|}

Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the ].

==Musical influences==
===Covers of Blind Lemon Jefferson===
*]'s "De Ballot of De Boll Weevil" is a ] of "Boll Weevil Blues"
*]'s "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on ].
* ] lead singer ] accidentally claimed credit for the song "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the re-release of '']'' (Deluxe Edition). The cover is featured as part of a selection of early ] tracks recorded by the Counting Crows. Duritz apologized immediately after this error was brought to his attention in his personal blog.<ref>
] covers "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on his 2008 release "One Kind Favor," which is named after a line in the song.</ref>

===References to Blind Lemon Jefferson===
*] recorded the song "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon" as a tribute to Jefferson in 1932.
*] refers to Jefferson in the song "Cleaning Windows" on the 1982 album '']''.
*] refers to Jefferson in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on the 1999 album ''Hors-Saison''.
*] refers to Jefferson with the song "Got To Find Blind Lemon" on the album '']''
*] recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album '']''.
*The 2007 film ] refers to the title of Jefferson's song "Black Snake Moan"
*The name of the ] band ] refers to the title of Jefferson's song "Black Snake Moan"
*The name of the band ] refers to Jefferson's name and is a primary reference to ]'s Blind Melon Chitlin (see below).
*] parodied Jefferson as "Blind Funk Earwax" playing "Child Molesting Blues" on his 1973 album ''Songs That Made America Famous''
*] parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album '']'', their 1985 album '']'', and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 movie '']''.
*A bar called Blind Lemon appears in the ] novel ].
*An episode of ] titled "The Blind Mellow Jelly Collection" refers to Jefferson's name.
*] refers to Jefferson in the song "Rolling Hills' on his 1973 album '']''.
*] refers to Jefferson in his song "My Friend Blind Lemon."
*On ], Larry tries to sing the blues with the help of Blind Lemon Lincoln.
* On ], Bleeding Gums Murphy is a reference to Blind Lemon Jefferson.


==See also== ==See also==
*] *]

==References==
===Notes===
<references />
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*]. ''The Blues Makers.'' New York: Da Capo Press, 1977. ISBN 0-306-80438-7.
*], and ]. ''Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged.'' Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 1998. ISBN 1-57441-051-2.
*]. ''Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0606-2.
{{refend}}

==External links==
*
*
*
*

{{Blues}}

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Revision as of 18:26, 8 October 2008

Blind Lemon Jefferson
Musical artist

"Blind" Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 or October 26, 1894 or July 1897 – December 1929) was an influential blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues."

His musical style was individualistic, and Jefferson's singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar. He was not influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, as they did not seek to imitate him as they did other commercially successful artists. However, later blues and rock and roll musicians attempted to imitate both his songs and his musical style.

Biography

Early life

Jefferson was born blind near Coutchman, Texas in Freestone County, near present-day Wortham, Texas. Jefferson was one of eight children born to sharecroppers Alex and Clarissa Jefferson. Disputes regarding his exact birth date derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas, and Lemon Jefferson's birth date is indicated as September 1893 in the 1900 census. However, the 1910 census recorded his birth date as 1894, and indicated the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near Lemon Jefferson's birthplace.

In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birth date as October 26, 1894, further stating that he then lived in Dallas, Texas, and that he had been blind from birth. In the 1920 Census, he is recorded as having returned to the Freestone County area, and he was living with his half-brother Kit Banks on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.

Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens, and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He also became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on corners. According to his cousin, Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:

They was rough. Men was hustling women and selling bootleg and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night.

By the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with fellow blues musician Leadbelly. In Dallas, Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in Dallas' Deep Ellum area. Jefferson likely moved to Deep Ellum in a more permanent fashion by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of blues guitar, in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. Also, by the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife, and possibly a child. However, firm evidence for both his marriage and any offspring is unavailable.

The beginning of the recording career

Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, in December 1925 or January 1926, he was taken to Chicago, Illinois, to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, Jefferson's first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to be like Jesus in my Heart" and "All I Want is that Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. This led to a second recording session in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues," were hits; this led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues," which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Unfortunately, Paramount Records' studio techniques and quality were infamously bad, and the resulting recordings sound no better than if they had been recorded in a hotel room. In fact, in May 1926, Paramount had Jefferson re-record his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used that version. Both versions appear on compilation albums and may be compared.

Success with Paramount Records

Label of a Blind Lemon Jefferson Paramount record from 1926

It was largely due to the popularity of artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and contemporaries such as Blind Blake and Ma Rainey that Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (although there is debate over the reliability of this as well); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a frequently seen compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of pigeonholing his music into one regional category. He sticks to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee during the early 1920s at which time Davis and fellow entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.

Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to OKeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and OKeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues" backed with "Black Snake Moan," which was to be his only OKeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than on his Paramount records at the time. When he had returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, under producer Arthur Laibly.

In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his now classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (once again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates) along with two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be." Of the three, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" became such a big hit that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.

Stories

As his fame grew, so did the tales regarding his life, often personally involving the teller. T-Bone Walker states that as a boy, he was employed by Jefferson to lead him around the streets of Dallas; he would have been of the appropriate age at the time. A Paramount employee told biographer Orrin Keepnews that Jefferson was a womanizing sloppy drunk; on the other hand, Jefferson's neighbor in Chicago, Romeo Nelson, reports him as being "warm and cordial," and singer Rube Lacy states that Jefferson always refused to play on a Sunday, "even if you give me two hundred." He is claimed to have earned money wrestling before his musical success, which is further claimed as proof that he was not blind at the time (something of a non sequitur). Victoria Spivey elliptically credits Jefferson as someone who "could sure feel his way around."

Death and grave

Jefferson died in Chicago in December 1929. The cause of death is unknown, and though rumors swirled that a jealous lover poisoned his coffee, a more likely scenario is that he died due to a heart attack after being disoriented during a snowstorm (another scenario is that he froze to death). The book "Tolbert's Texas" claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty cash payment by a guide taking him to Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by pianist Will Ezell. Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (now Wortham Black Cemetery). Far from his grave being kept clean, it was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas Historical Marker was erected in the general area of his plot, the precise location being unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, but a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. In 2007 the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery and keeping his wishes his gravesite is being kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham Texas.

Discography and awards

See also: Blind Lemon Jefferson discography

Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins. The white North Carolina performer Arthel "Doc" Watson credited listening to Jefferson's recordings as his first exposure to the blues, which would powerfully influence his own style.

He was the author of many tunes covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean." Another of his tunes, "Matchbox Blues," was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, albeit in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who himself did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Given this influence, it is unfortunate that many of the details of his life remain shrouded in mystery, perhaps forever; even the only known picture of him, shown here, is heavily retouched, with a fake tie painted in by hand. However, at the time, "race music" and its white cousin, "hillbilly music," were not considered to be worthy of consideration as art, rather as a low-cost product to be sold and soon forgotten.

  • Blind Lemon Jefferson is the featured musician on a State of Texas license plate.
  • B. B. King has always maintained that Jefferson was a huge influence on his singing and guitar playing.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed one song by Blind Lemon Jefferson of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.

Year Recorded Title
1927 Matchbox Blues

Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Musical influences

Covers of Blind Lemon Jefferson

  • The White Stripes's "De Ballot of De Boll Weevil" is a cover version of "Boll Weevil Blues"
  • Bob Dylan's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Bob Dylan.
  • Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for the song "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the re-release of August And Everything After (Deluxe Edition). The cover is featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks recorded by the Counting Crows. Duritz apologized immediately after this error was brought to his attention in his personal blog.

References to Blind Lemon Jefferson

See also

References

Notes

  1. Govenar and Brakefield, 62.
  2. World War I Draft Registration records; Dallas County, Texas; Roll: 1952850; Draft Board: 2
  3. Dicaire, 140.
  4. Dicaire, 143.
  5. Dicaire, 140, 143.
  6. Dicaire, 144.
  7. Charters.
  8. Dicaire, 144.
  9. Dicaire, 140.
  10. Dicaire, 140.
  11. 1900 US Census; Census Place: Justice Precinct 5, Freestone, Texas; Roll: T623 1636; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 37.
  12. 1910 US Census; Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Navarro, Texas; Roll: T624_1580; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 98; Image: 982.
  13. World War I Draft Registration records; Dallas County, Texas; Roll: 1952850; Draft Board: 2
  14. 1920 US Census;Census Place: Kirvin, Freestone, Texas; Roll: T625_1805; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 24; Image: 231.
  15. Dicaire, 140.
  16. Dicaire, 140.
  17. Dicaire, 141.
  18. Dicaire, 141.
  19. Dicaire, 141.
  20. Dicaire, 141.
  21. "Walter Davis: Fist and Skull Banjo," by Wayne Erbsen, Bluegrass Unlimited: March 1981, 22-26
  22. 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll
  23. Countingcrows.com B.B. King covers "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on his 2008 release "One Kind Favor," which is named after a line in the song.

Bibliography

  • Charters, Samuel. The Blues Makers. New York: Da Capo Press, 1977. ISBN 0-306-80438-7.
  • Govenar, Alan, and Jay F. Brakefield. Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 1998. ISBN 1-57441-051-2.
  • Dicaire, David. Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0606-2.

External links

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