Poop
Blind Lemon Jefferson
“Can anyone imagine a fate more horrible than to find that one is blind? To realize that the beautiful things one hears about — one will never see? Such was the heart-rending fate of Lemon Jefferson…he could hear — and he heard the sad hearted, weary people of his homeland, Dallas — singing weird, sad melodies at their work and play, and unconsciously he began to imitate them — lamenting his fate in song.” from The Paramount Book of the Blues (1927), a 40-page book profiling the label’s major blues artists | Blind Lemon JeffersonPublicity Photo© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images |
Not all of the early bluesmen came from the Delta. Perhaps the most famous, influential, and commercially successful of all the early bluesmen, Blind Lemon Jefferson, came from East Texas. Like Mississippi John Hurt, Jefferson’s repertoire was vast and included spirituals, folk tunes, ballads, and even cowboy songs, but it was his blues that made him famous.
Blind Lemon Jefferson was born blind in Couchman, Texas in 1897 and moved to Dallas in 1917. Although little is known about his early life, it is reasonable to presume that his career in music came in response to his handicap. Most of his early years were spent playing on street corners in Dallas where he attracted crowds and managed to make a living by passing his tin cup. However in 1925, Jefferson was discovered by a local talent scout for Paramount Records and was sent to Chicago to make records.
In the brief three-year period between 1926 and 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded nearly one hundred titles for Paramount and OKeh and had a string of “race record” hits that established him as the most commercially successful male blues artist in the United States. He also successfully recorded religious music and spirituals under the pseudonym “Deacon L. J. Bates.”
“Match Box Blues” (1927)
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Although Jefferson achieved a level of fame and notoriety that far exceeded
“Can anyone imagine a fate more horrible than to find that one is blind? To realize that the beautiful things one hears about — one will never see? Such was the heart-rending fate of Lemon Jefferson…he could hear — and he heard the sad hearted, weary people of his homeland, Dallas — singing weird, sad melodies at their work and play, and unconsciously he began to imitate them — lamenting his fate in song.” from The Paramount Book of the Blues (1927), a 40-page book profiling the label’s major blues artists | Blind Lemon JeffersonPublicity Photo© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images |
Not all of the early bluesmen came from the Delta. Perhaps the most famous, influential, and commercially successful of all the early bluesmen, Blind Lemon Jefferson, came from East Texas. Like Mississippi John Hurt, Jefferson’s repertoire was vast and included spirituals, folk tunes, ballads, and even cowboy songs, but it was his blues that made him famous.
Blind Lemon Jefferson was born blind in Couchman, Texas in 1897 and moved to Dallas in 1917. Although little is known about his early life, it is reasonable to presume that his career in music came in response to his handicap. Most of his early years were spent playing on street corners in Dallas where he attracted crowds and managed to make a living by passing his tin cup. However in 1925, Jefferson was discovered by a local talent scout for Paramount Records and was sent to Chicago to make records.
In the brief three-year period between 1926 and 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded nearly one hundred titles for Paramount and OKeh and had a string of “race record” hits that established him as the most commercially successful male blues artist in the United States. He also successfully recorded religious music and spirituals under the pseudonym “Deacon L. J. Bates.”
“Match Box Blues” (1927)
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Although Jefferson achieved a level of fame and notoriety that far exceeded