Song:Downtown Blues
Album:The Best Of Frank Stokes
Frank Stokes is considered by many experts as the father of the Memphis style of blues guitar. But he was probably more street busker than musician usually working with his partner Dan Sane. He made a few recordings in 1928-29 and then never recorded again until his 1955 death. He was born Jan. 1, 1888 in Whitehaven, TN near the Mississippi border. He met Dan Sane when he moved to Hernando, MS in 1895. By age 12, Stokes worked as a blacksmith and traveled to Memphis on weekends to perform with Sane. They performed on Beale Street for several years. Even then, Stokes was respected and influential to other musicians because of his playing style. In the 1910s, he toured the south with the Doc West Medicine Show and became friends with country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. In 1920, he went back to work as a blacksmith and started working with Sane again playing white country clubs and dances as part of Kack Kelly's Jug Busters. The two became known as The Beale Street Sheiks and recorded together in 1927 for Paramount Records. Stokes also recorded for Victor Records in 1928 and 1929. Downtown Blues was recorded in 1928 and is now consider a blues standard. This kind of music went out of fashion in the 1930s so Stokes never recorded again. but he and Sane continued to tour until Stokes died on Sept. 12, 1955 at age 67. Yazoo went to a lot of trouble to clean up the audio quality on this CD. Here's a video for Downtown Blues by Frank Stokes.
No comments:
Post a Comment