⬇️ BOBO JENKINS ⬇️
(5CD)
BIOGRAPHY
He was born John Pickens Jenkins in Forkland, Alabama. His father, a sharecropper, died when John was not yet one year old, and the boy grew up with his mother and uncle. He left home before the age of 12, and arrived in Memphis, Tennessee. He had a wife at the age of 14, the first of ten marriages. Jenkins took casual work in the Mississippi Delta for several years and then enrolled in the United States Army. Following his 1944 military discharge, he relocated to Detroit, working for Packard and managing a garage, before spending 27 years working for Chrysler.
In the late 1940s Jenkins learned to play the guitar and started
writing songs. He wrote the politically themed "Democrat Blues", about
the U.S. Election Day in 1952, expressing his unease about Dwight D.
Eisenhower becoming the first Republican in the White House in almost 20
years.
With assistance from John Lee Hooker, Jenkins recorded "Democrat Blues"
in Chicago in 1954, which was released by Chess Records. Another
recording was issued by Boxer Records, based in Chicago, and then "Ten
Below Zero" (1957) was released by Fortune Records, based in Detroit. In
1959, Jenkins established his own record label, Big Star Records, whose
first release was his single "You"ll Never Understand" and "Tell Me
Where You Stayed Last Night". He met and played alongside Sonny Boy
Williamson II, before constructing his own recording studio. He recorded
mainly local musicians, including James "Little Daddy" Walton, Little
Junior Cannady, Chubby Martin and Syl Foreman.
Jenkins went on to promote the first Detroit Blues Festival, in 1972.
His first album, The Life of Bobo Jenkins, was issued in the same year.
It became known as the "red album", from the color of the record sleeve,
which included a photograph of a younger Jenkins – who was then 56 years
old – within a star shape. This was a tie-in with the Big Star Records
name. Jenkins was one of the headline acts in the Detroit blues review
part of the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. Recordings from the
festival were released by Schoolkids Records in 1995, including two
tracks by Jenkins. In 1974, Jenkins wrote another song with political
overtones, "Watergate Blues," which was included on his next album, Here
I Am a Fool in Love Again. The cover design was the same as that of the
previous release, but with a change in color, and the album became known
as the "green album". The session musicians included artists based in
Ann Arbor, such as Sarah Brown, Fran Christina and Steve Nardella. In
1976 Jenkins performed at the Smithsonian Institution, as part of the
celebrations marking the United States Bicentennial.
Detroit All Purpose Blues – the "yellow album" – was issued in 1977,
with accompaniment by Detroit-based blues musicians, including Buddy
Folks and Willie D. Warren.
In 1982, Jenkins went to Europe with the American Living Blues Festival
tour, but because of poor health he returned home after his first
concert.
Jenkins died in Detroit after a long illness in August 1984, at the age
of 68. In 2018 the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed the headstone
for him at the Detroit Memorial Cemetery in Detroit.
(Wikipedia)
The Life of Bobo Jenkins
(LP)
1972-The Life of (LP) @FLAC *
Here I Am a Fool in Love Again
(LP)
1974-Here I Am a Fool in Love Again (LP) @FLAC *
Detroit all Purpose Blues
(LP)
* Thanks to Xyros
Decoration Day Blues
2021-Decoration Day Blues @FLAC
Complete Recordings
2025-Complete Recordings @320
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