⬇️ BUKKA WHITE ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1940-2020 (33CD/DVD)
BIOGRAPHY
Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the second
cousin of B.B. King. White himself is remembered as a player of National
steel guitars. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano.
DISCOGRAPHY 1940-2020 (33CD/DVD)
Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the second
cousin of B.B. King. White himself is remembered as a player of National
steel guitars. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano.
White started his career playing the fiddle at square dances. He claims
to have met Charlie Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast
upon this; Regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. White
typically played slide guitar, in an open tuning. He was one of the few,
along with Skip James, to use a crossnote tuning in E minor, which he may
have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey.
He first recorded for the Victor Records label in 1930. His recordings
for Victor, like those of many other bluesmen, fluctuated between country
blues and gospel numbers. His gospel songs were done in the style of Blind
Willie Johnson, with a female singer accentuating the last phrase of each
line.
Nine years later, while serving time for assault, he recorded for
folklorist John Lomax. The few songs he recorded around this time became
his most well-known: "Shake 'Em on Down," and "Po' Boy."
Bob Dylan covered his song "Fixin' to Die Blues", which aided a
"rediscovery" of White in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey and ED Denson,
which propelled him onto the folk revival scene of the 1960s. White had
recorded the song simply because his other songs had not particularly
impressed the Victor record producer. It was a studio composition of which
White had thought little until it re-emerged thirty years later.
White was at one time managed by the experienced blues manager, Arne
Brogger. Fahey and Denson found White easily enough: Fahey wrote a letter
to "Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen,
Mississippi." Fahey had assumed, given White's song, "Aberdeen,
Mississippi", that White still lived there, or nearby. The postcard was
forwarded to Memphis, Tennessee, where White worked in a tank
factory.
Fahey and Denson soon travelled to meet White, and White and Fahey
remained friends through the remainder of White's life.[5] He recorded a
new album for Denson and Fahey's Takoma Records, whilst Denson became his
manager.
White was, later in life, also friends with fellow musician, Furry Lewis.
The two recorded, mostly in Lewis' Memphis apartment, an album together,
Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party! At Home.
One of his most famous songs, "Parchman Farm Blues", about the
Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman Farm) in Sunflower
County, Mississippi, was released on Harry Smith's fourth volume of the
Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol.4. The song was covered by The
Traits/aka Roy Head and the Traits with Johnny Winter in the late
1960s.
His 1937 version of the oft-recorded song, "Shake 'Em On Down," is
considered definitive, and became a hit while White was serving time in
Parchman.
White died in February 1977 from cancer, at the age of 67, in Memphis,
Tennessee. In 1990 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of
Fame (along with Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson).
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Vol. 107 Bukka White (2CD) @FLAC