(Roosevelt Melvin 'Booba' Barnes)
(3xLP/CD)Y
Born in Longwood, Washington County, Mississippi, United States, Barnes got his start in 1960 as a member of the Swinging Gold Coasters, a local Mississippi blues outfit. He relocated to Chicago in 1964, where he played in bars and clubs, but returned to Mississippi in 1971 and continued to perform locally into the early 1980s.
In 1984, Barnes hooked up with Lil' Dave Thompson when the latter was
aged 15, and the duo played on Mississippi's juke joint circuit. Barnes
opened a nightclub, the Playboy Club, in 1985, and played there with a
backing group called the Playboys; they became regional blues favorites,
and eventually signed to Rooster Blues, who released Barnes's debut effort
in 1990.
The album was hailed by Allmusic as "an instant modern classic", and
Guitar Player called Barnes "a wonderfully idiosyncratic guitar player and
an extraordinary vocalist by any standard". Barnes toured the U.S. and
Europe following the album's release.
Barnes's career was interrupted in the middle of the decade when he was
diagnosed with lung cancer, and he died of the disease in April 1996 in
Chicago, aged 59