⬇️ SNOOKY PRYOR ⬇️
(James Edward Pryor)
DISCOGRAPHY 1973-2023 (26CD)
Snooky Pryor (September 15, 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American
Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the
now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small
microphone in his hands along with the harmonica, although on his
earliest records in the late 1940s and early '50s he did not utilize
this method.
(James Edward Pryor)
DISCOGRAPHY 1973-2023 (26CD)
BIOGRAPHY
James Edward Pryor was born in Lambert, Mississippi and developed a
Delta blues style influenced by both Sonny Boy Williamson I and
Sonny Boy Williamson II. He moved to Chicago around 1940.
While serving in the U.S. Army he would blow bugle calls through
the powerful PA system, which led him to experiment with playing the
harmonica that way.
Upon discharge from the Army in 1945, he obtained his own amplifier, and began playing harmonica at the outdoor Maxwell Street market, becoming a regular in the Chicago blues scene.
Upon discharge from the Army in 1945, he obtained his own amplifier, and began playing harmonica at the outdoor Maxwell Street market, becoming a regular in the Chicago blues scene.
Pryor recorded some of the first postwar Chicago blues records in
1948, including "Telephone Blues" and "Snooky and Moody's Boogie"
with guitarist Moody Jones, and "Stockyard Blues" and "Keep What You
Got" with singer/guitarist Floyd Jones. "Snooky and Moody's Boogie"
is of considerable historical significance: Pryor claimed that
harmonica ace Little Walter directly copied the signature riff of
Pryor's song into the opening eight bars of his own blues harmonica
instrumental, "Juke," an R'n'B hit in 1952.
In 1967, Pryor moved south to Ullin, Illinois. He quit music for carpentry in the late 1960s but was persuaded to make a comeback. After he dropped out of sight, Pryor was later re-discovered and resumed periodic recording until his death in nearby Cape Girardeau, Missouri at the age of 85.
In 1967, Pryor moved south to Ullin, Illinois. He quit music for carpentry in the late 1960s but was persuaded to make a comeback. After he dropped out of sight, Pryor was later re-discovered and resumed periodic recording until his death in nearby Cape Girardeau, Missouri at the age of 85.
In January 1973 he appeared with the American Blues Legends tour which
played throughout Europe, alongside Homesick James. Whilst on this tour
they recorded an album in London, Homesick James & Snooky Pryor, on
Jim Simpson's label Big Bear Records.
Some of his better known songs include "Judgement Day" (1956), and "Crazy
'Bout My Baby" from Snooky (1989), "How'd You Learn to Shake It Like That"
from Tenth Anniversary Anthology (1989) and "Shake My Hand" (1999).