Joe Willie Wilkins was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Memphis blues

Memphis blues

The Memphis blues is a style of blues music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, singer and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. Whilst he influenced contemporaries such as Houston Stackhouse

Houston Stackhouse

Houston Stackhouse was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association and work with Robert Nighthawk. Although Stackhouse was not especially noted as a guitarist nor singer, Nighthawk showed gratitude for being taught to play by Stackhouse, by backing him on a...

, Robert Nighthawk, David Honeyboy Edwards

David Honeyboy Edwards

David "Honeyboy" Edwards was a Delta blues guitarist and singer from the American South. Edwards was the last Delta bluesman before his 2011 death.-Life and career:Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi...

, and Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...

, Wilkins' bigger impact was on up and coming guitarists, including Little Milton

Little Milton

James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...

, B.B. King, and Albert King

Albert King

Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...

. Wilkins' songs included "Hard Headed Woman" and "It's Too Bad."

Biography

Wilkins was born in Davenport, Coahoma County

Coahoma County, Mississippi

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 30,622 people, 10,553 households, and 7,482 families residing in the county. The population density was 55 people per square mile . There were 11,490 housing units at an average density of 21 per square mile...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

. He grew up on a plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 near Bobo

Bobo, Coahoma County, Mississippi

Bobo is an unincorporated community in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. Bobo is located on U.S. Route 278 and U.S. Route 61 southwest of Clarksdale....

. His father, Papa Frank Wilkins, was a local sharecropper and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, whose friend was the country blues

Country blues

Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...

man, Charley Patton

Charlie Patton

Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man...

. Young Wilkins learned to play guitar, harmonica

Harmonica

The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

 and accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

. His early proficiency of the guitar, and slavish devotion to learning from records

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

, earned him the nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

 of "Walking Seeburg" (Seeburg Corporation

Seeburg Corporation

Seeburg was an American design and manufacturing company of automated musical equipment, such as orchestrions, jukeboxes, and vending equipment.- History :...

 being an early manufacturer of jukebox

Jukebox

A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...

).

Becoming a well-known musician in the Mississippi Delta

Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...

, by the early 1940s Wilkins took over from Robert Lockwood, Jr. in Sonny Boy Williamson II

Sonny Boy Williamson II

Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...

's band. In 1941, Wilkins reloacted to Helena, Arkansas

Helena, Arkansas

Helena is the eastern portion of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. Helena was the county seat of Phillips County until January 1, 2006, when it merged its government and city limits with...

, and joined both Williamson and Lockwood on KFFA

KFFA (AM)

KFFA is an American radio station licensed by the FCC to serve the community of Helena, Arkansas. The station is owned by Delta Broadcasting, which is owned by Jamie and Nancy Howe, and Otis Howe, all of whom live in Helena.-Historical role:...

 Radio's "King Biscuit Time

King Biscuit Time

King Biscuit Time is the longest-running daily American radio broadcasts in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, United States and has won the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence and is currently broadcast from the KFFA studio located in...

". Through the 1940s Wilkins broadcast regularly playing alongside Williamson, Willie Love

Willie Love

Willie Love was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with, and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II.-Biography:...

, Robert Nighthawk, Elmore James

Elmore James

Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...

, Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other...

, Houston Stackhouse

Houston Stackhouse

Houston Stackhouse was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association and work with Robert Nighthawk. Although Stackhouse was not especially noted as a guitarist nor singer, Nighthawk showed gratitude for being taught to play by Stackhouse, by backing him on a...

 and Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....

. His guitar playing appeared on several recordings

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 by Williamson, Love and Big Joe Williams

Big Joe Williams

Joseph Lee Williams , billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar...

, for the latter of whom he played bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

.

For Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

, Wilkins was noted as the first guitarist from the Delta who played single string guitar riffs without a slide. Later on Waters stated

Forming The Three Aces with Willie Nix

Willie Nix

Willie Nix was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...

 and Love in 1950, he rejoined Williamson at KWEM Radio

KWEM Radio

KWEM Radio was set up by the KLXR-Razorback Network in 1946, in West Memphis, Arkansas. Efforts were made to get the radio station on air before the end of 1946, but equipment problems delayed the opening...

, which led on to Wilkin's becoming part of the studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 band at Sun Records

Sun Records

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...

. He was also utilised by Trumpet Records

Trumpet Records

Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...

, and as a prominent sideman, Wilkins recorded with Williamson, Love, Nix, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

Arthur Crudup

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known outside blues circles for writing songs such as "That's All Right" , "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later covered by Elvis Presley and dozens of other artists.-Career:Arthur Crudup...

, Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.-Career:Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on...

, Big Walter Horton

Big Walter Horton

Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues...

, Little Walter

Little Walter

Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...

, Mose Vinson

Mose Vinson

Mose Vinson was an American boogie-woogie, blues and jazz pianist and singer. His best known recordings were "Blues With A Feeling" and "Sweet Root Man". Over his lengthy career, Vinson worked with various musicians including Booker T. Laury and James Cotton.-Biography:Vinson was born in Holly...

, Joe Hill Louis

Joe Hill Louis

Joe Hill Louis , born Lester Hill, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band...

, Elmore James

Elmore James

Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...

, and Floyd Jones

Floyd Jones

Floyd Jones was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter, who is significant as one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after World War II. A number of Jones' recordings are regarded as classics of the Chicago blues idiom, and his song "On...

.

Charley Booker

Charley Booker

Charley Booker was a blues singer and guitarist from the Mississippi Delta, who recorded in the early 1950s for Modern Records.-Early life and career:...

's final recording was as a guest with Wilkins at a 1973 blues festival at Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Indiana

Notre Dame is a census-designated place north of South Bend in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States; it includes the campuses of three colleges: the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College. Notre Dame is split between Clay and Portage Townships...

 in South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

. The same year, Mimosa Records released a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 of Wilkin's debut vocal performance. Adamo Records later issued a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 of some of his concert dates.

His working relationship and friendship with Houston Stackhouse endured over the years, with Stackhouse at one time living in the same premises as Wilkins and his wife. Wilkins and Stackhouse played at various blues music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

s, and were part of the traveling Memphis Blues Caravan. After undergoing a colostomy

Colostomy

A colostomy is a surgical procedure in which a stoma is formed by drawing the healthy end of the large intestine or colon through an incision in the anterior abdominal wall and suturing it into place. This opening, in conjunction with the attached stoma appliance, provides an alternative channel...

 in the late 1970s, Wilkins still continued to perform until his final East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

 tour in 1981.

Wilkins is buried near Memphis in the Galilee Memorial Gardens.

Confusion over dates

There is some confusion over both the precise date of birth, and death, for Wilkins. Various sources quote 1923 as his year of birth, and many cite 1979 for his death. However, in the latter respect Allmusic stated "his final performances were an East Coast tour in 1981, and he died in the week following these engagements.

Songwriting

Song title	Recorded by
"Hard Headed Woman"	Various artists - Memphis Blues Caravan - Vol. 2
"Leave Me Alone"	P.J. Colt