Skip James
Encyclopedia
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American
Delta blues
singer, guitarist
, pianist
and songwriter
, born in Bentonia
, Mississippi
, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He first learned to play guitar from another bluesman from the area, Henry Stuckey. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records
in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly due to the Great Depression
, and he drifted into obscurity. After a long absence from the public eye, James was "rediscovered" in 1964 by three blues enthusiasts, helping further the blues and folk music revival
of the 1950s and early 60s. During this period, James appeared at several folk and blues festivals and gave live concerts around the county, also recording several albums for various record label
s.
His songs have influenced several generations of musicians, being adapted by Kansas Joe McCoy
, Robert Johnson, Cream
, Deep Purple, Chris Thomas King
, Alvin Youngblood Hart
, Beck
, Big Sugar
, and Rory Block
.
ger turned preacher
. As a youth, James heard local musicians such as Henry Stuckey and brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims and began playing the organ in his teens. He worked on road construction and levee
-building crews in his native Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer.
Later in the '20s he sharecropped and made bootleg
whiskey in the Bentonia area. He began playing guitar in open D-minor tuning and developed the three-finger picking technique heard in his recordings. In addition, he began to practice piano-playing, drawing inspiration from the Mississippi blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery
.
record shop
owner and talent scout H. C. Speir
, who placed blues performers with a variety of record label
s including Paramount Records
. On the strength of this audition, James traveled to Grafton
, Wisconsin
to record
for Paramount. James's 1931 work is considered idiosyncratic among pre-war
blues recordings, and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.
As is typical of his era, James recorded a variety of material — blues and spirituals
, cover version
s and original compositions — frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "I'm So Glad" was derived from a 1927 song by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired", which had been recorded in 1928 by both Gene Austin
and Lonnie Johnson
(the latter under the title "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). Biographer Stephen Calt, echoing the opinion of several critics
, considered the finished product totally original, "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music".
Several of the Grafton recordings, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader", and "22-20 Blues" (the basis for Robert Johnson's better-known "32-20 Blues
", and the band name for the English group 22-20s
), have proven similarly influential. Very few original copies of James's Paramount 78 RPMs have survived.
The Great Depression struck just as James' recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and James gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church. James himself was later ordained as a minister in both the Baptist
and Methodist denominations, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.
, Bill Barth
and Henry Vestine
found him in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi
. According to Calt, the "rediscovery" of both James and of Son House
at virtually the same moment was the start of the "blues revival" in the US. In July 1964 James, along with other rediscovered performers, appeared at the Newport Folk Festival
. Several photographs
by Dick Waterman
captured this first performance in over 30 years. Throughout the remainder of the decade, he recorded for the Takoma
, Melodeon
, and Vanguard
labels and played various engagements until his death in Philadelphia from cancer
in 1969.
Although James was not initially covered
as frequently as other rediscovered musicians, the British
rock
band
, Cream
, recorded two versions of "I'm So Glad" (a studio
version and a live version), providing James with the only windfall of his career. Despite the band's well-known musicianship, Cream based their version on James's simplified 1960s recording, instead of the faster, more intricate 1931 original. Deep Purple
covered "I'm So Glad" on their first album
, Shades of Deep Purple
. English blues rock band 22-20s
(initially active between 2002 and 2005 and reformed in 2008) named themselves after "22-20 Blues". Singer Dion DiMucci
released an album in November 2007 titled Son of Skip James.
Since his death, James's music has become more available and prevalent than during his lifetime — his 1931 recordings, along with several rediscovery recordings and concerts, have found their way on to numerous compact disc
s, drifting in and out of print. His influence is still felt among contemporary bluesmen. James also left a mark on Hollywood, as well, with Chris Thomas King
's cover of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" on O Brother, Where Art Thou?
, and the 1931 "Devil Got My Woman" featured in the plot and soundtrack
of Ghost World
. In recent times, British post-rock band Hope of the States
released a song partially focused on the life of Skip James entitled "Nehemiah", which charted at number 30 in the UK Singles Chart
. "He's a Mighty Good Leader" was also covered by Beck
on his 1994 album One Foot in the Grave
.
on James's personality. He seldom socialized with other bluesmen and fans. Like John Fahey
, James loathed the so-called "folkie" scene of the 1960s. He held a high regard for his own work and was reluctant to share musical ideas with other performers. Though the lyrical content of some of his songs led to the characterization of James as a misogynist, he remained with his wife Lorenzo (niece of Mississippi John Hurt
) until his death. He is buried with his wife at a private cemetery (Merion Memorial Park) just outside of Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
, despite the fact that his service card shows he didn't serve overseas. Robert Johnson also recorded in this tuning, his "Hell Hound On My Trail" being based on James' "Devil Got My Woman." James' classically-informed, finger-picking style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar with heavy, hypnotic bass lines. James' style of playing had more in common with the Piedmont blues
of the East Coast than with the Delta blues
of his native Mississippi.
, which is either a sub-genre of blues music or a style of playing it. Calt, in his 1994 biography
of James, I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues, maintains that there was indeed no style of blues that originated in Bentonia, and that this is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns, and who failed to see that in the case of Jack Owens, "the 'tradition' he bore primarily consisted of musical scraps from James' table". Owens and other musicians who may have been contemporaries of James were not recorded until the 60s revival period. As such, the extent to which the work of said musicians is indicative of any "school", and whether James originated it or was simply a "member", remains an open question.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
singer, 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...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
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...
, born in Bentonia
Bentonia, Mississippi
Bentonia is a town in Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 500 at the 2000 census. Some blues scholars maintain that there is a "Bentonia School" of blues singing and guitar-playing, and that "Bentonia-style" is a distinct style of Delta Blues, but Bentonia lies outside the...
, 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...
, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He first learned to play guitar from another bluesman from the area, Henry Stuckey. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and he drifted into obscurity. After a long absence from the public eye, James was "rediscovered" in 1964 by three blues enthusiasts, helping further the blues and folk music revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
of the 1950s and early 60s. During this period, James appeared at several folk and blues festivals and gave live concerts around the county, also recording several albums for various record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s.
His songs have influenced several generations of musicians, being adapted by Kansas Joe McCoy
Kansas Joe McCoy
Kansas Joe McCoy was an African American Delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy...
, Robert Johnson, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, Deep Purple, Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King is an American New Orleans, Louisiana-based blues musician and actor.-History:King was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas. He has won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King...
, Alvin Youngblood Hart
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Alvin Youngblood Hart is a Grammy Award-winning American musician.-Career:Born in Oakland California, Hart had family connections with Carroll County, Mississippi, and spent time there in his childhood, hearing his relatives stories of Charlie Patton, "being around these people who were there when...
, Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Big Sugar
Big Sugar
Big Sugar is a Canadian blues-rock band, they were active from 1991 to 2004 and again since April 2010. The band has sold more than half a million albums in Canada.-History:...
, and Rory Block
Rory Block
-Festival appearances:*Long Beach Blues Festival - 1993*San Francisco Blues Festival - 1999*Notodden Blues Festival - 2006-See also:*List of blues musicians*List of contemporary blues musicians*List of Austin City Limits performers-External links:****...
.
Early years
James was born near Bentonia, Mississippi. His father was a converted bootlegRum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
ger turned preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
. As a youth, James heard local musicians such as Henry Stuckey and brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims and began playing the organ in his teens. He worked on road construction and levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
-building crews in his native Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer.
Later in the '20s he sharecropped and made bootleg
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
whiskey in the Bentonia area. He began playing guitar in open D-minor tuning and developed the three-finger picking technique heard in his recordings. In addition, he began to practice piano-playing, drawing inspiration from the Mississippi blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery
Little Brother Montgomery
Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer....
.
1920s and 1930s
In early 1931, James auditioned for Jackson, MississippiJackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
owner and talent scout H. C. Speir
H. C. Speir
H. C. Speir was an American "talent broker" and record store owner from Jackson, Mississippi. He was responsible for launching the recording careers of most of the greatest Mississippi blues musicians in the 1920s and 1930s. It has been said that, “Speir was the godfather of Delta Blues" and was...
, who placed blues performers with a variety of record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s including Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
. On the strength of this audition, James traveled to Grafton
Grafton, Wisconsin
Grafton is a village in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,312 at the 2000 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Grafton and the City of Cedarburg.-History:...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
to record
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...
for Paramount. James's 1931 work is considered idiosyncratic among pre-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
blues recordings, and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.
As is typical of his era, James recorded a variety of material — blues and spirituals
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
, cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s and original compositions — frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "I'm So Glad" was derived from a 1927 song by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired", which had been recorded in 1928 by both Gene Austin
Gene Austin
Gene Austin was an American singer and songwriter, one of the first "crooners". His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards.-Career:...
and Lonnie Johnson
Lonnie Johnson
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos...
(the latter under the title "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). Biographer Stephen Calt, echoing the opinion of several critics
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, considered the finished product totally original, "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music".
Several of the Grafton recordings, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader", and "22-20 Blues" (the basis for Robert Johnson's better-known "32-20 Blues
32-20 Blues
"32-20 Blues" is a blues song by Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, recorded during his second recording session in San Antonio, Texas on November 26, 1936. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03445, in April the following year. The title refers to the .32-20 Winchester...
", and the band name for the English group 22-20s
22-20s
22-20s are an English rock band formed in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The band originally disbanded in December 2005 but reformed in 2008 and released Shake/Shiver/Moan in 2010....
), have proven similarly influential. Very few original copies of James's Paramount 78 RPMs have survived.
The Great Depression struck just as James' recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and James gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church. James himself was later ordained as a minister in both the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist denominations, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.
Disappearance, rediscovery, and legacy
For the next thirty years, James recorded nothing and drifted in and out of music. He was virtually unknown to listeners until about 1960. In 1964 blues enthusiasts John FaheyJohn Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
, Bill Barth
Bill Barth
William Henry "Bill" Barth was an American blues guitarist who, along with John Fahey and Henry Vestine, located 1930s blues great Skip James in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi in 1964.-Memphis Country Blues Society:Barth co-founded the Memphis Country Blues Society, a non-profit organization...
and Henry Vestine
Henry Vestine
Henry Charles Vestine a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitar player known mainly as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1966 to July 1969...
found him in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi
Tunica, Mississippi
Tunica is a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States, located near the Mississippi River. Until the early 1990s the town was one of the most impoverished places in the United States, semi-famous for the particularly deprived neighbourhood known as "Sugar Ditch Alley", named for the open...
. According to Calt, the "rediscovery" of both James and of Son House
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...
at virtually the same moment was the start of the "blues revival" in the US. In July 1964 James, along with other rediscovered performers, appeared at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
. Several photographs
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
by Dick Waterman
Dick Waterman
Dick Waterman is an American writer, promoter and photographer, who has been influential in the development and recording of the blues since the 1960s.-Life and career:...
captured this first performance in over 30 years. Throughout the remainder of the decade, he recorded for the Takoma
Takoma Records
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...
, Melodeon
Melodeon Records
Melodeon Records is a record label set up in 1964 by Richard K. Spottswood.Melodeon Records issued - among others - the first recordings after his 'rediscovery' of Skip James and the 1940 Library Of Congress Sessions of Blind Willie McTell. In 1970 the label was acquired by Arnold S. Caplin's...
, and Vanguard
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
labels and played various engagements until his death in Philadelphia from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1969.
Although James was not initially covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
as frequently as other rediscovered musicians, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, recorded two versions of "I'm So Glad" (a studio
Fresh Cream
Fresh Cream is the debut studio album by British supergroup Cream. It was the first LP release of producer Robert Stigwood's new "Independent" Reaction Records label, released in the United Kingdom as both a mono and stereo version on 9 December 1966, the same time as the single release of "I Feel...
version and a live version), providing James with the only windfall of his career. Despite the band's well-known musicianship, Cream based their version on James's simplified 1960s recording, instead of the faster, more intricate 1931 original. Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
covered "I'm So Glad" on their first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Shades of Deep Purple
Shades of Deep Purple
Shades of Deep Purple is the debut album by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released in 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Tetragrammaton in the United States....
. English blues rock band 22-20s
22-20s
22-20s are an English rock band formed in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The band originally disbanded in December 2005 but reformed in 2008 and released Shake/Shiver/Moan in 2010....
(initially active between 2002 and 2005 and reformed in 2008) named themselves after "22-20 Blues". Singer Dion DiMucci
Dion DiMucci
Dion Francis DiMucci , better known as Dion, is an American singer-songwriter whose work has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop oldies music, rock and R&B styles....
released an album in November 2007 titled Son of Skip James.
Since his death, James's music has become more available and prevalent than during his lifetime — his 1931 recordings, along with several rediscovery recordings and concerts, have found their way on to numerous compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, drifting in and out of print. His influence is still felt among contemporary bluesmen. James also left a mark on Hollywood, as well, with Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King is an American New Orleans, Louisiana-based blues musician and actor.-History:King was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas. He has won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King...
's cover of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" on O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
, and the 1931 "Devil Got My Woman" featured in the plot and soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of Ghost World
Ghost World (film)
Ghost World is a 2001 comedy-drama film directed by Terry Zwigoff, based on the comic book of the same name and screenplay by Daniel Clowes...
. In recent times, British post-rock band Hope of the States
Hope of the States
Hope of the States were an English post rock-influenced indie band from Chichester.-Members:* Sam Herlihy - vocals, guitar, piano, music boxes, glockenspiels, mellotron, sampler, celeste, harmonium* Michael Hibbert - guitar, harmonica, backing vocals...
released a song partially focused on the life of Skip James entitled "Nehemiah", which charted at number 30 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. "He's a Mighty Good Leader" was also covered by Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
on his 1994 album One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave (album)
One Foot in the Grave is the fourth studio album by Beck, released in June 1994 on K Records, an independent label. Like predecessor Stereopathetic Soulmanure, the album never charted, however One Foot in the Grave strengthened Beck's critical reputation, arguably allowing him to break into the...
.
Personality
James was known to be an aloof and moody person. "Skip James, you never knew. Skip could be sunshine, or thunder and lightning depending on his whim of the moment" commented Dick SpottswoodRichard K. Spottswood
Richard K. "Dick" Spottswood is a musicologist and author from Maryland who has catalogued and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in the United States. He earned his B.A. from the University of Maryland in 1960, and his Master's degree in Library...
on James's personality. He seldom socialized with other bluesmen and fans. Like John Fahey
John Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
, James loathed the so-called "folkie" scene of the 1960s. He held a high regard for his own work and was reluctant to share musical ideas with other performers. Though the lyrical content of some of his songs led to the characterization of James as a misogynist, he remained with his wife Lorenzo (niece of Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
) until his death. He is buried with his wife at a private cemetery (Merion Memorial Park) just outside of Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
James as guitarist
James often played his guitar with an open D-minor tuning (DADFAD), resulting in the "deep" sound of the 1931 recordings. James purportedly learned this tuning from his musical mentor, the unrecorded bluesman Henry Stuckey. Stuckey in turn was said to have acquired it from Bahamanian soldiers during the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, despite the fact that his service card shows he didn't serve overseas. Robert Johnson also recorded in this tuning, his "Hell Hound On My Trail" being based on James' "Devil Got My Woman." James' classically-informed, finger-picking style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar with heavy, hypnotic bass lines. James' style of playing had more in common with the Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger,...
of the East Coast than with the Delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
of his native Mississippi.
The "Bentonia School"
James is sometimes associated with the Bentonia SchoolBentonia School (blues)
Bentonia School, a style of guitar-playing sometimes attributed to blues players from Bentonia, Mississippi, features a shared repertoire of songs, guitar tunings and chord-voicings with a distinctively minor tonality not found in other styles of blues music....
, which is either a sub-genre of blues music or a style of playing it. Calt, in his 1994 biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of James, I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues, maintains that there was indeed no style of blues that originated in Bentonia, and that this is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns, and who failed to see that in the case of Jack Owens, "the 'tradition' he bore primarily consisted of musical scraps from James' table". Owens and other musicians who may have been contemporaries of James were not recorded until the 60s revival period. As such, the extent to which the work of said musicians is indicative of any "school", and whether James originated it or was simply a "member", remains an open question.
Discography
Paramount 78s: 1931| A-side | B-side |
|---|---|
| Cherry Ball Blues | Hard Time Killing Floor Blues |
| 22-20 Blues | If You Haven't Any Hay Get on Down the Road |
| Illinois Blues | Yola My Blues Away |
| How Long 'Buck' | Little Cow and Calf is Gonna Die Blues |
| Devil Got my Woman | Cypress Grove Blues |
| I'm So Glad | Special Rider Blues |
| Four O'Clock Blues | Hard Luck Child |
| Jesus is a Mighty Good Leader | Be Ready When he Comes |
| Drunken Spree | What am I to Do |
Rediscovery: 1964–1969
James, despite poor health, recorded several LPs worth of music, mostly revisiting his 1931 sides, traditional music, and spirituals; but along with these, he sang a handful of newly-penned blues meditating on his illness and convalescence. Unfortunately, these five prolific years have not been thoroughly documented: recordings, outtakes, and interviews not released on James's few proper LPs (which, themselves, have been endlessly cannibalized and reissued) are scattered among many small label compilations. Previously unreleased performances continue to be found, released, and left largely unexplained — sometimes hours' worth at a time. CD releases comprising entirely previously available material are denoted below.- Greatest of the Delta Blues SingersGreatest of the Delta Blues SingersGreatest of the Delta Blues Singers is an album by American blues singer Skip James, released in 1965. It was his first album released after his rediscovery in 1964.-History:James had recorded for various labels in the 1930s without success...
MelodeonMelodeon RecordsMelodeon Records is a record label set up in 1964 by Richard K. Spottswood.Melodeon Records issued - among others - the first recordings after his 'rediscovery' of Skip James and the 1940 Library Of Congress Sessions of Blind Willie McTell. In 1970 the label was acquired by Arnold S. Caplin's...
, BiographBiograph RecordsBiograph Records is a record label founded in 1967 by Arnold S. Caplin. It specialized in early American ragtime, jazz, and blues music. Biograph was the first label to issue records made from piano rolls created by Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin.In 2002, Biograph Records was...
, 1964 - She Lyin'She Lyin'She Lyin' is an album by American blues singer Skip James, recorded in 1964 and released in 1993. It was originally recorded for Takoma Records and was James' first recording since his rediscovery in 1964.-History:...
AdelphiAdelphi RecordsAdelphi Records is a US record label founded in 1968 by Gene and Carol Rosenthal.Musicians on that label are The Nighthawks and Catfish Hodge , Lenny Breau, Reuben Brown and Richie Cole , Yellowman, Big Youth and Toots & the Maytals , Rev. Gary Davis, Gene Johnson [Rock & Soul], and Rev...
, 1964 (first released: Genes, 1996) - Today! VanguardVanguard RecordsVanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
, 1966 - Devil Got My WomanDevil Got My WomanDevil Got My Woman is an album by American blues singer Skip James, released in 1968. It was his last record before his death in 1969.-Reception:...
Vanguard, 1968 - I'm So Glad Vanguard, 1978
- Live: Boston, 1964 & Philadelphia, 1966 Document, 1994
- Skip's Piano Blues, 1964 (Genes, 1998)
- Blues From the Delta Vanguard, 1998 (two unreleased recordings)
- The Complete Bloomington, Indiana Concert - March 30, 1968 Document, 1999
- Skip's Guitar Blues, 1964(?) (Genes, 1999)
- Studio Sessions: Rare and Unreleased, 1967 (Vanguard, 2003)
- Hard Time Killing Floor Blues Biograph, 2003†
- Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Skip James Shout!Shout RecordsShout Records was a record label subsidiary of Bang Records, active between 1967 until 1972. When Bang was sold to Columbia Records the masters of Shout were also transferred....
, 2003 - Hard Time Universe, 2003†
External links
- Illustrated Skip James discography
- Interview with Skip James' surviving cousin
- bentoniablues.com – Mission Statement: “Anything Bentonia Blues.” To foster communication among those who love and appreciate the Bentonia School of Delta Blues.
- A biography by Roi Geyari, a fan from Israel
- Can't Find No Heaven: The Mysteries of Skip James by Matt R. Lohr, a speculative study of Skip James' personality