On this 6th day of March in 1893 acoustic Memphis Blues guitarist Walter Furry Lewis was born in Greenwood, MS. Lewis was one of the 60s Blues revival`s most popular artists. He moved to Memphis at age 7 and remained there the rest of his life. He was taught guitar by a man who lived in his neighborhood that Furry could only identify as Blind Joe from Arkansas. Lewis lost a leg in a railroad accident in 1917 and decided to pursue a musical career. His real musical education came on Beale Street. He developed a slide guitar style and began playing medicine shows and soon became an excellent showman. Furry began recording in 1927 and was one of early Memphis` most recorded Bluesmen. His records did not sell well outside of Memphis, with the exception of Kassie (Casey) Jones, parts 1 and 2, arguably the best Blues record of the 20s and a song he had learned from ?Blind Joe?. The Depression ended Lewis` recording career and Furry took a job in Memphis as a streetsweeper, a job he held for forty years. He supplemented his income with a small used furniture store, and continued playing for friends, at parties, and in what is now WC Handy Park, often with harmonica player Will Shade. Ethnologist Sam Charters found Furry in the late 50s and persuaded him to return to music. In 1961, Lewis recorded 2 albums for Prestige/Bluesville which showed Furry to still be in excellent form, his guitar skills and powerful voice still intact. Furry`s story-telling skills and sense of humor made him popular on the festival and college campus circuit. He began appearing on talk shows and became quite a celebrity. He was featured in a Playboy interview and appeared on The Tonight Show and in the Burt Reynold`s movie W.W. and The Dixie Dance Kings in the early seventies. Furry Lewis died in 1981, a beloved figure and a giant of the Blues world. Acoustic Blues fans should check out Shake Em On Down on Fantasy, In His Prime on Yazoo, or Complete Recorded Works 1917-1929 on Document.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:07:41 +0000
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