A
major blues figure, Son House, born Eddie James, Jr.,
was one of the originators of the Mississippi Delta
blues style. House developed early delta blues
in the 1920s and the 1930s with his irregular, often
furious guitar work and his intensely emotional
vocals.
So profound was House's blues
style that he was the main influence of the
legendary blues man Robert
Johnson, as well as Muddy
Waters.
House sang and played his
guitar with compelling urgency and conviction.
His brand of the blues was streaked with both
preacher passion and raw, manly desires, which
seemed to turn many of his songs into battles
between good and evil.
House was born on a Delta
plantation. Early on he took up with the
church and actually became a Baptist pastor by the
time he turned twenty; but, he straddled the sacred
and secular worlds which led to troubles with women
and alcohol. He had also discovered the power
of the blues.
After spending time in
Louisiana in the early 1920s, House returned to the
Delta in 1926 and learned how to play guitar.
In 1930, he recorded sides for
Paramount. In 1941, Alan Lomax recorded Son
House for the Library of Congress. Lomax
returned in 1942 and recorded House a second
time. The following year, House moved to
Rochester, New York, and simply disappeared from the
blues scene until 1964.
Hailed as the greatest
surviving original Delta blues man, House became a
hero to the young, white, folk-blues crowd of the
early '60s. He performed at the 1964 Newport
Folk Festival; a year later he played Carnegie Hall
and signed a recording contract with CBS Records.
Robert
Santelli:
The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical
Encyclopedia
