Skip James

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For the baseball player, see Skip James (baseball).

Skip James
Skip James at the Newport Folk Festival, 1964
Skip James at the Newport Folk Festival, 1964
Background information
Birth nameNehemiah Curtis James
Born(1902-06-09)June 9, 1902
Bentonia, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedOctober 3, 1969(1969-10-03) (aged 67)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
GenresDelta blues
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • preacher
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • piano
Years active1931, 1964–1969
Labels

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969)[1] was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck."[2]

His guitar playing is noted for its dark,

fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression
, and he drifted into obscurity.

After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including John Fahey, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by numerous artists. He has been hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues".[3]

Biography

Early years

Nehemiah Curtis James was born on June 9, 1902, in a

open D-minor tuning.[4]

1920s and 1930s

For most of the 1920s, James worked a series of illicit jobs, such as bootlegging,

Dallas, Texas, in 1929, he was met with local reports of his supposed "violent death". He was met with the same reports five years earlier when he returned from Arkansas. That same year, in 1929, he met a local musician named Johnny Temple, who became his first protégé. The 23 year old Temple learned how to play in cross-note tuning, which was then unknown to musicians who were from the Jackson area, and also attempted to copy James' high falsetto voice, until he advised Temple to sing in his natural voice.[5] James also operated a music school for would-be blues musicians in Jackson, giving lessons on guitar, piano, and even violin.[6]

James continued working locally as a street singer. In early 1931, James auditioned for the record shop owner and talent scout H. C. Speir in Jackson, Mississippi. Speir placed blues performers with various record labels, including Paramount Records.[7] On the strength of this audition, James traveled to Grafton, Wisconsin, to record for Paramount.[7] His 1931 records are considered idiosyncratic among prewar blues recordings and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.

As was typical of his era, James recorded various styles of music – blues,

78 rpm records
have survived.

The Great Depression struck just as James's recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and he gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church.

Methodist churches, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.[7]

Rediscovery and legacy

For the next thirty-three years, James made no known recordings and performed sporadically. He was virtually unknown to the general public until about 1960. Blues singer and guitarist

blues revival in the United States.[4]

In July 1964, James and other rediscovered musicians appeared at the

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 67.[7][11]

More of James's recordings have been available since his death than were available during his lifetime. His 1931 recordings and several of his recordings and concerts from the 1960s have been reissued on numerous compact discs, in and out of print. His songs were not initially recorded as frequently as those of other rediscovered blues musicians. However, the British rock band

UK Singles Chart.[13] Only 15 copies of James' original shellac 78 recordings are still in existence, and have become extremely sought after by collectors such as John Tefteller.[14]

In 2004,

J.B. Lenoir and James.[15] Because James had not been filmed before the 1960s, Keith B. Brown played the part of the young James in the documentary. James' song "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" was featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and included on the soundtrack album.[16]

James was the inspiration for Dion's 2007 blues album, Son of Skip James, which peaked at No. 4.[17][18]

James was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Bentonia, his hometown.[19]

In 2020, James' song "Devil Got My Woman" was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.[20]

Personality

James was described as aloof and moody.[21] The musicologist Dick Spottswood commented, "Skip James, you never knew. Skip could be sunshine, or thunder and lightning depending on his whim of the moment".[21]

Musical style

Equipment

The guitar that James played in his 1931 sessions is now generally accepted to have been a 12-string Stella guitar restrung as a six-string. When he was rediscovered in the 1960s, he typically played a Gibson J-185, Gibson J-45, Martin D-18, and a Martin D-28.[22]

James as guitarist

James often played guitar with an

First World War,[24] despite the fact that his service card shows he did not serve overseas. Robert Johnson also recorded in this tuning, his "Hell Hound on My Trail" being based on James's "Devil Got My Woman."[1] James's classically informed fingerpicking style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar, with heavy, hypnotic bass lines.[citation needed] His style of playing had more in common with the Piedmont blues of the East Coast than with the Delta blues of his native Mississippi.[citation needed
]

The "Bentonia School"

James is sometimes associated with the

Bentonia School, which is either a subgenre of blues music or a style of playing it.[1] In a 1994 biography of James, I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues, Stephen Calt maintained that no style of blues originated in Bentonia and that the "Bentonia School" is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns. Calt asserts these writers failed to see that in the case of Bentonia bluesman 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 revival of interest in blues music in the 1960s. Whether the work of these musicians constituted a "school", and whether James originated it or was a member of it himself, remain open questions.[1] One of the last living links to the original Bentonia school is Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, the owner of the famous Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi. Holmes learned to play in this particular style directly from Henry Stuckey, who reportedly taught James and Owens himself. Accordingly, Duck is called the "last of the Bentonia Bluesmen."[25]

Discography

Paramount 78-RPM records, 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"

Later recordings, 1964–1969

Despite poor health, James recorded several LPs from 1964 to 1969, mostly revisiting his 1931 sides, traditional music, and spirituals, but also including a handful of newly written blues meditating on his illness and convalescence. These five prolific years have not been thoroughly documented: recordings, outtakes, and interviews not released on James's LPs (which have been repeatedly cannibalized and reissued) are scattered among many compilations released by small labels. Previously unreleased performances continue to be found and released but have been left largely unexplained, sometimes hours' worth at a time. Original recordings and reissues are listed below.

  • Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers (Melodeon, Biograph, 1964)
  • Genes
    , 1996)
  • Today! (Vanguard, 1966)
  • Devil Got My Woman (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, with two previously unreleased recordings (Vanguard, 1998)
  • The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James – 1930 (Yazoo, 1994)
  • 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!, 2003)
  • Hard Time (Universe, 2003†)
  • Cypress Grove Blues (2004)
  • Hard Time Killin' Floor (Yazoo 2075, 2005)

References

  1. ^
    AllMusic.com
    . Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  2. ^ Koda, Cub. "Skip James Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". Allmusic. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "'Blues' Out of Rhythm: Infinitely Rich Subject Matter Suffers from a Lack of a Thematic Line in the Hands of Seven Directors – Though Wim Wenders Gets It Right". Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. September 28, 2003. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-306-80579-0
    .
  5. ISBN 1569769982
    . Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  6. ISBN 1569769982
    . Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  7. ^
    ISBN 1-85868-255-X
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-14-006223-6
    .
  9. ISBN 1569769982
    . Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  10. ISBN 0-85112-673-1
    .
  11. ^ "Nehemiah Skip James: Mississippi Blues Musician". Mississippi Writers, Musicians, Actors, and Artists. June 9, 1902. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  12. ^ "Skip James Biography". Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  13. ISBN 1-904994-10-5
    .
  14. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (July 8, 2009). "They've Got Those Old, Hard-to-Find Blues". NY Times. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  15. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Soul of a Man". Festival-cannes.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  16. ^ Cater, Evan. "O Brother, Where Art Thou? [Original Soundtrack] – Various Artists". AllMusic. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  17. ^ "Dion". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  18. ^ "'The Wanderer' Has Got the Blues". NPR.org.
  19. ^ "Skip James". Mississippi Blues Trail.
  20. ^ Blistein, Jon (January 21, 2020). "Elton John, Public Enemy, Joni Mitchell Recordings Added to Grammy Hall of Fame". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  21. ^
    Fuel 2000 Records
    .
  22. ^ "How do you play like Skip James?". Freshtakepublishers. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  23. ^ Komara, Edward (2006). Encyclopedia of the Blues. Routledge. p. 505.
  24. ^ Calt, Stephen (1994). I'd Rather Be the Devil. Chicago Review Press. p. 89.
  25. ^ Nash, J. D. (June 16, 2016). "Jimmy "Duck" Holmes - Treats Us to "It Is What It Is"". Americanbluesscene.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
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