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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Bukka White| image = Bukka.jpg| caption =| image_size =| landscape = yes| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Booker T. Washington White| alias =| birth_date = birth date|1909|11|12|mf=y| birth_place =Between Aberdeen, Mississippi|Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi|Houston , Mississippi , United States | death_date = dda|mf=y|1977|2|26|1909|11|12| death_place = Memphis, Tennessee , United States| instrument = Singing|Vocals , steel guitar , fiddle , piano | genre = Delta blues , country blues | occupation = Singer , guitarist , songwriter | years_active = Late 1920s–1977| label = Various| associated_acts =| website =Booker T. Washington White (November 12, 1909 – February 26, 1977), http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1970.html Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed December 2009 better known as Bukka White , was an United States|American Delta blues guitarist and singer . "Bukka" was not a nickname , but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second (1937) record label ( Vocalion Records|Vocalion ).
Biography
Born between Aberdeen, Mississippi|Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi|Houston , Mississippi , White was the second cousin of B.B. King . White himself is remembered as a player of National String Instrument Corporation|National steel guitar s. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano .
White started his career playing the fiddle at square dance s. He claims to have met Charlie Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this;Stephen Calt claims, in his book about Skip James: ''I'd Rather Be the Devil , that White claimed to know Patton merely because Fahey was a fan of the long dead bluesman. Regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. White typically played slide guitar , in an Guitar tunings#Open tunings|open tuning . He was one of the few, along with Skip James , to use a Guitar tunings#Minor Open Tunings/Cross-note tunings|crossnote tuning in E minor , which he may have learned, as James did, from Bentonia School (blues)|Henry Stuckey .
He first sound recording and reproduction|recorded for the Victor Records label in 1930. His recordings for Victor, like those of many other bluesmen, fluctuated between country blues and Gospel music|gospel numbers. Victor published his photograph in 1930. His gospel songs were done in the style of Blind Willie Johnson , with a female singer accentuating the last phrase of each line.In the liner notes for American Primitive, Vol. 1 , which features White's I am in the Heavenly Way, Fahey states that White "...had no particular interest in religion. Victor went and hired the woman from a local Baptist church for this recording. Trying to imitate Blind Willie Johnson."
Nine years later, while serving time for assault, he recorded for folklorist John Lomax . The few songs he recorded around this time became his most well-known: " Shake 'Em on Down ," and " Poor Boy Blues|Po' Boy ."
Bob Dylan covered his song " Fixin' to Die Blues ", which aided a "rediscovery" of White in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey (musician)|John Fahey and ED Denson , which propelled him onto the folk revival scene of the 1960s. White had recorded the song simply because his other songs had not particularly impressed the Victor record producer . It was a studio composition of which White had thought little until it re-emerged thirty years later.''I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues by Stephen Calt, p. 243
White was at one time managed by the experienced blues manager, Arne Brogger. Fahey and Denson found White easily enough: Fahey wrote a letter to "Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi ." Fahey had assumed, given White's song, "Aberdeen, Mississippi", that White still lived there, or nearby. The postcard was forwarded to Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee , where White worked in a tank factory. Fahey and Denson soon traveled to meet White, and White and Fahey remained friends through the remainder of White's life.In his collection of autobiographical sketches, How Bluegrass Music Ruined My Life , John Fahey reminisces about his and White's time catching catfish together. He also remarks that White had, by the time of his rediscovery, largely forgotten how to play guitar, but had become an even more adept lyricist. He recorded a new album for Denson and Fahey's Takoma Records , whilst Denson became his management|manager .
White was, later in life, also friends with fellow musician , Furry Lewis . The two recorded, mostly in Lewis' Memphis apartment , an album together, Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party& #33; At Home . One of his most famous songs, "Parchman Farm Blues", about the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman Farm) in Sunflower County, Mississippi , was released on Harry Everett Smith|Harry Smith 's fourth volume of the Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 4 . The song was covered by The Traits/aka Roy Head and the Traits with Johnny Winter in the late 1960s. His 1937 version of the oft-recorded song,Furry Lewis, Mississippi Fred McDowell , Wade Walton, and R. L. Burnside have all recorded version of "Shake 'Em On Down", as have countless others. "Shake 'Em On Down," is considered definitive, and became a hit while White was serving time in Parchman. http://www.answers.com/topic/bukka-white Bukka White: Information and Much More from Answers.com
White died in February 1977 from cancer , at the age of 67, in Memphis, Tennessee . http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php? id=11306 Allaboutjazz.com - accessed December 2009 In 1990 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (along with Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson ). On November 21, 2011, The Recording Academy announced that " Fixin' to Die Blues " was to be added to its 2012 list of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients. http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/press-release/nov-21-2011-500-am grammy.org/recording-academy/press-release/nov-21-2011-500-am
Legacy
The 1963 recordings of White's song "Shake 'em on Down" and spoken-word piece "Remembrance of Charlie Patton" were both Sampling (music)|sampled by electronic (music)|electronic artist Recoil (band)|Recoil (mostly a one-man effort by Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode) for the track "Electro Blues For Bukka White" on the 1992 album Bloodline (Recoil album)|Bloodline . The song was reworked and re-released on the 2000 EP, " Liquid (Recoil album)#"Jezebel"|Jezebel ".
On January 26, 2010, Eric Bibb released ''Booker's Guitar'' (TEL 31756 02) through Telarc International Corporation after becoming inspired by the hidden stories Bibb felt through holding White's famous guitar.
White's song "Parchman Farm Blues" was recorded by Jeff Buckley , which was released posthumously on the bonus disc of Buckley's album, Grace: Legacy Edition .
References
Reflist
External links
commonscat|Bukka WhiteJump to: navigation, search
http://www.wirz.de/music/whitebuk.htm Illustrated Bukka White Discography
http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/musicians/bukka-white.html Bukka White Biography and Discography
Allmusic|artist/p574
Worldcat id|lccn-n81-72535
Blues Persondata | NAME =White, Booker T. Washington | ALTERNATIVE NAMES =White, Bukka | SHORT DESCRIPTION = United States|American Delta blues guitarist and singer | DATE OF BIRTH =November 12, 1909 | PLACE OF BIRTH =Between Aberdeen, Mississippi and Houston, Mississippi , United States | DATE OF DEATH =February 26, 1977 | PLACE OF DEATH = Memphis, Tennessee , United States DEFAULTSORT:White, Bukka Category:1909 births Category:1977 deaths Category:African American guitarists Category:African American singers Category:American blues guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:Country blues singers Category:American buskers Category:American pianists Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:Blues revival musicians Category:Country blues musicians Category:Delta blues musicians Category:Gospel blues musicians Category:Musicians from Mississippi Category:People from Aberdeen, Mississippi Category:People from Chickasaw County, Mississippi Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Slide guitarists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Deaths from cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Tennessee
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