Frogtoon Music

Fixing To Die Blues by Bukka White

Artist Biography For Bukka White

Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White November 12 1909 – February 26 1977 Was An American Delta Blues Guitarist And Singer. Born Between Aberdeen And Houston Mississippi White Was A First Cousin Of B.B. King's Mother White's Mother And King's Grandmother Were Sisters . White Himself Is Remembered As A Player Of National Steel Guitars. He Also Played But Was Less Adept At The Piano. "Bukka" Is A Phonetic Spelling Of Booker White's Given Name First Used By His Second 1937 Record Label Vocalion . White Started His Career Playing The Fiddle At Square Dances.
He Claims To Have Met Charley Patton Early On Although Some Doubt Has Been Cast Upon This Regardless Patton Was A Large Influence On White. White Typically Played Slide Guitar In An Open Tuning. He Was One Of The Few Along With Skip James To Use A Crossnote Tuning In E Minor Which He May Have Learned As James Did From Henry Stuckey.
He First Recorded For The Victor Records Label In 1930 As Washington White. His Recordings For Victor Like Those Of Many Other Bluesmen Fluctuated Between Country Blues And Gospel Numbers. His Gospel Songs Were Done In The Style Of Blind Willie Johnson With A Female Singer Accentuating The Last Phrase Of Each Line.
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 "Po' Boy." Bob Dylan Covered His Song "Fixin' To Die Blues" Which Aided A "rediscovery" Of White In 1963 By Guitarist 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.
White Was At One Time Managed By 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 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. He Recorded A New Album For Denson And Fahey's Takoma Records Whilst Denson Became His 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! 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 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 "Shake 'Em On Down " Is Considered Definitive And Became A Hit While White Was Serving Time In Parchman.
White Died In February 1977 From Cancer At The Age Of 67 In Memphis Tennessee. 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. The Led Zeppelin Song Hats Off To Roy Harper On The Band's 1970 Album Led Zeppelin III Was Based In Large Part On White's "Shake 'Em On Down." Custard Pie A Song On Led Zeppelin's 1975 Album Physical Graffiti Also References "Shake 'Em On Down."
The 1963 Recordings Of White's Song "Shake 'em On Down" And Spoken-Word Piece "Remembrance Of Charlie Patton" Were Both Sampled By Electronic Artist 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. The Song Was Reworked And Re-Released On The 2000 EP "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.

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