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Saturday, 14 January 2006 19:41 |
Down In Mississippi
(Homage to J.B. Lenoir)
for the Kudzu Kings
Way down in the Delta, on a little farm
outside of Monticello,
way back in 1929,
down in Mississippi,
a little boy they called
J.B. Lenoir was born
& grew up in the fields
& learned to play the guitar
from his father
& left behind
the plow & the hoe
to begin his travels
down in New Orleans
with Sonny Boy Williamson
& Elmore James,
& all the way to Chicago
by the end of the '40s
where all the great bluesmen
had come to settle
& make their music
a long long ways away
from life in the cotton fields
down in Mississippi
& J.B. Lenoir
came to flourish
in the blues world of Chicago,
tearing up the funky nightspots
& cutting 78s & 45s
that have become classics
of modern blues, like "Let's Roll"
& "The Mojo" for J.O.B. Records,
"Korea Blues" on Chess,
"Eisenhower Blues" & "Mama,
Talk To Your Daughter," a big hit
on the Parrot label,
J.B. wrote his own songs
& made his guitar sing
& swung his ass off
every time he played,
the sound of Mississippi
shining through
the urban grime
of post-war Chicago
until his sudden demise
at the age of 38
in an automobile accident
in the spring of 1967,
but his songs live on
& the wisdom he brought us,
J.B. Lenoir, from all the way
down in Mississippi
New Orleans
January 31, 1999
3.1.696 |
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