Furry Lewis | Artist

Walter E. "Furry" Lewis was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter born 1893/1899 in Greenwood, Mississippi. He was one of the earliest of the blues musicians active in the 1920s to be brought out of retirement and given new opportunities to record during the folk blues revival of the 1960s. One of the most recorded Memphis-based guitarists of the late '20s, Lewis' subsequent fame 40 years later was based largely on the strength of those early sides. One of the very best blues storytellers, and an extremely nimble-fingered guitarist into his seventies, he was equally adept at blues and ragtime, and made the most out of an understated, non-flamboyant style. His family moved to Memphis when he was 7 and he acquired the nickname Furry from childhood playmates. By 1908, he was playing at parties, in taverns, and on the street. He was also invited to play dates with W. C. Handy's Orchestra. In his travels he met a wide variety of performers, including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Alger "Texas" Alexander. In 1916 Lewis lost a leg when trying to jump a freight train in Du Quoin, Illinois, and for the remainder of his life used an artificial leg. He gave up his traveling and returned to Memphis, where he performed on street corners. In 1922 he took a permanent position as a street sweeper for the city of Memphis, a job he held until his retirement in 1966. Lewis made his first recordings for Vocalion in Chicago in 1927, and a year later, he recorded for Victor Records. The tracks were mostly blues but included two-part versions of "Casey Jones" and "John Henry". He sometimes fingerpicked and sometimes played with a slide. He made many successful records in the late 1920s, including "Kassie Jones", "Billy Lyons & Stack-O-Lee" and "Good Morning Judge". On October 3, 1959, folk historian Sam Charters, with his wife Ann Charters, recorded Furry in his rented room in Memphis. The recordings were released on a Folkways Records LP that same year. On April 3, 1961, Charters again recorded two albums of Furry Lewis, this time at the Sun Studio in Memphis, for the Prestige/Bluesville imprint. Standout albums include his 1960's recordings Furry Lewis (1960), Back on my Feet Again (1961), Done Changed My Mind (1961), and Live at the Gaslight (1962). Also there are several excellent archival compilations of his remastered songs from the 1920's such as Shake 'em on Down (1972), In His Prime 1927-1928 (1975), and Good Morning Judge (2003). In 1972, he was the featured performer in the Memphis Blues Caravan, which included Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, Clarence Nelson, Hammie Nixon, Memphis Piano Red, Sam Chatmon, and Mose Vinson. He also opened twice for the Rolling Stones, performed on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, had a part in a Burt Reynolds movie (W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings), and was profiled in Playboy magazine. Joni Mitchell's song "Furry Sings the Blues" on her album Hejira is about her visit to Lewis's apartment and a mostly ruined Beale Street in February, 1976. She wrote "You bring him smoke and drink and he'll play for you, It's mostly muttering now and sideshow spiel, But there was one song he played I could really feel". By all accounts Lewis hated Mitchell's song and said she should pay him royalties for being its subject. Lewis died from heart failure in Memphis on September 14 1981 at the age of 88.

Artist Website: wikipedia/Furry_Lewis

Featured Albums: Furry Lewis

Related Artists: The Alabama State Troupers, Bukka White, Joni Mitchell