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Skip James

Newport Folk Festival, 1964 — photograph by Dick Waterman

Delta

Skip James

This artist is no longer with us.

Born: June 9, 1902, Bentonia, Mississippi · Died: October 3, 1969, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (cancer)• United States

Delta BluesCountry Blues

Skip James recorded eight two-sided 78s in February 1931, then vanished from the blues world for 33 years, spending most of that time as a working preacher rather than a musician. When he finally came back, his eerie, high falsetto and haunted open D-minor guitar tuning sounded like nothing else committed to record before or since — which is exactly why blues researchers went looking for him in the first place. He was born Nehemiah "Skip" James on June 9, 1902, in a segregated hospital in Bentonia, Mississippi. His father, Eddie James, was by most accounts a bootlegger who abandoned the family around 1907, though he later reformed and became a preacher himself; his mother Phyllis worked as a cook and babysitter on the Woodbine Plantation south of Yazoo City. James's mother bought him his first guitar for $2.50, and he also learned organ as a teenager. In 1919 he left Bentonia for road-construction and levee-building work, an experience that fed directly into his song "Illinois Blues" (Kilde: Wikipedia). His entire sound traces back to one unrecorded local musician: Henry Stuckey, who taught James the distinctive open D-minor "cross-note" tuning that gives his guitar playing its unmistakable, almost dissonant quality — a tuning Stuckey reportedly picked up from Bahamian soldiers during World War I, though his actual service record doesn't confirm an overseas posting, so the exact chain of transmission is uncertain (Kilde: Wikipedia). Talent scout H.C. Speir — the same man who found Charley Patton — sent James to Paramount Records' studio in Grafton, Wisconsin in February 1931, where he recorded roughly 18 sides across a handful of sessions, including "Devil Got My Woman," "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues," "Cypress Grove Blues" and "I'm So Glad." Biographer Stephen Calt called his fingerpicking "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music" (Kilde: Wikipedia). The records sold almost nothing — the Depression had gutted the market for blues 78s just as James arrived in it. He walked away from secular music entirely. He became his father's church choir director and was eventually ordained as a minister in both Baptist and Methodist churches, and made no known recordings for 33 years (Kilde: Wikipedia). In 1964, blues enthusiasts John Fahey, Bill Barth and Henry Vestine tracked him down in a hospital bed in Tunica, Mississippi. Weeks later he was on stage at the Newport Folk Festival, his first performance in over three decades, in front of an audience that had grown up worshipping records he'd made when most of them weren't yet born. Photographer Dick Waterman documented that Newport comeback, and his images remain the most widely used photographs of James to this day (Kilde: Wikipedia). He recorded again for Takoma, Melodeon and Vanguard between 1964 and 1969, revisiting his 1931 catalogue and writing new material that increasingly reflected his declining health. In 1968, Cream released a cover of "I'm So Glad" that earned James roughly $10,000 in royalties — by most accounts the only real financial windfall of his career (Kilde: Wikipedia). He died of cancer in Philadelphia on October 3, 1969, at 67, and is buried under his birth name, Nehemiah James, at Merion Memorial Park in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, a grave that has since become something of a pilgrimage site for blues fans (Kilde: Wikipedia; The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Musical Influence

James's open D-minor tuning and falsetto delivery are so idiosyncratic that few blues musicians have ever attempted to fully replicate them, but his songs travelled even where his technique didn't: "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" reached a mass audience decades later via the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, and Cream's 1968 cover of "I'm So Glad" carried his melody into the British blues-rock boom. Robert Johnson himself is thought to have absorbed elements of James's Bentonia style before recording his own material a few years later (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Henry Stuckey

Family and personal life

Father

A bootlegger who abandoned the family around 1907; later reformed and became a preacher himself.

Mother

Worked as a cook and babysitter on the Woodbine Plantation south of Yazoo City; bought Skip his first guitar.

Formative experiences

•1919: Left Bentonia for road-construction and levee-building work, later the subject of "Illinois Blues." (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•Learned from Henry Stuckey, a local, never-recorded musician who taught him the open D-minor "cross-note" tuning. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•February 1931: Recorded roughly 18 sides for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1931–1964: Left secular music entirely to become a church choir director and ordained minister. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1964: Rediscovered in a hospital bed in Tunica, Mississippi; performed at Newport Folk Festival weeks later. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Stories & Anecdotes

"The Bahamian-soldier origin story for his open D-minor tuning, passed down from mentor Henry Stuckey, doesn't quite check out against Stuckey's actual WWI service record — the exact source of the tuning remains genuinely uncertain. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"Cream's 1968 cover of "I'm So Glad" earned him around $10,000 in royalties — described by biographers as the only real financial windfall of his entire career. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"He is buried under his birth name, Nehemiah James, at Merion Memorial Park in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania — a grave that draws blues pilgrims from across the country. (Kilde: The Philadelphia Inquirer)"

Collaborators

Local, never-recorded musician who taught James the open D-minor "cross-note" tuning that defines his sound.

Jackson, Mississippi talent scout — the same figure who discovered Charley Patton — who sent James to Paramount in 1931.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Skip James - Devil got my woman (1931)

Added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020.

fulanodetal4

Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

Skip James "I'm So Glad"

Skip James "I'm So Glad"

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

Year	Title	Producer	Studio	Label	Chart	Sales	Musicians	YouTube	Notes
1931	Paramount session, Grafton, Wisconsin	H.C. Speir / Paramount Records	—	Paramount Records	—	—	—		February 1931 — roughly 18 sides recorded, including "Devil Got My Woman," "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues," "Cypress Grove Blues" and "I'm So Glad." Commercial failure amid the Depression.
1964	Newport Folk Festival comeback	—	—	—	—	—	—		First performance in over three decades, following his rediscovery in a Tunica, Mississippi hospital.
1966	Vanguard/Melodeon sessions	Various	—	Vanguard / Melodeon / Takoma	—	—	—		Rediscovery-era recordings revisiting his 1931 catalogue alongside new material.

Famous songs

01Devil Got My Woman

02Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

03Cypress Grove Blues

04I'm So Glad

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia

Sources

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