Blind Lemon Jefferson

Musician

• Born: July 11, 1897
• Birthplace: Couchman, Texas
• Died: December, 1929, or December, 1930
• Place of death: Chicago, Illinois

American blues singer and songwriter

Jefferson was the first self-accompanied country-blues musician to be a commercial recording success, transforming an industry that had previously been dominated by large bands fronted by female singers. His brief recording career offers a glimpse into the origins of the blues.

The Life

Lemon Jefferson was born to Alec and Classy Jefferson in Couchman, Texas, a small farming community sixty miles south of Dallas. Born either blind or visually impaired, Jefferson turned to music in order to make a living. After gaining popularity performing at churches, picnics, parties, and street corners near his rural home, he moved to Dallas, where there was a vibrant music scene. After a few years he was able to support himself and later a wife and son, playing the street corners and bars of Dallas and traveling throughout the South.

In 1925 Sam Price, a local record store employee and pianist, contacted Paramount Records about Jefferson. The label brought him to Chicago to record that same year. His early recordings, released in 1926, sold well not only in the rural South but also in Northern cities. Jefferson returned to Chicago frequently, recording nearly a hundred sides for Paramount Records as well as two sides for Okeh Records.

Four years into his recording career, Jefferson was found dead on the streets of Chicago after a snowstorm. Although many legends surround his death (including that he, like Robert Johnson, was poisoned by a jealous girlfriend), the date and exact circumstances are unclear and no death certificate was issued. Despite his popularity he was buried in an unmarked grave that was neglected until 1967, when the Texas State Historical Association placed a plaque nearby.

The Music

Prior to the release of Jefferson’s first records in 1926, blues was primarily recorded by women singers with large ensembles. As a self-accompanied male singer and guitarist, Jefferson was a huge departure from this model. Unlike these female singers, who mostly performed other people’s compositions, Jefferson came to the studio with a full repertoire of both traditional and original music. His unexpected success changed the way record companies perceived the blues and opened the doors for a generation of country-blues musicians that followed.

“Corrina Blues.”Because Jefferson was a solo artist, he was able to take more improvisational liberties with the blues form than the large ensembles. This flexibility is evident in his treatment of “See See Rider,” a song first recorded in 1924 by Ma Rainey. Rainey, backed by an ensemble featuring Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, sings a standard twelve-bar blues, which consists of three four-bar phrases. (A bar, or measure, is a regularly repeating group of beats, four in this case. This consistent rhythmic structure ensures that the ensemble stays together.) Jefferson’s version, called “Corrina Blues,” stretched the form, adding extra measures and beats as he saw fit. He used the guitar as a second voice, responding to each vocal phrase with an intricate run. He often slows the tempo when the guitar breaks away from its accompaniment role, then returns to the original tempo when the vocal comes back in. Jefferson also changed the basic structure of this song from a three-phrase to a four-phrase form by repeating the second phrase. This four-phrase blues structure is not uncommon and can also be heard on his recording of “One Dime Blues.” “Easy Rider Blues.”On “Easy Rider Blues,” Jefferson uses the twelve-bar blues structure instead of the regular four-bar phrases, and almost every phrase is four and a half measures (a two-bar vocal answered by a two-and-a-half-bar guitar pattern). While these variations on twelve-bar blues were exhibited by many self-accompanied blues artists who would record in the following years, Lemon had a virtuosic guitar style and a rubato vocal approach that made him immediately recognizable.

“He Arose from the Dead.”Though Jefferson is most remembered for his blues, he learned many spirituals during his early days in rural Texas. In fact, Jefferson’s first recording was a set of gospel numbers recorded under the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates, a name he would use again in 1927. Listening to these songs, one can imagine Jefferson leading a congregation. In “He Arose from the Dead” the lyrics are repetitive, the tempo is stable, and Jefferson refrains from adding extra measures or beats except between choruses. He takes fewer liberties with this community-based music than with the more narrative blues form.

“See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.”Another number that Jefferson recorded in 1927 was “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” It sold so well that Jefferson was asked to rerecord it in 1928. When Jefferson sings, “Have you ever heard that church bell toll?” he mimics the sound of a church bell on the bass notes of his guitar.

Musical Legacy

As the first commercially successful country-blues artist, Jefferson influenced generations of musicians. He traveled throughout Texas with Huddie Ledbetter, known as Leadbelly, years before Leadbelly was discovered by John and Alan Lomax (musicologists who preserved folk music) and became famous in his own right. Leadbelly recorded at least five tributes to Jefferson and often recalled their travels. Other musicians who knew Jefferson before he began to record include Victoria Spivey, Mance Lipscolm, and T-Bone Walker.

In the 1940’s Son House outlined Jefferson’s importance to Alan Lomax. A mentor to Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, House learned the blues from a man in Clarksdale, Mississippi, who had taught himself to play from Jefferson’s recordings. To Lomax, the discovery of this lineage was a breakthrough in his search for the origin of the blues. B. B. King cites Jefferson as one of his main inspirations.

Jefferson’s influence reached well beyond the blues genre. Carl Perkins recorded a rockabilly version of his hit “Matchbox Blues,” which was later covered by the Beatles. Bob Dylan’s debut album featured a cover of Jefferson’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” Other covers or tributes have been recorded by the White Stripes and Nick Cave. In 1980 Jefferson was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

Principal Recordings

albums:Immortal Blind Lemon Jefferson, Vol. 1, 1961; The Folk Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson, 1967; One Dime Blues, 1980; Immortal Blind Lemon Jefferson, Vol. 2, 1990.

singles: “Corrina Blues,” 1926; “Easy Rider Blues,” 1927; “He Arose from the Dead,” 1927; “Matchbox Blues,” 1927; “Prison Cell Blues,” 1928; “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,” 1928; “Big Night Blues,” 1929; “Cheater’s Spell,” 1929; “Pneumonia Blues,” 1929; “That Crawling Baby Blues,” 1929; “Tin Cup Blues,” 1929.

Bibliography

Charters, Samuel B. “Blind Lemon.” In The Country Blues. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. The strong narrative in this biographical account might appeal to younger audiences.

Evans, David. “Goin’ Up the Country: Blues in Texas and the Deep South.” In Nothing but the Blues, edited by Lawrence Cohn. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. This chapter places Jefferson among fellow Texas musicians Leadbelly and Texas Alexander.

Govenar, Alan. “Blind Lemon Jefferson, That Black Snake Moan: The Music and Mystery of Blind Lemon Jefferson.” In Bluesland: Portraits of Twelve Major American Blues Masters, edited by Pete Welding and Toby Byron. New York: Dutton, 1991. This essay features analysis of several songs, with lyrics included.

Santelli, Robert. “Blind Lemon Jefferson.” In The Big Book of the Blues. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. A concise biography of Jefferson.

Uzzel, Robert L. Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy. Waco, Tex.: Eakin Press, 2002. Comprehensive biography on Jefferson.

Wald, Elijah. “Race Records: Blues Queens, Crooners, Street Singers, and Hokum.” In Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Fresh look at the birth of the blues, challenging many preconceptions.