Circa 1926
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON
Lemon Henry Jefferson, better known as Blind Lemon Jefferson,
the father of the Texas Blues, is the man who taught T-Bone Walker
to play the guitar. He recorded his first sides in December 1925. The
first tracks were gospel songs, released under the name Deacon
L.J. Bates, but shortly thereafter he recorded “Booster Blues” and
“Dry Southern Blues.” “Booster Blues” is a migration song,
opening with “I left for Detroit,” presumably from Texas; it has a
verse about thinking about writing, but deciding its best to
telephone, being so far away. “Dry Southern” is full of trains and
wandering but less obviously about the Great Migration. Both
have complex rhythms, especially “Booster.” “Dry Southern” is
more closely related to country music, with a pinch of Mexican
flavor. In “Got the Blues” and “Long Lonesome Blues,” recorded in the same sessions, one can hear a dozen innovations in the form—again, especially rhythmic—that would be rediscovered by musicians in the decades to come.