Sleepy John Estes
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Biography
Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee (1899 or 1904 – 1977)
In 1915, Estes’s father, a sharecropper who also played some guitar, moved the family to Brownsville, Tennessee. Not long after, Estes lost the sight of his right eye when a friend threw a rock at him during a baseball game. At the age of 19, while working as a field hand, he began to perform professionally. The venues were mostly local parties and picnics, with the accompaniment of Hammie Nixon, a harmonica player, and James “Yank” Rachell, a guitarist and mandolin player. He continue to work, on and off, with both musicians for more than fifty years.
Estes made his debut as a recording artist in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, at a session organized by Ralph Peer for Victor Records. His partnership with Nixon was first documented on songs like Drop Down Mama and Someday Baby Blues in 1935; later sides replaced the harmonica player with the guitarists Son Bonds or Charlie Pickett. He later recorded for the Decca and Bluebird labels, with his last pre-war recording session taking place in 1941.
Estes made a brief return to recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1952, recording Runnin’ Around and Rats in My Kitchen, but otherwise was largely out of the public eye for two decades.
Top Tracks
Top Albums
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I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More
33,359 listeners23 tracks
Released:
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Working Man Blues
8,164 listeners25 tracks
Released:
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The Legend of Sleepy John Estes
9,977 listeners12 tracks
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Complete Works, Vol. 2 (1937-1941)
1,904 listeners26 tracks
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jazzthieve
Spotify playlist: Blues: Chicago Blues, Delta Blues, Electric Blues, Jump Blues, Piedmont Blues
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OrangesunHouse
Those vox, goddamn he's good.
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hierophantus
Which is weird because I know his band could not have failed to "make it in today's biz" with his infallible guidance.
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hierophantus
@mustardog: I note that 3 years later, the great judge of who would "make it in today's biz" still has a total of 8,893 scrobbles all time.
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Forteski
American Folk Blues Festival group: http://www.last.fm/group/American+Folk+Blues+Festival
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mustardog
@grfn: When I take a look at some of the twits that have "made it" in "today's biz," I'm pretty sure your shout is complementary to Estes!
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Druid66
Sleepy John certainly woke me up.
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yellowlizard
mercury rev fuck off, i say.
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insomniacme
Mercury Rev? pfft
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YeshuaTheGreat
I enjoy his story
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pingpong_fiasco
Mercury Rev owes a lot to him.
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grfn
A guy like this would never make it in today's biz.
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DeTyfus
Dayum.
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ConradPoohs19
...he simply had a tendency to withdraw from his surroundings into drowsiness whenever life was too cruel or too boring to warrant full attention. Oh yeah
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sGarrista-
He's great.
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