Today we remember the late great blues man Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records among other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. The only direct student of Robert Johnson, he is well known as a longtime collaborator with Sonny Boy Williamson II and for his work in the mid-1950s with Little Walter. Robert Lockwood was born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas. He started playing the organ in his fathers church at the age of 8. The famous bluesman Robert Johnson lived with Lockwoods mother for 10 years off and on after his parents divorce. Lockwood learned from Johnson not only how to play guitar, but timing and stage presence as well. Because of his personal and professional association with the music of Robert Johnson, he became known as Robert Junior Lockwood, a nickname by which he was known among fellow musicians for the rest of his life, although he later frequently professed his dislike for this appellation. By age 15, Lockwood was playing professionally at parties in the Helena area. He often played with his quasi-stepfather figure Robert Johnson as well as with Sonny Boy Williamson II and Johnny Shines. Lockwood played at fish fries, juke joints, and street corners throughout the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s. On one occasion Robert Johnson played on one side of the Sunflower River, while Lockwood played on the other, with the people of Clarksdale, Mississippi milling about the bridge, supposedly unable to tell which guitarist was the real Robert Johnson. Lockwood played with Sonny Boy Williamson II in the Clarksdale, Mississippi area in 1938 and 1939. He also played with Howlin Wolf and others in Memphis, Tennessee around 1938. From 1939 to 1940 he split his time playing in St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois and Helena. On July 1st 1941, Lockwood made his first recordings with Doctor Clayton for the Bluebird label in Aurora, Illinois and on July 30th he recorded the four songs which were released as the first two 78s under his own name: Little Boy Blue / Take A Little Walk With Me (Bluebird B-8820) and Im Gonna Train My Baby / Black Spider Blues (Bluebird B-8877). These songs remained in his repertoire throughout his career. Also in 1941, Lockwood and Williamson began their influential performances on the daily King Biscuit Time radio program on KFFA in Helena. For several years in the early 1940s the pair played together in and around Helena and continued to be associated with King Biscuit Time. From about 1944 to 1949 Lockwood played in West Memphis, Arkansas, St. Louis, Chicago and Memphis. Lockwood was an early influence on B. B. King and played with Kings band during his early career in Memphis. In 1950, Lockwood settled in Chicago. A 1951 78 featured Im Gonna Dig Myself A Hole / Dust My Broom (Mercury 8260) and a 1954 release contained Aw Aw (Baby) / Sweet Woman (From Maine) (J.O.B 1107.) In 1954 he replaced Louis Myers as guitarist in Little Walters band, and played on Walters #1 hit My Babe in 1955. He left Little Walters band shortly thereafter, and in the late 50s recorded several sessions with Sonny Boy Williamson for Chess Records, sessions which also included Willie Dixon and Otis Spann. Lockwood also performed and/or recorded with Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Boyd, Roosevelt Sykes, J.B. Lenoir, and Muddy Waters among others. At the age of sixty, in 1975, he discovered the 12-string guitar and preferentially played it almost exclusively for the latter third of his life. His most famous 12-string was a blue-colored one custom designed and made by the Japanese luthiers Moony Omote and Age Sumi. This instrument was acquired by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in February of 2013 and is displayed there. A live recording with David Honeyboy Edwards, Joseph Pinetop Perkins and Henry Mule Townsend in Dallas in October 2004—Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas—was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. For Townsend and Lockwood it was their first Grammy win. Earlier in 2004 in Dallas he appeared at Eric Claptons first Crossroads Guitar Festival. His last known recording session was carried out at Ante Up Audio studio in Cleveland; where he performed on the album The Way Things Go, with longtime collaborator Mark Cleveland Fats Hahn for Honeybee Entertainment. Lockwood died at the age of 91 in Cleveland, having earlier suffered a cerebral aneurysm and a stroke. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:07:20 +0000
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