Pinetop Perkins

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Pinetop Perkins

Background information
Birth name Joe Willie Perkins
Born July 7, 1913 (1913-07-07) (age 94)
Belzoni, Mississippi, United States
Genre(s) Piano blues
Boogie-Woogie
Chicago blues
Occupation(s) Pianist, Singer
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1920s – Present
Website pinetopperkins.com

Pinetop Perkins (born Joe Willie Perkins; July 7, 1913) is an American blues musician.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Perkins was born in Belzoni, Mississippi.[1] He began his career as a guitarist, but then injured the tendons in his left arm in a fight with a choirgirl in Helena, Arkansas. Unable to play guitar, Perkins switched to the piano, and also switched from Robert Nighthawk's KFFA radio program to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time. He continued working with Nighthawk, however, accompanying him on 1950's "Jackson Town Gal".

In the 1950s, Perkins joined Earl Hooker and began touring, stopping to record "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (written by Pinetop Smith) at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis, Tennessee. ("They used to call me Pinetop," he recalled, "because I played that song."[2]) However, Perkins was only 15 years old in 1928, when Smith originally recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".

Perkins then relocated to Illinois and left music until Hooker convinced him to record again in 1968.

When Otis Spann left the Muddy Waters band in 1969, Perkins was chosen to replace him. He stayed for more than a decade, then left with several other musicians to form the Legendary Blues Band with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, recording through the late 1970s, 80s and early 90s.

Although he has appeared as a sideman on countless recordings, Perkins never had an album devoted solely to his artistry, until the release of After Hours on Blind Pig Records in 1988.[3]

His robust piano is fairly presented in On Top (1992), an easy-going recital of blues standards with his old Waters' associate, Jerry Portnoy on harmonica.[4]

In 1998 Perkins released the album Legends featuring guitarist Hubert Sumlin.

Perkins was driving his automobile in 2004 in La Porte, Indiana, when he was hit by a train. The car was wrecked, but the 91-year-old driver was not seriously hurt. Perkins now lives in Austin, Texas. He usually performs a couple nights a week at Nuno's on Sixth ST. In 2005, Perkins received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2008, Perkins received a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas together with Henry James Townsend, Robert Lockwood, Jr. & David Honeyboy Edwards. He was also nominated in the same category for his solo album, Pinetop Perkins on the 88's: Live in Chicago.

The song "Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins", performed by Perkins and Angela Strehli, plays on the common misconception that Perkins wrote "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie":

Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins
I got a question for you
How'd you write that first boogie woogie
The one they named after you

[edit] Discography (selection)

  • 1976: Boogie Woogie King
  • 1977: Hard Again (Muddy Waters)
  • 1988: After Hours
  • 1992: Pinetop Perkins with the Blue Ice Band
  • 1992: On Top
  • 1993: Portrait of a Delta Bluesman
  • 1995: Live Top (with the Blue Flames)
  • 1997: Born in the Delta
  • 1998: Sweet Black Angel
  • 1998: Legends (with Hubert Sumlin)
  • 1999: Live at 85! (with George Kilby Jr)
  • 2000: Back On Top
  • 2003: Heritage of the Blues: The Complete Hightone Sessions
  • 2004: Ladies Man
  • 2008: Pinetop Perkins and Friends

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ IMDb database birth information
  2. ^ Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, 2000 NEA National Heritage Fellowships
  3. ^ Blind Pig Records website notes - accessed January 2008
  4. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited, p. 154. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 

[edit] External links

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