Homesick James

Homesick James (* James A. Williamson, April 30, 1910 in Somerville, Tennessee, † December 13, 2006 in Springfield ( Missouri)) was an American blues musician.

As a child, he began playing guitar and developed his style in the widespread, small, miserable places for blacks in the South, where he performed since the age of 14. In the following years he played, among others Sleepy John Estes with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Snooky Pryor, Muddy Waters, Honeyboy Edwards, Blind Boy Fuller ( for the Homesick for " mentor " and major sponsor was ). Also with Robert Johnson, he appeared, as well as with Son House, for which he felt great reverence.

In his own band, the " Dusters ", which he led in the 1930s, among others, Albert King played for a while drums. Towards the end of the decade Homesick James began his career in the studio to record first for RCA plates and Vocalion. In the 1940s he moved to Memphis (Tennessee), where he performed regularly with Big Walter Horton, one of the greatest harmonica players of the blues ever. In the early 1950s he moved further north and settled in Chicago.

Here he became an integral part of the blues scene and coined the former sound of the Maxwell Street decisively. He appeared with Memphis Minnie ( Home Sick longtime girlfriend), Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Yank Rachell, Robert Lockwood Jr., Junior Wells, Sunnyland Slim, Little Walter and Elmore James. Between him and Elmore James, the Homesick decades, referred to as his cousin, a particularly close friendship developed. Homesick to Elmore have given his first guitar and he taught him the Slide game. He played in Elmore's band from 1955 until the death of Elmore James in 1963 and appeared in numerous Elmore James hits such as The Sky Is Crying, Dust My Broom or roll and tumble with. Elmore James died in 1963 in the presence of Homesick at his home in Chicago.

After the death of Elmore James Homesick worked primarily under its own name and recorded numerous albums for Delmark, Prestige / Fantasy, Bluesville, Appaloosa, Stanhope, Trix, Black and Blue, Earwig and Icehouse. He has performed at virtually every major blues festivals and was an annual guest of the most significant blues festivals in general ( Chicago Blues Festival, San Francisco Blues Festival and the St. Louis Blues Festival).

The Living Blues Magazine saw him as "one of the most wonderful phenomena of the blues at all "; the music magazine option found was to hear him " just as captivating as recordings of Robert Johnson to discover for the first time " and further that "it is as if the provisions are the roots of all blues guitarists, bundled into a single source." The Chicago Reader attested Homesick that he has collected " temper to an art form. He throws snippets of blues standards from recent times as well as from the early days of the blues together, pulls and pulls the strings of his guitar with anarchic wildness to change in the next moment in a soft Slide- run. His expressive vocals he interspersed with anecdotes and aphorisms from his long life as a constant traveler. "

Williamson took in 2004 to his last album. Homesick James died on 13 December 2006 and is buried in Covington, Tennessee.

Discography

• " Stones In My Passway " on "Blues On the South Side ," Prestige OBCCD -529 -2, 1990 ( recorded 1964);
• "Crossroads " to " My Home Is not Here", Fedora FCD 5023, 2004 ( recorded 2004).