Biography
USA. It was once believed that James was a convict, brought to the studio under guard to make his four recordings in 1936, and that he broke down before they were completed. This romantic extrapolation from the lyrics of ‘Lonesome Day Blues’ - ‘I’m goin’ to the Big House, an’ I don’t even care... I might get four or five years, lord, an’ I might get the chair’ - seems to be untrue; James was probably Cincinnati-based, as he accompanied titles by Walter Coleman. James was a rough, two-fisted barrelhouse pianist, with a hoarse, declamatory vocal delivery, equally suited to the anguished ‘Lonesome Day Blues’, a robust version of ‘Casey Jones’ and the earthily obscene ‘Sweet Patuni’, which was issued much later on a bootleg ‘party’ single.
Read the Full Biography of Jesse James (Blues)
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