Sleepy John Estes › Similar Artists

Tampa Red - 100% match to Sleepy John Estes

Hudson Woodbridge aka Whittaker, 8 January 1904, Smithville, Georgia, USA, d. 19 March 1981, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Tampa Red was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother Whittaker’s family, hence his nickname. By the time of his 1928 recording debut for Vocalion Records, he had developed the clear, precise bottleneck blues guitar style that earned him his billing, Read more

Blind Boy Fuller - 98% match to Sleepy John Estes

Fulton Allen, 1908, Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 February 1941, USA. One of a large family, Fuller learned to play the guitar as a child and had begun a life as a transient singer when he was blinded, either through disease or when lye water was thrown in his face. By the late 20s he was well known throughout North Carolina and Virginia, playing and singing at count Read more

Big Joe Williams - 84% match to Sleepy John Estes

Joe Lee Williams, 16 October 1903, Crawford, Mississippi, USA, d. 17 December 1982, Macon, Mississippi, USA. Big Joe Williams was one of the most important blues singers to have recorded and also one whose life conforms almost exactly to the stereotyped pattern of how a ‘country’ blues singer should live. He was of partial Red Indian stock, his father being ‘R Read more

Furry Lewis - 81% match to Sleepy John Estes

Walter Lewis, 6 March 1893, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA, d. 14 September 1981, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Furry Lewis was a songster, a blues musician, a humorist and an all-round entertainer. Raised in the country, he picked up the guitar at an early age and moved into Memphis around 1900 where he busked on the streets. After he ran away from home, he had experience working o Read more

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - 79% match to Sleepy John Estes

24 August 1905, Forest, Mississippi, USA, d. 28 March 1976, Nassawadox, Virginia, USA (1974 is also cited). During the 40s and early 50s Crudup was an important name in the blues field, his records selling particularly well in the south. For much of his early life Crudup worked in various rural occupations, not learning to play the guitar until he was 32. His teacher was one Read more

Bukka White - 78% match to Sleepy John Estes

Booker T. Washington White, 12 November 1906, Houston, Mississippi, USA, d. 26 February 1977, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. White learned guitar and piano in his teens, and hoboed from 1921, playing blues with artists such as George ‘Bullet’ Williams. In the mid-30s White was a boxer and baseball pitcher. He recorded for Victor Records in 1930, a largely unissued sessio Read more

Frank Stokes - 77% match to Sleepy John Estes

1 January 1888, Whitehaven, Tennessee, USA, d. 12 September 1955, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Stokes was raised in Mississippi, taking up the guitar early in life. He worked on medicine shows, and in the streets of Memphis in the bands of Will Batts and Jack Kelly. By 1927, when Stokes and his fellow guitarist Dan Sane made their first records as the Beale Street Sheiks, they w Read more

Roosevelt Sykes - 76% match to Sleepy John Estes

31 January 1906, Elmar, Arkansas, USA, d. 17 July 1983, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Sykes learned piano at the age of 12 and by the early 20s was playing in local barrelhouses. He moved to St. Louis in 1928 and his first recordings for OKeh Records and Victor Records were made from 1929-31. During the 30s, Sykes recorded for Decca Records and acted as a talent scout for the Read more

Frank Frost - 67% match to Sleepy John Estes

15 April 1936, Auvergne, Arkansas, USA, d. 12 October 1999, Helena, Arkansas, USA. Frost’s skills encompassed keyboards and guitar, but like many other blues artists, he started with the harmonica. After moving to St. Louis as a teenager, he took up playing with Sonny Boy ‘Rice Miller’ Williamson in the mid-50s, appearing regularly with him on the famous radio Read more

Leroy Carr - 65% match to Sleepy John Estes

27 March 1905, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, d. 29 April 1935, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A self-taught pianist, Carr grew up in Kentucky and Indiana but was on the road working with a travelling circus when still in his teens. In the early 20s he was playing piano, often as an accompanist to singers, mostly in and around Covington, Kentucky. In the mid-20s he partnered Scrapp Read more

Mississippi Sheiks - 63% match to Sleepy John Estes

This musical combination flourished between 1930 and 1935, during which time they recorded more than 80 tracks for various ‘race’ labels. The Sheiks was a string band made up of members and friends of the Chatmon family, and included Lonnie Chatmon aka Lonnie Chatman/Lonnie Carter (guitar/violin), Sam Chatmon aka Sam Chatman/Sam Carter (10 January 1897, Bolton, Mis Read more

Blind Blake - 60% match to Sleepy John Estes

Memphis Minnie - 59% match to Sleepy John Estes

Lizzie Douglas, 3 June 1897, Algiers, Louisiana, USA, d. 6 August 1973, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Raised in Walls, Mississippi, Memphis Minnie learned banjo and guitar as a child, and ran away from home at the age of 13 to play music in Memphis; she worked for a time with Ringling Brothers Circus. When in Mississippi, she played guitar with Willie Brown, and in the 20s made a Read more

Phillip Walker - 58% match to Sleepy John Estes

11 February, 1937, Welsh, Louisiana, USA. Originating from the Port Arthur area of Louisiana, Walker worked in many bands building a reputation as a performer of note. Moving to Los Angeles, he recorded for the small Elko label before finally having an album made up from tracks recorded for producer Bruce Bromberg during 1969-72. These were released on Hugh Hefner’s Pla Read more

Peetie Wheatstraw - 57% match to Sleepy John Estes

William Bunch, 21 December 1902, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 21 December 1941, East St. Louis, Illinois, USA. Wheatstraw, also known as the Devil’s Son-In-Law and the High Sherrif Of Hell, was an influential and popular blues artist of the 20s and 30s. His claim that he had sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads was echoed in the legend that grew around the more reve Read more