Honeyboy Edwards
Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi on June 28, 1915, the son of a sharecropper. Today, Edwards is one of the last living bluesmen carrying on the pre-war Mississippi delta blues tradition, along with his close friend Pinetop Perkins. After meeting Delta blues guitarist Big Joe Williams, he left home at age 17, and traveled the South by hopping freight trains. Honeyboy worked with Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and countless others while honing his musical skills on the streets and in juke joints across 13 states.
Not long after recording with Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1942, Honeyboy met teenage blues harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs, and took Walter to Chicago, where they frequented the city's famous Maxwell Street Market. After a short stint there, Honeyboy recorded for the Artist Recording Company in Texas, for Sun Records in Memphis and for Chicago's Chess Records. In the 1960s he recorded for numerous labels before settling with Earwig, his current label.
He wrote "The World Don't Owe Me Nothin'" in 1997 recounting those early years. Hooking up with Earwig Records, he continued his recording and touring career. He received a Grammy for best traditional blues album for his work on "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen," and in 2009, they awarded him a lifetime achievement award.
Not long after recording with Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1942, Honeyboy met teenage blues harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs, and took Walter to Chicago, where they frequented the city's famous Maxwell Street Market. After a short stint there, Honeyboy recorded for the Artist Recording Company in Texas, for Sun Records in Memphis and for Chicago's Chess Records. In the 1960s he recorded for numerous labels before settling with Earwig, his current label.
He wrote "The World Don't Owe Me Nothin'" in 1997 recounting those early years. Hooking up with Earwig Records, he continued his recording and touring career. He received a Grammy for best traditional blues album for his work on "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen," and in 2009, they awarded him a lifetime achievement award.