Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound

Prologue

prologue 1987 On Highway 75, in Freestone County southeast of Dal‑ las, Depression-era shotgun houses scattered along the roadside appear deserted. An old black woman, wear‑ ing a long, dark skirt, trudges out of the shadows; two children carelessly slam a screen door, and it becomes clear that people still live inside. QuinceCox,acemeterycaretakerinWortham,Texas, leans forward on his John Deere tractor with a whirring mower blade. As I walk toward him, he idles the engine and lowers his sweat-stained felt hat into his lap. I tell him I’m looking for the grave of Blind Lemon Jefferson, and he explains he’s eighty-three years old and knows “just about everything about Blind Lemon.” Then he points across a gravel path to the old “Negro” burying ground. “Anyone over the age of sixty,” he says in a hoarse voice, “remembers that day well.” He recalls with sud‑ den clarity Blind Lemon’s funeral in 1929, his body brought back from Chicago, where he had died tragi‑ cally. He continues, “Two or three hundred people came, black and white, to watch his coffin lowered in the ground, but not too many people come through these days talking about Blind Lemon.” TofindBlindLemonJefferson’sgrave,youhavetoask somebody. The marker, at the far end of the Wortham cemetery on Highway 14, is easy to miss. There are no road signs leading the way. The cemetery itself is on an unmarkeddirtroad,andthegravestoneisanunmarked concrete slab, occupying roughly one square foot of ground. A plaque placed by the Texas State Historical Association in 1967 identifies the grave. Someone has left a wreath of plastic flowers. The history surrounding the short but influential recording career of Blind Lemon Jefferson has been well established. However, the details of his personal life remain obscured by legend and a lack of solid doc‑ umentation. There is only one known photograph of Blind Lemon, a publicity still that was reproduced as a graphic in advertisements for his records. IhadhopedtofindoutmoreinformationinWortham, but the cemetery caretaker doesn’t remember much quince cox, wortham, 1987. photograph by alan govenar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01FRONT MATTER.indd 13 7/8/08 10:24:03 AM more than the funeral. He does suggest, however, that I talk to Bertha and Mamie Williams, who live in the country near where Blind Lemon was born and knew him as a young boy. After listening to the directions carefully, I find the house without any problem, but when I knock on the door there is no answer. I hear a television and knock again. As I start to leave, a stoopshouldered woman comes to the door with a cane. I try to explain that Quince Cox has told me about her, but she has difficulty hearing me. “What?!” she calls out in frustration, apparently not understanding what I am saying, and I repeat, “Do you remember Blind Lemon Jefferson?” (left) blind lemon jefferson’s grave, wortham, 1987. photograph by alan govenar. (right) blind lemon jefferson, ca. 1927. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv p r o l o g u e “Who?” she replies, still confused, but then a smile comes to her face. In a deep voice she says, “Why, he’s been dead for nearly fifty years,” and closes the door in my face, saying, “Thank you.” As I drive off, I realize the absurdity of what I am do‑ ing. The search for new stories about Blind Lemon was motivated in part by my interest in the Swedish blues magazine Jefferson, named for the legendary singer. In Jefferson, a caricature of Blind Lemon, modeled after his publicity still, appears on the inside back cover with a blurb that changes each month. In the cartoon, editor Tommy Löfgren puts words in Blind Lemon’s mouth 01FRONT MATTER.indd 14 7/8/08 10:24:04 AM thatareattimesamusing:“CanIchangemyshirtnow?” “Is the world ready for me yet?” The paradox of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s local ob‑ scurity and the international interest in his career is nowhere more evident than in these cartoons. Despite the neglect he suffered in Texas, Jefferson is celebrated abroad as a seminal figure in the history of blues music. Texas blues itself continued to suffer the same paradox until recently. It, too, had been neglected in its own back yard and, consequently, had not been well docu‑ mented as a regional style. 1997 A small group of concerned citizens in Wortham raises the funds to erect a pink granite headstone for...