Eddie Cusic (January 4, 1926 – August 11, 2015) was an American Mississippi blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter.
His small body of recorded works includes some erroneously credited to "Eddie Quesie" and "Eddie Cusie". Cusic had musical connections with
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...
and with
James "Son" Thomas
James "Son Ford" Thomas (October 14, 1926 – June 26, 1993) was an American Delta blues musician, gravedigger and sculptor from Leland, Mississippi.
Biography
Thomas was born in Eden, Mississippi on October 14, 1926. While working in the f ...
.
Life and career
Cusic was born in Wilmot, Mississippi, due south of
Leland, Mississippi
Leland is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. It is located within the Mississippi Delta, on the banks of Deer Creek. The population was 4,481 at the 2010 census. It was once a railway town and had long been a center of cott ...
, in 1926.
Growing up in a farming community, he was inspired to play the blues after hearing adults playing at family gatherings. He graduated from playing the
diddley bow
The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a brid ...
to a
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
acoustic guitar. In the early 1950s, he formed the Rhythm Aces, a three-piece band, which played throughout the
Mississippi Delta.
One member of the group was
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...
, whom Cusic taught to play the guitar.
Following service in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
, which began in 1952, Cusic settled in Leland and found employment as a laborer and tractor driver at Delta Branch Agricultural Research Station in Stoneville, Mississippi. When it was discovered that he was adept at working on motors, he was placed in the shop there as a mechanic, where he remained until his retirement. In the 1970s, Cusic performed with
James "Son" Thomas
James "Son Ford" Thomas (October 14, 1926 – June 26, 1993) was an American Delta blues musician, gravedigger and sculptor from Leland, Mississippi.
Biography
Thomas was born in Eden, Mississippi on October 14, 1926. While working in the f ...
at regular engagements. Together they recorded "Once I Had a Car", which appeared on the
compilation album ''Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues'' (1977).
He retired from full-time work in 1989, and having been urged by his good friend Thomas, Cusic returned to performing with an acoustic guitar.
He appeared at the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.
H ...
, the Sunflower River Blues Festival, the
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the F ...
and the
Chicago Blues Festival.
In 1998, Cusic made a "
field recording
Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...
" at his house in Leland and delivered versions of several
blues standards
Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...
in his own pure Mississippi blues styling. The recording included
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of "
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
"Good Morning, School Girl" is a blues standard that has been identified as an influential part of the blues canon. Pre-war Chicago blues vocalist and harmonica pioneer John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson first recorded it in 1937. Subsequently, a ...
", "
Big Boss Man", "
(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
"Hoochie Coochie Man" (originally titled "I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man") is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954. The song makes reference to hoodoo folk magic elements and makes novel use of a st ...
" and "
Catfish Blues".
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
noted that the resultant album, ''I Want to Boogie'', was "a strong debut that also makes the first new 'blues discovery' since the halcyon days of the 1960s".
It was released by
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an American independent record label based in Oakland, California, United States. HighTone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry ...
.
A reworked version, containing several different tracks, was released in 2012, entitled ''Leland Mississippi Blues''.
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
the vocals from Cusic's, “You Don't Have to Go” for their 2012 track, "
Down the Road".
Cusic died of
prostate cancer on August 11, 2015, aged 89.
[ ]
Discography
See also
*
List of electric blues musicians
References
External links
Illustrated discography at Wirz.deYoutube.com recording of Cusic playing*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusic, Eddie
1926 births
2015 deaths
American blues singers
20th-century African-American male singers
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
Electric blues musicians
Blues musicians from Mississippi
Songwriters from Mississippi
People from Leland, Mississippi
Deaths from cancer in Mississippi
Deaths from prostate cancer
Guitarists from Mississippi
20th-century American guitarists
African-American songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century African-American people
United States Army soldiers
African-American United States Army personnel
American male songwriters