Edward Lamonte Franklin (January 16, 1928 – July 31, 1975), better known as Guitar Pete Franklin, was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer, musician and songwriter. His best known track was "Guitar Pete's Blues". Franklin variously worked with a number of fellow blues musicians including

St. Louis Jimmy Oden James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden (June 26, 1903 – December 30, 1977) was an American blues singer and songwriter. Biography Oden was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. His parents were Henry Oden, a dancer, and Leana West, ...

Jazz Gillum William McKinley "Jazz" Gillum (September 11, 1902 or 1904 – March 29, 1966) was an American blues harmonica player. Biography Gillum was born in Indianola, Mississippi. He ran away from home at age seven and for the next few years lived in ...

John Brim John Charles Brim (April 10, 1922 – October 1, 2003) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He wrote and recorded the song "Ice Cream Man" which was later covered by the rock band Van Halen for their first album, and ...

Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...

, and

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gui ...

Biography

Edward Lamonte Franklin was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. Despite being billed as "Guitar Pete Franklin", he was equally adept on the piano. His guitar work was influenced by the work of

Scrapper Blackwell Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell (February 21, 1903 – October 7, 1962) was an American blues guitarist and singer, best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was an acoustic si ...

, whilst on the piano his style was similar to his mother's one time lodger,

Leroy Carr Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Mus ...

. A versatile and accomplished musician, Franklin was able to adapt to

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

, and provided backing to many musicians. His first recording took place in 1947, when he accompanied

on guitar for the latter's single "Coming Up Fast". Franklin's own work started in 1949 with his single release, "Casey Brown Blues". Franklin's other duties included making recordings with

, and

. In 1963,

Bluesville Records Bluesville Records was an American record label subsidiary of Prestige Records, launched in 1959, with the primary purpose of documenting the work of the older classic bluesmen passed over by the changing audience. Such bluesmen as Roosevelt Sykes, ...

released ''The Blues of Pete Franklin: Guitar Pete's Blues'', which was recorded on July 12, 1961, in Indianapolis. The album contained Franklin's most famous song "Guitar Pete's Blues". Franklin died in Indianapolis, Indiana, in July 1975 from a heart disease, aged 47.

Discography

Album

Single

References

External links

Illustrated discography at Wirz.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Guitar Pete 1928 births 1975 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers 20th-century African-American male singers Songwriters from Indiana Musicians from Indianapolis 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists Guitarists from Indiana Electric blues musicians 20th-century American male singers African-American songwriters African-American pianists African-American guitarists American male songwriters