Hayes McMullan (January 29, 1902 – May 1986) was an American

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was also employed at various times as a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

and as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

and was a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

activist. McMullan's first major recorded work was released in February 2017, over 30 years after his death, and was drawn from recordings he made in 1967 and 1968 in

Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Tallahatchie County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi. At the 2020 census, the population was 12,715. Its county seats are Charleston and Sumner. Tallahatchie County is located in the Mississippi Delta region, divided by the Tallah ...

Biography

McMullan was born in either New Hope or Murphreesboro,

. His musical talents were unearthed following a chance encounter in 1967 between McMullan and the American roots scholar, music collector and documentarian

Gayle Dean Wardlow Gayle Dean Wardlow (born August 31, 1940) is an American historian of the blues. He is particularly associated with research into the lives of the musicians Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson and the historical development of the Delta blues, on w ...

. Wardlow, striking up a conversation with him, discovered that McMullan had known Wardlow's idol,

Charley Patton Charley Patton (April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934), also known as Charlie Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of American mus ...

, and had played alongside him in the 1920s. This was at a time when McMullan had drifted from his

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

homeland to perform the blues in

juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke joint ...

s across the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

. Wardlow also learned that McMullan had stopped playing the blues when he joined a church in the 1930s. Explaining why he had given up the opportunity to record with Patton, McMullan stated, "They only offered me $5 a song, and you know they could make thousands off just one song." Wardlow's unlikely friendship with McMullan led him to visit McMullan's sharecropper shack in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, on a number of occasions in the late 1960s, and he recorded McMullan both on

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...

and in writing. Wardlow wrote at the time that "Hayes was playing like no one I had ever heard." McMullan died in May 1986, aged 84. Wardlow subsequently wrote, "The few old snapshots I took, the handful of tunes we recorded, and his brilliant performance of 'Hurry Sundown' captured on film are all that's left of the musical legacy of Hayes McMullan, sharecropper, deacon, and—unbeknownst to so many for so long—reluctant bluesman." Wardlow also transcribed the songs and wrote the sleeve notes for the 2017 release of McMullan's album ''Everyday Seem Like Murder Here''. Another song on the album, "Smoke Like Lightning", later became " Smokestack Lightnin'" as recorded by

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

Album

*''Everyday Seem Like Murder Here'', 2017,

Light in the Attic Records Light in the Attic Records is an independent record label that was established in 2002 in Seattle, Washington by Matt Sullivan. The label is known for its roster of reissue projects and for its distribution catalog. Light in the Attic has re-rel ...

(31 tracks)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMullan, Hayes 1902 births 1986 deaths American blues singers American blues guitarists Songwriters from Mississippi Singers from Mississippi Delta blues musicians 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Guitarists from Mississippi American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters

Biography

Album

See also

References