Robert "Wolfman" Belfour (September 11, 1940 – February 24, 2015) was an American blues musician. He was born in Red Banks,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. When he was a child, his father, Grant Belfour, taught him to play the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, and he continued his tutelage in the blues from the musicians Otha Turner, R. L. Burnside, and

Junior Kimbrough David "Junior" Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician. His best-known works are "Keep Your Hands off Her" and "All Night Long". Early life Kimbrough was born in Hudsonville, Mississippi, and lived in the no ...

. Kimbrough, in particular, had a profound influence on him. His music was rooted in Mississippi hill country traditions, in contrast to Delta blues. His playing was characterized by a percussive attack and alternate tunings. When Belfour was thirteen, his father died, and music was relegated to what free time he had, as his energy went to helping his mother provide for the family. In 1959, he married Noreen Norman and moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where he worked in

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

for the next 35 years. In the 1980s, Belfour began playing on

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, t ...

. Eight of his songs are included on the musicologist David Evans's compilation album ''The Spirit Lives On: Deep South Country Blues and Spirituals in the 1990s'', released by the German Hot Fox label in 1994. This led Belfour to

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

and record his first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''What's Wrong With You'', released in 2000. The album ''Pushin' My Luck'' followed in 2003, receiving a positive critical review. Belfour died on February 24, 2015, at the age of 74.

Discography

*2000 ''What's Wrong With You'' *2003 ''Pushin My Luck'' *2013 ''Wolfman - Live at Blues Rules''

References

External links

Robert Belfour page
from Fat Possum Records site *

Allmusic biography 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 databas ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfour, Robert 1940 births 2015 deaths Delta blues musicians Country blues musicians Blues revival musicians Fat Possum Records artists Country blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers People from Holly Springs, Mississippi Blues musicians from Mississippi Songwriters from Mississippi Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters