Thomas Edgar Shaw (March 4, 1908 – February 24, 1977) 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 and guitarist.

Biography

Shaw was born in

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. He was taught to play both the harmonica and guitar by his relatives, and based his style on his collaborations with

Blind Lemon Jefferson Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)Some sources indicate Jefferson was born on October 26, 1894. was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues sing ...

, J. T. Smith and

Ramblin' Thomas Willard "Ramblin'" Thomas (1901 or 1902 – 1944 or 1945) was an American country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best remembered for his slide guitar playing and for several recordings he made in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ...

. After spending time as an itinerant musician in Texas, in 1934 he relocated to California. He continued to perform and appeared on radio, before setting up his own

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

which he operated for many years. By the 1960s, Shaw had been ordained as a minister in a church in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and found a rediscovery of his own during the

blues revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Ben ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s, he recorded for the Advent, Blue Goose and Blues Beacon

labels A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. In addition, Shaw appeared at festivals and, in 1972, he toured in Europe. He recorded "Hey Mr. Nixon" and "Martin Luther King". Shaw died during

open heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

in San Diego, in February 1977, aged 69.

References

External links

Illustrated Thomas Shaw discography
1908 births 1977 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singer-songwriters People from Brenham, Texas Singer-songwriters from Texas 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Texas African-American male singer-songwriters African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers {{US-blues-musician-stub