Virgil Childers (c. 1901 – December 10, 1939) 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 ...

musician, who hailed from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, United States.

Biography

Childers was born in

Blacksburg, South Carolina Blacksburg is a small town in Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,848 at the 2010 census. The communities of Cherokee Falls, Kings Creek, Cashion Crossroads, Buffalo, and Mount Paran are located near the town. Bl ...

to parents Pick Childers and Sarah Smith, and resided there for the duration of his life. Childers recorded six songs for Bluebird Records in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, in 1938. The recordings are a variety of blues songs, pop music of the time, and

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

tunes. Childers played in a ragtime style that is reminiscent of a

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

band. On December 10, 1939, Childers was shot and killed while trying to escape from a police officer in Shelby, North Carolina. Childers was buried in Shelby on December 13, 1939.

Recordings

All recordings were made on January 25, 1938 in Charlotte, North Carolina. * "Preacher & the Bear" * "Red River Blues" * " Somebody Stole My Jane" * "Travelin' Man" * "Dago Blues" * "Who's That Knockin' On My Door"

References

1901 births 1939 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers Singers from South Carolina American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Piedmont blues musicians 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from South Carolina People from Blacksburg, South Carolina African-American guitarists African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States Deaths by firearm in North Carolina {{US-blues-musician-stub