Wade Walton (October 10, 1919 – January 10, 2000) 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 and local civil rights leader from

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 ...

. He was also a renowned barber, who counted many famous musicians amongst his friends, colleagues, and customers.

Life and career

Walton was born in Lombardy, Mississippi but grew up near

Parchman Farm Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land, He attended barber college in

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 ...

, and subsequently opened a barber shop in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

. Walton was known as the "blues barber" because his "Big Six barber shop" was a center of musical activity in Clarksdale. It was located first at 304 Fourth Street, and since 1989 at 317 Issaquena Avenue, which was previously the site of W.C. Handy's house. Walton was proficient on the harmonica, the guitar, and the

razor strop A razor strop or simply a strop (sometimes called a razor strap or strap) is a flexible strip of leather, canvas, denim fabric, balsa wood, or other soft material, used to straighten and polish the blade of a straight razor, a knife, or a woo ...

, which he played by striking it rhythmically with his razor. Walton was recorded in his barber shop by

Paul Oliver Paul Hereford Oliver MBE (25 May 1927 – 15 August 2017) was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music. He was equally distinguished in both fields, although it is likely that aficion ...

in 1960. He later recorded an album, ''Shake 'Em On Down'', released by

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, ...

in the early 1960s. In 1960, by chance, Robert Curtis Smith met

and

Chris Strachwitz Chris Strachwitz (born July 1, 1931) is a German-born American record label executive and record producer. He is the founder and president of Arhoolie Records, which he established in 1960 and which became one of the leading labels recording a ...

in Walton's barber shop. This led to Smith recording, ''The Blues of Robert Curtis Smith: Clarksdale Blues'' (1963). Walton played in the

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

with

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

, but stayed in Clarksdale working as a barber when Turner took the group national. Many musicians and other notable people patronized Walton's barber shop to play music with him or in homage, including

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 ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

, and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

. Walton was also a local

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

leader during the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

in the early 1960s, resulting in the bombing of his barbershop. He makes appearances in Bill Ferris's 1975 documentary about the Delta blues, ''Give My Poor Heart Ease'' and in

Robert Mugge Robert Mugge (born May 8, 1950) is an American documentary film maker. He has focused primarily on films about music and musicians, but some of his earliest films were not music focused and he is now continuing to branch out as his interests and ...

's documentary film '' Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads''. Walton died in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, on January 10, 2000, at the age of 80.

Legacy

Walton was honored with a marker on the

Mississippi Blues Trail The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout (and in some cases beyond) ...

Discography

*''The Blues of Wade Walton'' (1962) *''Barbershop Rhythm'' –

Arhoolie Records Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded b ...

*''Shake 'Em On Down'' –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Wade 1923 births 2000 deaths African-American guitarists American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Sunflower County, Mississippi Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi Barbers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Mississippi Kings of Rhythm members Mississippi Blues Trail 20th-century African-American male singers