John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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

Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of his childhood in Memphis, playing

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

at an early age 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 and on the street. He moved to

Hughes, Arkansas Hughes is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,441 at the 2010 census, a decline from 1,867 in 2000. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land ...

, in 1932 and worked on farms for three years, putting aside his music career.Johnny Shines interviewed by John Hammond Jr. in '' The Search for Robert Johnson'' (UK, 1991). A chance meeting with

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

, his greatest influence, gave him the inspiration to return to music. In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring in the United States and Canada. They parted in 1937, one year before Johnson's death. Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941, when he settled in Chicago. There he found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars. He made his first recording in 1946 for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, but the takes were never released. He recorded for

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in 1950, but again no records were released. He kept playing with blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work, for J.O.B. Records. The recordings were a commercial failure, and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to working in construction. In 1966,

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club, and he recorded tracks for the third volume of ''

Chicago/The Blues/Today! ''Chicago/The Blues/Today!'' is a series of three blues albums by various artists. It was recorded in late 1965 and released in 1966. It was remastered and released as a three-disc album in 1999. In 1965 Samuel Charters at Vanguard Records ask ...

''. The album became a blues classic, and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene. Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson,

Big Walter Horton Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter 'Shakey' Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the hi ...

and

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

. Shines moved to

Holt, Alabama Holt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 3,413. It is part of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. Holt appeared on ...

, in

Tuscaloosa County Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region. The county's population was 227,036 as of the 2020 c ...

, in 1969. Natalie Mattson, a student at the University of Alabama, learned that he was living in the area and invited him to play at a campus coffee house, the Down Under, which she ran. Shines played there on several occasions and brought his friend, blues artist

Mississippi Fred McDowell Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American hill country blues singer and guitar player. Career McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee, United States. His parents were f ...

, to perform with him. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with

Robert Lockwood, Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly ...

, Robert Johnson's stepson, another one of the last living original

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 ...

musicians. In 1980, Shines's career was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke. He later appeared and played in the 1991 documentary '' The Search for Robert Johnson''. His final album, ''Back to the Country'', with accompaniment by

Snooky Pryor James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his ...

and

Johnny Nicholas Johnny Nicholas (born 1948) is an American blues musician. He is most noted for being a member of the Grammy Award winning group, Asleep at the Wheel. Biography Nicholas grew up in Rhode Island, United States, where he formed his first band, ...

, won a W. C. Handy Award. In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years, until Shines's death. Shines died on April 20, 1992, in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

. He was inducted into the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...

later the same year. According to the music journalist Tony Russell,

Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on.

Discography

*''Last Night's Dream'' (

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, 1968) *''Johnny Shines: Blues Masters vol. 7'' (Blue Horizon Records, recorded May 1968) *''Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton'' ( Testament Records, 1969) *'' Willie Dixon: I Am the Blues (November 1969) *''Standing at the Crossroads'' (Testament, 1970) *''Sittin' on Top of the World'' (

Biograph Records Biograph Records is a record label founded in 1967 by Arnold S. Caplin that specialized in early American ragtime, jazz, and blues music. Its reissues includes Bunny Berigan, Bing Crosby, The California Ramblers, Ruth Etting, Benny Goodman Be ...

, 1972) *''Chicago Blues Festival 1972'' (

Black and Blue Records Black & Blue Records was a record company and label founded in France in 1968 that specialized in blues and jazz. Black & Blue reissued music from small American labels before producing original releases. Some of these releases were by black mu ...

, 1973) *''Johnny Shines & Co.'' (Biograph, 1973) *''Johnny Shines'' ( Advent Records, 1974) *'' Too Wet to Plow'' ( Blue Labor Records, 1977) *''Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop'' (

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

, 1978) *''To Wet To Plow'' (

Tomato Records The Tomato Music Co. Ltd., also known as Tomato Records, is an American independent record label founded in New York City in 1977 by music manager Kevin Eggers. It was a successor to his previous record labels Utopia and Poppy, the label was self- ...

, 1989) *''Traditional Delta Blues'' (Biograph, 1991) *''Mr. Cover Shaker'' (Biograph, 1992) *''Skull & Crossbones Blues'' (High Tone, 2003) *''Johnny Shines: The Blues Came Falling Down - Live 1973'' (Omnivore Recordings, 2019)

References

External links

Illustrated Johnny Shines discography

1977 live recording of "Kind Hearted Woman"; from the Florida Folklife Collection, the State Archives of Florida
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shines, Johnny 1915 births 1992 deaths Delta blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Slide guitarists American street performers African-American guitarists Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee People from Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Blues musicians from Alabama 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Alabama Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Tennessee Black & Blue Records artists Biograph Records artists 20th-century African-American male singers

Biography

Discography

See also

References

Further reading

External links