Robert Lockwood Jr., a.k.a. Robert Jr. Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American
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 ...
guitarist,
who 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 an ...
and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly from
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...
. Robert Lockwood was one of the first professional black entertainers to appear on radio in the South, on the ''
King Biscuit Time'' radio show.
Lockwood is known for his longtime collaboration with
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 s ...
and for his work in the mid-1950s with
Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...
.
Biography
Early life
Lockwood was born in
Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a hamlet west of
Helena. He was one of two children born to Robert Lockwood Sr. and Esther Reese Lockwood,
later known as Estella Coleman. He started playing the organ in his father's church at the age of eight. His parents divorced, and later the famous bluesman
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...
lived with Lockwood's mother for 10 years off and on.
Lockwood learned from Johnson not only how to play guitar but also timing and stage presence. Because of his personal and professional association with Johnson, he became known as "Robert Junior" Lockwood, a nickname by which he was known among musicians for the rest of his life, although he later frequently professed his dislike for this appellation.
Early career
By age 15, Lockwood was playing professionally at parties in the Helena area. He often played with his quasi-stepfather Robert Johnson and with
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 s ...
and
Johnny Shines
John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Biography
Shines was born in Frayser, Tennessee, today a neighborhood of Memphis. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent m ...
. Lockwood played at fish fries, in juke joints, and on street corners throughout the
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...
in the 1930s. On one occasion he played on one side of the
Sunflower River while Johnson played on the other, with the people of
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, 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-19t ...
, milling about the bridge, reportedly unable to tell which guitarist was the real Robert Johnson.
Around 1937–1938 Lockwood worked with Williamson and
Elmore James
Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...
in the Delta, at places like Winona, Greenwood, and Greenville (where they most probably met Johnson, who died in 1938). Lockwood played with Williamson in the Clarksdale area in 1938 and 1939. He also played with
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...
and others in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
, around 1938. From 1939 to 1940 he split his time playing in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
;
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
; and Helena.
On July 1, 1941, Lockwood made his first
recordings
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
, with
Doctor Clayton
Doctor Clayton (born Peter Joe Clayton; April 19, 1898 – January 7, 1947) was an American blues singer and songwriter.
Biography
Clayton was born in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia (though he claimed he had been born in Africa) and moved to St. ...
, for the Bluebird label in
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is a city in northeastern Illinois, United States. It is located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River west of Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, second-most populous city in Illinois, with a popul ...
.
On July 30 he recorded four songs, which were released as the first two 78-rpm singles under his own name: "Little Boy Blue" backed with "Take a Little Walk with Me" (Bluebird B-8820) and "I'm Gonna Train My Baby" backed with "Black Spider Blues" (Bluebird B-8877).
These songs remained in his repertoire throughout his career.
In 1941, Lockwood and Williamson began their influential performances on the daily radio program ''
King Biscuit Time'' on
KFFA in Helena. For several years in the early 1940s the pair played together in and around Helena and continued to be associated with ''King Biscuit Time''. From about 1944 to 1949 Lockwood played in
West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 24,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ranking it as the state's 20th largest city. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, an ...
; St. Louis; Chicago and Memphis.
[ He was an influence on B. B. King and played in King's band early in King's career in Memphis.
In 1950, Lockwood settled in Chicago. A 1951 78-rpm single featured "I'm Gonna Dig Myself a Hole" backed with "Dust My Broom" (Mercury 8260), and a 1954 release contained "Aw Aw (Baby)" backed with "Sweet Woman (from Maine)" (J.O.B 1107).] In 1954, he replaced Louis Myers as the guitarist in Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...
's band. He played on Walter's number 1 hit "My Babe
"My Babe" is a Chicago blues song and a List of blues standards, blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become ...
" in 1955. He left the band around 1957. In the late 1950s he recorded several sessions with Sonny Boy Williamson 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 an ...
, sessions which also included 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 ...
and Otis Spann
Otis Spann (March 21, 1924, or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.
Early life
Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mississippi, ...
. Lockwood also performed or recorded with Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Boyd, Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper".
Career
Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...
, J. B. Lenoir, and Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...
, among others.
Later career
In 1960, Lockwood moved with Williamson to Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, where he resided for the second half of his life. In the early 1960s, as Bob Lockwood Jr. and Combo, he had a regular gig at Loving's Grill, at 8426 Hough Avenue. From the 1970s through the 2000s, he performed regularly with his band the All Stars at numerous local venues, including Pirate's Cove, the Euclid Tavern, Peabody's, Flipside Tavern, Wilbert's, Brother's Lounge, and, in the last years of his career, Fat Fish Blue (on the corner of Prospect and Ontario in downtown Cleveland) every Wednesday night. He played his regular three sets two days before the illness which led to his death. The All Stars continued the Wednesday residency for two years after his death.
His studio albums as a bandleader include ''Steady Rollin' Man'', with the Aces
An ace is a playing card.
Ace(s), ACE(S) and variants may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Awards
* ACE Awards (Award for Cable Excellence)
Comics
* ''Ace Comics'', a 1937-1959 comic book series
* Ace Magazines (comics), a 1940- ...
(recorded 1970, Delmark); ''Contrasts'' (recorded 1973, Trix); ''...Does 12'' (recorded 1975, Trix); ''Hangin' On'', with Johnny Shines (recorded 1979, Rounder); ''Mister Blues Is Back to Stay'', with Shines (recorded 1980, Rounder); ''What's the Score'' (recorded 1990, Lockwood); and '' I Got to Find Me a Woman'' (recorded 1996, Verve). A 1972 45-rpm single included "Selfish Ways" backed with "Down Home Cookin'" (Big Star BB 020). Reviewing ''Does 12'' in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
said, "Lovers of urban blues will cherish this record by Robert Johnson's self-designated heir. It even boasts some adventurously progressive saxophone and twelve-string stylings that do no violence to a notoriously intransigent genre. But Lockwood is an undistinguished vocal interpreter, and only one of his originals—the imperturbable 'Selfish Ways'—is worthy of interpretation itself."
His solo guitar and vocal albums include ''Plays Robert and Robert'' (recorded 1982, Evidence), ''Delta Crossroads'' (recorded 2000, Telarc) and ''The Legend Live'' (recorded 2003, M.C.). A duet session with the pianist Otis Spann in 1960 resulted in ''Otis Spann Is the Blues'' and ''Walking the Blues'', released by Candid.
At the age of 60, in 1975, he discovered the 12-string guitar and preferentially played it almost exclusively for the latter third of his life. His most famous 12-string was a blue instrument custom designed and made by the Japanese luthiers Moony Omote and Age Sumi. It was acquired by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in February 2013 and is displayed there.
A live performance by Lockwood, Henry "Mule" Townsend, Joseph "Pinetop" Perkins, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, recorded in 2004 and released in 2007 as '' Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas'', won a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
in 2008 in the Best Traditional Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums.
The award ...
category. It was the first Grammy Award for Lockwood and Townsend. Two of Lockwood's other albums were nominated for Grammys: ''I Got to Find Me a Woman'' in 1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
and ''Delta Crossroads'' in 2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
.
Lockwood's last known recording session was at Ante Up Audio studio in Cleveland, with longtime collaborator Mark "Cleveland Fats" Hahn, to record the album ''The Way Things Go'' for Honeybee Entertainment.
Lockwood died at the age of 91 in Cleveland, having suffered a cerebral aneurysm
An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a Cerebrovascular disease, cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These a ...
and a stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Cleveland.
His survivors included his wife, Mary Smith Lockwood of Cleveland; four stepchildren from his first marriage to Annie Roberts Lockwood, who died in 1997; and four stepchildren from his second marriage.
Awards and honors
*2008 Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
– Traditional Blues Album
*Street in Cleveland named Robert Lockwood Jr. Drive
*Blues Hall Of Fame inductee (class of 1989)
*1995 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States presented by then–First Lady Hillary Clinton (1995)
*Seven-time W.C. Handy Blues Music Award winner
*Honorary Doctorate Of Humane Letters from Case Western Reserve University (2001)
*Honorary Doctor Of Music from Cleveland State University (2002)
Discography
Solo
* ''Steady Rollin' Man'' (Delmark, 1973)
* ''Blues Live!'' (Trio, 1975; released in Japan only)
* '' I Got to Find Me a Woman'' (Verve, 1998)
* ''Delta Crossroads'' (Telarc, 2000)
* ''The Legend Live'' (M.C., 2004)
With Otis Spann
Otis Spann (March 21, 1924, or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.
Early life
Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mississippi, ...
*'' Otis Spann Is the Blues'' (Candid, 1960)
*'' Walking the Blues'' (Barnaby, 1960 972
With Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper".
Career
Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...
*'' Feel Like Blowing My Horn'' (Delmark, 1970 973
With Sonny Boy Williamson
*''The Real Folk Blues
''The Real Folk Blues'' is a series of Blues music, blues albums released between 1965 and 1967 by Chess Records, later reissued MCA Records. Each album in the series highlighted the music of one major Chess artist, including John Lee Hooker, Howli ...
'' (Chess, 1947-64 966
See also
*Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June,
that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...
* List of blues musicians
* List of Chicago blues musicians
*List of country blues musicians
The following is a list of country blues musicians.
A
* Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900, Jewett, Texas – April 16, 1954). Singer, a forebear of Texas blues. He did not play a musical instrument but was backed by such artists as ...
*List of Delta blues musicians
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from north to south between Memphis, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and from east to west b ...
References
Further reading
"Delta Bluesman Robert Lockwood"
New England Folk Waves, Winter/Spring 2007, University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...
and WUMB
WUMB-FM (91.9 FM broadcasting, FM) in Boston, Massachusetts, is the radio station of the University of Massachusetts Boston. It broadcasts a mix of Americana (music), Americana, blues, American folk music, roots, and Folk music, folk hosted by ...
radio.
* Hoffman, Larry (May/June 1995) "Robert Lockwood, Jr." Living Blues no. 121 (May/June 1995). Reprinted in "Rollin' and Tumblin'," ed. J. Obrecht, pp. 163–183
"Robert Lockwood Jr., Cleveland's Great Bluesman, Dies at 91"
''The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...
'', November 22, 2006.
Alternate location
''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', Thursday, 23 November 2006, p. C1.
Times Online obituary
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Robert Jr.
1915 births
2006 deaths
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
Country blues musicians
Deaths from respiratory failure
Delta blues musicians
Electric blues musicians
Juke Joint blues musicians
Guitarists from Arkansas
Bluebird Records artists
Delmark Records artists
National Heritage Fellowship winners
People from Helena, Arkansas
Musicians from Cleveland
American slide guitarists
Blues musicians from Arkansas
20th-century American guitarists
Guitarists from Ohio
Grammy Award winners
20th-century American male musicians
Black & Blue Records artists
Southland Records artists