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WILLIE Poor Boy LOFTON
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Willie Lofton is a relatively unknown but was, nevertheless, a talented blues singer/guitarist, close in style to Tommy Johnson. His voice was eerily similar to Johnson's, and his staccato guitar style seems to have been drawn at least partially from Johnson. Its perhaps no coincidence that Lofton's most striking song was a version of Johnson's "Big Road Blues," called "Dark Road Blues." Both were from the Jackson area of Mississippi, Tommy Johnson hailing from Crystal Springs whilst it is thought that Lofton may have originated from Florence. Jackson was the town he left when he travelled north to Chicago in the mid 1930's. He had two recording sessions in Chicago in August of 1934 and November of 1935 that produced eight sides, including "Dark Road Blues." He cut six of these tracks for Decca as Poor Boy Lofton. His last two recordings were for Bluebird, one of them "Beer Garden Blues" was the only song where he was backed by a group with Black Bob on piano and unknown musicians playing stand-up bass and kazoo. No other sessions have been uncovered, and Lofton returned to Jackson in 1942, where he reportedly died 20 years later. |