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Article: Editor's introduction.(Blind Lemon Jefferson)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Black Music Research Journal
- Article date:
- March 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Center For Black Music Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although he was not the first folk (or "country") blues singer-guitarist, or even the first to make commercial recordings, Blind Lemon Jefferson is generally--and appropriately--viewed by music historians as the first "star" of this type of blues. His rise to fame followed immediately upon the release of his first blues record in March or April 1926, and his fame lasted well beyond his death in December 1929. Jefferson is almost always named as a favorite artist or an influence in interviews of blues guitarists who were born in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Along with Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, and Lonnie Johnson, he makes almost ...