Booker T. Washington White a.k.a. Bukka White (1906-1977). Although frequently listed as “Bukka White,” he never used that name and disliked it, preferring “Booker White.” Born near Aberdeen, Mississippi, White started off playing the fiddle for square dances and was fairly adept on the piano but had learned guitar at age 9 from his father, a railroad worker. White eventually got himself a National steel box Duolian. White was greatly influenced by Charlie Patton whom he claims to have met.
Growing up around trains, White was adept at riding the rails—always a dangerous business—and traveled a large part of the Midwest and South this way. White got a contract with Victor in 1930 where he recorded 14 songs with Memphis Minnie. He had very limited commercial success. He went to Chicago as a boxer and then to Birmingham, Alabama to pitch for the Birmingham Black Cats—a Negro League team. In 1937, White shot a man during an altercation and was sentenced to Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary). While incarcerated, he got a recording contract with Vocalian and recorded two sides including “Shake ‘Em on Down” which was a significant hit and has since become a blues standard. Alan Lomax discovered White in 1939 when he came to record prison songs at Parchman. With help from Lomax, White was released from Parchman the following year.
In 1940, White traveled to Chicago to record and 12 songs were the result. These are considered the best of White’s career covering everything from his prison experience to the injustice of Jim Crow. But before he could really enjoy his success, he was drafted into the U.S. Navy during the war. Even then, he would play juke joints whenever he could. After his release from the Navy, White settled in Memphis playing various gigs.
At this time, his younger cousin, a sharecropper from Mississippi, came to Memphis to perfect his blues playing. He stayed with Booker who gave him a Stella acoustic guitar to work with. He taught his cousin how to play, sing, hold his guitar and how to last a whole night bellowing out blues in juke joints with no amplification, no air conditioning in the summer and no heat in the winter. He sent his cousin out to busk on the streets and play with other musicians and learn from them. After about a year, the cousin went back to Mississippi to pay off his debt and get his wife. He absorbed the lessons White had taught him very well and went on to become one of the greatest bluesmen of all time under the name B. B. King.
Booker White was rediscovered the early 60s along with Son House, Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt during the blues revival and played the Newport Folk Festival among other appearances. He also appeared on television singing blues and giving demonstrations on how to play his Duolian with a steel bar. Booker White died of cancer in Memphis at the age of 70. Bluesmen Eric Bibb played White’s old National on his 2010 Telarc release Booker’s Guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0jRX69mxcE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsMpHHSLSlc