Pinetop Perkins
(born Joseph William Perkins
, July 7, 1913) is a multiple Grammy Award winning American Blues musician. Perkins, whose specialty is the piano, currently shares the distinction with one of his lifelong friends, David Honeyboy Edwards, as being the eldest living Delta blues performers who continue to tour and perform from the past century. He has played with some of the most influential blues and rock and roll performers in American history, and received honors that include the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.
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PINETOP PERKINS TICKETS
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Biography
Perkins was born in
Belzoni,
Mississippi.
[1] He began his career as a
guitarist, but then injured the
tendons in his left arm in a fight with a choirgirl in
Helena,
Arkansas. Unable to play
guitar, Perkins switched to the
piano, and also switched from
Robert Nighthawk's
KFFA radio program to
Sonny Boy Williamson's
King Biscuit Time
.
He continued working with Nighthawk, however, accompanying him on 1950's "Jackson Town Gal".
In the 1950s, Perkins joined
Earl Hooker and began touring, stopping to
record "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (written by
Pinetop Smith) at
Sam Phillips' studio in
Memphis,
Tennessee. ("They used to call me Pinetop," he recalled, "because I played that song."
[2]) However, Perkins was only 15 years old in 1928, when Smith originally recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".
Perkins then relocated to
Illinois and left music until Hooker convinced him to record again in 1968.
When
Otis Spann left the
Muddy Waters band in 1969, Perkins was chosen to replace him.
He stayed for more than a decade, then left with several other musicians to form the Legendary Blues Band with
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, recording through the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
Although he has appeared as a
sideman on countless recordings, Perkins never had an album devoted solely to his artistry, until the release of
After Hours
on
Blind Pig Records in 1988.
[3]
His robust piano is fairly presented in
On Top
(1992), an easy-going recital of
blues standards with his old Waters' associate,
Jerry Portnoy on
harmonica.
[4]
In 1998 Perkins released the
album Legends
featuring guitarist
Hubert Sumlin.
Perkins was driving his
automobile in 2004 in
La Porte,
Indiana, when he was hit by a
train. The car was wrecked, but the 91-year-old driver was not seriously hurt. Perkins now lives in
Austin,
Texas. He usually performs a couple of nights a week at Nuno's on Sixth Street. In 2005, Perkins received the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2008, Perkins received a
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for
Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas
together with
Henry James Townsend,
Robert Lockwood, Jr. and
David Honeyboy Edwards. He was also
nominated in the same category for his solo album,
Pinetop Perkins on the 88's: Live in Chicago
.
The song "Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins", performed by Perkins and
Angela Strehli, plays on the common misconception that Perkins wrote "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie":
:Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins
:I got a question for you
:How'd you write that first boogie woogie
:The one they named after you
Discography (selection)
- 1976: ''Boogie Woogie ***KiNG***
- 1977: Hard Again
(Muddy Waters)
- 1988: After Hours
- 1992: ''Pinetop Perkins with the Blue Ice Band
- 1992: On Top
- 1993: Portrait of a Delta Bluesman
- 1995: Live Top
(with the Blue Flames)
- 1997: Born in the Delta
- 1998: Sweet Black Angel
- 1998: Legends
(with Hubert Sumlin)
- 1999: Live at 85!
(with George Kilby Jr)
- 2000: Back On Top
- 2003: Heritage of the Blues: The Complete Hightone Sessions
- 2004: Ladies Man
- 2008: Pinetop Perkins and Friends
Gallery
See also
- Blues Hall of Fame
- List of blues musicians
- List of boogie woogie musicians
- List of Chicago blues musicians
- Chicago Blues Festival
- Long Beach Blues Festival
- Kentuckiana Blues Society
References
- IMDb database birth information
- Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, 2000 NEA National Heritage Fellowships
- Blind Pig Records website notes - accessed January 2008
- The Blues - From Robert Johnson (musician)