Washington City Paper: Contents for Nov. 25

Skip James' Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
Robert Johnson died young and became a blues legend. Skip James lived to a ripe old age. It was a bad career move.

Cover Story

At first, as the car barreled north toward Washington, D.C., the old blues singer pestered the driver with questions, demanding to know the name of every river, creek, and lake they crossed. “What is that body of water there?” he would ask as the car raced over a rickety bridge. He received each answer with a nod of recognition. The driver soon realized that this was how the old man was accustomed to traveling, that Nehemiah “Skip” James gauged his location using bodies of water, just as sailors navigate by the stars.

It was the summer of 1964, and three California college students—led by Washington-born John Fahey—had ventured into the Deep South not as civil rights activists, but as blues fanatics in search of their hero. They'd found Skip James in a Mississippi hospital, long forgotten by his own community. The bedridden James seemed to expect the sudden appearance of these fans; in fact, he seemed perturbed that they hadn't come sooner to pay him homage.

The students worshiped the “lost” bluesman—among their idols, the 62-year-old James ranked as the most mysterious and most revered. His legendary 1931 recordings were some of the rarest of all the classic blues 78s, and their sublime artistry made them priceless. James' intricate guitar work was rivaled only by his near-surreal piano playing, and no other major bluesman had mastered two instruments. And then there was James' eerie voice, sliding back and forth between a keening falsetto and heart-slain soprano. He sounded like someone possessed, a one-man Southern Gothic drama.... Continued

Issue of Nov. 25 - Dec. 1, 1994

News and Features

Skip James' Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
Robert Johnson died young and became a blues legend. Skip James lived to a ripe old age. It was a bad career move.
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