Furry’s Blues

Furry’s Memphis Blues Advertisement

Blues legend Walter ‘Furry’ Lewis is captured performing “Furry’s Blues” for the cameras during the 1970’s.

Furry’s travels exposed him to a wide variety of performers including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Alger “Texas” Alexander. Like his contemporary Frank Stokes, he tired of the road and took a permanent job in 1922. His position as a street sweeper for the City of Memphis, a job he would hold until his retirement in 1966, allowed him to remain active in the Memphis music scene. In 1927, Lewis cut his first records in Chicago for the Vocalion label. A year later he recorded for the Victor label at the Memphis Auditorium in a session with the Memphis Jug Band, Jim Jackson, Frank Stokes, and others. He again recorded for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929. The tracks were mostly blues but included two-part versions of “Casey Jones” and “John Henry”. He sometimes fingerpicked, sometimes played with a slide. He recorded many successful records in the late 1920s including “Kassie Jones”, “Billy Lyons & Stack-O-Lee” and “Judge Harsh Blues.”

Really The Blues is sponsored by Jazz on the Tube
Click here to Support US