Pitchford plays Johnson

In a scene from Robert Palmer’s 1992 documentary “Deep Blues” directed by Robert Mugge, Lonnie Pitchford performs Robert Johnson’s “If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day.”

Lonnie Pitchford was musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi notable as one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi learned and would continue the delta blues.

In addition to the acoustic and electric guitar, Pitchford was also skilled at the one-string guitar and diddley bow, a one-string instrument of African origin, as well as the double bass, piano and harmonica. He was a protege of Robert Lockwood, Jr., from whom he learned the style of Robert Johnson. His own debut album, “All Round Man” was released on Rooster Blues Records in 1994.

In November 1998, Pitchford died at his home in Lexington, from AIDS. A diddley bow is featured on his headstone which was paid for by John Fogerty and Rooster Blues Records through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. His grave is located near the final resting place of Elmore James, in the New Port Baptist Church cemetery in Holmes County, Mississippi.

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