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 David
Honeyboy Edwards
David
“Honeyboy” Edwards is one of the last of the
original Delta Bluesmen who traveled the South as hobos in the 1930s
and who shaped early folk music into what later generations turned into
rock ‘n’ roll. Still touring internationally, he is
in demand today both for his sharp memory as a purveyor of the oral
history of the blues and for his music, performing at festivals, arts
centers, colleges, clubs and special events.
Honeyboy
Edwards was born in the Mississippi Delta in 1915, the son of
a sharecropper. After meeting Delta blues guitarist Big Joe Williams,
he left home at age 17, and traveled the South by hopping freight
trains. Honeyboy worked with Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf,
Sonny Boy Williamson, and countless others while honing his musical
skills on the streets and in juke joints across 13 states.
Not
long after recording with Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in
1942, Honeyboy met teenage blues harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs,
and took Walter to Chicago, where they frequented the city’s
famous Maxwell Street Market. After a short stint there, Honeyboy
recorded for the Artist Recording Company in Texas, and for Sun Records
in Memphis. Returning to Chicago, he recorded for Chess Records. After
deciding to make Chicago his home, he quickly became known as one of
the city’s finest slide guitarists.
In
the 1960s he recorded for Milestone, Adelphi and Blue Horizon
labels. In the late 60s, the original Fleetwood Mac asked Honeyboy to
play on their Blues Jam in Chicago sessions. Since then, he has
recorded albums for the Trix, Earwig, Roots, Folkways, Blue Suit and
Acoustic Sounds labels.
His
many awards and honors include the Blues Foundation’s
W.C. Handy Award, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts
Heritage Fellowship award. He also received a Grammy for best
traditional blues album for his work on "Last of the Great Mississippi
Delta Bluesmen," which also featured Pinetop Perkins, Henry Townsend
& Robert Lockwood Jr.
Honeyboy
performs in solo, duo with harmonica or guitar, and
band formats.
Review Quotes
“On
songs like ‘Big Fat
Mama’ he shows that you don’t always need a band to
move people’s feet.” –Rolling
Stone
“…he
evokes the smoldering intensity and elusive
spiritual brilliance of the fabled Delta tradition as well as anyone
alive, and better than most.” –Living
Blues
Press Received (click to view PDF)
Cahoots (Winter '06/'07)
Sound Clips
Video Clips
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