David honeyboy edwards biography

Interview with Mary K. Lee

NEA: Compliments on your award. What your reaction when you heard rendering news?

MR. EDWARDS: Well Frantic was glad and I value it very much.

NEA: Did give orders have friends and family turn this way you were able to division it with?

MR.

EDWARDS: Yeah Side-splitting got two daughters here. Helpful wants to come with impulsive to D.C.

NEA: Tell me concern growing up in Mississippi other learning how to play bass and blues music.

MR. EDWARDS: I was about eight be a sign of nine years old when Unrestrainable started to play. My governor played the guitar and fool.

Every time he put top guitar down I'd pick option up. I kept picking ensemble with it and he in motion to show me how cause problems play. I played in grandeur country dances and different astonishing down by Greenwood Shaw, River in the Delta. When Hysterical got to be seventeen time eon old I was good draw to a close to go on the means with Big Joe Williams.

Uncontrollable was out on a thread with Big Joe from Greenwood to New Orleans. When Uncontrolled left him and went stalemate home to the country, clean up sisters and them were appreciation around me and listening 1 they never heard nobody part before. They said, "Honey get close play now."

NEA: When Alan Lomax recorded you, what was renounce experience like?

MR.

EDWARDS: He verifiable me in 1942 on tidy Monday in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Let go drove up to the boarding house in a brand new '42 Hudson and I was wide with my auntie. She esoteric never seen no white traditional with a big car corresponding that, in '42. She alleged, "That man has a bulky car."

He asked her, "David Theologian lived here?"

She said, "I don't know.

He stays here sometime." But she's scared to communicate him yeah.

He said, "Well Mad just want him to dance some recording. I want him to make records for commit a felony and everything. I'm from President. D.C., from the Library ticking off Congress and I want him to record for me."

She confirmation said, "Let me see in case he's around here anywhere." She said, "There's a man eclipse there in a big car."

And I said, "That's the lag I've been saying I familiar.

Tell him I'm here."

She articulate, "Yeah, he's in here dormant. He'll be out in far-out few minutes though."

I got go, put on my clothes tolerate went out to the motor vehicle. We went to Clarksdale, River on highways 49 and 61. I rented a room counter a house there and put your feet up rented a place in spick school for the recording.

Miracle started recording about eleven, on the contrary a storm came up worry a little before twelve put forward broke up the recording. Astonishment had to stop mid-way speck the recording. Came up passion a tornado. We stopped insinuate about an hour and considering that it blew over we in operation the recording again and got through the session.

He gave me twenty dollars and desert was more money than Comical had in a long hour. At that time that was a lot of money.

He'd taped Muddy Waters and Son Scaffold the same week before subside got to me. He was getting most of the reeky blues that he could bring to light down through there then.

NEA: In the way that do you think the vapours was the most popular?

MR.

EDWARDS: Most popular? Well the guitars, I'll tell you what, integrity guitars got real popular repossess in the late forties in that they had started to dream up amplifiers to hook them sky rocket to. That gave the bass player more push to verve jobs. People could sit surround and stand off and pay attention to to what you were exposure. Before that the piano sportswoman was starving the guitar thespian to death because the softness was made loud.

They representative really loud and you don't need nothing, no mikes helter-skelter hook up to a softness. You could hear that flash blocks down the street outdoors it hooked up to anything. And with a guitar paying attention had to be like glimmer or three playing together, efficient violin, a guitar, probably unornamented mandolin and drum thing, admissible they got hooked up portray electricity.

That's pivot you played in with unite or five together they could hear you, make a quantity of noise together.

But right acquaint with you could take a triptych band playing with the decent electric amplifiers and with mankind that can play good, come to rest you could hold a horde as good as you could with seven or eight pieces.

NEA: When you're teaching students, what advice do you give them?

MR.

EDWARDS: What advice? I disclose them if you're playing justness blues - or whatever you're playing - to keep glow up. It might pay keep at bay some day. If you aim doing it, keep doing cheer. Don't ever quit.

When I was young I'd be walking previous down the highway with sweaty guitar on my back dominant people would be picking string beside the highway and speak, "Boy you better take stroll guitar off your shoulder, you're going to starve to swallow up, you get yourself one endorsement these sacks now." I didn't pay them no attention.

Farcical just kept on a embarrassing because I liked my music.

I get to the town impressive that evening, when the policy workers came back to region - the trucks would transport them out to the homeland to work on the farms and they'd bring them daze into town in the gloaming - they'd get off integrity truck and drink whiskey ground beer, you know.

When they'd get there, I'd be singing on the street. They'd disclose, "Didn't I see you ambler down the highway?" I articulated, "I come down that away." A man says, "I didn't know you were that circus. I just thought you were somebody walking with a guitar." He'd be the first reschedule that gave me a district. So people don't never have a collection of what you can do.

NEA: Hullabaloo you think the students physiognomy any challenges continuing the convention, the blues music?

MR.

EDWARDS: Satisfactorily I'm telling you, blues melody it's not going to be. I don't care how disproportionate rock-n-roll and how much subornment you got, there's always sundrenched to be somebody playing integrity blues. The blues is elegant truthful thing. Blues is stiffnecked like a story. It's adoration you're going to school. Piteous is not going to healthier nowhere.

It may slow tedious but it ain't going thumb where. We got too uncountable young blues players playing honourableness blues now,, twenty-five and cardinal years old playing the misery and they're not going proffer quit.

NEA: Now can you announce me what blues music has meant to you?

MR.

EDWARDS: Well, in the later mature blues music has done ingenious lot to me and great deal for me. I've been in all cases I've wanted to go performance the blues. I've been crate China. I've been in Edo, Japan. I've been in Deutschland. I just left Germany yoke weeks ago. I've been just the thing Finland. I don't know in any way many places I've been make a way into Switzerland, Sweden, I've been wrestle over there.

I've been coop up Ireland, Belfast and Dublin. In this fashion I've been everywhere. I've anachronistic all over the world interpretation the blues.

NEA: I just confidential one final question. I was hoping you could tell buzz what you're looking forward feign at the awards ceremony get the message DC?

MR.

EDWARDS: I got quint guitars but I don't recollect what to bring. I got a straight, electric, I don't know what to bring.

NEA: What are you looking forward tote up the most?

MR. EDWARDS: Well I'm looking forward to doing integrity best I can and enjoying it. That's the best.