Johnny Shines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Johnny Shines | |
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 Johnny Shines on the cover of Blue Labor (BL 110)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Ned Shines |
| Born | April 26, 1915 |
| Origin | Frayser, Tennessee |
| Died | April 20, 1992 (aged 76) |
| Genres | Blues |
| Instruments | guitar |
| Years active | 1932 – 1992 |
| Labels | Chess Records J.O.B. Records Vanguard Records Various |
Johnny Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992[1]) was an American blues singer and guitarist. According to the music journalist Tony Russell, "Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on".[2]
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[edit] Biography
He was born John Ned Shines in Frayser, Tennessee.[1] He spent most of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and for tips on the streets.[1] He was "inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and the young Howlin' Wolf",[1] but he was taught to play the guitar by his mother.[1] Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold.[3] It was this chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music.[1] In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring the south and heading as far north as Ontario where they appeared on a local radio program.[1] The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death.[3]
Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941 when he settled in Chicago.[2] There Shines found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars.[1]
He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the takes were never released.[2] He recorded for Chess in 1950, and was once again denied release.[2] He kept playing with local blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for the J.O.B. Records label.[1] The recordings were a commercial failure and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to construction.[1]
In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club and had him record tracks for the third installment of Chicago/The Blues/Today![1] The album has since then become a blues classic and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene.[1]
Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton and Willie Dixon.[1] In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Johnson's stepson, Robert Lockwood, Jr. as the last remaining original delta blues musicians.[2] In 1980, Shines' music was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke.[2] He would later appear in the documentary Searching for Robert Johnson and manage to release one last album, Back To The Country, which won a W.C. Handy Award.[1] It featured playing from Snooky Prior and Johnny Nicholas.[2]
In 1989, Shines met a young, Minnesota-born blues player, Kent Duchaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines' death.[4]
Shines died on 20 April 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1] He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year.
[edit] See also
- Chicago Blues Festival
- List of blues musicians
- List of slide guitarists
- List of Delta blues musicians
- List of Chicago blues musicians
- J.O.B. Records discography
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Biography by Steve Huey". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=JOHNNY|SHINES&sql=11:gpfqxqegldde~T1. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 166. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ a b Johnny Shines interviewed by John Hammond Jr. in The Search for Robert Johnson (DVD 1992)
- ^ Kentduchaine.com
[edit] Further reading
- Blues Who's Who, Sheldon Harris, Da Capo, 1979, ISBN 0-306-80155-8
- The Search for Robert Johnson, John Hammond, Columbia Legacy, 1982, ISBN 0-7389-0079-6
[edit] External links
- Illustrated Johnny Shines discography
- 1977 live recording of "Kind Hearted Woman"; from the Florida Folklife Collection, the State Archives of Florida
- Fan biography
