Gus Cannon

Gus Cannon (left) and his Jug Stompers

Gus Cannon (born September 12, 1883 in Red Banks , Mississippi , † October 15, 1979 in Memphis , Tennessee ) was an American blues musician who was best known with his band Cannon's Jug Stompers in the late 1920s.

Childhood and youth

Cannon was born in 1883 as the youngest of ten sons of sharecroppers John and Ellen Cannon. When he was twelve, he worked in the cotton fields in Clarksdale , Mississippi . Here he came into contact with the blues . He taught himself to make music, initially playing a banjo that he built from a pan and a guitar neck.

Career

By 1900 Cannon played in various bands in the Clarksdale area. He formed his first youth band while working for the Greenville railroad . He met the harmonica player Noah Lewis and the young guitarist Ashley Thompson, with whom he often played together. Cannon married in 1910. From 1914 he appeared regularly on Medicine Shows . He was in the Memphis, Tennessee area in the 1920s and performed on the infamous Beale Street . During this time the Memphis Jug Band came to some fame. His professional musician career began in 1927. He played his first records in 1927 as "Banjo Joe" with Paramount Records , where he was accompanied on guitar by Blind Blake . In 1928 Gus Cannon made his first recordings with Lewis and Thompson under the name Cannon's Jug Stompers . Later, Hosea Wood and Elijah Avery also played in the group. Further recordings, also solo, followed until 1930. After that, the success quickly waned. Cannon continued to live in Memphis, where he met the young Johnny Cash in the early 1950s , who was still a household goods salesman at the time.

It wasn't until the late 1950s that Gus Cannon was “discovered” again. With Will Shade and Milton Ruby he recorded an album in 1963 on Stax Records . After his death in 1979, The Lovin 'Spoonful gave a benefit concert to raise money for Gus Cannon's tombstone. In 2010 Gus Cannon was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame along with the Cannon's Jug Stompers .

Web links

• Biography at All Music Guide