FURRY LEWIS
LUCKY SEVEN
proudly announces the release of two "new" albums by one of blues
music's all time greats, FURRY LEWIS. Recorded in 1969 in Furry's home
at Fourth and Beale Streets, the albums (appropriately entitled FOURTH
& BEALE, and BLUES MAGICIAN, capture the essence of this famous
blues musician and singer as never before.
Born in
Greenwood, Mississippi in 1893, Furry Lewis first moved to Memphis in
1899. By the time he was nine years old, he had already made music his
life's work, and had headed to Beale Street, where he came under the
tutelage of Mr. W. C. Handy, the legendary blues composer. Handy gave
Furry his first real guitar, and Furry began to entertain the folks in
Beale Street's saloons, and on riverboats from New Orleans to Memphis
to St. Louis. In short order, Furry became one of the most popular
entertainers on Beale Street during its heydey of the 20's, also
playing with such greats as Gus Cannon and Will Shade, The Memphis Jug
Band. Soon, he came to the attention of the early music producers, and
made successful recordings for both Vocalion, and RCA Victor's Bluebird
label.
With only a
fifth-grade education from Memphis' segregated school system, Furry
Lewis nevertheless developed a reputation as a sage philosopher in the
writing of his songs, and never let life's hardships (such as the loss
of a leg in an accident while riding the rails in Illinois, resulting
in a wooden leg) keep him from pursuing and performing the music he
loved. To supplement his musical earnings, Furry took a job with the
Memphis Sanitation Department as a street sweeper in 1922, a job he
kept into the mid 60's! As the infamous political boss E. H. Crump
began the shutdown of Beale Street's seedier establishments, the demand
for Furry's entertainment lessened, and with the depression of the
1930's, Beale Street and Furry both lapsed into a decline. Furry just
kept on going as a street sweeper, however, and for almost thirty years
seemed to have vanished from the music scene.
Rediscovered as
the 1960's dawned, B played publicly again: he opened for the Rolling
Stones before tens of thousands; he was a guest on Johnny Carson's
Tonight Show; Joni Mitchell immortalized him in song (“Furry Sings The
Blues”; Furry portrayed himself in the 1974 movie W. W. and The Dixie
Dancekings, (starring Burt Reynolds). And in 1969, Terry Manning
recorded Furry in his apartment home at Fourth and Beale Streets,
resulting in the recordings now being made available in the United
States for the first time on Lucky Seven Records. Stanley Booth, in his
book Rythm Oil (Pantheon Books), calls these albums "...one of the
better Furry Lewis recordings," which, out of Furry’s wonderful
records, is no small feat. Furry Lewis was truly one of the great blues
entertainers!
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