Biography of Mississippi Fred McDowell

A driving, propulsive bottleneck guitarist, McDowell hoboed around the South throughout the '20s and '30s, working as an itinerant musician. Eventually settling down to become a farmer in 1940, he was discovered and subsequently recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax in 1959. These recordings coincided with renewed interest in Delta blues during the folk-music boom of the '60s, and soon McDowell was recording for a variety of labels and touring the world to deserved acclaim. A major influence on Bonnie Raitt (whose slide work shows a major stylistic affinity to his), McDowell's "You Got to Move" brought him a small fortune in belated royalties when covered by The Rolling Stones. ~ Cub Koda