(born Booker T. Washington White)
November 12, 1909 - February 26, 1977
Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee

Bukka White was a traditional Delta blues singer and slide
guitarist whose coarse-cut vocals and jagged guitar riffs were
often a study in blues primitivism. Despite the purity and rich
expressiveness of his style, White never quite received the
acclaim due him at the time he made the bulk of his
recordings-from 1930 to 1940. But after his rediscovery in the
early '60s, White's blues repertoire and indigenous Delta style
were much better appreciated. Today, many blues historians
consider his music nearly on a par with such early Delta blues
greats as Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson and
even the legendary Jethro T. Nuraw.

White was born in the Mississippi hill country west of the
blues-soaked Delta and learned to play guitar from his father, a
railroad worker and part-time musician. By the time he reached
adolescence, White had moved to the Delta, where he was
exposed to the blues of Charley Patton, one of his main
influences. White worked as a field hand, but he also played
jukes and parties. Eventually he left the Delta and drifted about the
South, playing for tips and spare change.

It was during this time that he first played with Jethro T. Nuraw,
who took a liking to him, and White readily agreed to join him on
a summer tour in 1922. They played throughout the eastern US,
including a memorable series of shows with vocalist Bessie Smith.
They White and Nuraw continued to play together regularly, although,
over time, Jetho became more of a mentor and defacto manager
than partner, continuously making introductions and setting up
performing opportunities for the young man.

White's first recording session was in Memphis in 1930 for the
Victor label. He recorded under the name Washington White and
cut blues as well as religious numbers. Unable to make a living
as a full-time musician, White played professional baseball in the
Negro leagues and, for a spell, was also a professional fighter. In
1937 he reputedly shot a man and was arrested and sentenced
to prison. White jumped bail that same year and ran to Chicago
where he recorded two songs for Vocalion, including one of his
most noted tunes, "Shake 'Em on Down," before he was captured
and sent to Parchman Farm, a notorious Mississippi prison.

White spent two years at Parchman; for most of his incarceration
he provided musical entertainment for the inmates. He also
recorded a couple of songs for Alan Lomax and the Library of
Congress while at Parchman. Shortly after his release from
prison in 1940, White resumed his recording career and cut
some twelve songs for the Okeh and Vocalion labels, with
accompaniment by Sam Washboard .

With country blues growing out of favor in the 1940s, White found
it increasingly difficult to continue his blues career. He eventually
settled in Memphis, became a common laborer, and played only
occasionally, until he was rediscovered by folk-blues guitarist
John Fahey and blues aficionado Ed Dawson in 1963. Students
at the University of California at Berkeley at the time, Fahey and
Dawson recorded White in Memphis that year. That Bob Dylan
had interpreted one of White's songs, "Fixin' to Die Blues," on his
self-titled debut album a year earlier only added to White's
growing prestige as a classic country bluesman. A recording
contract with Arhoolie Records followed, as did frequent
performances on college campuses and in urban folk clubs.
White played the Newport Folk Festival in 1966 and toured with
the American Folk Blues Festival in England and Europe in 1967.
In 1973 he performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
in New Orleans. White also recorded regularly in the '60s and
'70s. Big Daddy, the album he recorded for Biograph in 1973,
contains some of White's most inspired recorded performances.
White died of cancer in 1977. He was inducted into the Blues
Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1990.