Pinetop Perkins dies: one of the last links to the first generation of American blues

Pinetop Perkins, one of the last of the first generation of Mississippi Delta blues players and an influential blues pianist who performed with Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, and Muddy Waters, has died at the age of 97.

In his lifetime, Perkins, who last month became the oldest living artist to win a Grammy when he snagged one for best traditional blues album, performed with some of the founders of Southern blues music.

Though he quit music for nearly three decades, Perkins returned to performing during the folk and blues revival of the 1960s, when his early recordings for Williamson's influential and popular King Buscuit Time radio hour caught on with a new generation of blues fans.

Read more about Perkins over at The Times' Afterword blog.

-- Randall Roberts

Comments

[Chuck Spanninger]

Well, today is a sad day in the "Blues World" as we know it. As another one of the legends has departed. WOW! The first time I saw Mr. Perkins (Pinetop) was at the Cellar Door in Washington D.C., around the mid-70's, anybody remember that. I was hooked on the Blues then and have seen Pinetop every chance I have had since. And now am very glad to have made the Diamond State Blues Festival in Wilmingtom,DE this past Summer to have seen him for the last time...R.I.P. Pinetop, say hey to KoKo for us man...