Editing Gus Cannon (section)

==Career==
Born on a plantation in [[Red Banks, Mississippi]], Cannon moved a hundred miles to [[Clarksdale, Mississippi|Clarksdale]], then the home of [[W. C. Handy]], at the age of 12. His musical skills came without training; he taught himself to play a [[banjo]] that he made from a frying pan and a [[raccoon]] skin. He ran away from home at the age of fifteen and began his career entertaining at [[sawmill]]s and at [[levee]] and railroad camps in the [[Mississippi Delta]] around the turn of the twentieth century.

While in Clarksdale, Cannon was influenced by two local musicians, Jim Turner and Alec Lee. Turner's [[fiddle]] playing in W. C. Handy's band so impressed Cannon that he decided to learn to play the fiddle himself. Lee, a guitarist, taught Cannon his first folk blues, "Po' Boy, Long Ways from Home," and showed him how to use a knife blade as a [[slide guitar|slide]], a technique that Cannon adapted to his banjo playing.<ref name= barlow>Barlow, William (1989). ''"Looking Up at Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture''. Temple University Press. pp. 214–17. {{ISBN|0-87722-583-4}}.</ref>

Cannon left Clarksdale around 1907 and soon settled near [[Memphis, Tennessee]], where he played in a jug band led by Jim Guffin.<ref name=barlow/> He began playing in Memphis with [[Jim Jackson (musician)|Jim Jackson]]. He met the harmonica player [[Noah Lewis (musician)|Noah Lewis]], who introduced him to a young guitar player, Ashley Thompson. Lewis and Thompson later were members of Cannon's Jug Stompers. The three of them formed a band to play at parties and dances. In 1914 Cannon began touring in [[medicine show]]s.<ref name=barlow/> He supported his family through various jobs, including sharecropping, ditch digging, and yard work, but supplemented his income with music.

Cannon began recording, as Banjo Joe, for [[Paramount Records]] in 1927. At that session he was backed by [[Blind Blake]].<ref name=barlow/> After the success of the [[Memphis Jug Band]]'s first records, he quickly assembled a jug band, Cannon's Jug Stompers, featuring Lewis and Thompson (later replaced by Elijah Avery).<ref name="russell">{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| edition= 
| publisher=Carlton Books
| location= Dubai
| pages= 99
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> The group was first recorded at the Memphis Auditorium for [[Victor Records]] in January 1928.<ref name="Russell 2">{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Russell|year=1997|title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray|publisher=Carlton Books|location=Dubai|page=12|isbn=1-85868-255-X}}</ref> Hosea Woods joined the Jug Stompers in the late 1920s, playing guitar, banjo and [[kazoo]] and providing some vocals. Cannon's Jug Stompers' recording of "Big Railroad Blues" is available on the [[compilation album]] ''[[The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead]]''.

Although their last recordings were made in 1930, Cannon's Jug Stompers were one of [[Beale Street]]'s most popular jug bands through the 1930s. A few songs Cannon recorded with the Jug Stompers are "Minglewood Blues," "Pig Ankle Strut," "[[Wolf River (Tennessee)|Wolf River]] Blues," "Viola Lee Blues," "White House Station," and "[[Walk Right In]]" (a pop hit for [[The Rooftop Singers]]<ref name="russell"/> in the 1960s and for Dr. Hook in the 1970s). By the end of the 1930s, Cannon had effectively retired, although he occasionally performed as a solo musician.

Cannon made a few recordings for [[Folkways Records]] in 1956. During the blues revival of the 1960s, he made some appearances at colleges and [[coffee house]]s with [[Furry Lewis]] and [[Bukka White]],<ref name="russell"/> but he had to pawn his banjo to pay his heating bill the winter before The Rooftop Singers had a hit with "Walk Right In."<ref>[[Fred Bronson|Bronson, Fred]] (2003). "Walk Right In," in ''The Billboard Book of #1 Hits''. 5th ed. New York: Billboard Publications.</ref>

In the wake of becoming a hit composer, he recorded an album for [[Stax Records]] in 1963, with fellow Memphis musicians [[Will Shade]] (the former leader of the Memphis Jug Band) on jug and Milton Roby on washboard. Cannon performed traditional songs, including "Kill It," "Salty Dog," "Going Around," "The Mountain," "Ol' Hen," "Gonna Raise a Ruckus Tonight," "Ain't Gonna Rain No More," "Boll-Weevil," "Come On down to My House," "[[Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor]]," "Get Up in the Morning Soon," and "Crawdad Hole," along with his own "Walk Right In," with stories and introductions between songs.<ref>Vladimir, Bogdanov (2003). ''All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues'', Backbeat Books. p. 8. {{ISBN|0-87930-736-6}}.</ref>

Cannon appeared in the film ''[[Hallelujah! (1929 film)|Hallelujah!]]'' (1929), produced by [[King Vidor]], in the late-night wedding scene.