Editing Piano Red (section)

==Early life==
Perryman was born on a farm near [[Hampton, Georgia|Hampton]], Georgia, United States,<ref name="LarkinBlues">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Blues]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1995|edition=Second|isbn=0-85112-673-1|page=292}}</ref> where his parents, Ada and Henry Perryman, were [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]]. He was part of a large family, though sources differ on exactly how many brothers and sisters he had. Perryman was an [[Albinism in humans|albino]] African American, as was his older brother Rufus, who also had a blues piano career as "[[Speckled Red]]".<ref name=NGE/>

When Perryman was six years old, his father gave up farming and moved the family to [[Atlanta]], where he worked in a factory. Not much is known about Perryman's education or early life, but he recalled that his mother bought a piano for her two albino sons. Both brothers had very poor vision, an effect of their albinism, so neither took formal music lessons, but they developed their barrelhouse style through playing by ear. Perryman sometimes recalled imitating Rufus's style after watching him play, but it is doubtful that his brother was a major influence. Rufus, nineteen years older than Perryman, left Georgia in 1925 and did not return until a 1960 visit. Another influence that Perryman cited in interviews was [[Fats Waller]], whose records his mother brought home. Other influences were likely the local blues pianists playing at "house" or "rent" parties, which were common community fund-raisers of that era.<ref name=NGE/>