Editing Blind Lemon Jefferson

{{Short description|American blues musician (1893–1929)}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Blind Lemon|Blind Melon}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Blind Lemon Jefferson
| image             = Blindlemonjeffersoncirca1926.jpg
| caption           = The only known photograph of Jefferson, c.1926
| genre             = {{hlist|[[Blues]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wbgo.org/post/creators-lonesome-blues-discuss-its-inspiration-blind-lemon-jefferson-blues-break#stream/0|title=The Creators of 'Lonesome Blues' Discuss Its Inspiration, Blind Lemon Jefferson, on Blues Break|author=Bourne, Michael|publisher=[[WBGO]]|date=June 24, 2018|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>|[[Texas blues]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/vinyl-treasures-the-immortal-blind-lemon-jefferson|title=Vinyl Treasures: 'The Immortal Blind Lemon Jefferson'|author=Campilongo, Jim|publisher=Guitar World|date=March 1, 2019|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>|[[country blues]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tpr.org/post/texas-matters-history-texas-blues|title=Texas Matters: The History Of Texas Blues|author=Davies, David Martin|publisher=Texas Public Radio|date=May 19, 2016|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>|{{nowrap|[[gospel blues]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://louderthanwar.com/blind-lemon-jefferson-the-rough-guide-to-blind-lemon-jefferson/|title=Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Rough Guide To Blind Lemon Jefferson – album review|author=Tucker, Simon|publisher=Louder Than War|date=September 11, 2013|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>}}|[[American folk music|folk]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wmky.org/post/blind-lemon-jefferson|title=Blind Lemon Jefferson|author=Hitchcock, Paul|website=Wmky.org|date=April 6, 2019|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>|[[ragtime music|ragtime]]<ref>[https://worldmusic.net/products/the-rough-guide-to-blues-legends-blind-lemon-jefferson Jazz and Blues Legends – The Rough Guide To Blues Legends: Blind Lemon Jefferson] World Music Network. Retrieved June 29, 2019</ref>}}
| birth_name        = Lemon Henry Jefferson
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1893|09|24}}
| birth_place       = [[Coutchman, Texas]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1929|12|19|1893|09|24}}
| death_place       = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
| occupation        = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|guitarist|musician}}
| instrument        = {{hlist|[[Vocals]]|[[Guitar]]}}
| years_active      = 1912–1929<ref name=loc>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Blind-Lemon-Jefferson.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Blind-Lemon-Jefferson.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Black Snake Moan / Matchbox Blues|website=Loc.gov|author=Obrecht, Jas|access-date=May 10, 2016}}</ref>
| label             = {{hlist|[[Paramount Records|Paramount]]|[[Okeh Records|Okeh]]}}
}}

'''Lemon Henry''' "'''Blind Lemon'''" '''Jefferson''' (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American [[blues]] and [[gospel music|gospel]] singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular and successful blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the [[Texas Blues]]".'''<ref name="dicaire">Dicaire, David (1999). ''Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company. pp. 140–144. {{ISBN|0-7864-0606-2}}.</ref>'''

Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive.<ref name="dicaire"/> His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists.<ref name="Charters">[[Samuel Charters|Charters, Samuel]] (1977). ''The Blues Makers''. New York: Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80438-7}}.</ref> Later blues and [[rock and roll]] musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.<ref name="dicaire"/>

==Biography==
===Early life===
Jefferson was born [[Blindness|blind]], near [[Coutchman, Texas]]. He was the youngest of seven<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302253/Blind-Lemon-Jefferson |title=Blind Lemon Jefferson: American Musician |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=2015-08-30}}</ref> (or possibly eight) children born to Clarissa and Alex Jefferson, who were [[African-American]] [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]].<ref name="dicaire"/> Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from the fact that census records and his draft registration show different dates. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of [[Streetman, Texas]]. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the [[1900 United States census|1900 census]].<ref>1900 US Census. Census place: Justice precinct 5, Freestone, Texas. Roll T623 1636, p. 3A. Enumeration district 37.</ref> The [[1910 United States census|1910 census]], taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of [[Wortham, Texas|Wortham]], near his birthplace.<ref>1910 US Census. Census place: Justice precinct 6, Navarro, Texas. Roll T624_1580, p. 17B. Enumeration district 98. Image 982.</ref>

In his 1917 [[Conscription in the United States|draft registration]], Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in [[Dallas, Texas]], and had been blind since birth.<ref>World War I Draft Registration records, Dallas County, Texas. Roll 1952850. Draft board 2.</ref> In the [[1920 United States census|1920 census]], he is recorded as having returned to [[Freestone County, Texas|Freestone County]] and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.<ref>1920 US Census. Census place: Kirvin, Freestone, Texas. Roll T625_1805, p. 3A. Enumeration district 24. Image 231.</ref>

Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a [[busking|street musician]], playing in [[East Texas]] towns in front of barbershops and on street corners.<ref name="dicaire"/> According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for the compilation album ''The Complete 94 Classic Sides: Remastered'':

{{blockquote|They were rough. Men were hustling women and selling bootleg and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night.}}

One of Jefferson's first appearances was at the General Association of Baptist Churches in [[Buffalo, Texas]]. There he would perform classic [[gospel music]] which would later lead to his first album release in 1926 containing two hit gospel songs, &nbsp;"[[Lord, I Want to Be a Christian|I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart]]" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion". According to his friend, the folk musician [[Lead Belly]], in 1917, Jefferson was commonly found on the corner of Elm and Central Tracks in a part of Dallas called [[Deep Ellum]]. Jefferson was restricted in many parts of Dallas by the [[white people|white]] population, leaving his only option to play the African-American neighborhood that made up Deep Ellum.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wolfe |first1=Charles K. |title=The life and legend of Leadbelly |last2=Lornell |first2=Kip |date=1992 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-06-016862-9 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY}}</ref>

In 1912, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he played with Lead Belly.<ref name=loc /><ref name="dicaire" /> Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in Deep Ellum. It is probable that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as [[T-Bone Walker]]. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide.<ref>{{cite book|title=Deep Blues|author=Robert Palmer|year=1981|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|publisher=Penguin Books|page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/107 107]|isbn=978-0-14-006223-6|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/107}}</ref> By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child.<ref name="dicaire" /> However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.

===Beginning of recording career===
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist [[Sara Martin]] and the guitarist [[Sylvester Weaver (musician)|Sylvester Weaver]], who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923.<ref>Gibbs, Craig Martin (2012). ''Black Recording Artists, 1877–1926: An Annotated Discography''. McFarland & Company. p. 175.</ref> The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was [[Lee Morse]], whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtonhistory.org/files/library/LeeMorse.pdf |title=Miss Lee Morse: The First Recorded Jazz Singer |author=Nyback, Dennis W. |website=Washingtonhistory.org |access-date=2016-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214164245/http://www.washingtonhistory.org/files/library/LeeMorse.pdf |archive-date=2019-02-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a [[honky-tonk]] to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).<ref>Specht, Joe W. (2010). "Oil Well Blues: African-American Oil Patch Songs". Paper presented at joint annual meeting of the East Texas Historical Association and [[West Texas Historical Association]], [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]], February 27, 2010</ref>

Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world.<ref name="Evans 2000 83–116">{{cite journal|title=Music Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson|journal=Black Music Research Journal |year=2000|first=David|last=Evans|volume=20|issue=1|pages=83–116|doi=10.2307/779317 |jstor=779317}}</ref> Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to [[Chicago]] in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically for him, the first two recordings on this session were gospel songs ("[[Lord, I Want to Be a Christian|I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart]]" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), and they were released under the name '''Deacon L. J. Bates'''. A second recording session was held in March 1926.<ref name="Russell">{{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> His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about a hundred tracks between 1926 and 1929; forty-three records were issued, all but one of them on [[Paramount Records]]. Almost all of his recordings for Paramount had poor sound quality because Paramount's studio techniques and production were poor during that time. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at [[Autograph Records|Marsh Laboratories]], and their subsequent releases used these newer versions. Both the original and re-recorded versions appear on modern compilation albums.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

===Success with Paramount Records===
[[File:ParamountLabelBLJefferson.jpg|thumb|Label of one of Jefferson's Paramount records, 1926]]
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries [[Blind Blake]] and [[Ma Rainey]], Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.<ref>Dixon, R. M. W.; Godrich, J. (1970). "Recording the Blues". Reprinted in Oliver, Paul; Russell, Tony; Dixon, Robert M. W.; Godrich, John; Rye, Howard (2001). ''Yonder Come the Blues''. Cambridge. p. 288. {{ISBN|0-521-78777-7}}.</ref> Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by [[Mayo Williams]], Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as [[Furry Lewis]], [[Charlie Patton]], and [[Barbecue Bob]].<ref name="Evans 2000 83–116" /> He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his [[riff]]s and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the [[North Carolina]] musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in [[Johnson City, Tennessee]], during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.<ref>Erbsen, Wayne (1981). "Walter Davis: Fist and Skull Banjo". ''Bluegrass Unlimited'', March 1981. pp. 22–26</ref>

Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1,500). In 1927, when Williams moved to [[Okeh Records]], he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "[[That Black Snake Moan|Black Snake Moan]]".<ref name="Russell" /> It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer [[Arthur Laibly]]. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "[[See That My Grave Is Kept Clean]]" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/jefferso.htm|title=Blind Lemon Jefferson Discography|website=Wirz.de|accessdate=August 4, 2021}}</ref>

===Death and grave===
[[File:Blind Lemon Jefferson grave in Wortham, TX.jpg|thumb|Jefferson's grave in [[Wortham, Texas]]]]
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00&nbsp;a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute [[myocarditis]]".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Frog Blues & Jazz Annual No. 1: The Musicians, the Records & the Music of the 78 Era |year=2010 |publisher=[[Frog Records]] |isbn=978-0956471703}}</ref> For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some{{Who|date=August 2020}} have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book ''Tolbert's Texas'', [[Frank X. Tolbert]] claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to [[Chicago Union Station]] to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist [[William Ezell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/william-ezell-mn0000585184|title=William Ezell – Biography & History|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref>

Jefferson was buried at [[Wortham, Texas|Wortham]] Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "[[See That My Grave Is Kept Clean|Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean]]."<ref>{{Cite web|last1=McLeod|first1=Gerald E.|date=January 22, 2021|title=Day Trips: Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, Wortham|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2021-01-22/day-trips-blind-lemon-memorial-cemetery-wortham/|access-date=2021-01-24|website=Austinchronicle.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keeponliving.at/song/see_that_my_grave_is_kept_clean.html|title=See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson)|website=Keeponliving.at|access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref> In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.<ref>[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fje01 "Jefferson, Blind Lemon"]. ''Handbook of Texas Online''. [[Texas State Historical Association]]. May 30, 2010. "In 2007 the name of the cemetery was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g56920-d11739652-i225533906-Blind_Lemon_Memorial_Cemetery-Wortham_Texas.html|title=Blind Lemon's Headstone – Picture of Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, Wortham|website=Tripadvisor.co.za|access-date=16 September 2018}}</ref>

==Discography and awards==
{{See also|Blind Lemon Jefferson discography}}
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the [[Texas blues]] sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including [[Lead Belly]] and [[Lightnin' Hopkins]].

He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "[[See That My Grave Is Kept Clean]]". Another of his songs, "[[Matchbox (song)|Matchbox Blues]]", was recorded more than 30 years later by the [[The Beatles|Beatles]], in a [[rockabilly]] version credited to [[Carl Perkins]], who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist [[B.B. King]] credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]], [[Louis Jordan]] and [[T-Bone Walker]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6frfQ72mQeA| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322031411/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6frfQ72mQeA| archive-date=2019-03-22 | url-status=dead|title=B.B. King Clinic 1/5 – Influences|date=March 8, 2014|publisher=YouTube|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref>

The [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0150472.html |title=500 Songs That Shaped Rock |website=Infoplease.com |access-date=2015-08-30}}</ref> Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the [[Blues Hall of Fame]] in 1980.

==Cover versions==
*[[Canned Heat]], "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
*[[Bukka White]], "Jack o' Diamonds", on ''1963 Isn't 1962'', released in the 1990s
*[[Bob Dylan]], "[[See That My Grave Is Kept Clean]]", on ''[[Bob Dylan (album)|Bob Dylan]]''
*[[Grateful Dead]], "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on ''[[Birth of the Dead]]''
*[[Merl Saunders]], [[Jerry Garcia]], [[John Kahn]], Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on ''[[Keystone Encores|Keystone Encores Volume I]]''
*[[John P. Hammond|John Hammond]], "One Kind Favor", on ''John Hammond Live''
*[[B.B. King]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on ''[[One Kind Favor]]''
*[[Peter, Paul & Mary]], "One Kind Favor", on ''[[In Concert (Peter, Paul and Mary album)|In Concert]]''
*[[Kelly Joe Phelps]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on ''[[Roll Away the Stone (Kelly Joe Phelps album)|Roll Away the Stone]]''
*[[The Dream Syndicate]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on ''[[Ghost Stories (Dream Syndicate album)|Ghost Stories]]''
*[[Counting Crows]], "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer [[Adam Duritz]] accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album ''[[August and Everything After]]''. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.countingcrows.com/news/journal.php?uid%3D2426 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-09-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106070327/http://www.countingcrows.com/news/journal.php?uid=2426 |archive-date=November 6, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref>
*[[Laibach (band)|Laibach]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on ''[[Spectre (Laibach album)|SPECTRE]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spectre.laibach.org/more-info/ |title=Laibach Spectre |publisher=Spectre.laibach.org |access-date=2015-08-30}}</ref>
*[[Pat Donohue]], "One Kind Favor", live on [[Garrison Keillor]]'s radio program ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and later released on the CD ''Radio Blues''
*[[Corey Harris]], "Jack o' Diamonds", on ''Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
*[[Diamanda Galás]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on [[The Singer (Diamanda Galás album)|''The Singer'']]
*[[Phish]], "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at [[Madison Square Garden]], New York, August 4, 2017
*[[Scott H. Biram]], "Jack of Diamonds" on ''Nothin' But Blood'' released in 2014
* Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on ''Now the Wheel Has Turned'', released in 2005<ref>[https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=12691470 Please See That My Grave Is Kept Clean], ''Soundclick.com''</ref>

==In popular culture==
* In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act [[Yarbrough and Peoples]] were featured in the off-Broadway play ''Blind Lemon Blues''.
* A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for [[Paramount Records]] in 1932 by [[King Solomon Hill]]. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
* [[Geoff Muldaur]] refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album ''[[The Secret Handshake]]''.
* [[Art Evans (actor)|Art Evans]] portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film ''[[Leadbelly (film)|Leadbelly]]'', directed by [[Gordon Parks]].
* [[Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds]] recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album ''[[The Firstborn Is Dead]]''.
* The 2010 video game ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', in one of its downloadable add-ons ''Old World Blues'', features an [[AI]] jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.falloutwiki.com/Blind_Diode_Jefferson|title=Blind Diode Jefferson|website=Falloutwiki.com|access-date=November 10, 2011}}</ref> The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
* In the 2003 movie ''[[Masked and Anonymous]]'', Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
* [[Cheech & Chong]] parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album ''[[Cheech and Chong (album)|Cheech and Chong]]'', on their 1985 album ''[[Get Out of My Room]]'', and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film ''[[Still Smokin (film)|Still Smokin']]''.
* [[Chet Atkins]] called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album ''[[The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show]]''.
* A practical joke played on ''Down Beat'' magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in ''Down Beat'' over the next few years.<ref>Crow, Bill (1990). ''Jazz Anecdotes''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175–176, {{ISBN|9780195071337}}.</ref>
* The American dramatic film ''[[Black Snake Moan (film)|Black Snake Moan]]'' was named after one of the only songs Jefferson recorded for Okeh Records.
* [[Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup]] took the title of his classic song "[[That's All Right]]"  (which launched the career of [[Elvis Presley]]) from a lyric in Jefferson's "[[That Black Snake Moan|Black Snake Moan]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottymoore.net/thatsallright.html |title=Big Boy's "That's All Right" |publisher=Scotty Moore |date=2005-01-16 |access-date=2016-10-06}}</ref>
* According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group [[Jefferson Airplane]] came from "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane", a friend's nickname for founding member and blues guitarist [[Jorma Kaukonen]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/jefferson-airplane-starship-paul-kantner-74-dies-421147 |title=Jefferson Airplane, Starship Co-Founder Paul Kantner Dies at 74 |author=Paula Mejia |date=January 29, 2016 |website=Newsweek.com |access-date=October 21, 2018 |quote=The group was forged shortly afterward with vocalist Grace Slick, bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, who provided the name for the band, drawn from a blues name he'd been given by a friend (Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane).}}</ref> However, other sources give other origins for the name, that involve Blind Lemon Jefferson either less directly or not at all.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aaep1600.osu.edu/book/09_JeffAirplane.php |title=Jefferson Airplane |author=Clayton Funk and N. G. |work=AAEP 1600 (Art and Music since 1945), course materials |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=October 21, 2018}}</ref>
*In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of ''[[Fear the Walking Dead (season 6)|Fear the Walking Dead]]'' while survivalist character [[Victor Strand (character)|Victor Strand]] discovers an apartment containing artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fear TWD Finale Recap: Bombs Away — Plus, a Last Blast for [Spoiler]|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/recaps/fear-twd-finale-recap-bombs-away-%E2%80%94-plus-a-last-blast-for-spoiler/ar-AAL0qfw|access-date=2021-08-24|website=Msn.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[List of nicknames of blues musicians]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). ''Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged.'' Denton: [[University of North Texas Press]]. {{ISBN|1-57441-051-2}}.
*Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly''. New York City: [[HarperCollins Publishers]]. {{ISBN|0060168625}}
*Govenar, Alan. "That Black Snake Moan: The Music and Mystery of Blind Lemon Jefferson." In ''Bluesland'', edited by Peter Welding and Toby Byron. New York: Dutton, 1991

==Further reading==
* Evans, David (2000). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/779317 "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson"]. ''Black Music Research Journal''. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp.&nbsp;83–116.
* Monge, Luigi (2000). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/779316 "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness"]. ''Black Music Research Journal''. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp.&nbsp;35–81.
* Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). [https://gato-docs.its.txstate.edu/center-for-texas-music-history/journals/volume-3-no2/Volume_3_No_2_New-Songs-of-Blind-Lemon-Jefferson/Volume_3_No_2_New%20Songs%20of%20Blind%20Lemon%20Jefferson.pdf "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson"]. ''Journal of Texas Music History''. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
* Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). [http://pisigin.ru/books/prishestvie-blyuza-tom4/ The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320.] {{ISBN|978-5-9902482-7-4}}.
* Swinton, Paul. (1997) [http://www.bluesandrhythm.co.uk/documents/121.pdf A Twist of Lemon]. ''[[Blues & Rhythm]]'', Issue No. 121, August 1997.
* Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). ''Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. {{ISBN|9781571686565}}.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150903212104/http://www.blues.org/awards-search/hall-of-fame-inductees/hall-of-fame-inductees-winners/?y=25 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction]
*{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p390}}
*{{IMDb name|4635781}}
*[http://www.wirz.de/music/jefferso.htm Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography]
*[http://wkarrer.webs.com/blindlemonjefferson.htm The lyrics of his songs]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Blind Lemon}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
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