Editing Skip James

{{Short description|American Delta blues singer (1902–1969)}}
{{for|the baseball player|Skip James (baseball)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name             = Skip James
| background       = solo_singer
| birth_name       = Nehemiah Curtis James
| birth_date       = {{birth date|mf=y|1902|6|9}}
| birth_place      = [[Bentonia, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|mf=y|1969|10|3|1902|6|9}}
| death_place      = [[Philadelphia|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| genre            = [[Delta blues]], [[country blues]], [[gospel blues]]<ref>[https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/from-satan-to-jesus-skip-james-played-through-shadow-and-light-on-these-five-essential-tracks From Satan to Jesus Skip James] Guitarplayer.com  Retrieved 26 November 2024</ref>
| occupation       = {{Flatlist|
*Musician 
*songwriter
*preacher
}}
| instrument       = {{Flatlist|
*Vocals
*guitar
*piano
}}
| years_active     = 1931, 1964–1969
| label            = {{Flatlist|
*[[Paramount Records|Paramount]]
*[[Storyville Records|Storyville]]
*[[Vanguard Records|Vanguard]]
}}
| image            = Skip_James.jpg
| caption          = Skip James at the [[Newport Folk Festival]] in 1964
}}

'''Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James''' (June 9, 1902{{snd}}October 3, 1969)<ref name="AMG">{{cite web|last=Koda|first=Cub|author-link=Cub Koda |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-james-mn0000017137/biography |title=Skip James: Biography |website=[[AllMusic.com]] |access-date=January 29, 2014}}</ref> was an American [[Delta blues]] singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. [[AllMusic]] stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck."<ref name="Skip James Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More">{{cite web |last1=Koda |first1=Cub |title=Skip James Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-james-mn0000017137 |website=Allmusic |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref>

His guitar playing is noted for its dark, [[Minor key|minor-key]] sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate [[Fingerstyle|fingerpicking]] technique. James first recorded for [[Paramount Records]] in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during  the [[Great Depression]], and he drifted into obscurity.

After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including [[John Fahey (musician)|John Fahey]], helping further the [[American folk music revival|blues and folk music revival]] of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by numerous artists.  He has been hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues".<ref name=latimes>{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/413213341.html?dids=413213341:413213341&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+28%2C+2003&author=Richard+Cromelin&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=TELEVISION%3B+%27Blues%27+out+of+rhythm%3B+Infinitely+rich+subject+matter+suffers+from+a+lack+of+a+thematic+line+in+the+hands+of+seven+directors+--+though+Wim+Wenders+gets+it+right.&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131212732/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/413213341.html?dids=413213341:413213341&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+28,+2003&author=Richard+Cromelin&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=TELEVISION;+'Blues'+out+of+rhythm;+Infinitely+rich+subject+matter+suffers+from+a+lack+of+a+thematic+line+in+the+hands+of+seven+directors+--+though+Wim+Wenders+gets+it+right.&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |title='Blues' Out of Rhythm: Infinitely Rich Subject Matter Suffers from a Lack of a Thematic Line in the Hands of Seven Directors – Though Wim Wenders Gets It Right |website=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |date=September 28, 2003 |access-date=2011-12-30}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early years===
Nehemiah Curtis James was born on June 9, 1902, in a [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] hospital near [[Bentonia, Mississippi]].<ref name="Calt"/> His mother Phyllis worked as a cook and babysitter on the Woodbine Plantation, which was 15 miles south of [[Yazoo City]]. His father Eddie James, a [[rum-running|bootlegger]] who was described as a "local lowlife" by [[Stephen Calt]], left the family around 1907. He later reformed and became a preacher.  As a youth, James heard local musicians, such as Henry Stuckey, from whom he learned to play the guitar, and the brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims. His mother bought him a $2.50 guitar, which was his first instrument. James later began playing the organ in his teens. He later left Bentonia in 1919, and began working on road construction and [[levee]]-building crews in Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer. He began playing the guitar in [[D Minor|open D-minor tuning]].<ref name="Calt"/>

===1920s and 1930s===
For most of the 1920s, James worked a series of illicit jobs, such as bootlegging, [[gambling]], and [[Procuring (prostitution)|procuring]]. His lifestyle was reportedly so "unbridled", that when he returned to Bentonia from [[Dallas, Texas]], in 1929, he was met with local reports of his supposed "violent death". He was met with the same reports five years earlier when he returned from [[Arkansas]]. That same year, in 1929, he met a local musician named [[Johnny Temple (musician)|Johnny Temple]], who became his first protégé. The 23 year old Temple learned how to play in cross-note tuning, which was then unknown to musicians who were from the [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]] area, and also attempted to copy James' high falsetto voice, until he advised Temple to sing in his natural voice.<ref name="I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues">{{cite book |last1=Calt |first1=Stephen |title=I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues |date=August 21, 1994 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=1569769982|page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C3lConF2NwC&q=murderous+music+cat |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref> James also operated a music school for would-be blues musicians in Jackson, giving lessons on guitar, piano, and even [[violin]].<ref name="I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues 2">{{cite book |last1=Calt |first1=Stephen |title=I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues |date=August 21, 1994 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=1569769982|page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C3lConF2NwC&q=murderous+music+cat |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref>

James continued working locally as a street singer. In early 1931, James auditioned for the record shop owner and talent scout [[H. C. Speir]] in Jackson, Mississippi. Speir placed blues performers with various record labels, including [[Paramount Records]].<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= 123
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> On the strength of this audition, James traveled to [[Grafton, Wisconsin]], to record for Paramount.<ref name="russell"/> His 1931 records are considered idiosyncratic among [[World War II|prewar]] blues recordings and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.

As was typical of his era, James recorded various styles of music – blues, [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]], cover versions, and original compositions – frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "[[I'm So Glad]]" was derived from a 1927 song, "So Tired", by Art Sizemore and George A. Little, recorded in 1928 by [[Gene Austin]] and by [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]] (Johnson's version was entitled "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). James's biographer [[Stephen Calt]], echoing the opinion of several [[music journalism|music critics]], considered the finished product totally original, "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music".<ref name="Calt" /> Several other recordings from the Grafton session, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Jesus Is a Mighty Good Leader", and "22-20 Blues" (the basis of [[Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson]]'s better-known "[[32-20 Blues]]"),<ref>{{cite book|title=Deep Blues|author=Palmer, Robert|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|isbn=978-0-14-006223-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/116 116]|date=1982|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/116}}</ref> have been similarly influential. Very few original copies of James's Paramount [[78 rpm record]]s have survived.

The Great Depression struck just as James's recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and he gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church.<ref name="russell"/> James was later an ordained minister in [[Baptist]] and [[Methodist]] churches, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.<ref name="russell"/>

=== Rediscovery and legacy ===

For the next thirty-three years, James made no known recordings and performed sporadically. He was virtually unknown to the general public until about 1960. Blues singer and guitarist [[Big Joe Williams]] believed that James had already passed, having been murdered in Mississippi.<ref name="I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues 3">{{cite book |last1=Calt |first1=Stephen |title=I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues |date=August 21, 1994 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=1569769982 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C3lConF2NwC&q=murdered+in+mississippi |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref> In 1964, blues enthusiasts [[John Fahey (musician)|John Fahey]], [[Bill Barth]], and [[Henry Vestine]] found him in a hospital in [[Tunica, Mississippi]].<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=197/9}}</ref> According to Calt, the "rediscovery" of both James and [[Son House]] at virtually the same time was the start of the [[blues revival]] in the United States.<ref name="Calt">{{cite book| last = Calt | first = Stephen | title = I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues| url = https://archive.org/details/idratherbedevils00calt | url-access = limited | publisher = [[Da Capo Press]]| year = 1994| page =[https://archive.org/details/idratherbedevils00calt/page/88 88]| isbn = 978-0-306-80579-0}}</ref>

In July 1964, James and other rediscovered musicians appeared at the [[Newport Folk Festival]].<ref name="russell"/> Several photographs by the blues promoter [[Dick Waterman]] captured this performance, James's first in over 30 years. James subsequently recorded for [[Takoma Records]], [[Melodeon Records]], and [[Vanguard Records]] and performed at various engagements until his death from cancer on October 3, 1969, in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], at the age of 67.<ref name="russell"/><ref>{{cite web | title=Nehemiah Skip James: Mississippi Blues Musician | website=Mississippi Writers, Musicians, Actors, and Artists | date=1902-06-09 | url=https://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/mississippi-musicians/skip-james | access-date=2019-09-10}}</ref>

More of James's recordings have been available since his death than were available during his lifetime. His 1931 recordings and several of his recordings and concerts from the 1960s have been reissued on numerous compact discs, in and out of print. His songs were not initially recorded as frequently as those of other rediscovered blues musicians.  However, the British rock band [[Cream (band)|Cream]] recorded "I'm So Glad",<ref name=latimes/> providing James with $10,000 in royalties, the only windfall of his career.<ref name="AMG"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002248/Skip-James.html |title=Skip James Biography |author=<!--Not stated--> |access-date=10 September 2019 }}</ref> Subsequently, Cream's adaptation was recorded by other groups.  James' "22-20" inspired the name of the English group [[22-20s]]. The British post-rock band [[Hope of the States]] released a song partially about the life of James, entitled "Nehemiah", which reached number 30 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book
| first= David
| last= Roberts
| year= 2006
| title= British Hit Singles & Albums
| edition= 19th
| publisher= Guinness World Records
| location= London
| page= 259
| isbn= 1-904994-10-5}}</ref>  Only 15 copies of James' original shellac 78 recordings are still in existence, and have become extremely sought after by collectors such as John Tefteller.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/arts/music/12petr.html |title=They've Got Those Old, Hard-to-Find Blues |first=Amanda |last=Petrusich |date=July 8, 2009 |website=NY Times |access-date=October 14, 2020}}</ref>

In 2004, [[Wim Wenders]] directed the film ''[[The Soul of a Man]]'' (the second part of ''[[The Blues (film)|The Blues]]'', a series produced by [[Martin Scorsese]]), focusing on the music of [[Blind Willie Johnson]], [[J.B. Lenoir]] and James.<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4075488/year/2003.html |title=Festival de Cannes: The Soul of a Man |access-date= March 20, 2015|website=Festival-cannes.com}}</ref> Because James had not been filmed before the 1960s, Keith B. Brown played the part of the young James in the documentary.  James' song "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" was featured in the 2000 film ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' and included on the [[O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)|soundtrack album]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/o-brother-where-art-thou-original-soundtrack-mw0000106868|title=''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' [Original Soundtrack] – Various Artists|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=June 7, 2019|last=Cater|first=Evan}}</ref>

James was the inspiration for [[Dion DiMucci|Dion]]'s 2007 blues album, ''[[Son of Skip James]]'', which peaked at No. 4.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/dion/|title=Dion|website=Billboard.com|access-date=August 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17680145|title = 'The Wanderer' Has Got the Blues|newspaper=NPR.org|date=December 29, 2007}}</ref>

James was honored with a marker on the [[Mississippi Blues Trail]] in [[Bentonia, Mississippi|Bentonia]], his hometown.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/skip-james|title=Skip James|website=Mississippi Blues Trail}}</ref>

In 2020, James' song "Devil Got My Woman" was added to the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Blistein |first=Jon |date=2020-01-21 |title= Elton John, Public Enemy, Joni Mitchell Recordings Added to Grammy Hall of Fame|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/elton-john-public-enemy-joni-mitchell-recordings-grammy-hall-of-fame-2020-induction-937561/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=2020-08-17 }}</ref>

===Personality===
James was described as aloof and moody.<ref name=dahl>Dahl, Bill (1997). Liner notes to ''D.C. Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1''. [[Fuel 2000 Records]].</ref> The musicologist [[Richard K. Spottswood|Dick Spottswood]] commented, "Skip James, you never knew. Skip could be sunshine, or thunder and lightning depending on his whim of the moment".<ref name=dahl/>

==Musical style==
===Equipment===
The guitar that James played in his 1931 sessions is now generally accepted to have been a 12-string [[Stella (guitar)|Stella]] guitar restrung as a six-string. When he was rediscovered in the 1960s, he typically played a Gibson J-185, Gibson J-45, Martin D-18, and a [[Martin D-28]].<ref name="How do you play like Skip James">{{cite web |title=How do you play like Skip James? |url=https://freshtakepublishers.com/how-do-you-play-skip-james/ |website=Freshtakepublishers |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref>

===James as guitarist===
James often played guitar with an [[List of guitar tunings|open D-minor tuning]] (D–A–D–F–A–D), resulting in the "deep" sound of the 1931 recordings. He reportedly learned this tuning from his musical mentor, the unrecorded bluesman Henry Stuckey,<ref>{{cite book | last =Komara | first =Edward | title =Encyclopedia of the Blues | publisher =Routledge | year =2006 | pages=505 }}</ref> who in turn was said to have acquired it from [[Bahamians|Bahamian]] soldiers during the [[First World War]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Calt | first =Stephen | title =I'd Rather Be the Devil | publisher =Chicago Review Press | year =1994 | pages=89 }}</ref> despite the fact that his service card shows he did not serve overseas. [[Robert Johnson]] also recorded in this tuning, his "Hell Hound on My Trail" being based on James's "Devil Got My Woman."<ref name="AMG"/> James's classically informed [[Fingerstyle guitar|fingerpicking]] style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar, with heavy, hypnotic bass lines.{{citation needed|date=November 2009}} His style of playing had more in common with the [[Piedmont blues]] of the East Coast than with the [[Delta blues]] of his native Mississippi.{{citation needed|date=May 2009}}

===The "Bentonia School"===
James is sometimes associated with the [[Bentonia School (blues)|Bentonia School]], which is either a subgenre of blues music or a style of playing it.<ref name="AMG"/> In a 1994 biography of James, ''I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues'', Stephen Calt maintained that no style of blues originated in Bentonia and that the "Bentonia School" is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns. Calt asserts these writers failed to see that in the case of Bentonia bluesman [[Jack Owens (blues singer)|Jack Owens]], "the 'tradition' he bore primarily consisted of musical scraps from James' table". Owens and other musicians who may have been contemporaries of James were not recorded until the revival of interest in blues music in the 1960s. Whether the work of these musicians constituted a "school", and whether James originated it or was a member of it himself, remain open questions.<ref name="AMG"/> One of the last living links to the original Bentonia school is [[Jimmy "Duck" Holmes]], the owner of the famous [[Blue Front Cafe]] in Bentonia, Mississippi. Holmes learned to play in this particular style directly from Henry Stuckey, who reportedly taught James and Owens himself. Accordingly, Duck is called the "last of the Bentonia Bluesmen."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanbluesscene.com/jimmy-duck-holmes-treats-us-to-it-is-what-it-is/|title=Jimmy "Duck" Holmes - Treats Us to "It Is What It Is"|first=J. D.|last=Nash|date=June 16, 2016|website=Americanbluesscene.com|access-date=January 11, 2019}}</ref>

==Discography==
===Paramount 78-RPM records, 1931===
{| class="wikitable"
|- "
! style="width:360px;"| A-side
! style="width:360px;"| B-side
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Cherry Ball Blues"
||"Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "22-20 Blues"
|| "If You Haven't Any Hay Get on Down the Road"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Illinois Blues"
|| "Yola My Blues Away"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "How Long 'Buck'"
|| "Little Cow and Calf Is Gonna Die Blues"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Devil Got My Woman"
|| "Cypress Grove Blues"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "[[I'm So Glad]]"
|| "Special Rider Blues"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Four O'Clock Blues"
|| "Hard Luck Child"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Jesus Is a Mighty Good Leader"
|| "Be Ready When He Comes"
|- style="text-align:left;"
|| "Drunken Spree"
|| "What Am I to Do"
|}

===Later recordings, 1964–1969===
Despite poor health, James recorded several [[LP record|LPs]] from 1964 to 1969, mostly revisiting his 1931 sides, traditional music, and spirituals, but also including a handful of newly written blues meditating on his illness and convalescence. These five prolific years have not been thoroughly documented: recordings, outtakes, and interviews not released on James's LPs (which have been repeatedly cannibalized and reissued) are scattered among many compilations released by small labels. Previously unreleased performances continue to be found and released but have been left largely unexplained, sometimes hours' worth at a time. Original recordings and reissues are listed below.
*''[[Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers]]'' ([[Melodeon Records|Melodeon]], [[Biograph Records|Biograph]], 1964)
*''[[She Lyin']]'' ([[Adelphi Records|Adelphi]], 1964; first released by [[Genes Records|Genes]], 1996)
*''[[Today! (Skip James album)|Today!]]'' ([[Vanguard Records|Vanguard]], 1966)
*''[[Devil Got My Woman]]'' (Vanguard, 1968)
*''I'm So Glad'' (Vanguard, 1978)
*''Live: Boston, 1964 & Philadelphia, 1966'' ([[Document Records|Document]], 1994)
*''Skip's Piano Blues'', 1964 (Genes, 1998)
*''Blues from the Delta'', with two previously unreleased recordings (Vanguard, 1998)
*''The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James – 1930'' ([[Yazoo Records|Yazoo]], 1994)
*''The Complete Bloomington, Indiana Concert, March 30, 1968'' (Document, 1999)
*''Skip's Guitar Blues'', 1964(?), (Genes, 1999)
*''Studio Sessions: Rare and Unreleased'', 1967 (Vanguard, 2003)
*''Hard Time Killing Floor Blues'' (Biograph, 2003†)
*''Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Skip James'' ([[Shout Records|Shout!]], 2003)
*''Hard Time'' (Universe, 2003†)
*''Cypress Grove Blues'' (2004)
* ''Hard Time Killin' Floor'' (Yazoo 2075, 2005)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Skip}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bentonia, Mississippi]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American blues guitarists]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:American blues pianists]]
[[Category:American male pianists]]
[[Category:Country blues singers]]
[[Category:Gospel blues musicians]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Blues revival musicians]]
[[Category:Country blues musicians]]
[[Category:Delta blues musicians]]
[[Category:Vanguard Records artists]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Paramount Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Mississippi Blues Trail]]
[[Category:African-American male songwriters]]
[[Category:African-American pianists]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]