Bukka White

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the December 1995 BluesNotes
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The end of the 1950s and especially the first few years of the 1960s found renewed interest in acoustic Blues music. This time, however, the audience was different. Blues music had been part of Black culture since the early 1900s but whites did not listen to the Blues. Jazz music broke the race barriers with artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Times were changing and young, white audiences were flocking to see acoustic Blues players. Many of these players were old Blues veterans who had played in the thriving years of the 1920s. They continued to try and make a meager living playing music. Many had taken other jobs outside of music over the past 20 to 30 years and now were being sought out to have their talents seen and heard once again. Bukka White was one of those players.

Bukka was born Booker T. Washington White to John White and Lula Davison in Houston, Mississippi on November 12, 1906. He and his brothers and sisters grew up on his grandfather's farm. His father worked on the railroad but was also a musician, so Bukka was exposed to music when he was very young. By the time he was eight, his father had taught him the fundamentals of playing guitar. He attended a Baptist Church where he learned to sing.

Around 1919, Bukka moved to Grenada, Mississippi to live on his uncle's farm. This was the land of Delta Blues. Bukka got hold of a makeshift guitar and in the evenings, after working long days in the fields, he played music; however, his uncle broke this guitar because he kept being awakened by Bukka's late playing. Bukka was more careful with his next guitar.

The Bluesmen who played on the plantations fascinated Bukka. Although he aspired to be like Charlie Patton, very little of Charlie's style is evident in Bukka's playing. During this period, his uncle encouraged Bukka to learn to play the piano; however, the guitar would always be his instrument of choice. It came in handy several years later when he left the farm to live on his own. Many times it was his only way to get a meal.

Throughout the 1920s, he played music on the streets, at parties, and in barrelhouses in the South. Sometimes, he was forced to take non-musical work to get by. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee and, in 1930, an agent of Victor Records approached him about making a record. He recorded 14 sides and some of the sides had Blues singer Napoleon Hairiston playing or singing on them. There were religious songs with church women backing him. Two of these were released under the name Washington White, "The Singing Preacher". Label cutbacks, because of the Depression, were the reason the other 10 sides were not released. It was very hard for Bukka to find work playing music, so he decided to go back to work in the fields.

Bukka married Nancy Buchauey in 1933 and they moved to West Point, Mississippi. He continued to work in the fields, but he also boxed and played baseball for the Negro Leagues. All this came to a halt in 1937 when he was arrested for shooting a man. He was released on bail until his trial, but he took off to Chicago to make a record for the American Record Company. After recording only two sides, a Mississippi sheriff arrested him at the studio. The sheriff took Bukka back to Mississippi where he served time at Parchman Farm Prison. Alan Lomax visited Parchman Farm and Bukka recorded two sides for the Library of Congress label. The American Record Company worked hard trying to get Bukka released from prison and in 1940 they finally succeeded. Bukka recorded for Vocalion immediately after his release. He cut 12 sides and many of them reflected the anguish he felt while he was incarcerated.

He continued to play music in clubs in the North for the next couple of years. In 1942, he enlisted in the Navy for two years. After his release, he moved back to Memphis. His first daughter, Irene, was born that year. He continued to work non-musical jobs, but did manage to get a few club dates. In 1946, his wife died.

Over the next 17 years, Memphis was his home base and he played when he could find gigs. Then, in the middle of the acoustic Blues revival, a young John Fahey looked him up and he recorded on Fahey's own Takoma label in 1963. This sparked the beginning of his second musical career. He recorded for Arhoolie later that year and in the following year for Takoma, again. Bukka married a woman named Leola in 1964.

He began playing all over the country at Folk and Blues festivals, including the prestigious Newport Folk Festival in 1966. He toured England and Europe in 1967 as part of The American Folk Blues Festival; and 1968 was a busy year for him. He appeared on a live recording of The Memphis Blues Festival on Mike Version's Blue Horizon label. Then recorded his own album on Blue Horizon and with Furry Lewis on a label called ASP. He also played in Mexico, and in 1969, he recorded for Blue Thumb. He returned to Europe in 1970 and 1972 and recorded for Blues Beacon in Germany in 1972. Bukka had never been so busy in his life playing music, and he was enjoying every minute of it!

The 1970s continued to be good to Bukka who was now in his middle 60s. He appeared in many movies and television shows on Blues, including Mr. Crump's Blues in Memphis (1972), two French films, Blues Under the Skin (1972) and Out of the Blacks Into the Blues (1972), Cocksucker's Blues (1976); and a BBC production in England, The Devil's Music - a History of the Blues (1976).

Bukka was 70 years old when he became ill with cancer. He entered the City of Memphis Hospital and passed away on February 27,1977. He is buried in New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Fortunately, because of the renewed interest in his music in the 1960s, there is a wealth of material on Bukka. If you compare his playing of the 1960s with the recordings of 1930, you will find little change in his style; however, you will find the story of life that had grief and pain, death and despair, as well as joy (in his later recordings), all with the originality that Bukka gave them

Bukka White

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