Joshua "Peg Leg" Howell

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the June 1995 BluesNotes
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Blues music grew out of the songs Blacks sang on the plantations in the South. Field Hollers, Gospel music and work songs were part of their lives from when they were slaves and well into the 20th century. All these elements are found in the early Blues music. Some influences can be traced back to Africa, but the major ones came from the South. Early Blues songs are about a person's life. This is still the case in many Blues songs written today. With the evolution of the Blues moving from the fields, streets, and house parties of the South to indoor juke joints, clubs and bars, the stories have changed, but many of the themes are the same.

Here is the story of one of the early Blues players whose life is chronicled in song. Joshua Barnes Howell, known to Country Blues fans as "Peg Leg" Howell , was born on March 5, 1888 on a farm in Eaton, Georgia to Thomas Howell and Ruthie Myrick. As a child, he was around music all the time, but he did not take an interest in playing until he was almost 21 years old. He grew up to be tall and strong and this made him very important on the farm. He worked alongside his father doing the hard labor. Howell completed the 9th grade in school, which was farther than most farm boys at that time. Usually, they were needed to work on the farm, and left school by about the 6th grade.

As story has it, Howell says he picked up the guitar one night in 1909 and stayed up until he learned to play. He continued working on the farm and played guitar in his spare time until an unfortunate event happened. He got into an altercation with his brother-in-law and was shot in his right leg. As a result, he lost his leg (hence the nickname), and was fitted with a prosthesis. No longer able to plow the fields or farm, he found a job in a fertilizer plant in neighboring Madison County. He lasted there about a year before he moved back home. Back in Eaton he took various jobs, but did not work regularly. In 1923, he moved to Atlanta and he played regularly with some other musicians, and they became known as "Peg Leg" Howell and His Gang. This group consisted of ever-changing musicians, but the core was usually Henry Williams (guitar), Eddie Anthony (fiddle), and in the early years, Eugene Pedin on mandolin. The group ended up taking a surprise break in 1925 when Howell was sent to River Camp Prison for bootlegging. Bootlegging had been his primary source of income. When released, he returned to Atlanta.

Columbia Records heard him playing on the streets and took him into the studio on November 8, 1926. He cut four sides including "New Prison Blues" which he heard while serving time. Although he wrote many of his songs, he would be the first to admit many of his songs came from other Blues players who were not being recorded. Columbia Records went to the South twice a year to record Blues artists, usually in April and again in late October and into early November. In April, 1927, they recorded Howell again, this time with Henry and Eddie. These sides did fairly well and had a more upbeat feel than the solo sides.

Like clockwork, Columbia came in November, 1927, April, 1928, October, 1928, and April 1929. Henry was cut out of the recording picture after the November, 1927 session, but Eddie continued on the fiddle. A mandolin player named Jim was added on the April, 1929 session. Columbia kept coming to town through the fall of 1930, but they never recorded Howell again.

Howell continued to play around the Atlanta area, but also began selling bootleg liquor again. In 1934, his good friend Eddie died. He quit playing, except occasionally he worked on the streets when in a financial jam. He worked a variety of jobs after he gave up bootlegging. In 1952, his left leg was removed as a result of diabetes. At age 64 and confined to a wheelchair, Howell found it hard to do much work and he really did not do much playing past this point.

Somehow in 1963, Testament Records found him and recorded him 34 years after his last sessions. He was now 75 years old, both legs were gone, he suffered from diabetes and lived on welfare. Although you can tell it is Howell, these recordings do not contain all the magic found in his early records.

His life took one more turn for the worse in 1966, when he entered Grady Memorial Hospital for chronic nervous disorder. He died on August 11, 1966 and is buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Atlanta.

One of the most important parts to "Peg Leg" Howell's music is hearing the bridge between the influences of plantation work songs and traditional Blues music. It is a recorded link between the two forms. We are all fortunate that the phonograph was invented. It gives us the chance to walk down the halls of musical history listening to the music of this century, and allows future generations to do the same. Books and writings are a great form of documentation, but the pleasure of reading about these early Blues masters can never match hearing even the scratchiest recordings of their works.

Joshua "Peg Leg" Howell

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