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OBITUARY 

NY TIMES  Lonnie Pitchford, Delta Blues Musician, Dies              By JON PARELES                 Lonnie Pitchford, a Mississippi bluesman who was dedicated to reviving early Delta blues, died                 on Nov. 8 at his home in Lexington, Miss. He was 43.             The cause was pneumonia complications, said his manager, Patty Johnson.             Pitchford performed around the world and appeared regularly in New York, often in concerts            presented by the World Music Institute. He played the diddley-bow, a one-stringed instrument he            would assemble onstage from a two-by-four, two nails, broom wire and a crushed snuff can. Using a            dime as a slide, he would play driving, wailing blues lines.             He also played guitar and occasionally piano, singing classic Delta blues with a pensive, haunted            voice.             The diddley-bow was Pitchford's first instrument, made from baling wire nailed to the side of his            family's house in rural Lexington.             He sang in the church from childhood on and learned to play piano; he was 12 when he began            sharing a guitar with his four brothers.             Pitchford learned traditional Delta blues from Eugene Powell (who had played with the Mississippi            Sheiks in the 1930s) and from Robert Junior Lockwood, whose stepfather was Robert Johnson.             Pitchford's wife, Minnie, is the daughter of Elmore James' girlfriend, and Pitchford learned some            Elmore James songs that had been left with his mother-in-law.             He began performing outside Mississippi as a teen-ager, appearing at the Smithsonian Institution's            Festival of American Folklife from 1972 to 1991.             By the 1990s he had toured in Europe and Australia as well as the United States. When not on the            road, he worked as a carpenter.             He appeared in the documentaries "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1980) and "Deep Blues"            (1992), and was recorded for five blues anthologies before he made his first solo album, "All Around            Man," for Rooster Blues Records in 1994. He was working on an album for Mississippi Crossroads            Music. He also made an album with the New Africa String Band, which included Powell and Big            Jack Johnson.             Pitchford is survived by his wife; his mother, Rosie Pitchford; two sisters, Ersine Hodges and Brenda            Jones, and four brothers, Willie Douglas, Andrew James, Edward Charles and Roosevelt, all of            Mississippi.         Lonnie Pitchford Written by Jim O'Neal                                                  Mississippi blues guitarist Lonnie Lee                                               Pitchford, who had carried on the                                               legacies of blues legends Robert                                               Johnson and Elmore James, died of                                               complications from HIV on Nov. 8 at                                               his home in Lexington, Mississippi. He                                               was 43. Pitchford had toured Europe                                               and Australia and had played American                                               venues such as the Rock and Roll Hall                                               of Fame, the Chicago Blues Festival,                                               the Delta Blues Museum, and the                                               Smithsonian Festival of American                                               Folklife.                                                Pitchford was noted for his                                               performances on his homemade                                               one-string "diddley bows" as well as for                                               his work on acoustic and electric guitar.                                               In 1996 his slide guitar playing was                                               featured on one track of a John Cougar                                               Mellencamp CD.                                     Pitchford's only full CD, All Around Man, was released                                  by Rooster Blues Records in 1994. That CD included                                  songs he had learned from Robert Johnson's protege                                  Robert Jr. Lockwood, as well as a previously                                  unrecorded track that Lonnie's mother-in-law had                                  learned from her friend, the late slide guitar master                                  Elmore James. Pitchford will be buried on Nov. 14 at                                  the same cemetery where James was laid to rest in                                  1963, the Newport Community Cemetery near                                  Ebenezer, Mississippi. Services will be held at 11:30                                  a.m. at the Newport M.B. Church.      During the '70s and early '80s, Pitchford lived in   Kansas City, Lexington, Chicago, and Kalamazoo,   Michigan. He had spent the last several years in   Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he performed and   recorded, or around his hometown of Lexington. He   often worked as a carpenter, and played in gospel   groups as well as blues bands. He had been working   on a second album for Rooster Blues in late 1997   before his illness sidelined him. A few months before   his death he played Elmore James' guitar on a brief   session produced by Pat LeBlanc, administrator of   the Elmore James estate.    For more information about Lonnie Pitchford go to   Delta Musicians

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Birthdate - October 8, 1955  Birthplace - Lexington MS  Died - November 8, 1998 He was born and raised about five  miles outside of Lexington, a rural  Mississippi town not far from  Clarksdale. Lonnie Pitchford is one of  the most versatile musicians you will ever hear. He's played one room   juke joints and Carnegie Hall. He is a carpenter by trade and he is good   at his work. He's built his own guitars and his own house. A guiet man who  never lets on he is a world famous musician; Lonnie can be seen around  Clarksdale wearing his carpentry belt and carrying on his trade.    Lonnie began making one string guitars as a child and taught himself to   play them. He often constructs one on stage and then proceeds to amaze   audiences with his abilitiy to get incredible sounds from it. He also   builds a one string guitar known as the Diddley Bow. He can get more   from his Diddley Bow than a lot of guitarist can get from their Strat.    In 1974 Lonnie became an over night wonder when the Smithsonian   discovered his ability  to bring the material of the ledgendary Robert   Johnson to life. He was 17 years old and  whisked off to Washington   DC to play at the National Folk Festival. He banged together his one  string guitar on stage at the festival and proceeded to teach the   audience about the Blues.   Lonnie is not limited to his Diddley Bow. He is equally at home with  the Strat. On his latest  CD release "All Around Man" he plays acoustic  guitar, diddley bow, electric slide, lead,  rhythm, bass, piano, and mouth  harmonica. Proving he is an all around musician.  Biography lifted without permission (but with gratitude) from Delta Boogie. Please visit this wonderful, forgiving site.

 

 LINKS

Delta Boogie Bio Obit by Jim O'Neal (photos) Sara Muckler's article Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (incl. photo w/ diddley bow) Business number/address