Remembering Pinetop Perkins

One of the last of the legendary Mississippi bluesmen died on 21 March at the age of 97. Pianist Pinetop Perkins never let his age stop him giving performances or flirting with the ladies.

In a musical career spanning more than eight decades, Perkins shared the stage with Earl Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Ike Turner, B. B. King and, especially, Muddy Waters. Like other prominent black blues musicians of his day, he migrated from the cotton fields of the Deep South to the industrialized North and helped to bring in the electrified Chicago Blues sound, laying the foundations for rock 'n' roll.

Polly Hughes interviewed Perkins for Spotlight just before his last birthday. She shared her impressions of this talented and energetic artist who was honoured as a national treasure by no less than the US Congress.

In memory of this legendary performer, we're now making this article available from our archives for all of our readers to download:
Pinetop Perkins, blues legend.

Perkins was also the subject of the corresponding track on Spotlight Audio 7/2010. You'll hear a short spoken excerpt from our article. Then you'll hear Pinetop Perkins play his famous song "Chicken Shack".

(Flash Player required.)

We even had an online grammar exercise on Perkins: All I do, I do by ear.

*Find out more about the life and musical career of Pinetop Perkins at
his official website. You can also listen to four of his songs on the Pinetop Perkins MySpace page.