Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the ...

guitarist, who recorded for

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly from

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

. Robert Lockwood was one of the first professional black entertainers to appear on radio in the South, on the

King Biscuit Time :''"King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex- Beta Band frontman Steve Mason releases his solo work.'' ''King Biscuit Time'' is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from ...

radio show. Lockwood is known for his longtime collaboration with

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

and for his work in the mid-1950s with

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

Biography

Early life

Lockwood was born in

Turkey Scratch, Arkansas Turkey Scratch is an unincorporated community within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. Notable people *Levon Helm, rock multi-instrumentalist *Robert Lockwood Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was a ...

, a hamlet west of Helena. He was one of two children born to Robert Lockwood Sr. and Esther Reese Lockwood, later known as Estella Coleman. He started playing the organ in his father's church at the age of eight. His parents divorced, and later the famous bluesman

lived with Lockwood's mother for 10 years off and on. Lockwood learned from Johnson not only how to play guitar but also timing and stage presence. Because of his personal and professional association with Johnson, he became known as "Robert Junior" Lockwood, a nickname by which he was known among musicians for the rest of his life, although he later frequently professed his dislike for this appellation.

Early career

By age 15, Lockwood was playing professionally at parties in the Helena area. He often played with his quasi-stepfather Robert Johnson and with

and Johnny Shines. Lockwood played at fish fries, in juke joints, and on street corners throughout the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

in the 1930s. On one occasion he played on one side of the

Sunflower River The Sunflower River (also known as the Big Sunflower River) is one of the main tributaries of the Yazoo River in the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is navigable by barge for 50 miles. It rises in De Soto County, Mississippi near the Tennessee borde ...

while Johnson played on the other, with the people of

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

, milling about the bridge, reportedly unable to tell which guitarist was the real Robert Johnson. Around 1937–1938 Lockwood worked with Williamson and

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

in the Delta, at places like Winona, Greenwood, and Greenville (where they most probably met Johnson, who died in 1938). Lockwood played with Williamson in the Clarksdale area in 1938 and 1939. He also played with

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

and others in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

, around 1938. From 1939 to 1940 he split his time playing in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

; Chicago; and Helena. On July 1, 1941, Lockwood made his first recordings, with

Doctor Clayton Doctor Clayton (born Peter Joe Clayton; April 19, 1898 – January 7, 1947) was an American blues singer and songwriter. Biography Clayton was born in Georgia (though he claimed he had been born in Africa) and moved to St. Louis as a child with ...

, for the Bluebird label in

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located primarily in DuPage and Kane counties, it is the second most populous city in Illinois, af ...

. On July 30 he recorded four songs, which were released as the first two 78-rpm singles under his own name: "Little Boy Blue" backed with "Take a Little Walk with Me" (Bluebird B-8820) and "I'm Gonna Train My Baby" backed with "Black Spider Blues" (Bluebird B-8877). These songs remained in his repertoire throughout his career. In 1941, Lockwood and Williamson began their influential performances on the daily radio program ''

'' on KFFA in Helena. For several years in the early 1940s the pair played together in and around Helena and continued to be associated with ''King Biscuit Time''. From about 1944 to 1949 Lockwood played in

West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is ...

; St. Louis; Chicago and Memphis. He was an influence on

B. B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

and played in King's band early in King's career in Memphis. In 1950, Lockwood settled in Chicago. A 1951 78-rpm single featured "I'm Gonna Dig Myself a Hole" backed with "Dust My Broom" (Mercury 8260), and a 1954 release contained "Aw Aw (Baby)" backed with "Sweet Woman (from Maine)" (J.O.B 1107). In 1954, he replaced Louis Myers as the guitarist in

's band. He played on Walter's number 1 hit "

My Babe "My Babe" is a Chicago blues song and a blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become a number one R&B single ...

" in 1955. He left the band around 1957. In the late 1950s he recorded several sessions with Sonny Boy Williamson for

, sessions which also included

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

and

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mis ...

. Lockwood also performed or recorded with

Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...

Eddie Boyd Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was an American blues pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including th ...

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

, J. B. Lenoir, and

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

, among others.

Later career

In 1960, Lockwood moved with Williamson to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where he resided for the second half of his life. In the early 1960s, as Bob Lockwood Jr. and Combo, he had a regular gig at Loving's Grill, at 8426 Hough Avenue. From the 1970s through the 2000s, he performed regularly with his band the All Stars at numerous local venues, including Pirate's Cove, the Euclid Tavern, Peabody's, Flipside Tavern, Wilbert's, Brother's Lounge, and, in the last years of his career, Fat Fish Blue (on the corner of Prospect and Ontario in downtown Cleveland) every Wednesday night. He played his regular three sets two days before the illness which led to his death. The All Stars continued the Wednesday residency for two years after his death. His studio albums as a bandleader include ''Steady Rollin' Man'', with the

Aces ACeS (PT Asia Cellular Satellite) was a regional satellite telecommunications company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It offered GSM-like satellite telephony services to Asian market. The coverage area included Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philip ...

(recorded 1970, Delmark); ''Contrasts'' (recorded 1973, Trix); ''...Does 12'' (recorded 1975, Trix); ''Hangin' On'', with Johnny Shines (recorded 1979, Rounder); ''Mister Blues Is Back to Stay'', with Shines (recorded 1980, Rounder); ''What's the Score'' (recorded 1990, Lockwood); and '' I Got to Find Me a Woman'' (recorded 1996, Verve). A 1972 45-rpm single included "Selfish Ways" backed with "Down Home Cookin'" (Big Star BB 020). Reviewing ''Does 12'' in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

said, "Lovers of

urban blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

will cherish this record by Robert Johnson's self-designated heir. It even boasts some adventurously progressive saxophone and twelve-string stylings that do no violence to a notoriously intransigent genre. But Lockwood is an undistinguished vocal interpreter, and only one of his originals—the imperturbable 'Selfish Ways'—is worthy of interpretation itself." His solo guitar and vocal albums include ''Plays Robert and Robert'' (recorded 1982, Evidence), ''Delta Crossroads'' (recorded 2000, Telarc) and ''The Legend Live'' (recorded 2003, M.C.). A duet session with the pianist Otis Spann in 1960 resulted in ''Otis Spann Is the Blues'' and ''Walking the Blues'', released by Candid. At the age of 60, in 1975, he discovered the 12-string guitar and preferentially played it almost exclusively for the latter third of his life. His most famous 12-string was a blue instrument custom designed and made by the Japanese luthiers Moony Omote and Age Sumi. It was acquired by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in February 2013 and is displayed there. A live performance by Lockwood, Henry "Mule" Townsend, Joseph "Pinetop" Perkins, and

David "Honeyboy" Edwards David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. Biography Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.

, recorded in 2004 and released in 2007 as '' Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas'', won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in 2008 in the category Best Traditional Blues Album. It was the first Grammy Award for Lockwood and Townsend. Lockwood's last known recording session was at Ante Up Audio studio in Cleveland, with longtime collaborator Mark "Cleveland Fats" Hahn, to record the album ''The Way Things Go'' for Honeybee Entertainment. Lockwood died at the age of 91 in Cleveland, having suffered a

cerebral aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circ ...

and a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop funct ...

. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Cleveland. His survivors included his wife, Mary Smith Lockwood of Cleveland; four stepchildren from his first marriage to Annie Roberts Lockwood, who died in 1997; and four stepchildren from his second marriage.

Awards and honors

*2008

– Traditional Blues Album *Street in Cleveland named Robert Lockwood Jr. Drive *Blues Hall Of Fame inductee (class of 1989) *1995

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States presented by then–First Lady Hillary Clinton (1995) *Seven-time W.C. Handy Blues Music Award winner *Honorary Doctorate Of Humane Letters from Case Western Reserve University (2001) *Honorary Doctor Of Music from Cleveland State University (2002)

Discography

Solo * ''Steady Rollin' Man'' (Delmark Records, DS-630, 1973) *'' I Got to Find Me a Woman'' (Verve Records, 1998) With

*'' Otis Spann Is the Blues'' (Candid, 1960) *'' Walking the Blues'' (Barnaby, 1960

972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recen ...

With

*'' Feel Like Blowing My Horn'' (Delmark, 1970

973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...

With Sonny Boy Williamson *''

The Real Folk Blues ''The Real Folk Blues'' is a series of blues albums released between 1965 and 1967 by Chess Records, later reissued MCA Records. Each album in the series highlighted the music of one major Chess artist, including John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Mudd ...

'' (Chess, 1947-64

966 Year 966 ( CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Byzantine-Arab War: A prisoner exchange occurs at the border betwee ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Robert Jr. 1915 births 2006 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists Country blues musicians Deaths from respiratory failure Delta blues musicians Electric blues musicians Juke Joint blues musicians Guitarists from Arkansas Bluebird Records artists Delmark Records artists National Heritage Fellowship winners People from Helena, Arkansas Musicians from Cleveland Slide guitarists Blues musicians from Arkansas 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Ohio Grammy Award winners 20th-century American male musicians Black & Blue Records artists Southland Records artists