Boyd Gilmore (June 1, 1905 or June 12, 1910 – December 23, 1976) 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 t ...

singer, guitarist and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

. Among the songs he wrote were "All in My Dreams", "Believe I'll Settle Down", "I Love My Little Woman" and "If That's Your Girl". Gilmore also recorded a version of fellow Delta bluesman

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 generat ...

's track, " Ramblin' on My Mind". He could play guitar, although there is no recorded evidence of his work on that instrument. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, he was "an exuberant singer".

Biography

Sources vary over the details of his birth. Gilmore was either born near

Inverness, Mississippi Inverness is a town in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,019 at the 2010 census. As the town had the largest cotton gin in the Delta, it served as a gathering place for farmers from the region when they brought th ...

, in 1905, or to Sam Gilmore and Luella Bryant on June 12, 1910 in

Belzoni, Mississippi Belzoni ( ) is a city in Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta region, on the Yazoo River. The population was 2,235 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Humphreys County. It was named for the 19th-centur ...

. He recorded " Ramblin' on My Mind" on January 23, 1952, at Casablanca Lounge in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. ...

, which he sang with accompaniment by

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

on piano and Jesse "Cleanhead" Love on drums. The track was released by

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee ...

, with " Just an Army Boy" on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

. At the same session, Gilmore recorded several other songs, including "All in My Dreams" and "Take a Little Walk with Me", which were released by Modern as a single. James Scott Jr. accompanied him on guitar, but his part fell victim to early recording technology, as an introduction and guitar break from

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 Fa ...

's "Please Find My Baby" was later spliced into "All in My Dreams". Gilmore recorded "Believe I'll Settle Down" for

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

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 ...

in July 1953, accompanied by

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifet ...

on piano,

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, a ...

on guitar and

Willie Nix Willie Nix (August 6, 1922 – July 8, 1991) was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1940s and 1950s. Life and career Nix was born in Memphis. He learned to tap dance as a child and later, as a ...

on drums, but like some of his earlier recordings, it was not released at the time. After his brief recording career, Gilmore performed in

juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke joint ...

s in the

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also r ...

for a while. He also performed regularly in

St. Louis 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 ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock- North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combi ...

, during which period he lived in a boarded-up abandoned house. During the years he lived in Pine Bluff, Gilmore and

Houston Stackhouse Houston Stackhouse (September 28, 1910 – September 23, 1980) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association with Robert Nighthawk. He was not especially noted as a guitarist or singer, but Nighthawk ...

performed together, as they had previously, in the early 1950s. Whilst in Pine Bluff, he often performed at a small club called Jack Rabbitts. In the late 1960s, Gilmore settled in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and lived there until his death on December 23, 1976. He was interred at Odd Fellows Cemetery in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

Discography

Singles

* 1952: "Ramblin' On My Mind" / "Just An Army Boy" (Modern 860) * 1952: "All In My Dreams" / "Take A Little Walk With Me" (Modern 872)

Albums appearances

* 1966: ''Memphis ....On DownThe Post-War Blues Volume 2'' ( Post War Blues) * 1977: ''Sun: The Roots Of Rock: Volume 12: Union Avenue Breakdown'' (

Charly Records Charly Records is a British record label that specialises in reissued material. Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. History Charly Records was founded in Fra ...

) * 1994: ''Anthology Of The Blues: Mississippi Blues. Archive Series-Volume 6'' (

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

) * 2003: ''The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions, Volume 1: Arkansas & Mississippi'' ( Ace Records) * 2010:

– ''That Kat Sure Could Play! The Singles 1951-1957'' ( Secret Records Limited)

References

External links

Boyd Gilmore
on