Joe Carter (November 6, 1927 – June 15, 2001) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

ist and

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

, formerly active on the

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

scene.

Biography

Born Joseph J. Carter in Midland,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, he was taught to play guitar by Lee Willis as a youngster in Georgia. He moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in 1952, where he met

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

. He formed his first band with

Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers (March 21, 1929 – July 23, 1993) was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of Howlin' Wolf's backing band and worked with Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, J. T. Bro ...

on guitar and

Lester Davenport Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport (January 16, 1932 – March 17, 2009), was an American Chicago blues harmonica player and singer. Born in Tchula, Mississippi, Davenport moved to Chicago, Illinois, United States, when he was 14. There he played wi ...

on harmonica, though he never recorded with this band. He was offered a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Cobra Records Cobra Records was an independent record label that operated in Chicago from 1956 to 1959 and launched the careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, a new generation who pioneered the West Side Sound. Cobra was starte ...

, but turned it down because he made more money with his

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * ...

gigs. In the 1950s he performed frequently at the 708 Club, one of the premier blues clubs on Chicago's south side, often billed as Joe "Elmore James, Jr"., because Carter played slide guitar in a style similar to

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 Fame ...

. Carter worked at the

Hormel Hormel Foods Corporation, doing business as Hormel Foods or simply Hormel, is an American multinational corporation, multinational food processing company founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, Austin, Minnesota, by George A. Hormel as George A ...

Meat Packing plant for many years when he was inactive as a musician. Carter did not begin

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

until 1976, when his debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

was issued on

Barrelhouse Records Barrelhouse Records was an American blues and rockabilly record label, set up by George Paulus in 1974. Roster of musicians Its roster included musicians as varied as Washboard Willie, Big John Wrencher, Charlie Feathers, Harmonica Frank, Sle ...

. In the late 1980s he performed occasionally at the Lilly's nightclub on Chicago's north side, backed by the band The Ice Cream Men. By the early 1990s he had developed

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

and was forced to curtail his career. Carter died in June 2001 in Chicago.

Discography

*''Mean & Evil Blues'' ( Barrelhouse, 1976) *''Original Chicago Blues'' ( JSP, 1982)

References

External links

Illustrated Joe Carter discography
*Cub Koda,

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Joe 1927 births 2001 deaths Singers from Georgia (U.S. state) American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Harmonica blues musicians American country singer-songwriters 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American male singers