Percy Lee Strother (July 23, 1946 – May 29, 2005) was an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

guitarist, singer and songwriter. After a tragic start in life, from the mid 1970s, Strother went on to become a mainstay of the Minneapolis blues scene. His music was a blend of blues,

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and

Memphis soul Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn line ...

, and his more noteworthy songs included "Blow Wind Blow", "Down Home Blues", " Killing Floor", " Grits Ain't Groceries", "Red Rooster", and "Take My Love".

Life and career

Strother was born in

Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat. The population was 21,573 at the 2020 census. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vicksburg ...

, United States. His father met a violent end when he was hanged for allegedly killing a white man, and his mother died when he was aged 14. Opting to not enter an orphanage, Strother drifted from place to place, and job to job. His lifestyle was not aided by becoming an alcoholic, although he slowly taught himself to play the guitar and adopted more sober ways. He was influenced by the work of

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 ...

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 ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

and

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

. In the 1960s he moved north away from Mississippi, and having played in various locations, Strother eventually settled in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. He recorded his debut album, ''A Good Woman is Hard to Find'', in 1992. In the ''

Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...

'' Awards, the title song of the album was rewarded as the Best Blues Song of 1992, and the album was runner-up in the Best Blues Album category. Strother was also featured by both ''

Block Magazine ''BLOCK Magazine'' is a quarterly magazine about the African-American blues tradition. It is the Netherlands' oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded in Almelo, in the east of the Netherlands in 1975, by Rien and Marion Wisse. They fr ...

'' and '' Blues & Rhythm''. The same year, he supplied guest vocals on R.J. Mischo & the Teddy Morgan Blues Band's album, ''Ready to Go''. In 1993, Strother undertook a tour which included dates in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and he performed live on Dutch radio. By June the following year, his next tour added France and Germany to his list of European concert performance venues. His second album, ''The Highway Is My Home'', was released in 1995. It included ten tracks written by Strother, and a couple of cover versions of

Magic Sam Samuel Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969), known as Magic Sam, was an American Chicago blues musician. He was born in Grenada County, Mississippi, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and ...

songs in "I'm Tore Down" and "Easy Baby." Pat Hayes of the Lamont Cranston Band played guest harmonica on Strother's reworking of Little Walter's tune, "One Of These Mornings." Another track, "Forty Days and Forty Nights", had earlier appeared as one of Strother's contributions to ''Ready To Go''. The liner notes to the album quoted

Lazy Bill Lucas Lazy Bill Lucas (May 29, 1918 – December 11, 1982) was an American blues musician who was part of the birth of the Chicago blues scene in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. He then took his talents to Minneapolis, Minnesota, becoming an import ...

as saying "Mercy, Mr. Percy!" after hearing Strother sing. ''The Highway Is My Home'' was released by the Dutch record label, Black Magic Records. In April 1995, Strother appeared at the Burnley National Blues Festival, in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. Strother also performed at the Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival. ''It's My Time'' was Strother's third album, which was issued by JSP Records in 1997. One reviewer noted that it "has a set of terrific original songs which effectively showcase his raging, soulful roar and his blistering guitar". This was followed by ''Home at Last'' (1998), which was recorded in Europe during one of his tours. The album was aimed as a tribute to those earlier blues musicians who had inspired him in his early years. By this time, Strothers had become a local celebrity in Minneapolis, as he and Lazy Bill Lucas amongst others had helped develop the blues scene in that area. Strother was later diagnosed with

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

, and he died in his adopted hometown on May 29, 2005, at the age of 58.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Discogs.com entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strother, Percy 1946 births 2005 deaths American blues singers American blues guitarists Electric blues musicians Songwriters from Mississippi Musicians from Vicksburg, Mississippi Deaths from liver cancer in the United States Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists American male guitarists African-American male songwriters African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers 20th-century American songwriters

Life and career

Discography

Albums

See also

References

External links