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T-Bone Walker (1910-1975)

Father of Electric Blues Guitar

Aaron Thibeaux Walker was born on May 28, 1910 in Linden, Cass County, Texas and grew up with his mother Movelia Walker and his step-father Marco Washington in the Dallas, Texas area. Blues artists Blind Lemon Jefferson and Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) were the family's friends and inspired T-Bone Walker to a musical career. The young T-Bone Walker taught himself to play guitar and began to work with medicine and minstrel shows. In the 1920s, T-Bone Walker toured the South with famous blues artist Ida Cox. In 1929, T-Bone Walker recorded Wichita Falls Blues and Trinity River Blues for Columbia Records under the name Oak Cliff T-Bone. His first recordings show an strong influence by Francis "Scrapper" Blackwell and Leroy Carr. In the early 1930s, T-Bone Walker worked with Cab Calloway and several other bands, and in 1934, he appeared with blues singer Ma Rainey. In 1935, T-Bone Walker switched as the first blues artist (and as one of the first guitarists at all) to electric guitar, following his mentor jazz guitarist Charlie Christian. In the same year T-Bone Walker moved to Los Angeles where he sung, danced, and played in nightclubs. Between 1940 and 1945, T-Bone Walker worked as a singer and guitar player with Les Hite and his orchestra, later also with Marl Young's orchestra, the Jack McVea All Stars, and the Al Killian Quintet. In the mid-1940s, T- Bone Walker formed his own band. Since then, he made many successful recordings for Black and White Records, Imperial , Atlantic, Modern, Brunswick, Blues Way, Black & Blue, Polydor, and Reprise. T-Bone Walker also made several European tours in the 1960s. In 1971, T. Bone Walker won a Grammy Award for his Polydor release Good Feelin' in the category Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording. T-Bone Walker died of a stroke in Los Angeles on March 16, 1975. T-Bone Walker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Until today T-Bone Walker is estimated as one of the most important blues artists. He was not only the first blues artist who used the electric guita, T-Bone Walker also developed an elegant jazz-influenced style of guitar playing in blues. T-Bone Walker has influenced generations of guitarists, not only in blues.

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