Led Zeppelin lead singer, Robert Plant, named him as one of his earliest influences.
This is episode 16 of Caffe Lena: 60 Years of Song. Thank you to Sarah at the Caffe for compiling the list of artists and songs for this feature.
Sleepy John Estes, with his distinctive "crying" vocal style found his way to Caffe Lena just a few years before his death in 1977. Interestingly, in the 1960's, many blues revivalists thought him long dead in part because he sounded very old, even in his early recordings. Sleepy John's songs were about the people and places in his hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee.
As blues went out of style, Sleepy John found himself thinking his career was over at 53 when he returned to Brownsville to live in poverty. Ten years later, he was back in the studio recording, and out playing to new devotees of folk blues on the university circuit. He played at Newport, and toured Europe before finally making his way to Saratoga Springs.
At just 24 years old, recent Caffe Lena performer Jontavious Willis was brought out on tour by mentors Keb Mo and Taj Mahal. Keb talked with us about Taj having discovered this young blues guitarist. Jontavious grew up singing Gospel music along side his grandfather. As he told us, Jontavious took to the stage. He loved the feeling of performing and the audience reactions. Jontavious studied the blues masters - Delta, Piedmont and even Texas blues drew him in. And now, his influences are among his biggest fans.
Caffe Lena: 60 Years of Song, a production of WEXT Radio.