Blind James Campbell

Blind James Campbell, a blues performer recognized as one of the final practitioners of Southern street music, kept the Friendly Five active as a fixture across Nashville’s musical environment for many years. Born in Music City on September 17, 1906, he began playing guitar at age 13 yet waited until he turned 30 to treat music as his primary occupation, a shift prompted by permanent blindness caused by an accident at the fertilizer plant where he had been employed. He assembled the Nashville Washboard Band, an informal ensemble featuring his own vocals and guitar alongside mandolin, lard can or tub bass, and washboard; the group refined its approach through street performances and engagements at local parties, most often for white listeners though occasionally at Black roadhouses. In subsequent decades Campbell continued along essentially the same course, eventually adopting the informal name Friendly Five for the ensemble. Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz encountered him in 1962 and captured sessions with a supporting lineup that included multi-instrumentalist Beauford Clay, trumpeter George Bell, second guitarist Bell Ray, and tuba player Ralph Robinson. Dissatisfied with the results, Strachwitz traveled back to Nashville the following year to record Campbell once more, after which the strongest tracks were compiled for the album Blind James Campbell & His Nashville Street Band.