Biography
In the opening years of the new millennium, direct connections to the legendary Robert Johnson had grown exceedingly rare. Once Robert Jr. Lockwood passed away in 2006, David "Honeyboy" Edwards stood out as the final Delta bluesman who had journeyed and performed alongside Johnson in person; when Edwards himself succumbed to congestive heart failure in Chicago on August 29, 2011, at the age of 96, that direct lineage came to a close. Though largely overlooked for much of his career, he gained greater recognition late in life, his slashing, Delta-drenched guitar lines and gruff vocals embodying the raw essence of the style more faithfully than most.
Edwards endured a harsh childhood in Mississippi, yet his emerging skills caught the attention of Big Joe Williams, who mentored the younger musician after noting his talent among peers such as Tommy McClennan and Robert Petway. As he roamed the South, Edwards encountered the formidable Charley Patton and frequently shared stages with Johnson. In 1942, musicologist Alan Lomax documented Edwards during a visit to Clarksdale, Mississippi, preserving those performances for Library of Congress archives. Early commercial opportunities remained limited: a lone 1951 single, "Build a Cave," issued under the name Mr. Honey on Artist Record Co., along with four unissued 1953 Chess sides that only resurfaced in part when "Drop Down Mama" appeared on a 1970 anthology, formed the core of his initial recordings, even though he had relocated to Chicago by the mid-1950s.
In 1972, Edwards crossed paths with aspiring harpist and blues enthusiast Michael Frank. They established the Honeyboy Edwards Blues Band four years later to tap into Chicago's emerging North Side club circuit, while also performing as a duo—an arrangement they revived periodically over subsequent decades. When Frank launched Earwig Records, he recruited Edwards along with longtime associates Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Floyd Jones, and Kansas City Red for the informal 1979 release Old Friends, the label's second outing. Earwig followed in 1992 with Delta Bluesman, pairing untouched Library of Congress tracks with fresh recordings that confirmed Edwards retained his full blues intensity. He stayed active well into the twenty-first century's first decade, joining forces with Henry Townsend (who died in 2006), Pinetop Perkins (another contemporary who passed in 2011), and Lockwood for the album Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas, which earned the 2008 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. Edwards received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2010. The following year he declared his retirement amid failing health, and he died one month later. His first posthumous project, I'm Gonna Tell You Somethin' That I Know: Live at the G Spot, appeared in 2017.
Edwards endured a harsh childhood in Mississippi, yet his emerging skills caught the attention of Big Joe Williams, who mentored the younger musician after noting his talent among peers such as Tommy McClennan and Robert Petway. As he roamed the South, Edwards encountered the formidable Charley Patton and frequently shared stages with Johnson. In 1942, musicologist Alan Lomax documented Edwards during a visit to Clarksdale, Mississippi, preserving those performances for Library of Congress archives. Early commercial opportunities remained limited: a lone 1951 single, "Build a Cave," issued under the name Mr. Honey on Artist Record Co., along with four unissued 1953 Chess sides that only resurfaced in part when "Drop Down Mama" appeared on a 1970 anthology, formed the core of his initial recordings, even though he had relocated to Chicago by the mid-1950s.
In 1972, Edwards crossed paths with aspiring harpist and blues enthusiast Michael Frank. They established the Honeyboy Edwards Blues Band four years later to tap into Chicago's emerging North Side club circuit, while also performing as a duo—an arrangement they revived periodically over subsequent decades. When Frank launched Earwig Records, he recruited Edwards along with longtime associates Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Floyd Jones, and Kansas City Red for the informal 1979 release Old Friends, the label's second outing. Earwig followed in 1992 with Delta Bluesman, pairing untouched Library of Congress tracks with fresh recordings that confirmed Edwards retained his full blues intensity. He stayed active well into the twenty-first century's first decade, joining forces with Henry Townsend (who died in 2006), Pinetop Perkins (another contemporary who passed in 2011), and Lockwood for the album Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas, which earned the 2008 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. Edwards received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2010. The following year he declared his retirement amid failing health, and he died one month later. His first posthumous project, I'm Gonna Tell You Somethin' That I Know: Live at the G Spot, appeared in 2017.
Albums
