Biography
Among the foremost exponents of gospel harmonica during his generation, Elder Roma Wilson remained an enigma to researchers of vernacular music for many years. Because he had no idea that any of his performances had been captured, he remained unaware of his worldwide reputation until well past seventy, at which point he launched a belated professional career that earned widespread praise. Born December 22, 1910, in Hickory Flat, Mississippi, he first took up the harmonica at thirteen, practicing on battered mouth harps his brothers had thrown away. To coax sound from the exhausted reeds he cultivated a distinctive sucking technique, later termed “choking,” that ultimately produced an apparently inexhaustible stream of air. After his ordination as a minister in the Pentecostal Church in 1929, he joined forces with fellow cleric Rev. Leon Pinson, and the pair quickly became favorites on the northern Mississippi sanctified circuit through their versions of “This Train,” “Lily of the Valley,” and “Better Get Ready.”
In the early 1940s Wilson moved to Michigan, taking employment at a steel mill near Muskegon before establishing himself in Detroit in 1942. There he resumed public music-making, playing for coins on sidewalks with his children. In 1948, while performing inside a local record store, he was recorded without his knowledge or permission; the proprietor subsequently licensed the sides for international release. Folklorists spent years attempting to locate him, yet he stayed out of reach. Following the death of his wife he returned to Mississippi in the early 1970s and resumed his partnership with Pinson. Gradually he learned of the esteem in which roots-music scholars held him and, for the first time, heard the recordings made decades earlier. The duo received enthusiastic responses at festivals, notably the Chicago Blues Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 1993 Wilson was one of eleven traditional artists awarded a $100,000 National Heritage Fellowship by the NEA. The following year he released the album This Train, his first new sessions in many decades.
In the early 1940s Wilson moved to Michigan, taking employment at a steel mill near Muskegon before establishing himself in Detroit in 1942. There he resumed public music-making, playing for coins on sidewalks with his children. In 1948, while performing inside a local record store, he was recorded without his knowledge or permission; the proprietor subsequently licensed the sides for international release. Folklorists spent years attempting to locate him, yet he stayed out of reach. Following the death of his wife he returned to Mississippi in the early 1970s and resumed his partnership with Pinson. Gradually he learned of the esteem in which roots-music scholars held him and, for the first time, heard the recordings made decades earlier. The duo received enthusiastic responses at festivals, notably the Chicago Blues Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 1993 Wilson was one of eleven traditional artists awarded a $100,000 National Heritage Fellowship by the NEA. The following year he released the album This Train, his first new sessions in many decades.
Albums