Hammie Nixon

Born January 22, 1908, in Brownsville, Tennessee, harmonica player Hammie Nixon lost both parents early and grew up under foster care. He launched his professional career during the 1920s, when he began performing on harmonica while also handling kazoo, guitar, and jug. His longest partnership was with Sleepy John Estes, whom he accompanied for more than five decades; their first joint session took place in 1929 on the Victor label. Additional recording work linked him to Little Buddy Doyle, Lee Green, Charlie Pickett, and Son Bonds.

During the 1920s Nixon helped establish the harmonica’s role as a band instrument rather than a strictly solo voice. He performed regularly with numerous jug bands. Following Estes’s death, he joined the Beale Street Jug Band—sometimes listed as the Memphis Beale Street Jug Band—beginning in 1979 and remained with the group until his own passing on August 17, 1984.