Biography
Napoleon Strickland entered the world around 1920 near Como, Mississippi, and earned recognition as the "fife-blowingest man in the state of Mississippi." Recognition spread throughout the South for his command of harmonica, guitar, and diddley-bow, the single-string instrument often called a poor man's guitar and long associated with the roots of American blues. Residents of Como particularly valued his adaptability and steadfast loyalty to early blues traditions, traits that surfaced in every performance. A grave car crash in the 1980s led to his placement in a nursing home, where he died on July 22, 2001.