Biography
Walter Vinson, a singer and guitarist who made up half of the famed Mississippi Sheiks, ranked among the era’s most distinguished blues accompanists. Born on February 2, 1901, in Bolton, Mississippi, and also billed at times as Vincson or Vincent, he started playing in public while still a child and became a regular presence at local parties and picnics throughout his teenage years. From the beginning he seldom worked alone, preferring the interplay of duets and trios; during the 1920s he performed with Charlie McCoy, Rubin Lacy, and Charlie Spand, then formed his most enduring partnership when he joined Lonnie Chatmon in 1928. Besides appearing with Chatmon in the Mississippi Sheiks, Vinson also cut sides with him under the name Mississippi Hot Footers and collaborated with Chatmon’s brothers Bo and Harry. After the Sheiks disbanded in 1933, Vinson recorded with assorted musicians across Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans, and Chicago. Although he remained an active club performer into the early 1940s, he withdrew from music by the middle of the decade and stayed away until 1960, when he resumed both studio work and festival dates. Arteriosclerosis prompted his retirement in the early 1970s; he died in Chicago in 1975.