Biography
Born around 1898 in the United States, Blackwell left no confirmed record of his death. He passed the greater part of his years in Memphis and was still living there into the 1970s. His early musical circle included Calvin Frazier, widely believed to be his nephew, along with his stepson Robert Lockwood Jr. and Robert Johnson. While based in Detroit he also collaborated with Baby Boy Warren. Though Blackwell himself showed little flair for musical innovation, fellow players valued the freshness of his words; the eight titles he cut for Bluebird in 1941, plus the pair he made for the Library of Congress the next year, mark him as one of the most original lyricists the blues has known. No other singer observed that catching a ride would come more easily with a knowledge of Masonic hand signals, or treated the Second World War as an opportunity to mail his infant son “a Jap’s tooth” to soothe the pain of teething. In every respect he remained an eccentric and singular figure.