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Age 72 1/3 years old. Grew up on a farm in the Mississippi Delta and my dad started showing me a few guitar chords in 1959. Radio was all we had until around 1962 we finally got a television getting 2 channels, so until then we'd listen to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night. Lived only a few miles from Leland & Hollandale Ms. I was fortunate as a kid to have met and spent a little time with blues players Son Thomas (Leland) and Sam Chatmon (Hollandale)
So in my early years of listening and learning a bit here and there it was all old traditional songs and old acoustic blues. As the 60's rolled in and hitting my teens I started getting caught up in the Stones, Beatles, Van Morrison & Hendrix, Cream, (British Invasion) etc so I went thru a period of working on these genres in my teens.
Around 1969 or 70 a friend turned me on to Muddy Waters Fathers and Sons Album and it immediately captivated me like nothing I'd ever heard. I started meeting musicians that had the same influences in musical genres and artist of the times. We all stuck together thru the years in various groups doing a variety of genres (Chicago Blues, New Orleans jazzy blues, Appalachian mountain, bluegrass traditionals, folk, classic country, progressive country. rhythm and blues, jazz standards, soul genres. Never was influenced in the least by Rock and Blues Rock.
Stopped playing out about 8 years ago and have played nothing but acoustic since then and have gone back to where I started in my youth trying to learn something from all the old traditional tunes that I missed and thats a lot.
A lifetime of playing from 8-72 yrs old. Still play everyday at home and enjoy not being stuck in a genre rut...To say I'm old school is an understatement
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