Furry Lewis

Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893 or 1899 – September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. He was one of the earliest of the blues musicians active in the 1920s to be brought out of retirement and given new opportunities to record during the folk blues revival of the 1960s.

Life and career Lewis was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. His birth year is uncertain. Many sources give 1893, the date he gave in his later years, but researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest 1899, based on his 1900 census entry, and other sources suggest 1895 or 1898.

In his travels as a musician, he was exposed to a wide variety of performers, including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Alger "Texas" Alexander. In 1916, (AllMusic gives the year of the accident as 1917.) A year later, he recorded for Victor Records at the Memphis Auditorium in a session with the Memphis Jug Band, Jim Jackson, Frank Stokes, and others. He again recorded for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929. He made many successful records in the late 1920s, including "Kassie Jones", "Billy Lyons & Stack-O-Lee" and "Judge Harsh Blues" (later called "Good Morning Judge").

On October 3, 1959, Sam Charters, with the assistance of his wife Ann Charters, recorded Furry in his rented room in Memphis, Tennessee. The recordings were released on a Folkways Records LP that same year. On April 3, 1961, Charters again recorded two albums of Furry Lewis - this time at the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, for the Prestige / Bluesville imprint: "Back on my Feet Again" (BV 1036), and "Done Changed my Mind" (BV 1037). One track was included in Sam and Ann Charters' movie The Blues, finished in 1962, and finding wide release, after being lost for many years, in a 2020 package titled Searching for Secret Heroes by Document Records, thanks to producer Gary Atkinson.

In July 1968, Bob West recorded Furry Lewis along with Bukka White in Lewis's Memphis apartment. In 1972, West, with Bob Graf, in Seattle, released the recording on a 12-inch vinyl record. In 2001 the recording was released on CD as Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends, Party! at Home, by Arcola Records.

In 1969, the record producer Terry Manning recorded Lewis in his Fourth Street apartment in Memphis, near Beale Street. These recordings were released in Europe at the time by Barclay Records and again in the early 1990s by Lucky Seven Records in the United States and in 2006 by Universal Records.

In 1972, he was the featured performer in the Memphis Blues Caravan, which included Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, Clarence Nelson, Hammie Nixon, Memphis Piano Red, Sam Chatmon, and Mose Vinson.

He opened twice for the Rolling Stones, performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, had a part in a Burt Reynolds movie (W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, 1975), and was profiled in Playboy magazine. Lewis expressed his dislike for the song and remarked that she ought to compensate him with royalties for being its subject.

Lewis began to lose his eyesight because of cataracts in his final years. He contracted pneumonia in 1981, which led to his death from heart failure in Memphis on September 14 of that year at the age of 88. He is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in South Memphis, where his grave bears two headstones. The second, larger headstone, was purchased by fans.

Discography 1927-29 - Furry's Blues _The Complete Vintage Recordings (Document Recs, 1990/2003) 1959 - Furry Lewis (Folkway Recs, 1959) 1961 - Back on My Feet Again (Prestige Bluesville, 1961) 1961 - Done Changed My Mind (Prestige Bluesville, 1962) 1968 - Presenting the Country Blues (??) 1969 - Beale Street Blues/ Forth and Bealt (Barclay/Blue Star?) 1971 - Live at the Gaslight at the Au Go Go (Ampex, 1971) Shake 'Em On Down (compilation), 1972 The Alabama State Troupers Road Show, 1973