Willie "61" Blackwell

Willie "61" Blackwell (December 25, 1905 – after March 1972) He was introduced to the basics of the guitar by his father and neighbors, but, until the late 1930s, Blackwell performed on the piano in juke joints in Memphis, Tennessee. According to Blackwell's account however, after winning a competition against a rival musician, his adversary's friends beat Blackwell, crippling his hands. Undeterred and still hoping to pursue his music career, Blackwell reacquainted himself with the guitar, and allegedly received lessons from renowned blues musician Robert Johnson.

Lomax recorded eight songs with Blackwell which were released on Bluebird Records and preserved by the Library of Congress. Following the session with Lomax, Blackwell never recorded again and kept a low profile, but his work was later rediscovered in the 1960s by blues historians Sam Stark and Ron Harwood, the latter of whom wrote about Blackwell in Jazz Journal, in 1967. In 1994, all of his songs were featured on the compilation album, Carl Martin / Willie "61" Blackwell - Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, released by Document Records.