Born March 6, 1899, in Greenwood,
Mississippi, Lewis acquired the nickname "Furry" from childhood playmates.
At the age of seven he and his family moved to Memphis, where young Lewis
took up the guitar under the tutelage of a man whose name he recalled as
"Blind Joe." Blind Joe apparently was versed in nineteenth century song
and taught his protégé "Casey Jones" and "John Henry," songs
based around the exploits of heroic figures. Lewis would later record these
two songs for the Victor and Vocalion labels respectively. By 1908, he
was playing solo for parties, in taverns, and on the street. He also was
invited to play several dates with W.C. Handy's Orchestra.
Lewis hoboed around the country until 1917,
when he lost a leg in a railroad accident. He returned to Memphis, playing
in association with Jim Jackson, Gus Cannon (who would form Cannon's Jug
Stompers for recording dates), and Will Shade. Though primarily a solo
performer, Lewis worked with this combination in a variety of clubs on
Beale Street including the famous Pee Wee's (now the site of a Hard Rock
Café) into the 1920s. The loss of a leg did not prevent him from
touring during the early 1920s with the Dr. Willie Lewis Medicine Show,
where he made the acquaintance of a young Memphis Minnie. His travels exposed
him to a wide variety of performers including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon
Jefferson, and Texas Alexander. Like his contemporary Frank Stokes, he
tired of the road and took a permanent job in 1922. His position as a street
sweeper for the City of Memphis, a job he would hold until his retirement
in 1966, allowed him to remain active in the Memphis music scene.
In 1927, Lewis cut his first records in
Chicago for the Vocalion label. A year later he recorded for the Victor
label at the Memphis Auditorium in a session that saw sides waxed by the
Memphis Jug Band, Jim Jackson, Frank Stokes, and others. He again recorded
for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929. The recordings from these dates exhibit
a nimble, clean, and versatile picking style that provides an excellent
counterpoint to his complex verses. Several of his recordings (notably
"Judge Harsh Blues" and "Cannonball Blues") display Lewis's bottleneck
slide playing, a style in which he was proficient but not a master. His
vocal range was limited but he compensated by composing humorous verses
that were by turns bawdy, sly, boasting, and pleading.
The onset of the Great Depression in 1929
brought Lewis's recording career to a halt. He continued to play Beale
Street and became a frequent performer in W.C. Handy Park during the 1930s
and 1940s. During the "Blues Revival" of the 1960s, Lewis was rediscovered
by a younger generation of fans that appreciated his expressive lyrics,
dexterous playing, and charismatic charm. He parlayed his delayed celebrity
into a movie cameo (initially offered to Sleepy John Estes), a talk show
appearance, and large hall shows with the rock and roll bands that were
his musical progeny.
Furry Lewis died in Memphis September 14,
1981.
By
Sean Styles
