Charles Caldwell (bluesman)
Charles W. Caldwell (May 18, 1943 – September 3, 2003)[1][2][3] was an American musician from Mississippi, known for a raw and fiery brand of electric North Mississippi hill country blues.[citation needed]
Caldwell was a lifelong resident of the hill country around Coffeeville, Mississippi. He spent most of his adult life working at an industrial plant in Grenada, Mississippi that manufactured heating and cooling equipment. His public performances were limited to stints at parties and local juke joints. Although Caldwell had begun playing the blues as a teenager, his repertoire remained unrecorded until 2002, when he met Fat Possum Records boss Matthew Johnson. Impressed with Caldwell's playing and personal charisma, Thompson set up recording sessions at The Money Shot in Water Valley, Mississippi. Most songs featured just Caldwell's voice and electric guitar, though a few tracks included minimal drums. Midway through the sessions, Caldwell was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he doggedly continued recording. He died in September 2003 at the age of 60.[4]
His sole album, Remember Me, was released posthumously on 24 February 2004, garnering favorable reviews and comparisons to such artists as labelmate Junior Kimbrough, John Lee Hooker, and the early Muddy Waters.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 122. ISBN 978-0313344237.
- ^ "Fatpossum.com mini-biography". Archived from the original on 12 April 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ Biography by Steve Leggett, AllMusic
- ^ "TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: OTIS' BLUES". Steveterrellmusic.com. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
External links
[edit]- Charles Caldwell page from the Fat Possum Records site
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1943 births
- 2003 deaths
- African-American guitarists
- American blues guitarists
- American male guitarists
- Blues musicians from Mississippi
- Fat Possum Records artists
- 20th-century American guitarists
- Guitarists from Mississippi
- People from Coffeeville, Mississippi
- 20th-century American male musicians
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- 21st-century African-American musicians