23 Facts About Buddy Moss

Eugene "Buddy" Moss was an American blues musician.

Buddy Moss is one of two influential Piedmont blues guitarists to record in the period between Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and Blind Boy Fuller's debut in 1935.

Buddy Moss was among the few of his era whose careers were reinvigorated by the blues revival of the 1960s and 1970s.

Buddy Moss's career was halted in 1935 by a six-year jail term and then by the Second World War, but he lived long enough to be rediscovered in the 1960s, when he revealed that his talent had been preserved through the years.

Buddy Moss was reputed to have been cantankerous and mistrusting of others.

In later years, Buddy Moss credited his friend and bandmate Barbecue Bob with being a major influence on his playing.

Buddy Moss did not record anything more for the next three years.

Buddy Moss frequently played with Barbecue Bob until Bob's death of pneumonia on October 21,1931.

Buddy Moss found a new partner and associate in Blind Willie McTell, performing with him at parties around Atlanta.

Buddy Moss's records were released simultaneously on various budget labels associated with ARC and were so successful that, in mid-September 1933, he returned New York City along with Weaver and McTell.

Buddy Moss recorded another dozen songs for the company, this time accompanied by Weaver; he accompanied Weaver and McTell on their numbers.

At this point, Buddy Moss's records were outselling those of Weaver and McTell and were widely heard in the southern and border states.

Buddy Moss continued to perform with McTell and Weaver, before going back to recording with a new partner, Josh White.

In 1936, Buddy Moss was arrested and tried for the shooting murder of his wife and was convicted and sentenced to prison.

Buddy Moss continued performing in the area around Richmond, Virginia, and Durham, North Carolina, during the mid-1940s.

Buddy Moss performed again with Weaver in Atlanta during the early 1950s, but music was no longer able to maintain a living.

Buddy Moss went to work on a tobacco farm, drove trucks, and worked as an elevator operator, among other jobs, over the next 20-odd years.

In 1964, Buddy Moss chanced to hear that his old partner Josh White was giving a concert at Emory University in Atlanta.

Buddy Moss visited White backstage at the concert and Buddy Moss was persuaded to resume performing in a series of concerts before college audiences.

Buddy Moss had new recording sessions for the Columbia label in Nashville, but none of the material was issued during his lifetime.

Buddy Moss performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969 and appeared at Electric Circus, in New York, in the same year.

Buddy Moss performed at the Atlanta Blues Festival and the Atlanta Grass Roots Music Festival in 1976, and later at the National Folk Festival, held at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia.

Buddy Moss died in Atlanta on October 19,1984, largely forgotten by the public.