27 Facts About Skip James

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.

Skip James's guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique.

Skip James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity.

Skip James's songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by numerous artists.

Skip James has been hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues".

Nehemiah Curtis Skip James was born on June 9,1902, in a segregated hospital near Bentonia, Mississippi.

Skip James's mother bought him a $2.50 guitar, which was his first instrument.

Skip James later left Bentonia in 1919, and began working on road construction and levee-building crews in Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer.

Skip James began playing the guitar in open D-minor tuning.

For most of the 1920s, Skip James worked a series of illicit jobs, such as bootlegging, gambling, and procuring.

Skip James's lifestyle was reportedly so "unbridled", that when he returned to Bentonia from Dallas, Texas, in 1929, he was met with local reports of his supposed "violent death".

Skip James was met with the same reports five years earlier when he returned from Arkansas.

Skip James operated a music school for would-be blues musicians in Jackson, giving lessons on guitar, piano, and even violin.

In early 1931, James auditioned for the record shop owner and talent scout H C Speir in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Great Depression struck just as Skip James's recordings were hitting the market.

Skip James was later an ordained minister in Baptist and Methodist churches, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.

Skip James was virtually unknown to the general public until about 1960.

Blues singer and guitarist Big Joe Williams believed that Skip James had already passed, having been murdered in Mississippi.

Skip James subsequently recorded for Takoma Records, Melodeon Records, and Vanguard Records and performed at various engagements until his death from cancer on October 3,1969, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 67.

Skip James's songs were not initially recorded as frequently as those of other rediscovered blues musicians.

The British post-rock band Hope of the States released a song partially about the life of Skip James, entitled "Nehemiah", which reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.

Skip James was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Bentonia, his hometown.

Skip James often played guitar with an open D-minor tuning, resulting in the "deep" sound of the 1931 recordings.

Skip James reportedly learned this tuning from his musical mentor, the unrecorded bluesman Henry Stuckey, who in turn was said to have acquired it from Bahamian soldiers during the First World War, despite the fact that his service card shows he did not serve overseas.

Skip James is sometimes associated with the Bentonia School, which is either a subgenre of blues music or a style of playing it.

Owens and other musicians who may have been contemporaries of Skip James were not recorded until the revival of interest in blues music in the 1960s.

Whether the work of these musicians constituted a "school", and whether Skip James originated it or was a member of it himself, remain open questions.