David "Junior" Kimbrough

David "Junior" Kimbrough was born near Hudsonville, Mississippi on July 28, 1930. Junior came from a family of musicians. He started playing the guitar as a youngster and eventually came up with his own style of the blues. It was called "a mixture of bluegrass and Delta blues."(Living Blues (LB) May/June 1998) Others have commented that his music had a "West African feel."(LB May/ June 1998) Ethnomusicologist Slyvester Oliver wrote: "The patterns played by the bass and drums are an extension of Kimbroughâs playing, which is organized much like that of an African master drummer." (LB May/ June 1998) Robert Palmer once commented that Juniorâs guitar playing often sounded like a field holler, a musical expression during slavery.

By the 1950âs Junior had a band backing up his solo guitar playing. Unlike the other two artists mentioned in this project Junior never went north. Junior had established a place and sound that was all his own.

Above all Juniorâs blues pleased the dancers who gathered at the house parties and juke joints he ran in Marshall County, Mississippi, for close to 40 years. The synergy between Juniorâs grove and the beer-and-moonshine-fueled moves and shouts of dancers had the capacity to turn his club into one big churning force. (LB May/ June1998)

Juniorâs music was wed to the places in which he played. "Kimbroughâs music was inextricably linked to those fans and places in which he played". (LB May/ June1998)

Junior only made a handful of recordings. He recorded three of his own albums for Fat Possum records "All Night Long" (1992) "Sad Days Lonely Nights" (1993) "Things havenât worked out" (1997). The majority of these albums were recorded in Juniorâs juke joint, preserving the relationship between his music and space. His recording for Atlantic Record on the Soundtrack to the movie "Deep Blues"(1991) was recorded in his juke as well.

Junior played throughout Europe in the 1980âs. In the 1990âs funk and rock crept into his music giving it a harder edge. He even opened for Iggy Pop in 1996. Even though Junior toured the heart and soul of his music was still found in his juke joint. His juke joints joined those who might never met in different circumstances. "At Juniorâs one could find a white sorority girl from Ole Miss dancing with a middle-aged black man still in his work clothes"(LB 1998)

Two of Juniorâs children followed in their fatherâs footsteps. David and Kenny Kimbrough (pictured at left in Junior's Juke Joint, 1998) both became blues musicians. Kenny also runs Juniorâs juke in his fatherâs absence. Junior died on Jan. 17, 1998 of a heart attack. Click on Kenny Kimbrough to hear him play "All Night Long"

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