Pinetop Perkins

Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Life and career

alt=A black-and-white photo of Perkins seated at a piano|thumb|right|Perkins in 1976

Early career

Perkins was born in Belzoni, Mississippi and raised on a plantation in Honey Island, Mississippi. He began his career as a guitarist but then injured the tendons in his left arm in a knife fight with a chorus girl in Helena, Arkansas in the 1940s. Unable to play the guitar, he switched to the piano. He also moved from Robert Nighthawk's radio program on KFFA to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time. He continued working with Nighthawk, however, accompanying him on "Jackson Town Gal" in 1950.

In the 1950s, Perkins joined Earl Hooker and began touring. He recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" at Sam Phillips's Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The tune was written by Pinetop Smith, who created the original recording in 1928. Perkins didn't write; he "got as high as third grade in school."

Perkins then relocated to Illinois and left the music business until Hooker persuaded him to record again in 1968. Perkins replaced Otis Spann in the Muddy Waters band when Spann left the band in 1969. The tour in support of the album featured Jimmy Rogers and guitarist Hubert Sumlin.

The death of Perkins's common law wife, Sara Lewis, in 1995, triggered a depression and periods of drinking. In 1998, he released the album Legends, featuring Sumlin. In 2001, Perkins performed at the Chicago Blues Festival with Ike Turner. Turner credited Perkins with inspiring him to play piano.

alt=The two musicians onstage: Edwards standing and Perkins seated at a keyboard|thumb|right|Perkins with the other final living Delta blues musician, [[David "Honeyboy" Edwards, in 2008]]

Perkins was driving his automobile in 2004 in La Porte, Indiana, when his car was hit by a train. The car was wrecked, but the 91-year-old driver was not seriously hurt. Until his death, Perkins lived in Austin, Texas. He usually performed a couple of nights a week at Momo's, on Sixth Street.

The song "Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins", performed by Perkins and Angela Strehli, played on the common misconception that he wrote "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie":

::Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins

::I got a question for you

::How'd you write that first boogie woogie

::The one they named after you

As he aged, Perkins's hearing declined.

Death

On March 21, 2011, Perkins died in his sleep of cardiac arrest at his home in Austin, Texas at the age of 97. A music-filled open-casket funeral for Perkins was held in Austin, Texas on March 29, 2011, and was attended by several fellow musicians including Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Margolin.

Perkins was laid to rest in the McLaurin Memorial Garden cemetery in Clarksdale on April 2, 2011, following a final open-casket "homegoing" celebration.

Legacy

Influence

Bruce Iglauer, founder of Chicago's Alligator Records, stated Perkins was "absolutely the premier blues piano player." He added, "His career spanned literally over 80 years. He was the symbol of a whole generation of musicians." The workshop, which usually occurs in Clarksdale, Mississippi but was made virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides young musicians master classes with some of the best living talent in the traditional Blues and Jazz genres, and culminates in a performance at the Ground Zero Blues Club by the students.

Awards and honors

Perkins was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000.

In 2005, Perkins received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

At the age of 97, Perkins won a Grammy Award in the category Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip, which he recorded with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, thus becoming the oldest winner of a Grammy Award, edging out the comedian George Burns, who had won in the spoken word category 21 years earlier.

Documentaries

Perkins has been the subject of two documentary films: Born in the Honey (2007) and Sidemen: Long Road to Glory (2016). He also appeared in Clint Eastwood's 2003 documentary Piano Blues.

Selected discography

1976: Boogie Woogie King, recorded 1976, released 1992
1988: After Hours
1992: Pinetop Perkins with the Blue Ice Band
1992: On Top
1993: Portrait of a Delta Bluesman
1995: Live Top, with the Blue Flames
1996: Eye to Eye, with Ronnie Earl, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones
1997: Born in the Delta
1998: Sweet Black Angel
1998: Legends, with Hubert Sumlin
1998: Down in Mississippi
1999: Live at 85!, with George Kilby Jr
2000: Back on Top
2003: Heritage of the Blues: The Complete Hightone Sessions
2003: All Star Blues Jam, with Bob Margolin and others
2003: 8 Hands on 88 Keys: Chicago Blues Piano Masters
2004: Ladies Man
2007: 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads, with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the Muddy Waters Band, recorded live
2007: Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down – with Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, and James Cotton
2008: Pinetop Perkins and Friends
2010: Joined at the Hip, with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
2012: Heaven, with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on one track and liner notes by Justin O'Brien
2015: Genuine Blues Legends, Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers with Little Mike and the Tornadoes

With Carey Bell

Carey Bell's Blues Harp (Delmark, 1969)
Last Night (BluesWay, 1973)

With Earl Hooker

2 Bugs and a Roach (Arhoolie, 1969)

With Muddy Waters

Live at Mr. Kelly's (Chess, 1971)
Can't Get No Grindin (Chess, 1973)
"Unk" in Funk (Chess, 1974)
The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album (Chess, 1975)
Hard Again (Blue Sky, 1977)