GUS CANNON

Banjo supremo Gus lived near Clarksdale, a hot-bed of country Blues, and he is said to have made his own banjo from an old frying pan and a raccoon skin. He often held his banjo across his knees, using a knife on the strings like those early Bluesmen as he played on the streets of Memphis with guitarist Ashley Thompson and harp player Noah Lewis. In 1927, he cut six tracks with Blind Blake in Chicago, when he was billed as ‘Banjo Joe’. The following year he picked up on the Jug Band craze back in Memphis, forming the Jug Stompers with Lewis, Thompson and Hosea Woods on vocals and kazoo. When the craze faded in the early 30s, Gus was reduced to playing for tips in the park opposite Beale Street, but he was ‘re-discovered’ in the 60s, often sharing the Festival stage with fellow Memphis Bluesman Furry Lewis. read more...