DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, best I can put it into words. Now, every now and then, a place produces somebody so original, so genuinely their own thing, that the whole world ends up leaning in to listen. Freestone County, Texas — that's one of those places.
Because somewhere near Wortham, a man named Blind Lemon Jefferson was born. As a young man, he took to the streets with a guitar and a voice. Singing spirituals.
Singing blues. Playing for whoever would stop and hear him. And the thing about Blind Lemon Jefferson was — he wasn't just playing other people's songs.
He was composing his own. And that voice. The marker calls it distinctive, and that word is doing a lot of work, because distinctive doesn't quite cover a voice that could reach all the way from a Texas street corner to the ears of Louis Armstrong.
He made his way to Dallas, to the Deep Ellum district — that crossroads of sound and soul — and it was there that a talent scout found him. From Deep Ellum, Jefferson went to Chicago. This was the nineteen twenties.
And in Chicago, he made seventy-nine recordings. Jazz and blues. Seventy-nine.
The marker calls him one of America's outstanding original musicians. And the list of people he influenced reads like a roll call of American music royalty — Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Bessie Smith. Those names alone ought to tell you something.
When the giants of your era point back at one man from near Wortham, Texas, and say he shaped the way they played — well, that's a legacy that doesn't need any embellishment from me. Blind Lemon Jefferson. Born near Wortham.
Seventy-nine recordings. And an influence that rippled through American music like a stone dropped in still water.
What the marker says
Born near Wortham. As a young street musician, played a guitar and sang spirituals and blues. Composed many of his songs, and had a distinctive vocal style. From Dallas' Deep Ellum district went to Chicago in 1920's with a talent scout; made 79 great jazz and blues recordings. One of America's outstanding original musicians, influenced Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Bessie Smith, and other great artists. Recorded - 1967