Boogie Bill Webb

Webb was born in Jackson, Mississippi. His got his first guitar at the age of eight, made from a cigar box and strung with screen wire.[1] His greatest influence was Tommy Johnson.[3] With a real guitar obtained when he was a teenager, he won a talent show in 1947. He subsequently appeared briefly in the musical film The Jackson Jive. He moved to New Orleans in 1952.[1]

In New Orleans Webb became friends with Fats Domino and was thus introduced to Dave Bartholomew and obtained a recording contract with Imperial Records, for which Domino and Bartholomew recorded.[3] In 1953 Webb released his debut single, "Bad Dog," a noncommercial slice of country boogie-woogie. Frustrated by lack of recognition, Webb relocated to Chicago, where he worked in factories.[1] There he met and played with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and Chuck Berry.[4]

Webb returned to New Orleans in 1959 to work as a stevedore, performing music infrequently. However, in 1968 he recorded several songs for the folklorist David Evans, which eventually appeared on the Arhoolie Records album Roosevelt Holts and His Friends.[3] The 1972 compilation album The Legacy of Tommy Johnson contains five tracks recorded by Webb.[5]

Exposure at home and in Europe led to visits to Webb from blues fans and invitations to tour. In 1982 he appeared at the Utrecht Festival, in the Netherlands.[1] In 1989, with financial assistance from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, he released the album Drinkin' and Stinkin'.[1] An encounter with three women who had been out drinking for three days without bathing inspired the lyrics of the title track.[6]

Webb died in New Orleans in August 1990, at the age of 66.[2]

• List of electric blues musicians
• List of Louisiana blues musicians
• List of people from Mississippi