"Blind Joe" Reynolds, country blues singer and guitarist, born in either 1900 or 1904 in Tallulah, LA, died on 10 March 1968 in Monroe, LA.
Reynolds is thought to have been born in Tallulah, Louisiana in 1904, although his death certificate states his birthplace as Arkansas in 1900. He was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face in Louisiana in the mid-late 1920s. It is uncertain what Reynolds' birth name was. Whilst it is thought to have been Joe Sheppard, a relative claimed it was Joe Leonard. Throughout his career, Reynolds travelled the country performing under various aliases as a way of evading the police and supposed "enemies".
Note that Blind Joe recorded 2 further sides for Victor (on 26 November 1930), but these were (sadly) never released, these are: "Short Dress" (master 64722-2); "Goose Hill Woman Blues" (master 64723-2).
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Reynolds is thought to have been born in Tallulah, Louisiana in 1904, although his death certificate states his birthplace as Arkansas in 1900. He was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face in Louisiana in the mid-late 1920s, which resulted in the physical loss of his eyes. Despite this handicap, Blind Joe became known for his distinctive bottleneck style as well as his reported accuracy with a pistol, with which it is said he could judge the position of a target by sound alone. Reynolds is known to have been polyamorous and somewhat misogynistic, as is apparent from a number of his recordings. He was also known to be outspoken and flamboyant, often using his music as a medium to attack society.
It is uncertain what name Reynolds was given at birth. Whilst it is widely thought to have been Joe Sheppard, his nephew Henry Millage claimed it was Joe Leonard. Throughout his career, Reynolds travelled the country performing under various aliases as a way of evading the police, as he had served at least two jail sentences in his early life, as well as "escaping [his] enemies".
After years of travelling and performing on street corners, Reynolds was eventually discovered in 1929 by musical talent scout H.C. Speir and is known to have entered the studio at least twice, recording four songs on each occasion. In November 1929, Speir took Reynolds to a small studio in Grafton, Wisconsin where he recorded the songs "Cold Woman Blues", "Nehi Blues", "Ninety Nine Blues" and "Outside Woman Blues". These were recorded under the name 'Blind Joe Reynolds' and released as two 78rpm records by Paramount Records. In November 1930, Reynolds re-entered the studio, this time in Memphis, Tennessee. There he recorded the songs "Goose Hill Woman Blues", "Married Man Blues", "Short Dress Blues" and "Third Street Woman Blues" under the name 'Blind Willie Reynolds' for Victor Records. However, only two of these songs were released, on a single 78rpm record. The recordings of "Goose Hill Woman Blues" and "Short Dress Blues" are thought to be lost forever. The song "Outside Woman Blues" would later find fame when it was recorded by Cream for their 1967 album, Disraeli Gears. The group became aware of the song after guitarist Eric Clapton heard it featured on the compilation album Country Blues Encores (1965, Origin Jazz Library OJL-8). Curiously, on their version, Cream gave the writing credit to 'Arthur Reynolds'. Reynolds' "Ninety Nine Blues"/"Cold Woman Blues" 78rpm recording for Paramount was thought to be lost until 2000 when a copy, which had been purchased in 1976 at a flea market for one dollar, surfaced. It subsequently sold privately for an undisclosed amount. It remains the only known copy in existence.
In March 1968, Reynolds was admitted to a hospital in Monroe, Louisiana following a stroke, where he died on March 10. The cause of death was pneumonia.
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By Uncle Dave Lewis
Blind Joe Reynolds was the nom de disque of a Louisiana street singer by the name of Joe Sheppard, who devised his false recording names primarily to keep one step ahead of the law. He was blinded in the mid-'20s during an altercation with another man who shot Reynolds in the face with a shotgun. Throughout his life, Reynolds was known throughout the South not only as a singer, but for his open disrespect for police and the legal system, his contempt for conventional morality, and his pursuit of trouble. His surviving recordings are characterized by Reynolds' shrieking, high-pitched vocals; his rolling, generous, and infectiously rhythmic slide work; and his lyrics, which tend to focus on unfaithful women.
Blind Joe Reynolds was discovered in the late '20s by Memphis record store owner H.C. Spier, who recommended Reynolds to Paramount (as he had Charley Patton). In November 1929, under the name Blind Joe Reynolds, he made two records, "Outside Woman Blues"/"Nehi Blues" (issued as Paramount 12927) and "Cold Woman Blues" b/w "99 Blues" (issued as Paramount 12983). Reynolds was one of the last "new" blues singers that Paramount took on and they didn't ask for him back. Nonetheless, Reynolds made another pair of records when the Victor truck stopped in Memphis a year later. On November 26, 1930, under the name Blind Willie Reynolds, he recorded "Married Man Blues" and "Third Street Woman Blues" (issued as Victor 23258). Two other titles made on this occasion, "Short Dress Blues" and "Goose Hill Woman Blues" were not issued by Victor and test copies have yet to be found. For some time, this was further complicated by the fact that no copies of Paramount 12983, though issued, seemed to be extant. These 1929 to 1930 records were the only ones made by Blind Joe Reynolds.
Afterward, Reynolds disappeared into history, but his legend and its many attendant anecdotes are recorded in Gayle Dean Wardlow's 1998 book Chasin' That Devil Music. In 1967, the English band Cream recorded "Outside Woman Blues" on the album Disraeli Gears; no doubt they would've been floored to learn that the song's original composer was not only still alive, but at that time still performing as a street musician in the American South. But Blind Joe Reynolds would die less than a year later, narrowly eluding the attention of blues revivalists and of booking agents who ran the large folk festivals. A new chapter of study on Reynolds was opened up with the discovery in 2001 of the missing Paramount issue, found by an Ohio music teacher in a Tennessee flea market. "Cold Woman Blues" from this disc was included on the 2001 Revenant release Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues, devoted to the music of Charley Patton. Thereon, Reynolds is included as a member of Patton's "circle," although he was based in Tennessee and not in the Mississippi Delta. Nor is Reynolds known to have been acquainted with Patton, although in a superficial sense there is enough similarity between the two to suggest some kind of stylistic, and hence personal, connection.