The blues world has lost two of its best-loved figures, with the deaths of Etta Baker at 93 and Henry Townsend at 96.
ETTA BAKERBaker, a Piedmont blues guitarist from North Carolina, received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1991, as well as the North Carolina Award in 2003. Her laconic fingerpicking technique - combining elements of Appalachian bluegrass and southern blues - has influenced countless musicians over the decades. Legend has it that she inspired the Bob Dylan track 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright', after he met Baker around his 21st birthday.
A devoted mother of nine, Baker only began pursuing music full-time at the age of 60. Her most notable 'pre-professional' recordings appeared on a 1956 compilation LP, 'Instrumental Music of Southern Appalachians', which included her tracks 'Railroad Bill' and 'One Dime Blues'.
More recently, she recorded an album with another of her fans, Taj Mahal. Mahal told 'News & Observer' of how he was moved the first time he heard 'Instrumental Music of Southern Appalachians'. "I came upon that record in the '60s," he said, "I can't even describe how deep that was for me. Just beautiful stuff."
Baker, whose health had been failing in recent years, leading her to switch instruments from guitar to banjo, passed away in Fairfax, Virginia on September 23. She was visiting a daughter who had suffered a stroke. Another daughter, Darlene Davis said, "She was a great mother and a tower of strength for the family. We always looked up to her."
HENRY TOWNSEND
Singer, guitarist and pianist Henry Townsend was an icon in St Louis blues. Born in Shelby, Mississippi, Townsend moved to St Louis as a twelve-year-old.
Townsend had famously recorded in every decade since the 1920s, writing hundreds of songs and appearing as a player on countless more. He received National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Award in 1985, which officially recognised him as a 'master artist'.
Mark O'Shaughnessy, president of seminal St Louis blues club BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, said, "He was the patriarch of St. Louis blues. He wasn't in it for the money. He believed in the music. It told a very honest story."
His early career blossomed during the period when musicians shifted away from ragtime to uncover the mysteries of the blues. After witnessing the genius of Lonnie Johnson, Townsend decided his musical path would be with the guitar, a path which led him to sharing stages with Robert Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes and Walter Davis at neighbourhood parties in the 1930s.
By his own admission, his persistence to stay in St Louis both defined and hindered his career. However, he told Associated Press he had no regrets. "I never had an agent in my life," he said. "Just being me has got me where I am."
Henry Townsend, father of three, died last Sunday in Grafton, Wisconsin, of a pulmonary embolism. He was in Grafton to be honoured as the last surviving artist of the old Paramount Records.
His death follows that of fellow St Louis bluesman Bennie Smith, who died September 10.
