Sleepy John Estes
Big Bill Broonzy called John Estes' style of singing "crying" the blues because of its overt emotional quality. Actually, his vocal style harks back to his tenure as a work-gang leader for a railroad maintenance crew, where his vocal improvisations and keen, cutting voice set the pace for work activities. Nicknamed "Sleepy" John Estes, supposedly because of his ability to sleep standing up, he teamed with mandolinist Yank Rachell and harmonica player Hammie Nixon to play the house party circuit in and around Brownsville in the early 1920s. The same team reunited 40 years later to record for Delmark and play the festival circuit. Never an outstanding guitarist, Estes relied on his expressive voice to carry his music, and the recordings he made from 1929 on have enormous appeal and remain remarkably accessible today.
Despite the fact that he performed for mixed Black and white audiences in string bands, jug bands, and medicine show formats, his music retains a distinct ethnicity and has a particularly plaintive sound. Astonishingly, he recorded for six decades on Victor, Decca, Bluebird, Ora Nelle, Sun, Delmark, and others. Over the course of his career, his music remained simple yet powerful, and despite his sojourns to Memphis and Chicago he retained a traditional down-home sound. Some of his songs are deeply personal statements about his community and life, such as "Lawyer Clark" and "Floating Bridge." Other compositions have universal appeal ("Drop Down Mama" and "Someday Baby") and went on to become mainstays in the repertoires of countless musicians. One of the true masters of his idiom, he lived in poverty, yet was somehow capable of turning his experiences and the conditions of his life into compelling art.
© Barry Lee Pearson /TiVo
Similar artists
-
More Blues (Remastered)
Blues - Released by Pink Dot Records on 15 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Working Man Blues (The Best Of)
Blues - Released by Werner Last's Favourites Jazz on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues Masters Vol. 24
Blues - Released by Werner Last's Favourites Jazz on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleepy John Estes: First Recordings With Lewis & Rachel
Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachel, Noah Lewis
Blues - Released by JSP Records on 18 Apr 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleepy John Estes
Blues - Released by Wolf Records International GmbH on 20 Dec 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Milk Cow Blues / Diving Duck Blues (All Tracks Remastered)
Blues - Released by Hit Singles Records on 4 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Divin' Duck Blues (EP) (All Tracks Remastered)
Blues - Released by Hit Singles Records on 3 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Recordings In Chronological Order, 1929-1937 (Hd Remastered Edition, Doxy Collection)
Blues - Released by Doxy Records on 11 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Recordings In Chronological Order, 1929-1937 (Hd Remastered Edition)
Blues - Released by Resurfaced Records on 24 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleepy John Estes - Greatest Hits (Best Value Music)
Blues - Released by Best Value Music on 3 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drop Down Mama (Hq remastered 2023)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 21 Jun 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Complete Recorded Works 1929-1941 (Hd Remastered)
Blues - Released by Reborn recordings on 16 May 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Two Blues Icons
Jesse Fuller, Sleepy John Estes
Blues - Released by Suburban Squire on 19 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Recorded Works, 1929-1941 (Hd Remastered, Restored Edition, Doxy Collection)
Blues - Released by Doxy Records on 6 Sep 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brownsville Blues
Blues - Released by Milestones Records on 25 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Floating Bridge / Need More Blues (All Tracks Remastered)
Blues - Released by Hit Singles Records on 20 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo