Skip James

Birth : 1902-06-09, Bentonia, Mississippi, USA

Death : 1969-10-03

History

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique.

Movies

The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1969, Vol. 3
Self
Taken from the European tours organised for American blues musicians between 1962 and 1969, this release features performances by several popular blues artists, including: Big Mama Thornton, Roosevelt Sykes, Buddy Guy, Dr. Isaiah Ross, Big Joe Turner, Skip James, Bukka White, Son House, Hound Dog Taylor and Little Walter, Koko Taylor and Little Walter, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Helen Humes, Earl Hooker, and Muddy Waters.
The Soul of a Man
Self (archive footage)
In "The Soul of A Man," director Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through an extended fictional film sequence (recreations of '20s and '30s events - shot in silent-film, hand-crank style), rare archival footage, present-day documentary scenes and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians such as Shemekia Copeland, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Garland Jeffreys, Chris Thomas King, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Cave, Los Lobos, Eagle Eye Cherry, Vernon Reid, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Marc Ribot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett.
See You in Hell, Blind Boy
A travelogue through the Mississippi delta searching for the heart and the spirit of the blues.
Devil Got My Woman: Blues At Newport 1966
Musician
Includes "Devil Got My Woman," "I'm So Glad," "Worried Blues," "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning" and more. Features Bukka White, Son House, Howlin' Wolf and more! The Newport Folk Festival has long been known for its contribution to spreading the gospel of traditional American song. This 1966 performance from the festival was manufactured by celebrated archivist Alan Lomax. He created a juke joint atmosphere complete with flowing liquor and this film documents all the action. The juke joint setting may add considerable flavor, but even without the theatrics the footage of the blues legends stands on its own. Prime performances are delivered by Son House, Bukka White, Howlin' Wolf, Reverend Pearly Brown, and Skip James. Between songs the Wolf taunts Bukka and as the music plays the audience dances at a fever pitch.