From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pinetop Perkins (born Joe Willie Perkins on July 13, 1913 in Belzoni, Mississippi) is an American blues musician from Mississippi. He began his career as a guitarist, but then injured the tendons in his left arm in a fight with a choirgirl in Helena, Arkansas. Perkins described the incident as follows:

"This woman stabbed me, we was at this place drinkin', and she went to the washroom, and I closed the door. Then her husband put barrels of coal ashes in front of the door and she couldn't get out for a couple hours. I was the last one she seen shut that door, so when she got out, she lit in on me with that knife."

Unable to play guitar, Perkins switched to the piano, and also switched from Robert Nighthawk's KFFA radio program to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time. He continued working with Nighthawk, however, accompanying him on 1950's "Jackson Town Gal".

In the 1950s, Perkins joined Earl Hooker and began touring, stopping to record "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (written by Pinetop Smith) at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis. ("They used to call me Pinetop," he recalled, "because I played that song."[1]) He then relocated to Illinois and left music until Hooker convinced him to record again in 1968.

When Otis Spann left the Muddy Waters band, Perkins was chosen to replace him. He stayed for more than a decade, then left with several other musicians to form the Legendary Blues Band, recording through the late 1970s, 80s and early 90s. Perkins performed concerts on his own and did some touring in 2006 at the age of 93.

Perkins was driving his auto in 2004 in LaPorte, Ind., when he was hit by a train. The car was totaled, but the 91-year-old driver was not seriously hurt.

Pinetop now lives in Austin, Texas. He usually performs a couple of songs every Tuesday night at the legendary Texas country dance hall, The Broken Spoke.

In 2005, Perkins received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

• The song "Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins", performed by Pinetop Perkins & Angela Strehli, suggests that Perkins wrote "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie":

Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins

I got a question for you

How'd you write that first boogie woogie

The one they named after you

This is misleading; Perkins actually got his nickname by playing "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie", written by Pinetop Smith (see above). Note that Perkins was only 15 years old in 1928, when Smith recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".

• Great video of Pinetop Perkins from Seventh Hour Blues magazine