Brownsville Son Bonds
b. 16 March 1906, Brownsville, Tennessee, USA, d. 31 August 1947, Dyersburg, Tennessee, USA. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the blues field, Bonds lived his whole life in the area in which he was born. By his twenties he had learned guitar, and was playing with other musicians from the same area such as Hammie Nixon and Sleepy John Estes. Between 1934 and 1941, he made several records, first for Decca and later for Bluebird, in which his downhome musical roots were tempered by the commercial blues sound of the period. At his first sessions he was accompanied by Nixon on either harmonica or jug, while at his later ones Estes supported him. He also repaid the compliment with the latter. From his last session, some tracks on which he sang appeared as the Delta Boys. He died some years later from an accidental gunshot wound.