Scrapper Blackwell
b. 21 February 1903, North Carolina, USA, d. 7 October 1962, Indianapolis, Indiana. Blackwell was one of the most brilliantly innovative guitarists to work in the blues idiom and his unique style defies categorization, being of a quality close to jazz. He was of Cherokee Indian descent and one of 16 children born to Payton and Elizabeth Blackwell. The details of his childhood are confused but it is known that he was taken to Indianapolis sometime in 1906, where he grew up inheriting his father's interest in music (Payton was a fiddler). Self-taught on guitar and piano he began to work as a part-time musician during his teenage years, sometimes straying as far as Chicago but always returning to Indianapolis. In the course of his career he recorded many satisfying and impressive blues guitar solos under his own name, but gained his greatest fame in the company of Leroy Carr. Their piano/guitar duets in support of Carr's warm vocals set the standard for all such combinations throughout the '30s. Scrapper is reported to have been a somewhat difficult and withdrawn man, and his partnership with Carr was sometimes rocky. However, on Carr's death from alcoholism in 1935, Blackwell recorded a tribute to his ‘old pal’ and largely dropped out of sight. Rediscovered in the late '50s, he recorded again and it was discovered that his mastery of the guitar had not totally diminished, while his blues had become more personal and intense. He was shot by an unknown assassin in 1962.