Tampa Red

Tampa Red was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter, born January 8, 1904 in Smithville, Lee County in Georgia, USA. He died in a nursing home on March 19, 1981 in Chicago, IL. Tampa Red came by his nick-name because he was raised in Tampa, Florida and because of his red hair. He was also known as [b]Honey Boy Smith[/b] at . In the 1920s he formed a team with [a=Georgia Tom] (Dorsey), also known as [b]The Hokum Boys[/b]. Tampa Red also created jug bands such as [b]Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band[/b] (featuring a young [a=Frankie Jaxon]), and [a=The Tub Jug Washboard Band], which backed blues singer [a=Ma Rainey]. He also recorded alone, and cut a number of exquisite guitar solos.

Already by the time of his 1928 recording debut for , he had developed the clear, precise bottleneck blues guitar style that earned him his billing "The Guitar Wizard". His bottleneck and single-string solo style inspired a number of other blues guitarists, among them [a=Big Bill Broonzy] and [a=Robert Nighthawk]. Tampa Red was also a prolific songwriter, writing such blues standards as [i]Sweet Black Angel[/i], [i]Love Her With A Feeling[/i], [i]Don't You Lie To Me[/i], and [i]It Hurts Me Too[/i] (covered by the likes of [a=B.B. King], [a=Freddie King], [a=Fats Domino] and [a=Elmore James], as well as [a=Eric Clapton] and [a=Ghalia Volt] to name but a few). He may have been the most influential of the early 20th century blues guitarists.