Gravesites of Southern musicians: a guide to over 300 jazz, blues, country and rock performers' burial places

164 Pages·2002·104.286 MB·English

by  Amos, Edward

Gravesites of Southern Musicians

Gravesites of
Southern
Musicians
A Guide to Over 300 Jazz,
Blues, Country and Rock
Performers’ Burial Places
Edward Amos
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Library ofCongress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Amos, Edward.
Gravesites ofsouthern musicians : a guide to over 300 jazz, blues,
country and rock performers’ burial places / Edward Amos.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7864-¡270-4 (softcover : 50# alkaline paper)
¡. Musicians—Southern States—Tombs. 2. Musicians—Southern
States—Death. 3. Southern States—Guidebooks. I. Title.
ML385 .A59 2002 78¡.64'092'275—dc2¡ 2002006996
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2002 Edward Amos. All rights reserved
No part ofthis book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover photograph ©2002 Corbis Images
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
Thanks go to a host of people who Dana and Angela. May you all have Connie
helped with this book. I appreciate all the Smith sing at your funeral.
anonymous personnel at various libraries, Of course, certainly the most thanks
mostly in Memphis, New Orleans and and a big graveyard Purple Heart go to Jill,
Nashville. Thanks also to the sta› at dozens Zachary and Michaela. You think it’s easy to
of cemeteries and funeral homes for be dragged to some ofthese obscure grave-
answering questions with only a handful of yards to satisfy someone else’s silly hobby?
“Now, just what are you doing?” com- Special commendation to Zachary for
ments. su›ering through an ant bite attack at the
Thanks to Brian Craig and Dan Phillips grave ofRobert Pete Williams, and we won’t
at WEVL in Memphis for data and tips. Big hold it against Robert Pete. Extra special
thanks to grave hunter master Dr. Ken Ward, commendation to Jill for sitting through all
he ofa fine radio program in his own right. kinds ofmusic she is not particularly fond of,
Also to Chris and Margie Inman for lodging and su›ering through multiple stories about
and providing transportation across the dead people. Plus, she understands why
Louisiana prairie more than once. Thanks to “Overboard” by Sugarboy Crawford (not in
Rick and Janet Morley for the Patsy Cline this book … yet) is the greatest English lan-
photos and friendship for 20 years plus. guage record ofall time. Don’t think this is
Thanks to my sta› and fellow psychologists, a picnic. Thanks, Jill.
Linda S, Sarah, Diane, Russ, Merry, Linda V,
v

Contents
Acknowledgments v
Preface 1
1. Louisiana 5
2. Arkansas 34
3. Mississippi 38
4. Tennessee 52
5. Alabama 111
6. Georgia 119
7. South Carolina 130
8. North Carolina 132
9. Virginia 136
Appendix: Music to Hunt Graves By 141
Bibliography 147
Index 149
vii

Preface
Quirky morbid hobby or documenting hold a candle to the music reflecting the
a bit of American cultural history? You roughness and converse joy of life in the
decide. Gravesites ofnotable Americans are American South for decades after the Civil
popular tourist attractions. The most vis- War. Not to mention the influence of
ited grave in the country is that ofJFK, with African-Americans on not just jazz and
Elvis probably running a close second. Not blues, but all American music. In the South,
to disparage President Kennedy, but he was a separate culture developed right under the
only president. Elvis was king. noses ofthe white majority. Ofsome note,
While Elvis certainly tops the list of even on Dockery’s Plantation in the Mis-
prominent gravesites in the American sissippi Delta, which is a pivotal location in
South, he is just one ofmany great cultural the creation of first generation blues, the
figures buried in the musical triad of Ten- proprietors had little knowledge that their
nessee, Mississippi and Louisiana and not property was entering American musical
far beyond. No other part ofthe world can legend as the workers and their cohorts cre-
legitimately claim to have given birth to or ated a musical genre. Plus, at least in the
at least nurtured so many discernible styles blues and early country fields, the music
of 20th century music. Blues, country and was quite mobile. You didn’t need a sym-
jazz are all products of the South, and this phony or even a quartet. Just three chords
book is intended to pay a little homage and or so on a guitar, some wit, and a voice
generally serve as a useful little tourist guide capable of evoking doom or happiness
to graveyards in the great corridor ofAmer- could take a person anywhere.
ican music. Eventually, music centers developed.
What made this area such a fertile New Orleans is the undisputed birthplace
ground for music? A lot ofit has to do with of jazz, brought up from the Caribbean
the cultural mix that makes up the area. through Africa through Catholicism. The
Hard working people need entertainment Mississippi Delta produced scores of black
and escape ofsome kind, and the musicians musicians playing for their own people as
of this area knew that intimately well. well as a smaller white audience. (“We
Northern forms ofmusic (i.e. more directly always liked the blues—just not necessarily
linked to European trends) just couldn’t the people that played it” is a common
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