Photo is of one of the roadside plaques dedicated to him in Mississippi. Pinetop was with Muddy Waters for a long time, so I must have seen him back in 1970 with Muddy. He moved to Austin back around 2004, something like that, so we've seen him a few times since that. He was pretty tight with Clifford Antone. The only time I ever kind of met him was at Clifford's visitation. The place was a who's who of music, local and otherwise, and Pinetop was right there with the casket most of the time we were there. I hate those things where they have an open casket. My friend knew Clifford fairly well, but she'd had some kind of falling out during that last year or so. She explained it to me, but it sounded like there had to be more to it, and I'm not nosy enough to to probe further... anyway it was a little odd going to Antone's sometimes knowing they were on the outs, so I never said a lot to him when we were both there, not much more than a hello and a nod. Who knows what the hell was up? In any case, it's too late to fix it. No going back.At the funeral home, I really felt sad for Pinetop. It's hard to lose friends, and when you are in your 90s you've lost so many. Clifford was only 56... so much younger. Muddy's gone too, 20+ years now. But Pinetop is still with us, so congratulations on a long full life, having good stories, and being well-loved and honored.
Pinetop Perkins history on wiki
Tags: Music - Austin - blues
1 comment:
I love the blues, and this is a lovely post.
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