Pinetop Perkins

about

Joseph William Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011), known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues pianist. Perkins played with some of the most influential blues and rock and roll performers in American history and received numerous honors during his lifetime, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. Perkins was born in Belzoni, Mississippi. He began his career as a guitarist, but then injured the tendons in his left arm in a fight with a chorus girl in Helena, Arkansas. Unable to play guitar, Perkins switched to the piano, and also switched from Robert Nighthawk's KFFA radio program to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time. He continued working with Nighthawk, however, accompanying him on 1950's "Jackson Town Gal". In the 1950s, Perkins joined Earl Hooker and began touring. He recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (written by Pinetop Smith) at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis, Tennessee. ("They used to call me Pinetop," he recalled, "because I played that song.") However, Perkins was only 15 years old in 1928, when Smith originally recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie". Perkins then relocated to Illinois and left the music business until Hooker convinced him to record again in 1968. Perkins replaced Otis Spann when he left the Muddy Waters band in 1969.[3] After ten years with that organization, he formed The Legendary Blues Band with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, recording through the late 1970s, 1980s and early

top songs

albums

Pinetop's Boogie Woogie

After Hours

Born in the Delta

Ladies Man

Pïnetop Is Just Top [Blues Reference (recorded in Switzerland 1976)]

The Complete Hightone Sessions

Blues Six Pack

Down In Mississippi

Pïnetop Is Just Top

Back On Top

Live At Antone's Vol. 1

Joined At The Hip: Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith

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