Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was a pivotal figure in blues music history, who bridged the gap between the Depression-era heyday of Mississippi Delta blues and the 1960s blues revival. Son House was born in 1902 in Riverton, Mississippi, near Clarksdale. Son House was a study in contrasts. He became a Baptist preacher by the age of 15, but was also strongly attracted to blues music, which was frowned upon by the church as "the devil's music." 
He taught himself how to play in his 20s. After killing a man at a juke joint, Son House served time at the notorious Parchman Farm in 1928 and 1929. He recorded in 1930 and again in 1941 and 1942 for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress. He quit music shortly thereafter, and moved to Rochester, New York, where he worked for the New York Central Railroad for two decades before being "rediscovered" by blues enthusiasts in 1964. Son House's strong voice and bottleneck-style slide guitar were very influential on blues greats like Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. Son House died in poverty in Detroit in 1988. Below you can find a video of a still-powerful Son House playing in 1967, and a video of the White Stripes covering the same song.
