Little Walter Birthplace — Marksville, Louisiana

Little Walter — Marion Walter Jacobs — was born on May 1, 1930, in Marksville, Louisiana, and became the most innovative harmonica player in the history of the blues — the musician who made the harmonica a front-line amplified lead instrument comparable to the electric guitar. He left home at eight and was on his own from around twelve, playing harmonica on the streets of New Orleans, Helena, and Chicago before joining Muddy Waters's band in the late 1940s. His technique of cupping a small harmonica microphone in his hands with the harp created a new sound — thick, vocal, and electrically distorted — that transformed what the instrument could do.

His 1952 recording of 'Juke' — recorded as a B-side during a Muddy Waters session — hit number one on the R&B chart and launched his solo career. 'Sad Hours,' 'Mean Old World,' 'My Babe,' 'Blues With a Feeling,' and 'Last Night' followed, all featuring harmonica playing of astonishing fluidity and inventiveness. He was Muddy Waters's most important sideman and the Chicago blues harmonica player against whom everyone since has been measured: James Cotton, Junior Wells, Paul Butterfield, and Charlie Musselwhite all learned from him.

Marksville, in Avoyelles Parish in central Louisiana, is the seat of a Creole and Native American community. There is no formal Little Walter museum or landmark there. He spent his musical life in Chicago, dying there from injuries sustained in a street fight in February 1968 at the age of 37 — one of the most tragic early deaths in blues history.