Skip James — Bentonia, Mississippi

Nehemiah Curtis 'Skip' James was born near Bentonia, Yazoo County, Mississippi, in 1902, and is the defining figure of the Bentonia blues style — an eerie, minor-key approach played in open D-minor or open E-minor tuning that sets it apart from virtually all other regional blues traditions. James recorded twenty-six sides for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, in February 1931, producing recordings including '22-20 Blues,' 'Devil Got My Woman,' and 'I'm So Glad' that are now regarded as among the most extraordinary documents in the history of American music. When they failed to sell during the Depression, James returned to Bentonia and eventually to the church, abandoning secular music for three decades.

The 1960s folk revival found James in 1964, hospitalised with cancer in Tunica, Mississippi, after a search by blues researchers who had been hunting for him based on his Paramount recordings. He recovered sufficiently to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 and record new material, spending the last three years of his life as a celebrated rediscovery of the blues world before his death in October 1969. Cream covered 'I'm So Glad' on their debut album in 1966, giving James a royalty stream he badly needed; Eric Clapton also cited his recordings as a primary influence. Robert Johnson's 'Hell Hound on My Trail' is believed to draw directly on James's 'Devil Got My Woman.'

A Mississippi Blues Trail marker in Bentonia acknowledges James's origins and his significance to the local blues style he helped create. The Blue Front Café, also in Bentonia, maintains the tradition he established. James is buried at Bentonia Cemetery. Bentonia is approximately 45 minutes north of Jackson on Highway 49 — the same highway that becomes the Blues Highway through the Delta.