Mississippi Bluesman Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson, R.I.P.

We're saddened to report the death of Clarksdale, Mississippi blues artist Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson. The popular Delta blues singer, bass player, and band leader passed away on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 from complications due to lung cancer. Jefferson was 65 years old.

Jefferson was born the oldest boy of thirteen children in Roundaway, Mississippi, a rural area south of Clarksdale. Raised in abject poverty, Jefferson picked cotton and plowed behind a mule as a young man, and as he got older, he worked the fields with a tractor. He picked up on blues music at an early age, hearing records on the jukebox at the juke joint that his mother ran out in the country. Jefferson bought his first guitar at the age of 18, after moving to Memphis for work. He would later return to the Clarksdale area, taking on a job as a mechanic on the Hopson Plantation, where he worked for 22 years.

From the mid-1960s on, Jefferson worked with various bands and blues artists, including relatively well-known Delta bluesmen like Sam Carr, Frank Frost, Robert "Bilbo" Walker, and Super Chikan. Although he performed regularly for decades, Jefferson's recorded output is slim. His first recorded songs appeared on a 1990 Rooster Blues label cassette called Clarksdale, Mississippi – Coahoma The Blues. In 1996, Jefferson recorded the The Wesley Jefferson Band: Delta Blues Live from the Do Drop Inn CD with James “Super Chikan” Johnson. Jefferson's last recording was 2007's Meet Me in the Cotton Field, a collaboration with Clarksdale guitarist Terry "Big T" Williams.

Jefferson appeared in the 2008 documentary film M For Mississippi along with several other Delta and Mississippi Hill Country bluesmen. Although "Junebug" wasn't well-known outside of the Clarksdale area, he was a popular draw in the region, and an influence on up-and-coming blues artists. Jefferson will be missed by his family, friends, and fans.

Photo: Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson at the 2007 Chicago Blues Fest, photo courtesy DustyBlues.com

Thanks to Scott Barretta and the Mississippi Folklife and Folk Artist Directory for the biographical information.