471 Bukka White (1909-1977) “Fixin’ to Die Blues” 1940

“Two years in prison could have left ruinous scars on a less powerful personality than Bukka’s. The loneliness and brutality could have embittered him to a point where further creative work would have been impossible. Instead it matured him. His ideas became deeper and more complex. Bukka emerged from prison with a head full of some of the finest classic bleus songs ever written…” “Fixin’ to Die Blues” “was inspired  by a friend and fellow guitarist who went into a coma and died in 1938, evidently in Parchman [prison]” (F. Jack Hurley and David Evans, Tom Ashley, Sam McGee, Bukka White, Tennessee Traditional Singers, 1981). 

Bukka White “Fixin’ to Die Blues”