Yellowdog says ...
Bill Abel
Paul 'Wine' Jones
Marty Christian
David Lee Durham
Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes
Willie King
T-Model Ford
Album:
STRUGGLING AND STRAINING
Covers and original songs from the Mississippi Delta, based on the life story of a true Delta bluesman. Two of the songs have Levan Lortkipanidze on flute.
Recorded live at Club Ebony and produced by the Mississippi Delta Blues, Inc. 2006
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David Lee Durham
son of the Delta
When he was a kid David Lee Durham never saw a classroom from the inside and he only learned to read when he was well over sixty. As young as he was he worked the fields and earned a living picking cotton. Later on he worked for 32 years in a company producing lawn mowers, but all of that didn’t keep him from doing what he loved the most: entertaining his audience by playing the blues.
David Lee Durham was born on May 1, 1943 in Sunflower, Mississippi. As a young boy he got infected by the blues and he never would recover from that disease. Age 12 he got his first guitar and started to play by ear Jimmy Reed's music and other blues songs he heard on the radio. Little by little David began to perform for a nickel-and-dime and in the run of time he gained enough self- confidence to also start singing. His musical style is a mixture of all the influences he picked up over the years. Or, in his own words:
"I got a style all my own. I'm twixt between Albert King and B.B. I sort of mix it, but I know it."
Durham is best known as the front man of The Ladies' Choice Band, with which he played every Sunday night in the much famed Club Ebony in Indianola for several years. Although he performed in Italy and Switzerland in 2006, Durham brought his music mainly to local and regional audiences.
In 2004 Durham was awarded 'Blues Musician of the Year' by the Mississippi Delta Blues Society from Indianola. With his last band, The True Blues Band, he recorded the album 'Struggling and Straining' in 2006.
David Lee was a friendly and charming guy, who sat down with his fans during breaks to shake hands and chat, just like he did when we were at a gig in Club Ebony in May 2007.
David Lee Durham died on January 24, 2008, only 64 years old.
And what applies to most of the bluesmen: David never got rich from his music. His musical friends, amongst whom Mickey Rogers, had to collect money for his funeral by organizing a benefit concert.
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