Willie Farmer is living proof that Mississippi continues to produce deep blues. The 62-year-old guitarist is neither a soul modernist nor revivalist, but simply a small-town auto mechanic who’s never shaken his love for old school legends like Muddy, Wolf and Lightnin’.
A lifelong resident of tiny Duck Hill, located in the hills east of the Delta, Farmer grew up on the family farm. He first took up the acoustic guitar in his early teens, and through picking cotton he soon saved up enough money to buy an electric instrument.
He played for audiences at home and at school events and learned about blues and R&B mostly through listening to a powerful station out of Nashville.
“John R of WLAC, that’s how I listened to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf. That’s how I got my first album by Lightnin’ [The Fire Records LP Mojo Hand]. I got the address off the radio and they sent it.”
Although Farmer is from a musical family, he didn’t learn much directly from his elders. His maternal grandfather had played the fiddle as a young man, but he rebuffed Willie’s offer to buy him a new instrument when he discovered the high cost.
Willie’s father Alex, a harmonica player who helped young Willie tune his guitar, had played as a young man with his brothers including Walter, who was recognized as one of the best guitarists to come out of the area.
In the early ‘50s Walter played together with Leo “Bud” Welch, who grew up in the region. Sadly, Walter was killed in Chicago in 1964—“a woman liked Walter, and a man got jealous and killed him”—and Willie never heard him play.
In his early ‘20s Farmer joined a loose knit band that played at juke joints across the area—in Duck Hill, Grenada, Kilmichael, and down in the Delta in Greenwood and Charleston. He eventually tired, though, of the rough-and-tumble clubs where “people liked to fight like crazy.”
Farmer eventually decided he wanted to get back into blues actively. He initially didn’t want to deal with the trouble of keeping together a band and began playing solo gigs.
In 2003 he helped found the annual Grassroots Blues Festival, staged in a meadow outside Duck Hill. Through the event he befriended downhome blues players from across the state including Willie King and Leo Welch.
Farmer’s The Man From the Hill (out March 1st on Fat Possum imprint Big Legal Mess) marks the first time that he’s spent serious time in the studio. Recorded over multiple sessions at Producer Bruce Watson’s Memphis based Delta-Sonic Sound Studio. Farmer enjoyed working in a North Mississippi Hill Country vein with Jimbo Mathus and session drummer George Sluppick. For the past thirty years Farmer has run his own auto repair shop and hopes that the release of this record and associated touring will allow him to retire.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Feel So Bad”, Farmer’s take on the down and dirty groover by legendary North Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough. The song quintessentially captures what is known as Hill Country Blues, with a driving rhythm and freeflowing, almost stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Farmer takes some well-earned liberties with his version of the song, dragging out the jam almost three times as long as the original recording. His guitar playing also features more grit than the original as he taps into a loose and spirit groove. A pounding drumbeat and tambourines give the music extra power as Farmer’s nearly-falsetto-like vocals flutter over the music. About the point when the original version would be over, Farmer let’s guitar playing take on a life of its own as he picks away at a bluesy solo. Devotees of Hill Country blues and even casual fans who just like to dance should be excited about the prospect of Farmer taking his music on the road.
Willie Farmer shares his story behind the song:
“I used to see Junior Kimbrough play at the blues festival in Greenville. Man that guy would play one song for 30 minutes. I can play long songs too, but Bruce and them cut the song and made it short.”
LISTEN:
