Sam Chatmon

Vivian "Sam" Chatmon was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at age three and performed with his family's string band. In the 1930s, Chatmon recorded with the Mississippi Sheiks and his brother Lonnie as the Chatman Brothers. He moved to Hollandale, Mississippi in the early 1940s and worked on plantations there. Rediscovered in 1960, he went on a different direction as a folk-blues artist, recording for Arhoolie Records that same year. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Chatmon toured extensively. In 1972 he played at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and released the album The Mississippi Sheik. He later performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1976, and in 1977 released the album Hollandale Blues. Sam Chatmon died on February 2, 1983 in Hollandale, Mississippi. He was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail for his legacy.

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