Just
one of a whole long laundry-list of bluesmen who got started as
boys by guiding Blind Lemon Jefferson straight to where the money
was. T-Bone (his middle name was the very Louisiana-ish Thibeaux)
laid out the way to play electric blues guitar. Between “Stormy
Monday,” his bullet-proof slow blues, and “T-Bone
Shuffle,” the very foundation of Texas dancehall blues,
T-Bone never had many big hits, just a career that thrived and
survived and revived through six tough decades in black showbiz.
Oh, and he gave John Lee Hooker his first electric guitar. Which
is a little like being the guy who handed Abe Lincoln his first
ax.