Tampa Red (1904-1981), born Hudson Woodbridge, was an influential American musician. He is best known for his accomlished guitar playing in the blues field, but in a career spanning over 30 years he also recorded pop, R&B and hokum (see below) records. A guitar is a stringe musical instrument. ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Rhythm and blues (or R&B) was coined as a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Jerry Wexler at Billboard magazine, used to designate upbeat popular music performed by African American artists that combined jazz and blues. ...

He was born in Smithville, Georgia, but later moved to Tampa, Florida, which became part of his nickname (the other part came from his red hair). In the 1920s he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he began his carreer as a musician. His big break was being hired to accompany Ma Rainey and he began recording in 1928 with "It's Tight Like That", in a bawdy and whimsical style that became known as hokum. Early recordings were mostly collaborations with Thomas A. Dorsey (also known as Georgia Tom). He was also a close friend and associate of Big Bill Broonzy. He seems to have enjoyed commercial success and reasonable prosperity, and his home became a centre for the blues community, informally providing rehearsal space, bookings, and even boarding. Smithville is a city located in Lee County, Georgia. ... Nickname: Cigar City, The Big Guava, T-Town Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ... Gertrude Pridgett Rainey, better known as Ma Rainey (April 26, 1886 - December 22, 1939) was a blues singer, the earliest known professional blues singer3, and one of the first generation of blues singers to record. ... Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 - January 23, 1993) is known as the Father of Gospel Music, and is best known today for his composition Take My Hand, Precious Lord. As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. ... Big Bill Broonzy (1893 or 1898-1958) was a prolific United States composer, recorder and performer of blues songs. ...

Tampa Red is considered an influential figure in the blues, having an impact on Muddy Waters, Elmore James and many others with his song style and polished bottleneck style. Into the 1930s, he was billed as The Guitar Wizard. He played a National Resonator Guitar, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year they were available. McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1915 or 1913–April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered the father of Chicago blues. ... Elmore James album cover Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues singer and guitarist. ... A bottleneck is literally the neck of a glass or pottery bottle. ...

By the 1940s he was playing electric guitar, and his 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)" was covered by Elmore James. He was "rediscovered" in the late 1950s, like many other surviving early recorded blues artists, as part of the blues revival (see e.g. Son House, Skip James). His final, undistinguished, recordings were in 1960. Son House, circa 1965 Eddie James House, Jr. ... Skip James (June 21, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. ...

Notes

Different sources quote a different date of birth, ranging from "Christmas day, probably 1900" to "January 8, 1904".

References

• Tampa Red: The Essential CD booklet
• AllMusic biography
• "Tampa Red" Whittaker in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.