Toronto Blues Society | » Honeyboy

Honeyboy

Published July 1, 1996 in Features
Honeyboy

Honeyboy

Honeyboy

“Even in old age, he retains a playful and cherubic quality though the hard lessons are likewise drawn on his face: the poverty and racism which caused the needless early deaths of both his father and mother from lack of medical attention; the senseless shooting death of his sister Blanche by her husband (the man who had been responsible for first introducing Honeyboy to a guitar); the flood of 1927 which could have killed them all if not for the Red Cross; and the long economic blight of the Great Depression.” – John Anthony Brisbin from the Earwig CD Delta Bluesman.


“My sisters, when I was trying to walk, said ‘Aw, look at Honey'”. The name stuck.

The Heineken Soul And Blues Festival this year celebrates the return of Delta Bluesman David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards . He’ll perform on The Molson Place Stage Saturday at 2pm and take part in workshops. John Valenteyn provides this profile:

It’s sometimes easy to think that the blues of Robert Johnson or Charlie Patton is long gone, except for the 78’s that remain. What gets lost in this kind of thinking is how much of this music is still with us if we know where to look. David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards is 81 years old, as of April 28, and while he’s not as active as he once was, he’s not very far from his prime. His recent recordings for Earwig and Blue Suit show us much the same person who recorded for The Library Of Congress in 1942 (also now on Earwig).

David Edwards grew up in Shaw, Mississippi, in the Delta, and spent much of his teens with boyhood friends Tommy McLennan and Robert Petway. He fell in with Big Joe Williams and from then on, lived the itinerant bluesman’s life. He met and knew most of the players you can think of and is often asked about Robert Johnson.Where upon he tells the story of how he was at the same party at which Johnson was poisoned and could very well have had a drink from the same bottle except that no one was trying to kill him! He left the party early to go back to Greenville and heard later about Johnson’s awful fate. Tommy McLennan & Robert Petway got a chance to record for Bluebird but when Lester Melrose found them, Honeyboy was on the road. In 1942, he was recorded by Alan Lomax for The Library Of Congress, so we now have some idea of what he sounded like at the time. He continued to travel, even playing in various bands, including one that did show tunes(!) in Memphis and a steady club gig in Houston that he says he probably should have stayed at but he felt the urge to travel once again. By the mid 40’s, he had an electric guitar so he could play louder, and hence make more money.

There were some recordings made in Houston in the early ’50’s, only one of which saw the light of day, recordings for Sun Records in Memphis that were not released and when he got to Chicago, a session for Chess that no one heard until 1971! From 1955 on, Honeyboy played the clubs in the Southside and Westside with Lester Davenport, Floyd Jones & other players who could follow the irregular timing of the Delta. Big Joe Williams led Pete Welding to Honeyboy in 1964, and more recordings, and work, followed. By 1978, the Honeyboy Edwards Blues Band was formed to play at various Northside clubs with Kansas City Red, Floyd Jones and Manager/harmonica player Michael Frank, leading eventually to a show at Carnegie Hall. Michael’s Earwig Records organised the Old Friends album and tour of Honeyboy, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Red & Floyd Jones. The group toured Canada from Summerfolk in Owen Sound to points west.

Michael, Janice Martinson and Living Blues’ John Anthony Brisbin are also helping with Honeyboy’s autobiography. Robert Palmer in the liner notes to Honeyboy’s Folkways LP writes that Honeyboy filters all the music he hears, from whatever source, through his Delta upbringing and it all comes out sounding like Honeyboy – his style was already well-formed before he heard anyone else’s. When the book comes out, we should have a much better idea of that process. Current writers have relied on recordings and guesswork to try to explain how this happens.

Honeyboy appears regularly at the Chicago Blues Festival – most recently reminiscing about Tommy Johnson with musicologist Dr. David Evans this past month – your chance to hear him will come at the Soul ‘n’ Blues Fest.

John Valenteyn

Donate Join TBS Volunteer

©2024 Toronto Blues Society. Design by Janine Stoll Media.
TBS logo and WBR artwork by Barbara Klunder


The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and project support from FACTOR< and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Broadcasters, The Canada Council for the Arts, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.