Bobo Jenkins
| Bobo Jenkins | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Pickens Jenkins |
| Born |
January 7, 1916 Forkland, Alabama, United States |
| Died | August 14, 1984 (aged 68) Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Detroit blues, electric blues |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, singer, songwriter, record label owner |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1952–1984 |
| Labels | Big Star Records, various |
Bobo Jenkins (January 7, 1916 – August 14, 1984) was an American Detroit blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He also built and set up his own recording studio and record label in Detroit. Jenkins is best known for his recordings of "Democrat Blues" and "Tell Me Where You Stayed Last Night".
He was born John Pickens Jenkins in Forkland, Alabama. His father, a sharecropper, died when John was not yet one year old, and the boy grew up with his mother and uncle. He left home before the age of 12, and arrived in Memphis, Tennessee. He had a wife at the age of 14, the first of ten marriages. Jenkins took casual work in the Mississippi Delta for several years and then enrolled in the United States Army. Following his 1944 military discharge, he relocated to Detroit, working for Packard and managing a garage, before spending twenty-seven years working for Chrysler.
In the late 1940s Jenkins learned to play the guitar and starting writing songs. He wrote the politically themed "Democrat Blues", about the U.S. Election Day in 1952, expressing his unease about Dwight D. Eisenhower becoming the first Republican in the White House for almost twenty years.
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