Will Shade
| Will Shade | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Shade Jr. |
| Also known as | Son Brimmer |
| Born | February 5, 1898 |
| Origin | Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | September 18, 1966 (aged 68) Memphis, Tennessee |
| Genres | Memphis blues |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, and bullfiddle (washtub bass) |
| Years active | 1927–1966 |
| Labels |
Victor Records (1927-1930) Champion-Gennett (1932) Okeh Records (1934) |
William Shade, Jr. (February 5, 1898 – September 18, 1966), known as Will Shade, was a Memphis blues musician, best known for his leadership of the Memphis Jug Band. He was commonly called Son Brimmer, a nickname from his grandmother Annie Brimmer (son is short for grandson). The name apparently stuck when other members of the band noticed that the sun bothered him and he used the brim of a hat to shade his eyes.
Shade was born in February 1898 in Tennessee to William Shade and Mary Shade (née Hardy). Mary was fourteen years old when he was born. After her husband's death from a gunshot wound in 1903, she married a member of the Banks family, but by 1920 she was a widow once again. Shade had two half brothers, Henry Banks and Robert Banks. He credited his mother with teaching him how to play the harmonica, his first instrument. The genealogy of Shade is being investigated by the genealogist Dennis Richmond Jr.
Shade first heard jug band music in 1925, recorded by the Dixieland Jug Blowers, from Louisville, Kentucky. He was excited by what he heard and felt that bringing this style of music to his hometown of Memphis could be promising. He persuaded a few local musicians, though still reluctant, to join him in creating one of the first jug bands in Memphis.
The original Memphis Jug Band consisted of Shade and three others: Lionhouse, whom Shade converted from a whiskey bottle blower to a jug blower; Tee Wee Blackman on guitar; and Ben Ramey on kazoo. Shade played the guitar, the "bullfiddle" (washtub bass), and the harmonica, the instrument on which he was most influential. His pure country blues harmonica style served as the foundation for later renowned harmonicists like Big Walter Horton, Sonny Boy Williamson I and Sonny Boy Williamson II; Charlie Musselwhite credits him as a mentor. He composed many of the band's songs and sang lead vocal on a handful of their recordings. His distinctive guitar style has also been identified as that of the uncredited accompanist who backed the Sanctified Church gospel singer Bessie Johnson on record.
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