Son House 
Major Works
Recording with Paramount in 1930.
He was recorded for the Library of Congress in 1941-42.
- Death Letter
- Preachin' Blues
- Pearline
- Grinnin' in Your Face
- Louise McGhee
- Sundown
- John the Revelator
- Levee Camp Moan
- Empire State Express
- Death Letter
- Down the Staff,
- Levee Camp Moan
- Motherless, Children
- Grinnin' in Your Face
- Yonder Comes My Mother
- Shake It and Break It
- Preachin' Blues
- Pony Blues
- President Kennedy
- Down Hearted Blues
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Son House: A Biography
By Kyle Mattison (SHS)
 Son House was a Mississippi jazz musician who was born on March 21, 1902, near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Some sources say that Eddie James "Son" House, Jr., was born in Riverton, Mississippi, March 21, 1902, about two miles from the home of the Delta Blues (Clarksdale). He was the second of three brothers. When he was around seven or eight years old, his parents separated, and his mother took the boys south to Tallulah, Louisiana.He started his life preaching as a Southern Baptist near Lyon, Mississippi, in the twenties. He started work at Commonwealth Steel Plant in East St. Louis, Missouri, around 1922-23. He then moved to Louisiana to work on a horse farm in 1925. His life began in the music world in 1926 when he began playing guitar and working as a hired musician in Mississippi. He started to get recognition by playing with Charley Patton, Willie Brown and other well-known jazz musicians. He even played for a while with Robert Johnson. He recorded some of his most famous works in 1929: "My Black Mama" and "Preachin the Blues" for Allen Lomax. He made his recording for the Library of Congress in 1941-42. He then moved to Rochester, New York, in 1943, when he went to work for the New York Central Railroad as a rivet heater in boxcar assembly. House retired as a musician in 1960, but in 1964 he came out of retirement to sign with Columbia Records. He then went on to record and to perform from 1964 to 76. In 1969, House made a short film called Son House; but in 1971, he fell ill. In 1976 moved to Detroit. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1980. People like Alan Lomax and Dick Waterman were instrumental in Son House's leaving a recorded legacy that spans over five decades. He survived many of the next generation of bluesmen on whom he was a profound influence. Son House died in 1988. "Contemporary Musicians" [Online].
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Timeline
1902 Son House was born March 21, 1902
1920 Became a Baptist pastor.
1927 Began playing music.
1928-9 Served time at Parchman State Penal Farm in Mississippi .
1929 Worked with Charley Patton
1930 Recorded for Paramount "Preachin the Blues"
1941-2 He was recorded for the Library of Congress.
1948-64 He was inactive in music.
1964 He played a Newport Folk Festivals.
1965 Played at Carnegie Hall
- Recorded for Columbia
1969 Made short film called Son House
- recorded for Roots Labels
1970 He was mostly inactive because of poor health.
1980 Inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame
1988 Son House died.
Source: "The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music"
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Related Websites
Biography of Son House.
Rob Hutton's excellent essay about Son House after talking to Dick Waterman in Oxford, Mississippi.
Excellent info from liner of Delta Blues album by Chris Robertson about Son House: Original Library of Congress sessions from field recordings
Eyeneer Blues site gives another great biography of Eddie James, Jr. (Son House).
Father of the Delta Blues album also plays many audio clips.
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Bibliography
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1989 ed.)
http://www.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/270...5_211033^S&TEMPLATE-PATH=/mb2/live/main
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/Son_House.html
http://www.eyeneer.com/America/Genre/Blues/Profiles/son.house.html
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