Peg Leg Howell (March 5th, 1888-August 11, 1966) was a pioneering and influential blues musician. Howell was one of the oldest blues singers, even in his time (twenty-seven years older than Robert Johnson, for example), and his catalog borrows from many schools and traditions. His work ranges from melancholic solo guitar/voice songs like “Doin' Wrong” to upbeat collaborations like “Beaver Slide Rag,” all performed with a unique and immersive blues style.

Howell recorded many of his songs with his “gang” – the technical guitarist Henry Williams and the hacking fiddle player (and his best friend) Eddie Anthony. He was active from 1926-1929, and again briefly after his rediscovery by some high school students in 1963. By then a very old man, he released a couple songs for Testament records.

In his younger years, Howell worked as a farm hand until his mid-thirties, and taught himself guitar in his twenties. His brother shot off his leg in a fit of rage, and Howell worked as a bootlegger during prohibition, even doing a stint in jail in the early 20’s. Eventually he moved to Atlanta and became an itinerant guitar player, making $50 per record.

Howell played a non-standard guitar, employing Spanish, Vastopol, and even the only known cases of open C tuning in pre-war blues.

It is difficult to overstate the breadth of Peg Leg Howell’s influences: “New Prison Blues” is a song he heard in prison; “New Jelly Roll Blues” he heard sung in the country by a man named Elijah Lawrence; he has a version of “In the Pines”; a song about card games; a song with only variations on one haunting line. Though Peg Leg Howell has been mostly forgotten, his records are a joy to listen to for any fan of the pre-war blues, and his distinctive style and personality shine through his records as though he were still here today.