ROBERT CURTIS SMITH

                 

Recorded July 28 1961 in Clarksdale Mississippi by Chris Strachwitz.

Robert Curtis Smith was a poor Farm Labourer from Claksdale supporting his wife and eight children on $3 per day maximum.

Council Spur Blues is his accoumt of personal experiences.

By 1969 Robert had given up Blues and returned to the church.

This song dispels any romantic notions we may have about the Mississippi Delta and brings home the harsh reality.

Robert wasn't a Blues innovator but plays in a style similar to Lightnin' Hopkins.

Check out this link for more information on this record and Delta Blues

               

                                                          ---------------oOo-----------------

Robert Curtis Smith (February 17, 1930 – November 10, 2010) was an African American Piedmont blues singer, guitarist and songwriter.

Smith was influenced by Big Bill Broonzy. He released one album on Bluesville Records in 1963.

Smith was born in, or around, Cruger, Mississippi, United States.He worked as a poor farm labourer in upper Mississippi, where he and his wife raised eight children. He first played the blues guitar in 1948 He left the Delta area twice in hope of finding alternative employment in either Chicago or Texas, but each time returned to his birthplace.In 1960, by chance, he met Paul Oliver and Chris Strachwitz in Wade Walton's Big Six barber shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi. This led to him recording some tracks that year and in 1961, which in turn saw the release of The Blues of Robert Curtis Smith: Clarksdale Blues in 1963 One of his songs, "Council Spur Blues", made direct references to the conditions on the plantation where he worked.

In 1968, he left the Mississippi again for Chicago, where he spent the remainder of his life. Around this time he auditioned for a place in Willie Dixon's backing band. He later joined the church and left the blues for a gospel music existence. Walton eventually tracked him down and, in 1997, Smith appeared at the Sunflower River Blues Festival in Clarksdale, playing purely gospel songs.

Smith died in Chicago in November 2010, aged 80.