Gayle Dean Wardlow
Gayle Dean Wardlow is an American historian of the blues. He is particularly associated with research into the lives of the musicians Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson and the historical development of the Delta blues, on which he is a leading authority.
He was born in Freer, Texas, but was brought up from the age of six in Meridian, Mississippi. In his teens, he began collecting Roy Acuff 78s. He originally began collecting blues records so as to exchange them for Acuff's. However, by about 1960, he had started collecting blues records for their own sake and realized that very little biographical information existed on the musicians who had created them.
By 1963, Wardlow had begun researching a book on Delta blues musicians, mainly by making enquiries in black neighborhoods, recording oral histories, anecdotes, songs, and remembrances. He interviewed Ishman Bracey, Charlie Patton's widow, and blues talent broker H. C. Speir, and a few years later, uncovered Robert Johnson's death certificate. Hayes McMullan's musical talents were unearthed following a chance encounter in 1967 between Wardlow and McMullan.
He was born in Freer, Texas, but was brought up from the age of six in Meridian, Mississippi. In his teens, he began collecting Roy Acuff 78s. He originally began collecting blues records so as to exchange them for Acuff's. However, by about 1960, he had started collecting blues records for their own sake and realized that very little biographical information existed on the musicians who had created them.
By 1963, Wardlow had begun researching a book on Delta blues musicians, mainly by making enquiries in black neighborhoods, recording oral histories, anecdotes, songs, and remembrances. He interviewed Ishman Bracey, Charlie Patton's widow, and blues talent broker H. C. Speir, and a few years later, uncovered Robert Johnson's death certificate. Hayes McMullan's musical talents were unearthed following a chance encounter in 1967 between Wardlow and McMullan.
