Frank Stokes

Frank Stokes was the founding figure of Memphis blues guitar, one of the first Beale Street musicians to record and a key link between the minstrel and medicine show traditions and the urban blues that would later develop in Memphis. He recorded approximately 40 sides for Victor and Paramount between 1927 and 1929, both solo and with his partner Dan Sane as the Beale Street Sheiks. His ragtime-influenced fingerpicking and clear, strong vocals established the Memphis blues guitar sound. Stokes was older than most of his recording contemporaries (he was born in the 1880s) and his music reflected the earlier, pre-blues Black musical traditions of the region.