Jim Jackson

Jim Jackson (born circa 1876 in Hernando, Mississippi; died 1933 in Memphis, Tennessee) was a widely popular pre-war entertainer whose repertoire bridged the gap between 19th-century minstrelsy and the emerging blues market. Operating primarily as a medicine show performer and a fixture of the Memphis Beale Street scene, Jackson was an older statesman among his recording peers. He accompanied himself with rudimentary, heavy strumming on the acoustic guitar. In 1927, he recorded "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues" for Vocalion Records, which became a major early blues hit whose sales estimates vary widely. His straightforward, booming vocal style and use of floating folk verses made him highly accessible, and his recordings provide crucial documentation of the transitional era before standard 12-bar blues fully solidified.