Joe Hill Louis

Lester Hill, known as Joe Hill Louis or 'The Be-Bop Boy,' was a Memphis one-man band who played guitar, harmonica, and drums simultaneously. He was one of the first artists to record at Sam Phillips's Memphis Recording Service (before it became Sun Records), cutting sides that captured the raw, electrified sound of postwar Beale Street. His WDIA radio show helped popularize the Memphis blues sound, and his recordings for Phillips and Columbia were influential in the development of the Memphis style that would produce Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, and others. He died young of tetanus in 1957.