Scrapper Blackwell

Francis Hillman Blackwell, known as Scrapper Blackwell, was one of the most technically accomplished guitarists of the pre-war era, best known for his decade-long partnership with pianist Leroy Carr that produced some of the most influential urban blues recordings of the late 1920s and 1930s. His clean, precise single-string guitar lines provided the perfect complement to Carr's smooth piano and vocals, and together they established the template for sophisticated urban blues that influenced Nat King Cole, Charles Brown, and the entire West Coast blues school. After Carr's death in 1935, Blackwell largely withdrew from music, working day jobs in Indianapolis. He was rediscovered during the folk revival and made a handful of fine recordings for Prestige/Bluesville in 1961 before being shot and killed in an Indianapolis alley in 1962 under circumstances that were never fully resolved.