music for today: peg leg howell

peg leg howell - Rolling Mill Blues.mp3
Joshua Barnes Howell, known to Country Blues fans as "Peg Leg" Howell , was born on March 5, 1888 on a farm in Eaton, Georgia. As a child, he was around music all the time, but he did not take an interest in playing until he was almost 21 years old.
As story has it, Howell says he picked up the guitar one night in 1909 and stayed up until he learned to play. He continued working on the farm and played guitar in his spare time until an unfortunate event happened. He got into an altercation with his brother-in-law and was shot in his right leg. As a result, he lost his leg (hence the nickname), and was fitted with a prosthesis. No longer able to plow the fields or farm, he found a job in a fertilizer plant in neighboring Madison County. He lasted there about a year before he moved back home. Back in Eaton he took various jobs, but did not work regularly. In 1923, he moved to Atlanta and he played regularly with some other musicians, and they became known as "Peg Leg" Howell and His Gang.