Charles Caldwell Radio

Charles Caldwell was a tall (six foot eight) and charismatic guitar player who unfortunately was dealt a cruel hand by the music fates. Born in 1943, Caldwell lived his whole life in the north Mississippi hill country around Coffeeville, working at a fan-making factory in Greneda, and playing the local juke joints on the weekends for often no more pay than free liquor. He got his first guitar at the age of 14, the hollow-body Gibson 135 that he used the rest of his life to turn out the raw and passionate electric blues that was favored in the region. By the time Fat Possum founder Matthew Johnson stumbled across him in May of 2002, Caldwell was already dying of pancreatic cancer. His sole album, the fiery Remember Me, was recorded while Caldwell was undergoing chemo for his illness, which finally took his life in September of 2003. Remember Me came out on Fat Possum the following year, an amazing testament to Caldwell's considerable talent, and it remains a masterpiece of modern Mississippi blues. ~ Steve Leggett

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