Lefty Bates
Lefty Bates
Top Songs
| 1 | Background | ||
| 2 | Rock Alley | ||
| 3 | Am I Blue | ||
| 4 | E N A | ||
| 5 | Am I Blue |
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About
Biography
It is no great mystery where the nickname for this Chicago blues rhythm guitarist came from. Obviously, Lefty Bates played his guitar upside down, in the manner of many southpaw pickers. He was born William Bates in 1920. He is claimed as a native son of Mississippi as well as Alabama, as there is some speculation that he was really born in the latter state's prosperous village of Leighton. He was raised in St. Louis and, while still in high school, formed a vocal and string band of the kind that was quite popular in the black community during the 1930s and 1940s. The group wa...