REED, MATHIS JAMES (JIMMY
). Bluesman ( in Dunleith, Mississippi; in Oakland, California). He taught himself to play guitar as a child, helped by
Eddie Taylor
, with whom he teamed to play for local social entertainments. His earliest influence was
Sonny Boy Williamson, No. 2
(Alex Rice
Miller), whose broadcasts he heard for the King Biscuit Flour Company on radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. About 1942 he went to Chicago, where he played...