Burks, Eddie
(1931–2005)> HARMONICA PLAYER · SINGER
Burks, Eddie 17 September 1931; Rising Sun Plantation, MS – 27 January 2005 A harmonica player and singer of great emotional intensity. During Burks’s childhood in the Mississippi Delta, he worked in cotton fields, and he saw his brother murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. He found solace in the harmonica, and he was inspired and influenced by the playing of Aleck Miller “Sonny Boy Williamson II.” Burke had been playing the instrument since age three, receiving a new one every Christmas. Although his…