Official Press Release

HENRY JAMES “THE MULE” TOWNSEND
OLDEST LIVING BLUES LEGEND, NEA HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT OLDEST RECORDING ARTIST LIVED TO 96
“DALAI LAMA OF THE BLUES”

AMERICA’S FIRST “RAPPER”

DALLAS, TEXAS – 96 YEAR-OLD BLUES LEGEND HENRY TOWNSEND JOINED THE ULTIMATE ALL-STAR BLUES BAND IN THE SKY ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH NEAR GRAFTON, WI. THE LEGEND WAS HONORED AS ONE OF FORTY-FORTY “STARS” OF THE PARAMOUNT RECORDING COMPANY TO BE IMMORTALIZED IN A PARAMOUNT “WALK OF FAME”. HENRY WAS ONE OF ONLY FIVE ARTISTS STILL LIVING THAT REPRESENT THE LAST REMAINING LINK TO THE BEGINNING OF BLUES AS A GENRE. AMAZINGLY, THOSE THAT REMAIN, LIKE HENRY, ARE STILL ON THE ROAD PERFORMING. THEY INCLUDE HOMESICK JAMES - 96, JOE WILLIE “PINETOP” PERKINS - 93, ROBERT LOCKWOOD, JR. - 91, AND DAVID “HONEYBOY” EDWARDS - 91.

HENRY HAD MANY ACCOLADES TO HIS CREDIT. HE WAS THE ONLY AMERICAN TO RECORD IN EVERY DECADE SINCE THE 1920’S. HIS LAST RECORDING, “THE LAST OF THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUESMEN – LIVE IN DALLAS” WAS MADE IN 2004 WHERE HE IS FEATURED WITH HIS FRIENDS ROBERT LOCKWOOD, JR., HONEYBOY EDWARDS AND PINETOP PERKINS. HE WAS A RECIPIENT OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP AWARD, THE HIGHEST HONOR OUR COUNTRY BEWSTOWS ON A PERFORMER IN THE TRADITIONAL ARTS AND STOOD AS A BEACON OF THE ST. LOUIS STYLE OF BLUES THAT EARNED HIM THE TITLE “THE DEAN OF ST. LOUIS BLUES”.

AFTER LEAVING MISSISSIPPI AT THE AGE OF NINE, HENRY SETTLED IN AND AROUND ST. LOUIS AND BEGAIN TO IMMULATE THE STYLES OF HIS CHILDHOOD IDOL LONNIE JOHNSON, HIS FRIEND AND MENTOR PIANO PLAYER ROOSEVELT SYKES AND BOYHOOD FRIEND AND MUSICIAN DAVID PERCHFIELD WHO TAUGHT HIM HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR. AS A RESULT, THE UNDERSTUDY OF THESE LEGENDARY ARTISTS WAS FLUENT IN GUITAR AND PIANO AND COULD SWITCH BETWEEN THE TWO AT WILL.

DALAI LAMA OF THE BLUES
ASIDE FROM HIS MOST NOTIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE, IN THE MANY ARTICLES THAT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT HENRY, AND A CATALOGUE OF MUSIC THAT SPANNED EIGHT DECADES, FOCUS IS RARELY MADE ON THE WISDOM HENRY SHARED WITH THOSE HE CAME IN CONTACT WITH. HENRY COULD VERY WELL BE CONSIDERED THE “DALAI LAMA OF THE BLUES”.
AS WITH MANY WHOM OTHERS SEEK WISDOM, HENRY WAS AN INCREDIBLY HUMBLE PERSON. HE WOULD BRING FOCUS ON HIS OWN SHORTCOMINGS BEFORE HE WOULD SHED LIGHT ON THAT OF OTHERS. HOWEVER, A TWO MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH HENRY COULD REAP MORE GUIDANCE ON LIFE THAN ONE COULD GAIN IN A DECADE FROM OTHERS.

THE WISDOM HE SHARED WITH ANYONE WHO CAME TO KNOW HIM WAS POWERFUL AND THOUGHT PROVOKING. EVEN MORE PROFOUND WAS HIS INNATE ABILITY TO PUT COMPLEX CHALLENGES OF LIFE IN SIMPLE TERMS THAT ANYONE COULD UNDERSTAND. YOU WOULD WALK AWAY FEELING AS THOUGH YOU HAD JUST MET WITH THE DALAI LAMA.

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE LESSONS HE SHARED:

HENRY ON BEING THE BEST YOU CAN BE - "I LIKES TO TALK TO YOUNGER PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR FUTURE, IT DON'T MEAN THAT THEY HAVE TO TAKE A CERTAIN AVENUE, TAKE AN AVENUE YES, BUT BE THE BEST, OR AMONG THE BEST AT WHATEVER THEY DO, AND I'D LIKE TO LEAVE THAT WITH THE COMING GENERATIONS."

HENRY ON PURSUIT OF YOUR DESIRES – “IF YOU THINK WANT TO DO SOMETHING, TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU HAVE TO ‘WANT TO WANT TO’”.

HENRY ON SELF-ESTEEM - “THERE WAS A MAN SLIGHTLY ELDER THAN I, LONNIE JOHNSON, AND HE WAS ONE OF MY IDOLS. AND I WORKED HARD, HARD, HARD TRYING TO BE LONNIE JOHNSON. AND I WORKED AT THAT THING NIGHT AND DAY, AND I FOUND OUT SOONER OR LATER, I SAID NOW I’M NOT LONNIE JOHNSON, AND I’M DENYING BEING HENRY TOWNSEND, SO WHERE DOES THAT PUT ME, IT JUMPED AT ME RIGHT AWAY, NOBODY. SO, SINCE I COULDN’T BE LONNIE, AND I’M DENYING MYSELF, I WASN’T NOBODY, SO I FIND MYSELF BACK, AND I’M GETTING’ THIS STUFF HENRY TOWNSEND KNOWS.”

HENRY ON “THE GRASS IS NOT GREENER” - “HOOVERS DAYS, WHEN IT WASN’T ANYTHING, THERE WASN’T NO USE OF LEAVING WHERE YOU WERE, BECAUSE WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE STILL WAS NOTHING THERE EITHER.”

HENRY ON THE PERSISTENCE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION - “I GUESS THAT ‘JEFFERSON [THE JEFFERSONS] SHOW’, JEFFERSON SAID HE, SOMETIMES HE’S CLIMBING THE LATTER, AND WERE NO STEPS IN THE LATTER, HE JUMPED OVER IT, HE HAD TO SCRATCH HIS WAY TO THE TOP, YOU CAN DO THAT, YOU CAN’T’ KNOW TO MUCH, AIN’T NO SHAME WHEN YOU KNOW A WHOLE LOT, BUT IT’S A SHAME THAT YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHIN’’.

HENRY ON MAKING LEMONADE OUT OF LEMONS – [IN] DAVENPORT I HAD A CLASS. I TOLD THEM THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD NOTE...IT'S SIMPLE TO ME. ALL NOTES ARE RELATIVE. HOW COULD A NOTE BE BAD? YOU JUST DON'T PUT IT INTO THE RIGHT PLACE. IF ONE SOUNDS OUT OF TUNE, YOU GOT TO BLEND IT. I WAS A BAD STUMBLER. I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE A MINOR OR A MAJOR, HAD TO SEEK THAT OUT."

HENRY ON PROCRASTINATION - "IF YOU LIKE IT STAY WITH IT. DON'T PROCRASTINATE BECAUSE TIME EXPIRES, AND YOU CAN'T RECALL IT".

HENRY ON NEGOTIATING - (AND HENRY WAS A FORCE TO BE REKCONNED WITH WHEN IT CAME TO NEGOTIATING, HENCE “THE MULE” TITLE) - “HOW MUCH YOU DIDN'T KNOW WAS THE PRICE YOU HAD TO PAY.”

HENRY ON APPRECIATING OTHERS - “YOU KNOW, I ALWAYS SAID, BECAUSE IT’S TRUE, AND IT ALL HAPPENED AS I SAY, BECAUSE THERE WOULDN’T BE NO ME, IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU”.

AMERICA’S FIRST RAPPER
THERE IS ANOTHER ASPECT OF HENRY’S LIFE AND MUSIC THAT ALSO GOES LARGELY UNREPORTED. HENRY WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST KNOWN RAPPER IN AMERICAN MUSIC.
"I WROTE SONGS ON PAPER BUT DIDN'T DO ME KNOW GOOD BECAUSE IT TAKES SOMETHING OUT OF MY THINKING. I FIND MYSELF DOING A LOT OF AD LIB POETRY. THE FOUNDATION THAT I NEEDED I DIDN'T HAVE IT."

HENRY PREFERRED TO COMPILE A SONG AS HE WENT ALONG. HE HAD AN UNLIMITED CATALOGUE OF VERSES HE KEPT IN HIS HEAD LIKE A DISC DRIVE, RETRIEVING THEM AT WILL AS NEEDED TO COMPLETE A SONG. ANYONE WHO KNOWS HENRY WELL KNOWS YOU WILL NEVER HEAR THE SAME SONG TWICE, EXACTLY THE SAME WAY WHEN IT COMES TO THE LYRICS. HE WAS A MASTER OF LYRICAL COMPOSITION IMPROVISATION. HE WOULD CHOOSE A THEME FOR A SONG, LIKE “SHE’S A BLIND GIRL” AND WOULD GO FROM THERE. IN THIS CASE HIS INSPIRATION MAY HAVE COME FROM A DOZEN WOMEN HE KNEW IN HIS LIFE, OR FROM A SINGLE EXPERIENCE, AND WOULD PULL THE APPROPRIATE PHRASES TO COMPLETE THE SONG AND THE MESSAGE HE WAS TRYING TO CONVEY. THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THIS IS TO SEEK OUT AND FIND ANYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT HENRY, HIS RECORDINGS, HIS BOOK OR ANY MATERIAL YOU CAN FIND ON THE WEB. ESPECIALLY HIS RECORDINGS, THEY ARE TRULY ONE-OF-A-KIND.

HENRY’S LEGACY WILL LIVE ON WITH HIS SON ALONZO AND IN THE SOULS OF THE MANY, MANY FRIENDS HE HAD IN ST. LOUIS AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WHO HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY HIS STYLE OF MUSICAL IMPROVISATION AND FROM HENRY’S WISDOM THEY CARRY IN THEIR HEART.

About The Blue Shoe Project

THE BLUE SHOE PROJECT WAS FORTUNATE TO PRESENT HENRY IN TWO EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS THAT GAVE THOUSANDS OF KIDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO APPRECIATE THE LATE GREAT HENRY JAMES TOWNSEND. FROM THIS EXPERIENCE, WE, LIKE MANY BECAME STUDENTS OF THE HENRY TOWNSEND SCHOOL OF LIFE.

MORE ON THE WEB: HTTP://BLUESHOETIMES.BLOGSPOT.COM

FOUNDED IN 2004, THE BLUE SHOE PROJECT WAS FORMED FOR THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATING AND PROMOTING APPRECIATION FOR THE BLUES AND ROOTS MUSIC IN EDUCATION THROUGH THE VOICE OF INDUSTRY LEGENDS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BLUE SHOE PROJECT AND A CONGLOMERATION OF INFORMATION AND PHOTOS OF HENRY JAMES TOWNSEND PLEASE VISIT WWW.BLUESHOEPROJECT.ORG OR HTTP://BLUESHOETIMES.BLOGSPOT.COM. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS CONTACT MICHAEL DYSON WITH THE BLUE SHOE PROJECT AT 817.689.2416 OR EMAIL AT mike@blueshoeproject.org.