Robert Wilkins

Robert Wilkins is a seminal blues guitarist and vocalist. He was born January 16, 1896, in Hernando, Mississippi close to Memphis, Tennessee. He died May 26, 1987.

Wilkins worked in Memphis during the 20s at the same time

Robert Wilkins is a seminal blues guitarist and vocalist. He was born January 16, 1896, in Hernando, Mississippi close to Memphis, Tennessee. He died May 26, 1987.

Wilkins worked in Memphis during the 20s at the same time as Furry Lewis, Memphis Minnie (whom he claimed to have tutored), and Son House. He also organized a jug band to capitalize on the "jug band craze" then in vogue. Though never attaining success comparable to the Memphis Jug Band, Wilkins reinforced his local popularity with a 1927 appearance on a Memphis radio station. Like Sleepy John Estes (and unlike Gus Cannon of Cannon's Jug Stompers) he recorded alone or with a single accompanist.