Babe Stovall

On March 26, 1966, folklore student and musician Tary Owens recorded Mississippi-born, acoustic blues musician Jewell Babe Stovall at the University of Texas at Austin. Several contemporary musicians cite Stovall as an important musical influence and source of inspiration. Jerry Jeff Walker traveled with and learned from Stovall in the late sixties. Others who mention Stovall as an influence include James Sparky Rucker and Chris Smither.Stovall started playing blues guitar as a child while still in school, borrowing his older brothers instrument. His guitar technique wa s influenced by Tommy Johnson, whom he met in Mississippi during the 1930s Depression era. Stovall was an important figure in the blues and folk music heritage and street music tradition of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he spent most of his life.Babe Stovall began his recording career in the 1950s. The only discography [http://www.wirz.de/music/stovafrm.htm] available reports a recording period ranging from 1958-1972, in addition to posthumous releases.At the 1966 Austin, Texas session, Tary Owens recorded three tunes and brief reminiscences and personal information from Babe Stovall. Reel 454 of the UT Folklore Center Archives at The Ethnomusicology Lab and Archive at UTs School of Music has now been digitized and contains four tracks:Worried Blues (6:38) Reminiscences and personal information (3:50) Dirty Mistreater (6:01) Candy Man (3:22) Stovall recorded all three songs at least one other time during his career, although this may have been his first recording of Worried Blues.