I was born February 15,1901 in Lovejoys Station, Georgia. I learned the basics of guitar from my cousin John Wiggs.I w
orked out my own distinctive style of bottleneck slide and blues singing. I began my music career in Buffalo, New York in the early 1920's. I also worked as a farmhand there and later moved to Pittsburgh and became a steelworker. In 1929 I set up a bootlegging business in Chicago, which I continued throughout Prohibition. In 1930 I moved to Mississippi briefly, and in May 1930 I made my first recordings; Rainy Night Blues and Paddlin' Blues, under the name of "Gitfiddle Jim", for the Victor label in Memphis, Tennessee. After the ratification of Prohibition in 1933, I was forced to make my living as a musician. My early influences were Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Francis "Scrapper" Blackwell. "Kokomo" was a popular brand of coffee in the early 20th century. Scrapper Blackwell did the first recorded commercial for the coffee company and named it "Kokomo Blues". Then I revamped the song as "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for Decca on September 10th,1934. From that song, derived my nickname Kokomo. I wrote the popular hit "Milkcow Blues" which became a blues standard and was performed and recorded by countless blues, folk and country musicians. From my first recordings in 1934 until my last in May of 1938, I made eighty-eight sides, under my real name for Decca. They only rejected nine of them. Two of these 9 have since been recovered. On some songs I was joined by Peetie Wheatstraw. But most of my recordings were made solo, just me and my guitar. I also cut two songs in July, 1936 with Oscar's Chicago Swinger's , a dance band led by singer Sam Theard. I also worked with the great blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes. Along with Peetie Wheatstraw and Amos Easton (Bumble Bee Slim) I was a predominant figure among blues singers in the Decca Race catalogues of the 1930's. I was also a popular live performer. Mostly in Chicago, but also in New York a couple of times. Another big hit I recorded was "Big Legged Woman Blues." Some of my songs were highly influential on other musicians. My first issued single, coupling on Decca Paired "Old Original Kokomo Blues" and "Milk Cow Blues." Delta blues legend musta known this record, because he stole both sides and reinvented them as songs of his own. "Kokomo Blues" became "Sweet Home Chicago", and "Milk Cow Blues" became "Milkcows Calf Blues". In 1938 I left the music business out of disgust and began to work in a Chicago factory. I was rediscovered by blues researchers in 1962, but I was not interested in returning to music and taking advantage of the interest in the blues among young white audiences. I died of a heart attack in Chicago in November 1968 at the age of 67. I was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
