"Gearshifter," AKA Louis Arzo Youngblood, lives in Jackson, Mississippi, where he works during the week driving a gravel truck and plays blues on the weekends. His nickname stems from his skills operating trucks and heavy equipment.
Louis was born in Picayune, Mississippi, in 1952, and spent much of his youth in Tylertown, where he lived with older relatives. From his great aunt Essie Mae Youngblood Louis learned the rudiments of guitar as well as several songs that he plays today, including the traditional folk song Rabbit In A Log and the Tommy Johnson songs Bye Bye Blues and Big Road Blues.
Essie Mae was influenced directly by Johnson, one of the most influential early bluesmen, who married her sister Rosa in the 1930s and lived for a while in Tylertown. Johnson had a profound influence on a number of artists in the Tylertown area, including Louis’ grandfather and namesake, Arzo Youngblood. Arzo was recorded in the '70s and '80s by field researchers David Evans and Axel Küstner. Evans’ recordings appeared on several now out-of-print LPs, while several of the recordings made by Küstner are on the CD set Living Country Blues on Evidence.
At 16 Louis joined the Job Corps, in which he learned to operate heavy machinery at camps in Arizona and New Mexico. He played informally with a band during his three-year tenure and further developed his guitar skills. After leaving the Corps Louis returned to Jackson, but often stayed in New Orleans with his grandfather Arzo, who had lived there since the early ‘60s. Arzo’s home in the 9th Ward was a gathering place for older musicians, including Boogie Bill Webb.
In New Orleans Louis occasionally performed with the Jackson-based group Roosevelt Roberts and Sons, and back in Jackson played with artists including Robert Robinson and Tommy Lee at clubs including Dorsey’s and the Queen of Hearts. Mostly though, he worked as a heavy machinery operator at sites across the country. In the late ‘70s he lived in Miami, where he performed with Bahamians in a Calypso band. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Louis performed irregularly in Jackson, and has became more active there recently, performing regularly at the E&E Lounge with T.C. and the Midnighters and since late 2003 has played most weekend at Monte’s Fine Dining in Jackson.
Although the seeds were there for a long time, it’s only relatively recently that Louis began performing as a solo acoustic artist, creating a distinctive mix by blending the country blues he learned as a youth with soul/blues classics and whatever else moves him. He plays at regional festivals in Mississippi including the Tommy Johnson Memorial Festival, the Juke Joint Festival, and the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival, and in 2005 he performed in Parma, Italy and in 2006 at the Chicago Blues Festival. In May 2007 he'll be performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
