Editing Snooky Pryor

{{Short description|American Chicago blues harmonica player (c. 1919–2006)}}
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{{Infobox musical artist
|name                    = Snooky Pryor
|image                   = Snooky Pryor.jpg
|caption                 = Pryor in [[Edinburgh]] in 1993
|image_size              =
|background              = solo_singer
|birth_name              = James Edward Pryor
|alias                   = 
|birth_date              = {{Birth date|1919|9|15}} or 1921
|birth_place             = [[Lambert, Mississippi]], U.S.
|death_date              = {{Death date|2006|10|18}} (aged 85 or 87)
|death_place             = [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri]], U.S.
|genre                   = {{hlist|[[Chicago blues]]|[[Delta blues]]}}
|occupation              = Musician
|instrument              = {{hlist|Harmonica|vocals}}
|years_active            = 1945–2006
|label                   = {{hlist|[[Vee Jay Records|Vee-Jay]]|[[Virgin Records|Virgin]]|[[ABC Records|ABC]]|[[Blind Pig Records|Blind Pig]]|[[Telarc Records|Telarc]]|[[Electro-Fi Records|Electro-Fi]]}}
|website                 =     
}}
'''James Edward "Snooky" Pryor''' (September 15, 1919<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues: A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger | location= Santa Barbara, California| pages=193 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> or 1921<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=981}}</ref> – October 18, 2006) was an American [[Chicago blues]] [[harmonica]] player.<ref name="Music">{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing 
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 181}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/nov/10/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 | newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | date = 10 November 2006 | access-date = 7 August 2011 | title = Obituary of Snooky Pryor | author = Russell, Tony}}</ref>  He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his hands along with the harmonica, although on his earliest records, in the late 1940s, he did not use this method. In 2023, he was inducted in the [[Blues Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Grein |first=Paul |date=2023-03-15 |title=Esther Phillips, Josh White & More to Be Inducted into Blues Hall of Fame: Full List of 2023 Inductees |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/esther-phillips-blues-hall-of-fame-2023-inductees-1235286772/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ehrenclou |first=Martine |date=2023-03-15 |title=Blues Hall of Fame 2023 Inductees Announced |url=https://www.rockandbluesmuse.com/2023/03/15/blues-hall-of-fame-2023-inductees-announced/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=ROCK AND BLUES MUSE |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Career==
Pryor was born in [[Lambert, Mississippi]], United States.<ref name="Larkin"/> He developed a [[country blues]] style influenced by [[Sonny Boy Williamson I]] (John Lee Williamson) and [[Sonny Boy Williamson II]] (Aleck Ford "Rice" Miller). In the mid-1930s, in and around [[Vance, Mississippi]], Pryor played in impromptu gatherings of three or four harmonica players, including [[Jimmy Rogers]], who then lived nearby and had yet to take up playing the guitar.<ref>{{cite book|title=Deep Blues|author=Robert Palmer|year=1981|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/199 199]|isbn=978-0-14-006223-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/199}}</ref> Pryor moved to [[Chicago]] around 1940.

While serving in the U.S. Army he would blow [[bugle call]]s through a [[PA system]], which led him to experiment with playing the harmonica that way. However, most {{who|date=October 2022}} historians credit the idea to Little Walter{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}. Upon discharge from the Army in 1945, he obtained his own [[amplifier]] and began playing harmonica at the outdoor [[Maxwell Street]] Market, becoming a regular on the [[Chicago blues]] scene.

Pryor recorded some of the first post-war Chicago blues in 1948,<ref name="Music"/> including "Telephone Blues" and "Snooky & Moody's 'Boogie'", with the guitarist [[Moody Jones]], and "Stockyard Blues" and "Keep What You Got", with the singer and guitarist [[Floyd Jones]].<ref name="Larkin"/> "Snooky & Moody's 'Boogie'" is of considerable historical significance: Pryor claimed that the harmonica virtuoso [[Little Walter]] directly copied the signature riff of Pryor's song in the opening eight bars of his blues harmonica instrumental "Juke," an R&B hit in 1952.<ref>"I Started the Big Noise Around Chicago". Interview with Snooky Pryor conducted by Jim O'Neal, Steve Wisner, and David Nelson. ''Living Blues'', no. 123 (Sept.–Oct. 1995), pp. 10–11.</ref> This claim is historically questionable at best. During the 1950s, Pryor regularly toured in [[Southern United States|the South]].<ref name="Larkin"/> In 1967, Pryor moved to [[Ullin, Illinois]]. He quit music and worked as a carpenter in the late 1960s but was persuaded to make a comeback.<ref name="russell">{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| publisher=Carlton Books
| location= Dubai
| pages= 157
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> Blues fans later revived interest in his music, and he resumed recording occasionally until his death in nearby [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri]], at the age of 85.

In January 1973 he performed alongside [[Homesick James]] with the American Blues Legends '73 tour, which played throughout Europe. On this tour they recorded an album in London, ''Homesick James & Snooky Pryor'', for Jim Simpson's label, [[Big Bear Records]], with Pryor also recording a solo album, ''Shake Your Boogie.''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Simpson|first=Jim|title=Don't Worry 'Bout The Bear|publisher=Brewin Books|year=2019|isbn=978-1-85858-700-4}}</ref>

Pryor appeared on [[Bob Margolin]]'s 1995 [[Alligator Records]] release ''My Blues and My Guitar''.

Some of his better-known songs are "Judgement Day" (1956), "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" (from ''Snooky'', 1989), "Where Did You Learn to Shake It Like That" (from ''Tenth Anniversary Anthology'', 1989), and "Shake My Hand" (1999).

Pryor's son Richard "Rip Lee" Pryor is also a blues musician and performs in and around his hometown of [[Carbondale, Illinois]].

==Discography==

===Singles===
*"Stockyard Blues" (A) / "Keep What You Got" (B) (1948), Marvel Records; reissued on Old Swing-Master in 1949
*"Telephone Blues" (A) / Snooky & Moody's "Boogie" (B) (1948), Planet Records; reissued on Old Swing-Master in 1949
*"Boogy Fool" (A) / "Raisin' Sand" (B) (1949), [[JOB Records|JOB]]
*"I'm Getting Tired" (A) / "Going Back on the Road" (B) (1952), JOB
*"Crosstown Blues" (A) / "I Want You For Myself" (B) (1953), [[Parrot Records|Parrot]]
*"Cryin' Shame" (A) / "Eighty Nine Ten" (B) (1954), JOB
*"Someone to Love Me" (A) / "Judgement Day" (B) (1956), [[Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay]]
*"Boogie Twist" (A) / "Uncle Sam Don't Take My Man" (B) (1963), JOB

===Albums===
*''Snooky Pryor'' (1970), Flyright Records FLY LP-100
*''Homesick James & Snooky Pryor'' (1973), [[Virgin Records|Virgin Records, London]] under licence from [[Big Bear Records]], Birmingham
*''Do It If You Want To'' (1973), [[ABC Records]], Los Angeles, New York
*''Snooky Pryor and the Country Blues'' (1973), Today Records
*''Shake Your Boogie'', (1976), Big Bear Records, Birmingham
*''Real Fine Boogie'', Snooky Pryor and Moody Jones (1980), Flyright Records
*''Snooky'' (1989), [[Blind Pig Records]]
*''Back to the Country'', Johnny Shines and Snooky Pryor (1991), Blind Pig Records
*''Snooky Pryor'' (1991), Paula Records [compilation of early singles and unissued material]
*''Too Cool to Move'' (1992), [[Antone's Record Label|Antone's Records]]<ref>Record label founded in 1987 by Clifford Antone, owner of Antone's Nightclub, in Austin, Texas, to release live recordings of performances at the club; [http://www.discogs.com/label/140518-Antones-Records Profile of Antone's Records]. [[Discogs]].com. Retrieved 2015-07-27.</ref>
*''In This Mess Up to My Chest'' (1994), Antone's Records
*''Mind Your Own Business'' (1996), Antone's Records
*''Shake My Hand'' (1999), Blind Pig Records
*''[[Double Shot!]]'', Snooky Pryor and [[Mel Brown (guitarist)|Mel Brown]] (2000), [[Electro-Fi Records]]
*''Super Harps II'', with [[Carey Bell]], [[Lazy Lester]], [[Raful Neal]] (2001), [[Telarc Records]]
*''Snooky Pryor and His Mississippi Wrecking Crew'' (2002), Electro-Fi Records
*''Mojo Ramble'' (2003), Electro-Fi Records

=== Appears on ===
* ''American Blues Legends '73'' (1973), Big Bear Records

==See also==
*[[Chicago Blues Festival]]
*[[List of Chicago blues musicians]]
*[[List of harmonica blues musicians]]
*[[San Francisco Blues Festival]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p34447/biography|pure_url=yes}} Biography]. [[AllMusic]].
*[http://www.blindpigrecords.com/index.cfm?section=artists&artistid=49 Pryor Biography]. Blind Pig Records.
*[http://www.hohnerusa.com/artistspryor.shtml Pryor bio]. [[Hohner]] Harmonica Company, which has a [http://www.hohnerusa.com/MP3/Pryor.mp3 Pryor sound clip] ([[mp3]] format).
*[https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1944241,00.html Obituary]. ''[[The Guardian]]''. Accessed December 1, 2006.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231101/http://www.klbc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=45 Obituary]. KLBC radio. Accessed December 1, 2006.
*[http://www.wirz.de/music/pryorfrm.htm Pryor Discography]. Accessed December 19, 2007.
*{{youTube|2oSx8fRcSyM|Snooky Pryor with Mel Brown and the Homewreckers - "Headed South"}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130115103705/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/P/Pryor_Snooky/2000/07/06/748912.html Interview on ''Canoe'']}}, July 2000. Accessed December 1, 2006.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pryor, Snooky}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:American blues harmonica players]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi]]
[[Category:American street performers]]
[[Category:Harmonica blues musicians]]
[[Category:Vee-Jay Records artists]]
[[Category:People from Lambert, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Blind Pig Records artists]]
[[Category:Telarc Records artists]]
[[Category:Virgin Records artists]]
[[Category:ABC Records artists]]
[[Category:African-American male songwriters]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Southland Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]