ABOUT BUKKA WHITE
Delta blues guitarist who helped develop the Mississippi blues sound with songs like "Shake 'em on Down."
He started playing guitar at age nine and recorded his first album in 1930, alternating between country blues and gospel.
With music alone not yet a lucrative career, he took odd jobs to make ends meet for much of the 1930s: he was a pitcher in the Negro Leagues and briefly a prizefighter.
He was born on farm near Houston, Mississippi, his father John White was a railroad man, with Bukka's music sometimes imitating the rhythmic train knocks and melodic whistles.
John Lee Hooker was another well-known Mississippi blues guitarist.
