John Lee

by Steve LeggettJohn Arthur Lee was an Alabama bluesman who recorded five sides ("Baby Blues," "Baby Please Don't Go," "Down at the Depot," "Alabama Boogie," "Blind's Blues") for Federal Records in July 1951 in Montgomery, AL. He also recorded an album for Rounder Records in the 1970s (which went unissued on CD). Lee was born May 24, 1915, in Lowdnes County, AL. He learned his distinctive knife slide guitar style from his uncle, Ellie Lee, and spent the 1930s playing jukes and house parties before settling in Montgomery in 1945. Federal's Ralph Bass auditioned him there, and impressed with what he heard, recorded the five sides in 1951.