What is Sam Chatmon?
[[File:Sam Chatmon of the Delta Blues.jpg|thumb|Sam Chatmon of the Delta Blues]] '''Sam Chatmon''' (January 10 1897 - February 2 1983), was a [[guitarist]] and [[singer]]. == Life and career == Chatmon was born in [[Bolton, Mississippi|Bolton]], [[Mississippi]]. === Early life === Chatmon had a very musical family, all of them lived in Mississippi. Two of Sam's brothers, [[fiddle]]r Lonnie Chatmon and guitarist [[Bo Carter]], performed with guitarist Walter Vinson as the Mississippi Sheiks. Chatmon himself was a member of the family's string band when he was young. He performed all the time for white audiences in the 1900s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://chatmon-www.blueflamecafe.com/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2021-01-24 |archive-date=2008-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103005314/http://chatmon-www.blueflamecafe.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> === Music style === The Chatmon [[band (music)|band]] played: * Ragtime * [[Ballad]]s * Popular [[dance]] tunes. === Instruments played === Chatmon played the [[banjo]], [[mandolin]], [[harmonica]] and the [[guitar]]. He played at parties and on street corners in Mississippi for money and tips. In the 1930s he recorded songs with his brothers. === Later life === Chatmon moved to [[Hollandale, Mississippi]] in the early 1940s and worked on [[plantation]]s in Hollandale. He started playing again in 1960, playing mostly [[blues]] music. In the same year, he recorded songs for [[Arhoolie Records]]. He went on tours in the 1960s and 1970s and played for many festivals such as the Festival of American Folklife in [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1972, the Mariposa Fest in [[Toronto]] in 1974, and the [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1976. ==Timeline== * [[1897]] - Born in Bolton, Mississippi * [[1900]] - Played for white audiences * [[1930]] - Recorded with the Sheiks, Lonnie and the Chatman Brothers * [[1940]] - Moved to Hollandale, Mississippi, to work on plantations * [[1960]] - Rediscovered as a folk-blues artist, he al