he was called john ned shines when he was born, in frayser, tennessee. he spent most of his childhood in memphis playing slide guitar for money on the streets. he listened to and was inspired by blind lemon jefferson and howlin’ wolf, but he was taught to play the guitar by his mother. shines moved to hughes, arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years. "first time i came to helena was 1932, i think it was. that's the time i met robert the first time." when he met robert johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him inspiration to return to music. in 1935, shines began playing with johnson around the south and heading as far north as ontario where they appeared on a local radio program. the two split up in 1937, one year before johnson died. "he (johnson) was alright to travel with, he was a good companion to travel with, 'cos he talked a lot and i didn't."