Guitar Shorty...

Today is Guitar Shorty's birthday!
He would have been 90 years old today.
This cat was legendary! He was leading bands as a teenager. He shared the stage with Ray Charles, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, the Chambers Brothers, and Willie Dixon, just to name a few. He was one of the great electric blues power-hitters. He left his fingerprints all over blues and rock -- you can hear his influence pretty clearly in the music of Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy (and all the musicians they influenced in turn, like Stevie Ray and Billy Gibbons).
He was married to Hendrix' sister for a few years, and he may have even introduced Jimi to the wah pedal. Pretty wild, huh?