Robert Nighthawk

Born 100 years ago today, November 30th 1909... Robert Nighthawk (born Robert Lee McCullom) was a rambling man famed for pioneering the slide on the electric guitar. Though his heart belonged in the Mississippi Delta, the place which continuously called him home, he often traveled to Chicago, playing on Sunday afternoons at the famed open-air market along Maxwell Street. The haunting tone enamored a trio of players who took the electric slide to new heights and whose own fame surpassed that of Robert's. That trio was Earl Hooker, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. He died in Helena, Arkansas, the town where he was born, in 1967.

Here are two videos, the first "My Sweet Lovin' Woman" for the photos, the second "Sweet Black Angel" for the music, both recorded in 1948. (Edit: video replaced by a different live recording)