J.B. Lenoir

Though J.B. Lenoir hailed from Mississippi and eventually became part of the Chicago blues scene, his music was atypical of either area's noted blues style. He sang with a high, almost effeminate voice a la Delta giants Skip James and Robert Johnson, but he backed his vocals with a boogie-influenced sound tinged with traces of jazz. Perhaps most importantly, his lyrics occasionally (especially later in his career) tended toward the political. Songs such as "Eisenhower Blues" and "Vietnam Blues" were unique and powerful socio-political statements in a blues framework. Unfortunately, Lenoir's career was cut short when he died in a car crash in 1967 at the age of 38.