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Yank Rachell (born James A. Rachel; March 16, 1910 – April 9, 1997)[1][2][3] was an American country blues musician who has been called an "elder statesman of the blues".[2][4] His career as a performer spanned nearly seventy years, from the late 1920s to the 1990s.
Yank Rachell | |
|---|---|
 Rachell performing in Hamburg, Germany, February 1978 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James A. Rachel |
| Born | March 16, 1910 near Brownsville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | April 9, 1997 (aged 87) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Genres | Country blues |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1929–1997 |
Rachell grew up in Brownsville, Tennessee. His gravestone marks his birth year as 1920. However, researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc conclude, on the basis of a 1920 census entry, that Rachell was probably born in 1903.[1]
In 1958, during the American folk music revival, he moved to Indianapolis. He recorded for Delmark Records and Blue Goose Records. He was a capable guitarist and singer but was better known as a master of the blues mandolin. He bought his first mandolin at age eight, in a trade for a pig his family had given him to raise.[4] He often performed with the guitarist and singer Sleepy John Estes.[5] "She Caught the Katy," which he wrote with Taj Mahal, is considered a blues standard.[4]
He appeared in the 1985 documentary film Louie Bluie (directed by Terry Zwigoff), about the musician Howard Armstrong. Rachell performed with John Sebastian and the J-Band in the film.[6]
By the mid-1990s, Rachell and Henry Townsend were the only blues musicians still active whose careers started in the 1920s.[7] Late in his life Rachell suffered from arthritis, which shortened his playing sessions, but he recorded an album just before his death, Too Hot for the Devil.[4]
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- Louie Bluie (1985), directed by Terry Zwigoff
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