Muse, Lewis "Rabbit"

Lewis Muse

11.5.1908–27.8.1982

Muse (nicknamed „Rabbit“) grew up in a musical family. A friend who could not sing himself let him play on his ukulele and taught him the first chords. He took up Blues because it was „just around“;1) he developed into

a heralded country blues player, sought out for ethnography recordings and radio and festival performances, popular among black and white audiences alike.
Loose-limbed, light-skinned, and long-jowled, Rabbit also played kazoo and danced a jig that blended tap with mountain floodfooting. … Rabbit decided to take up the ukulele, his main instrument, after seeing a traveling minstrel show around 1920. When he left home to try show business for himself, his father intervened. … He started a family band with a cousin on the washboard, his mother on accordion, and his father singing and playing guitar. When he wasn't working as a sawmill laborer, Rabbit was often with his band, playing house parties and county fairs, jamming in tobacco warehouses and on the streets.2)

In 1976 and 1977 he recorded two albums.

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Videos


Swanee River (Old Folks At Home)


Rocking Chair Blues


Stardust In The Sky


Jailhouse Blues


Because of You


My Blue Heaven


Learning the Blues

Audio Recordings


Yesterday
Remastered from Digital Library of Appalachia

A college student interviews Rabbit Muse about his family history and his ukelele playing
Digital Library of Appalachia

References

Links


2)
Beth Macy: Truevine: An Extraordinary True Story of Two Brothers and a Mother's Love. Pan Macmillan 2016, pp. 138–139