Mississippi Sheiks

Seminal fiddle and guitar group The Mississippi Sheiks were there at the birth of the blues, crafting classic melancholy, Americana folk songs that would influence everyone from Les Paul and Rory Gallagher to Bob Dylan. Led by Bo Carter and his brothers Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, they took their name from the Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik and gained notoriety thanks to their bawdy, tongue-in-cheek songs Banana In Your Fruit Basket, Jake Leg Blues and Driving That Thing. Their signature tune Sitting On Top Of The World became a million seller across the US and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, covered by Howlin' Wolf, Cream and Ray Charles and formed the basis of Robert Johnson's classic Come On In My Kitchen. Between 1930 and 1938 the group recorded over 70 songs for the Okeh, Paramount and Bluebird labels, but the band's popularity started to wane and the brothers returned to farming in their home state. Their legacy and influence lives on through contemporary blues stars, though, most notably with Jack White, who released a compilation of the group's recordings through his label Third Man Records in 2013.

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