Eddie Kirkland

Born
August 16, 1928
in Jamaica 
Active Decades
19001020304050607080902000 
 
by Bill Dahl
How many Jamaican-born bluesmen have recorded with John Lee Hooker and toured with Otis ReddingNULL It's a safe bet there's only one: Eddie Kirkland, who's engaged in some astonishing onstage acrobatics over the decades (like standing on his head while playing guitar on TV's Don Kirshner's Rock Concert).



But you won't find any ersatz reggae grooves cluttering Kirkland's work. He was brought up around Dothan, AL, before heading north to Detroit in 1943. There he hooked up with Hooker five years later, recording with him for several firms as well as under his own name for RPM in 1952, King in 1953, and Fortune in 1959. Tru-Sound Records, a Prestige subsidiary, invited Kirkland to Englewood Cliffs, NJ, in 1961-62 to wax his first album, It's The Blues Man! The polished R&B band of saxist King Curtis crashed head on into Kirkland's intense vocals, raucous guitar and harmonica throughout the exciting set.



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