Mississippi Sheiks

The Mississippi Sheiks ranked among the leading string bands during the close of the 1920s and the opening years of the 1930s. The group assembled in Jackson near 1926 and fused old-time and suggestive country-blues fiddle styles, featuring guitarist Walter Vinson alongside fiddler Lonnie Chatmon while also drawing regular contributions from Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon, both of whom maintained active solo schedules. All were sons of Ezell Chatmon, the uncle of Charlie Patton and the guiding force behind a regional string ensemble that had enjoyed strong local favor at the turn of the century. Taking their name from the Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik, the Mississippi Sheiks entered the studio for Okeh in 1930 and scored their initial and greatest triumph with the crossover smash “Sitting on Top of the World,” a multi-million seller that quickly established itself as a national standard later interpreted by Howlin’ Wolf, Ray Charles, and countless others. Their commercial height arrived in the first half of the 1930s, after which the band cut its last sides for the Bluebird label in 1935, bringing a career total that exceeded sixty songs, among them the well-received “Stop and Listen.”