Grammy-winning Delta bluesman David “Honeyboy” Edwards, whose emotional singing and eccentric timing thrilled audiences from his native Mississippi to Europe, has died at age 96, his manager said on Tuesday.
Edwards died on Monday from congestive heart failure, said manager Michael Frank, who also played harmonica in Edwards’ trio.
“Honeyboy was the quintessential Delta bluesman,” Frank said.
Edwards was among the last musicians to know and play with legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who died in 1938, and his career was intertwined with the likes of Charlie Patton, Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Walter, Little Walter and Muddy Waters.
Edwards, who was born in 1915 in Shaw, Mississippi, earned a 2008 Grammy Award for best traditional blues album for “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas.” He was awarded a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2010.
Edwards usually performed on acoustic guitar, sitting in a chair on stage, although he was in constant movement.
