Coot Venson

Blues singer and harmonica player, born Belzoni, Mississippi, in 1913. In the company of Big Joe Williams, Venson made a handful of recordings in the mid-1960s, in Crawford, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois. The Williams and Venson collaborations “Long Road Blues” https://youtu.be/y4pL4d7EW9E and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Sugar Mama” https://youtu.be/t3Bplk-jMSo appeared on the various artist compilation The Mississippi Blues (Storyville 4025) released in 1981, while “Morning Rock” and “Where the Southern Crosses the Dog,” which they recorded 5/21/66 in Chicago, appeared on the various artist compilation Down Home Harp (Testament 6011) in 1998. Some video footage of Venson is included in the 1981 documentary film Maxwell Street Blues. Venson died in 1985 and laid to rest at the Oakridge-Glen Oak Cemetery in Hillside.