1893 to be precise. He was the considered to be the first man to play the slide guitar. What a world he had seen!
"After he ran away from home, he had experience working on travelling medicine shows under the influence of Jim Jackson. He worked with W.C. Handy and claimed that Handy presented him with his first good guitar. Hoboing across country in 1916, he had an accident while hopping a train and consequently lost a leg. After this he moved to Memphis and, while performing and recording, he supplemented his income by sweeping the streets. Apart from periods working on riverboats and with medicine shows in the 20s, this remained the style of his life for approximately the next 40 or more years"
The folk blues revival of the 1960's gave Furry Lewis a new opportunity to have his music heard again. He died in 1981.
Here's some film of him probably in the 1970's. A guitar held no hidden secrets for Furry and although not playing the slide guitar on this occasion the slide is never the less ever present like a steel finger. And of course a guitar style that defies description.
