Joseph Spence - Biography
By J Poet
Joseph Spence was born and lived most of his life in The Bahamas, but thanks to an encounter with folklorist Sam Charters, who recorded Music of the Bahamas, Volume 1, Bahaman Folk Guitar (1960 Folkways), on the porch of his home, Spence and his music has become known throughout the world. He played a syncopated style in a drop D tuning (the sixth string is tuned to a D below the normal E) that gave his driving guitar work a big, bass heavy sound. His intricate finger picking incorporated blues, jazz, gospel, American country music, calypso and other styles and his singing, part mumble, part blues shout, provided another rhythmic element with its incomprehensible vocals. He was dubbed the Thelonious Monk of folk guitar for his idiosyncratic style and while he only appeared off island twice – a brief California tour in the 60s and a short tour of the eastern seaboard in 1972 – his music had made an indelible mark on all who heard his records including Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Olu Dara, and John Renbourn. Although he has more than 250,000 websites dedicated to him and his music, he never became famous at home, never kept any copies of the records he made and died happy and unknown on March 18, 1984.
Spence was born in 1910 on the island of Andros in the Bahamas. He started playing guitar at age nine, on an instrument an uncle sent him from the United States. Spence worked on a sponge boat from the age of 16 until he was 28, and absorbed a folk tradition called “rhyming” – combining Bible verses, simple guitar chords and the rhythm of the tides to create a unique kind of gospel music. Spence adapted it to his own singular style. From 1944 to 1946, Spence and his wife were migrant workers in the US, moving from Florida to Delaware. It was then he picked a bit of country music. In the 1930’s Alan Lomax had recorded a few tunes by Spence which led Sam Charters to track him down and record Music of the Bahamas, Volume 1, Bahaman Folk Guitar (1960 Folkways.) Spence kept active playing at dances and funerals, but had no interest in fame or the music business.
In 1964 Fritz Richmond of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band visited the islands to see if Spence was still around and recorded Happy All the Time (1964 Elektra, 1993 Ryko/Hannibal) It was a big hit with folkies and guitar players who tried in vain to imitate the runs that effortlessly flowed from the fingers of the master. Spence toured California briefly, but soon returned home to his wife and family. In 1971 folklorist and music fan Chris Strachwitz went to the Bahamas and cut Spence live for Good Morning Mr. Walker (1972 Arhoolie, 1990 Arhoolie.) His technique was still amazing. It’s hard to listen to this album and believe there’s only one guitarist at work. Rounder’s Scott Belington recorded Spence at the Olympia Hotel on Nassau in 1978 for Living on the Hallelujah Side (Rounder 1980.) Rounder returned again to capture Glory (1990 Rounder) a collection of gospel tunes featuring the singing of The Pindar Family - Spence’s sister, her husband and daughter - a primal wail that’s just as unique as Spence’s playing. More recordings from that date surfaced later as Joseph Spence and The Pindar Family: The Spring of Sixty-Five (1992 Rounder).
In the mid-1970s Spence had a heart attack and got a job as an elementary school night watchman. He died in 1984, still unknown in the islands, yet revered by guitarists all around the world. A posthumous collection The Complete Folkways Recordings, 1958 came out on Smithsonian Folkways in 1992.
