The Legend
Born at the crossroads. Buried nothing.
The facts — as near as anyone in Clarksdale will swear to them.
- Born
- 1967 · Clarksdale, Mississippi — Shotgun Alley, two doors down from Red's Lounge.
- First guitar
- Age eight. A cigar box, a yard of baling wire, and four bent nails.
- The six years
- 1986–1992, Parchman Farm. Went in for a fight that was never his. Came out a singer.
- The teacher
- Blind Earl Mosely, who taught him the slide with a snapped bottleneck and one rule — play it like you mean to be forgiven.
- The guitar
- A scarred 1961 Gibson he calls “Allison.” Won't sell her, won't explain the name.
- The name
- “Graves” isn't the one his mother gave him. He took it the year he buried the man he used to be.