Lonnie Pitchford (October 8, 1955 – November 8, 1998) was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi, United States. He was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had learned and was continuing the Delta blues and country blues traditions of the older generations.
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Pitchford began making his one-stringed diddley bows as a five-year-old, fashioning them mostly out of parts from old electric guitars. Also an accomplished six-string guitarist and piano player, Pitchford has forged his reputation as a skilled diddley bow player. His fascination with blues began as a child, when he heard blues and gospel on the radio. Raised in a musical family, Pitchford got his start playing house parties and learned a lot from his father and brothers, who also played blues guitar and piano.
Here’s “My baby walked away”
by Lonnie Pitchford with his one stringed guitar from 1980
In addition to the acoustic and electric guitar, Pitchford was skilled at the double bass, piano and harmonica. He was a protégé of Robert Lockwood Jr., from whom he learned the style of Robert Johnson. For a while, Pitchford performed accompanied by Johnny Shines and Lockwood.
Pitchford performed at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, and was one of the youngest performers at the 1984 Downhome Blues Festival in Atlanta. His own debut album, All Round Man was released on Rooster Blues Records in 1994.
Although he'd put in dynamic, spirited performances at the Smithsonian Festivals, Pitchford unfortunately didn't tour much because of his lack of recordings. He was able to make occasional road trips to Memphis and other cities where his music was appreciated. He divided his time between road trips to play blues and working as a carpenter. Pitchford was voted as one of Living Blues magazine's "top 40 under 40" new blues players to watch.
He had been working on a second album for Rooster Blues in late 1997 before his illness sidelined him. A few months before his death he played Elmore James' guitar on a brief session produced by Pat LeBlanc, administrator of the Elmore James estate. Unfortunately, his life was cut short in 1998 at the age of 43 when he died in November 1998, at his home in Lexington, from AIDS related pneumonia.
He was survived by a wife, Minnie Pitchford, along with a daughter from a previous relationship. He was buried near blues great Elmore James in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery in Ebenezer, Mississippi.
In October 2000, the Mount Zion Memorial Fund placed a granite memorial (sponsored in part by John Fogerty and Rooster Blues Records) over his grave, with a functioning diddley bow mounted on the side. Blues pilgrims periodically replace the string to keep it playable.
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic
& Find a Grave)