Background
Wilson was born in Hickory Flat, Mississippi. His father was one-half Muscogee.
Wilson was born in Hickory Flat, Mississippi. His father was one-half Muscogee.
A clergyman, Wilson discovered he had a degree of notability later in his life, having previously been unaware of interest in his work. He developed an unusual "choking" style, based around the difficulty of soliciting sounds from his well-worn equipment. By the age of fifteen, he was working on the railroad.
He later worked at a local sawmill.
Wilson married at the age of nineteen. They developed a strong church following.
Wilson moved to Michigan in 1940 and later to Detroit. He continued his musical interests, playing on street corners.
In 1948, he played in a record store on Hastings Street in Detroit and was recorded by the shop owner.
The owner subsequently allowed the tracks to be released, and students of Wilson"s style of playing were intrigued. Wilson was unaware of the attention. By 1989, following a chance telephone call, Wilson reactivated his playing partnership with Pinson.
Finally, he became aware of the global interest in his earlier recordings, which he heard for the first time in 1991.
Capitalizing on the notability, he and Pinson started to play at music festivals, including the Chicago Blues Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 1993, Wilson was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship.
In that year he also recorded the bulk of the music included on his debut album. Most of tracks on his 1995 LP This Train were recorded when Wilson was in his early eighties.