Unfortunately another musician has been taken before his time. Bluesman Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins died yesterday at the tender age of 97. Perkins played piano as a sideman for several decades, his most famous work being a 12 year stint in Muddy Waters' band. It was not until 1988 that he began releasing albums as a solo artist. In 2007, Perkins became the oldest artist to win a Grammy, winning for the collaborative live album Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas. He won the Best Traditional Blues album award at this year's Grammy Awards for 2010's Joined at the Hip with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Perkins was the oldest living bluesman to have played in the pre-World War II era that saw the formation of the art and the rise of its early stars such as Son House, Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He passes that claim onto 95 year-old David "Honeyboy" Edwards.
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