View source for Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton

{{short description|American musician from Los Angeles (born 1989)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background       = person
| name             = Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton
| birth_name       = Jerron Paxton
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1989|01|26}}
| origin           = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
| genre            = {{hlist|[[Blues]]|[[jazz]]|[[ragtime]]|[[country blues]]|[[Cajun music]]}}
| occupation       = Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
| instrument       = {{hlist|[[Banjo]]|[[fiddle]]|[[piano]]|[[harmonica]]|[[Cajun accordion]]|[[ukelele]]|[[guitar]]|[[bones (instrument)|bones]]}}
| years_active     = 2007–present
| website          =
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
'''Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton''' (born January 26, 1989)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.straight.com/music/577006/digging-real-facts-about-jerron-blind-boy-paxton | title=Digging for the real facts about Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton | first=Steve | last=Newton | date=January 24, 2014 | publisher=Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corporation | work=[[The Georgia Straight]] | access-date=February 2, 2014}}</ref> is an American musician from [[Los Angeles]]. A vocalist and [[multi-instrumentalist]], Paxton's style draws from [[blues]] and [[jazz]] music before [[World War II]] and was influenced by [[Fats Waller]] and [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]]. According to Will Friedwald in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', Paxton is "virtually the only music-maker of his generation — playing [[guitar]], [[banjo]], [[piano]] and [[violin]], among other implements — to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and '30s, the blues of [[Bessie Smith]] and [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]]."<ref name="wsj">{{cite news | last=Friedwald | first=Will | author-link=Will Friedwald | title=Blind Boys and the Bluest of Notes | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324556304578121291654655084 | access-date=February 18, 2013 | newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] | publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company]] | date=November 19, 2012}}</ref>
==Background==
Originally from the [[Watts, Los Angeles|Watts]] district of [[Los Angeles]], Paxton's grandparents moved from [[Louisiana]] to California in 1956.<ref name=carrollcountytime>{{cite news | last=Panepinto | first=Peter | title=Musician Blind Boy Paxton Shares Love of Song With Others at Roots Music and Arts Festival | url=http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/musician-blind-boy-paxton-shares-love-of-song-with-others/article_3d06baca-ab72-11e0-88f7-001cc4c002e0.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713112058/http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/musician-blind-boy-paxton-shares-love-of-song-with-others/article_3d06baca-ab72-11e0-88f7-001cc4c002e0.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 13, 2011 | access-date=February 18, 2013 | publisher=Landmark Communications | newspaper=[[Carroll County Times]] | date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> These Southern roots would have an influence on Paxton as a young boy. After spending time listening to his hometown [[blues]] radio station, as well as the old [[Cajun music|Cajun]] and [[country blues]] songs his grandmother used to sing, Paxton became interested in these early sounds, developing a breadth of knowledge pertaining to such music along the way. He began playing the [[fiddle]] when he was twelve, only to pick up the [[banjo]] two years later. He is [[Judaism|Jewish]].<ref>
{{cite web |last=Weichselbaum |first=Lehman |date=August 11, 2015 |title=The Bluesman With The Yarmulke |trans-title= |url=http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/the-bluesman-with-the-yarmulke/ |access-date= |work=[[The Jewish Week|The New York Jewish Week]] |series= |publisher=The Jewish Week Media Group}}</ref> He graduated from [[Verbum Dei High School]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |last= |author= |first= |year=2016 |title=An Old Soul in a Young Musician's Body |trans-title= |url=https://www.verbumdei.us/about-us-home/news/112-jerron-paxton |access-date=August 8, 2019 |website= |series= |publisher=[[Verbum Dei High School]] |archive-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809235633/https://www.verbumdei.us/about-us-home/news/112-jerron-paxton |url-status=dead }}</ref>
As a teenager, he began to go [[Visual impairment|blind]], losing most of his eyesight by the age of 16.  As a Verbum Dei student, he had a corporate work-study assignment at the [[Braille Institute of America]].<ref name="MCAF">{{cite web | url=http://www.mtcarmelcrusaders.org/newletters/2017-February-newsletter.pdf | title=Rocky Roads to Rhodes Scholar | date=February 2017 | series= | publisher=Mount Carmel Alumni Foundation | work=The Crusader | location= | pages=1–2 | language= | access-date=August 8, 2019 | quote= }}</ref>
== Career ==
In 2007, Paxton moved to [[upstate New York]] to attend [[Marist College]]<ref name="MCAF" /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://collomoreconcerts.org/fred-hersch-trio-jazz/ | title="BLIND BOY" PAXTON • BLUES | year=2015 | website= | series= | publisher=Robbie Collomore Concerts | location= | page= | pages= | at= | language= | trans-title= | type= | format= | asin= | bibcode= | doi= | isbn= | issn= | jfm= | jstor= | lccn= | mr= | oclc= | osti= | pmc= | pmid= | rfc= | zbl= | id= | access-date=August 8, 2019 | quote= }}</ref> and soon after began playing gigs in and around the [[Brooklyn]] area. Although not signed to a record label, he continued to play [[Old-time music|old-time]], blues, and [[American folk music|roots]] festivals throughout the United States,<ref name="folkandroots">{{cite web | title=Blind Boy Paxton with Brandon Bailey | url=http://folkandroots.org/?p=890 | publisher=[[Champaign-Urbana]] Folk & Roots Festival | access-date=February 18, 2013}}</ref> as well as various shows opening for old-time string bands including [[The Dust Busters]].
Paxton was named artistic director of the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Workshop and Festival in 2014 by [[Centrum (arts organization)|Centrum]] in [[Port Townsend, Washington]].  He succeeded musicians [[Daryl Davis]], [[Corey Harris]] and [[Cephas & Wiggins|Phil Wiggins]] in the role.
''[[Living Blues]]'' placed Paxton on the cover of their issue entitled "The Next Generation of the Acoustic Blues," in December 2012.<ref name="thecountryblues">{{cite web |title=Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton |url=http://www.thecountryblues.com/artist-reviews/jerron-blind-boy-paxton/ |access-date=February 17, 2013 |publisher=The Country Blues}}</ref>
In 2014, he voiced and sang the lines of "The Highwayman", a character from the fourth episode of ''[[Over the Garden Wall]]'', "Songs of the Dark Lantern".
In 2017, Paxton appeared in the award-winning documentary film ''[[The American Epic Sessions]],'' directed by [[Bernard MacMahon (filmmaker)|Bernard MacMahon]], recording [[Reverend Gary Davis|Blind Gary Davis]]'s "Candy Man" on the first [[History of sound recording#The electrical era (1925 to 1945) (including sound on film)|electrical sound recording]] system from the 1920s.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/06/05/performers-american-epic-sessions | title=The Performers in 'The American Epic Sessions' | last=Hautzinger | first=Daniel | date=2017-06-06 | publisher=Window to the World Communications | work=[[WTTW]] | access-date=2018-03-01 | language=en-US}}</ref>
== Artistry ==
Paxton's talent and contributions to [[Country blues|acoustic blues]] have earned him comparisons to contemporary artists such as [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]], [[Keb' Mo']], and [[Corey Harris]].<ref name="thecountryblues" /> Similar to groups such as the [[Carolina Chocolate Drops]], he is one of the few contemporary [[African Americans|African-American]] [[banjo]] players touring today. Since his childhood, he has added [[piano]], [[harmonica]], [[Cajun accordion]], [[ukulele]], [[guitar]], and the [[Bones (instrument)|bones]] to his musical arsenal, although the [[banjo]] was his first serious instrument.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last=Raliff |first=Ben |date=July 21, 2010 |title=Tunes That Are Steeped in an Old-School Style |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/arts/music/22jalopy.html |access-date=February 18, 2013}}</ref> In addition to [[blues]] and [[jazz]], he uses these instruments to play [[ragtime]], [[country blues]], and [[Cajun music]].
== Discography ==
=== Albums ===
* ''Direct-To-Disc - Volume 1'' - Analogue Productions Originals - AAPO 029 (2012) - UPC:753088602917
* ''Direct-To-Disc - Volume 2'' - Analogue Productions Originals - AAPO 030 (2012) - UPC:753088603013
* Featured on ''Over The Garden Wall (Original Television Soundtrack)'' - Cartoon Network (2014)<ref>{{cite AV media  |url=https://m.imdb.com/name/nm5277706/ |people=Jerron Paxton, voice actor |title=Over the Garden Wall |quote=The Highway Man |date=2014 |access-date=December 2, 2024 |work=IMDb}}</ref>
* ''Recorded Music For Your Entertainment'' (2015)
* ''Things Done Changed'' - Smithsonian Folkways (2024)
=== EPs ===
* ''Jalopy Records 7" Series: Jerron Paxton'' (2018)
=== Singles ===
* 2012: "Dirtiest Little Darling"/"Railroad Bill"
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.npr.org/2024/12/02/1216727945/folk-musician-jerron-paxton Folk Musician Jerron Paxton Transports Us To the '20s] on [[Fresh Air]], December 2, 2024
* {{Instagram|id=blind_boy_paxton}}
* {{IMDb name|id=nm5277706}}
* [https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UjmSUS82bBSEjsybZkVc2 Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton] on [[Spotify]]
* [http://www.thecountryblues.com/artist-reviews/jerron-blind-boy-paxton/ The Country Blues: Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton]
* [http://www.downhomeradioshow.com/2008/10/interview-with-blind-boy-paxton/ Down Home Radio Show: Interview with Blind Boy Paxton]
* [http://www.downhomeradioshow.com/2010/04/blind-boy-paxton-on-down-home-tv/ Down Home Radio Show: Blind Boy Paxton on Down Home TV]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, Jerron Blind Boy}}
[[Category:1989 births]]
[[Category:21st-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:21st-century American pianists]]
[[Category:African-American Jews]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:American blues guitarists]]
[[Category:American blues harmonica players]]
[[Category:American blues pianists]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:American male pianists]]
[[Category:Blind musicians]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Singers from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:African-American pianists]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male singers]]
[[Category:American banjoists]]
[[Category:African-American banjoists]]
[[Category:American blind people]]
[[Category:American musicians with disabilities]]