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Blues Historian Mack McCormick Dead At 85

11/26/2015
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(The Blues) Mack McCormick, lifelong student of Texas blues who preserved hundreds of artists' work and history, has died at the age of 85. He passed away at home in Houston after a battle against cancer of the esophagus.

McCormick was responsible for discovering and protecting material by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly and many others, and he's credited with giving Lightnin' Hopkins' career a new lease of life.

He started out as an archivist of popular culture in Ohio, before being hired in 1946 to research the last two volumes of a jazz compilation. That led to a fascination with the blues, and the building of an archive collected from nearly 1000 counties.

During his career he researched a biography of Robert Johnson, and worked on an encyclopedia of Texas blues, neither of which were completed. He also wrote a number of album liner notes and lent his experience to the Smithsonian Institute. Read more here.

The Blues Magazine is an official news provider for antiMusic.com.
Copyright The Blues Magazine - Excerpted here with permission.

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