Lafayette Thomas - Career

Career

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Thomas first heard blues guitar from his uncle Jesse Thomas, but Lafayette Thomas did not play professionally until 1947, in San Francisco, California.

"Lafayette" Thomas was the famous guitarist of Jimmy McCracklin's Blues Blasters, which he joined in 1948 and recorded with right through the 1950s. He was influenced by Lightnin' Hopkins and T-Bone Walker and joined Bob Geddins and the Cavaliers in 1949. The bulk of his recordings were with Jimmy McCracklin in the 1950s, and for Modern in 1952-53. He soloed on his own "Standing in the Back Door Crying", recorded at a 1954 McCracklin session with Modern Records.

In 1958 he moved to New York, working with Sam Price and playing on Bluesville album dates by Memphis Slim and Little Brother Montgomery, but soon went back west, though he let his music lapse.

Late in 1968, he recorded his first sides for the World Pacific record label on Oakland Blues, a compilation album of artists from that city. He remained semi active in the early 1970s working with Sugar Pie DeSanto.

Thomas died from a heart attack, in Brisbane, California, at the age of 48. In his 1977 obituary Tom Mazzolini, producer of the San Francisco Blues Festival wrote: "Unquestionably the finest guitarist to emerge from the San Francisco-Oakland blues scene, there is hardly a guitarist around here today who doesn't owe a little something to Lafayette Thomas . . ."