Notable Users
One notable performer of the instrument was the Mississippi blues musician Lonnie Pitchford, who used to demonstrate the instrument by stretching a wire between two nails hammered into the wood of a vertical beam making up part of the front porch of his home. Pitchford's headstone, placed on his grave in 2000 by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, is actually designed with a playable diddley bow on the side as requested by Pitchford's family. Also some famous guitarists in the Motown band "The Funk Brothers" learned to play on the diddley bow and went on to play on some of Motown's greatest hits.
Other notable traditional players include Lewis Dotson, Glen Faulkner, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Compton Jones, Eddie "One String" Jones, Napoleon Strickland, Moses Williams, James "Super Chikan" Johnson and "One String Sam" Wilson. Willie Joe Duncan was also notable for his work with a very large electrified diddley bow he called a Unitar.
Recent performers who use similar instruments include New York City-based jazz pianist Cooper-Moore, American bluesman Seasick Steve, Samm Bennett, Danny Kroha, One String Willie, and blind musician Velcro Lewis. Jack White makes one at the beginning of the movie It Might Get Loud, then after playing it quips "Who says you need to buy a guitar?". Seasick Steve recorded a tribute song to his diddley bow on his song "Diddley Bo" from his 2009 album, Man From Another Time.
Read more about this topic: Diddley Bow
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