Luke Jordan, Blues Pioneer

Singer-guitarist Luke Jordan (1892-1952) was a familiar presence on the streets of Lynchburg from the 1920s until World War II. Jordan and other African American musicians in the Southeast merged blues with an existing repertoire of ballads, ragtime, and tent-show songs, creating a syncopated and upbeat style now called Piedmont or East Coast Blues. The Victor Record Company, seeking blues artists to satisfy popular demand, recorded Jordan in 1927 and 1929, issuing classics such as "Church Bell Blues" and "Pick Poor Robin Clean." The Great Depression hurt sales and ended Jordan's career, but he remained an important and widely imitated Virginia blues musician.