SNOOKY PRYOR
Mississippi born James Pryor learned to play Blues harp from listening to records, despite the objections of his devout father. During Military service, Snooky played bugle, and after blowing his ‘calls’ through the PA at his camp, he would blow his harp too, making him an early exponent of ‘electric harp’. Snooky was discharged from the Army after WWII near Chicago, and he went into town and started blowing his harp around the Southside clubs with Homesick James and Floyd Jones. His hard, penetrating tone could cut through the bar-room clamour like a knife, so it is no surprise that he was picked up by Planet Records where his ‘Telephone Blues’ was a hit in 1948. Snooky played, recorded and did session work around Chicago for many years, but spent the 60s as a carpenter in downstate Illinois.
