Rufus Payne
Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main other
Rufus "Tee Tot" Payne (February 4, 1883 – March 17, 1939) was an early-20th-century African-American blues musician from Greenville, Alabama, who was more widely known by his nickname Tee Tot.
Payne's nickname of "Tee Tot" is an ironic pun for "teetotaler". It is said that Payne received his nickname because he usually carried a homemade mixture of alcohol and tea wherever he went.[1]
Early life
According to Alabama historian Alice Harp, Payne was born in 1883 on the Payne Plantation in Sandy Ridge, Lowndes County, Alabama.[2]
Career and influence
Template:More citations needed Some say Tee Tot played the blues aloneScript error: No such module "Unsubst".; others state that he led a little combo that played pop songs and hokum numbers and was a street musician.
Tee Tot is best known for being a mentor to Hank Williams. Rufus Payne met Hank Williams when Hank was eight years old, and legend has it that he would come around and play Hank's guitar, showing Hank how to improvise chords. His influence in exposing Williams to blues and other African American influences helped Williams successfully fuse hillbilly, folk and blues into his own unique style, which in turn expanded and exposed both white and black audiences to the differing sounds.
Death
Payne died at a charity hospital in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1939, at the age of 56.[3] He is buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Montgomery; as the exact location of his gravesite is unknown, a memorial to him stands near the entrance to the cemetery, paid for by Hank Williams Jr. and other members of the Grand Ole Opry.[4]
Tributes
Hank Williams, Jr. paid tribute to Tee Tot's influence on his father through "The Tee Tot Song" on his Almeria Club album.[5][6]
He was portrayed by actor Rex Ingram in the 1964 Hank Williams biopic Your Cheatin' Heart.[7]
References
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The9513.com Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1883 births
- 1939 deaths
- American blues singers
- American blues guitarists
- American male guitarists
- African-American guitarists
- American street performers
- Musicians from Montgomery, Alabama
- Blues musicians from Alabama
- Guitarists from Alabama
- People from Greenville, Alabama
- 20th-century American guitarists
- 20th-century African-American male singers
- 20th-century American male singers
- 20th-century American singers