Longtime manager Michael Frank says Edwards died of
congestive heart failure Monday morning in his Chicago apartment. He was 96.
Born in 1915 in Shaw, Mississippi, Edwards left home at age
14 to travel with bluesman Big Joe Williams. His father, a guitarist and
violinist, bought his son a guitar from a plantation worker.
Edwards played with a number of noted musicians, including
Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and Muddy Waters. Among Edwards’ hit songs
were “Long Tall Woman Blues,” ‘‘Gamblin Man” and “Just Like Jesse James.”
Edwards won a 2008 Grammy for traditional blues album and
received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2010.
A funeral is planned for Thursday.