{{short description|American Piedmont blues guitarist}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Archie Edwards | birth_date = {{birth_date|1918|9|4|mf=y}}<br/>Union Hall, Virginia, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1998|6|18|1918|9|4|mf=y}}<br/>Seat Pleasant, Maryland, United States | instrument = Guitar, vocals | genre = Piedmont blues<ref name="AMG"/> | occupation = Guitarist, singer, songwriter | years_active = 1950s&ndash;1998 }}

'''Archie L. Edwards''' (September 4, 1918 &ndash; June 18, 1998)<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1998.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1998–1999 |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |date= |access-date=2015-10-02}}</ref> was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, who in a sporadic career spanning several decades worked with Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, and John Jackson.<ref name="AMG"/> His best-known recordings are "Saturday Night Hop", "The Road Is Rough and Rocky", and "I Called My Baby Long Distance". In the late 1950s he owned a barbershop that attracted blues musicians who helped to start his musical career.<ref name="Dead"/>

Describing his musical style, Edwards said, "I play what they call the old Piedmont style, but I call it East Virginia blues 'cause that's where I learned it".<ref name="AEBHF"/>

==Biography== Edwards was born on a farm near Union Hall, Virginia. His early work left some time to engage with local musicians, but he had to share his first guitar with his two brothers. Inspired by recordings of Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Lemon Jefferson, he played locally and found employment in a sawmill. In 1937, he relocated to New Jersey, where he worked as a chauffeur, He later worked in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p33882/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Archie Edwards |author=Seida, Linda |publisher=Allmusic |access-date=September 15, 2011}}</ref><ref name="AEBHF"/> Edwards served in the military police during World War II. He struggled to settle in the postwar years and eventually found work as a barber. He opened his own barbershop in Washington, D.C., in 1959. It was frequented by Mississippi John Hurt, and the duo formed a loose working relationship with Skip James, which endured for several years before Hurt's death in 1966. After mourning his friend, Edwards wrote the song "The Road Is Rough and Rocky".<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="AEBHF">{{cite web |url=http://www.acousticblues.com/Archie/archie.html |title=Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation |author=Burton, Richard |date= |publisher=Acousticblues.com |access-date=September 15, 2011}}</ref>

Edwards found more regular work at music festivals and in local clubs. He also joined John Jackson, John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, Flora Molton and Mother Scott, who performed around Washington billed as the Travelling Blues Workshop.<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="AEBHF"/><ref name="Herzhaft">{{cite book | first= Gérard | last= Herzhaft | year= 1997 | title= Encyclopedia of the Blues | edition= 2nd | publisher= University of Arkansas Press | location= Fayetteville | isbn= 1-55728-452-0 | page= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz/page/34 34] | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz/page/34 }}</ref>

In 1982, Edwards joined the American Folk Blues Festival in a tour of Europe. L & R Records subsequently released ''Living Country Blues USA, Vol. 6: The Road Is Rough'' (1982). After returning from touring continental Europe, Edwards teamed up with Eleanor Ellis and Flora Molton. The threesome toured across the United States, Canada and Europe, including Charlie Musselwhite in the entourage in 1987.<ref name="AEBHF"/>

Edwards then recorded for Mapleshade Records, releasing ''Blues 'n Bones'' in 1989.<ref name="Albums"/>

Edwards died in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, in June 1998, at the age of 79.<ref name="Dead"/> The posthumous album ''The Toronto Sessions'' is based on work he recorded in Canada in 1986.

==Discography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 1981 || ''Living Country Blues USA, Vol. 6: The Road Is Rough'' || style="text-align:left;"|L & R Records |- | 1989 || ''Blues 'n Bones'' || style="text-align:left;"|Mapleshade |- | 2001 || ''The Toronto Sessions'' || style="text-align:left;"|NorthernBlues |}<ref name="Albums">{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/archie-edwards-mn0000601474/discography |title=Archie Edwards: Album Discography |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |access-date=2015-10-02}}</ref>

==See also== *List of Piedmont blues musicians

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.wirz.de/music/edwafrm.htm Illustrated discography at Wirz.de]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Archie}} Category:1918 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American blues guitarists Category:American male guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:Piedmont blues musicians Category:Singers from Virginia Category:Songwriters from Virginia Category:People from Franklin County, Virginia Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American guitarists Category:Guitarists from Virginia Category:20th-century American male singers Category:Northern Blues Music artists Category:Mapleshade Records artists Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American military police officers Category:American male songwriters Category:20th-century American songwriters