Sam Collins

Sam Collins (August 11, 1887 - October 20, 1949) who was sometimes known as Crying Sam Collins and also,

according to one authoritative website, as Jim Foster, Jelly Roll Hunter, Big Boy Woods, Bunny Carter, and

Salty Dog Sam, was an early American blues singer and guitarist.

He was born in Louisiana, and grew up just across the state border in McComb, Mississippi. By 1924 he was

performing in local barrelhouses, often with King Solomon Hill with whom he shared the use of falsetto singing

and slide guitar. He was first recorded by Gennett Records, on "Yellow Dog Blues", in 1927, and recorded

again in 1931, some of his later recordings appearing under different pseudonyms. His rural bottleneck guitar

pieces were among the first to be compiled on LP. His best known recording was "The Jail House Blues".

He relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1930s, and died there from the effects of heart disease in October

1949, at the age of 62.