Remembering L. C. Ulmer, Blues@Home Legend

Blues at Home Legend

L. C. Ulmer passes at 87

August 28, 1928 - February 14, 2016

 

     Lee Chester "L. C." Ulmer was born in 1928 in Stringer, Mississippi, and later moved to a plantation near Moss Hill with his musical family. L. C. grew up surrounded by music from family and local musicians who played at picnics, fish fries, and on his front porch.  

      He began playing guitar when he was 9 years old and, by the time he was 14, he was building railway trestles and playing regularly at juke joints. He traveled a lot around the Southeast, playing guitar for gospel quartets and taking various blues jobs at local clubs. In 1955, he ended up in Arizona, where he recorded advertisement songs and played with famous musicians such as Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, and Fats Domino.
     After a brief stint in California, where he made his living playing on the streets, L. C. moved back to Laurel briefly before moving to Joliet, Illinois, where he lived for 37 years working construction, running an automotive shop and performing regularly as a one-man band. He performed on shows with well-known blues performers Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed.  

After returning to Mississippi in 2001, L. C. has performed festivals across the state. He has traveled to Cuba, Italy, and Egypt to perform, and in 2011, he recorded his first CD, Blues Come Yonder, on the Hill Country Records label.

"My daddy taught us all how to work. He said... 'Ain't nobody going to give you nothing.' He wasn't wrong about that. And I found that out later on when I got to traveling. Good thing I knowed how to play the guitar and sing... Well I was pretty good on that. I got to be the ace of traveling - traveling blues man. Look at me. I'm getting big now."

-- L. C. Ulmer

L.C. had the sweetest spirit...the only non-smoking, non-drinking, vegetarian, read the Bible 12 times bluesman that ever existed, I feel certain! My team and I spent the day with him at his home in Ellisville, Mississippi in 2010, recording his words and capturing his image for the Blues @ Home project. Truly a living blues legend of Mississippi!   I chose to paint my image of him with the washtub framing his head as a nod to the early Russian tender saints paintings with the halos floating majestically behind them.  He is at home with God now, picking up specks of lint and putting them in old tomato cans just to keep Heaven tidy! Thank you L.C. for all that you have given us! You will be remembered and dearly missed. My love goes out to his friends and family.

- H. C. Porter

Learn more about Blues@Home here! 

H.C. Porter Gallery, 1216 Washington St. Vicksburg, MS 39183

601 - 661 - 9444 . hcporter@hcporter.com . www.hcporter.com