Snooks Eaglin 
AKA  born: Ford Eaglin, Jr. 
Born  Jan 21, 1936 in New Orleans, LA 
Genres  Blues 
Styles  New Orleans Blues 
Instruments  Vocals, Leader, Guitar 
  
When they refer to consistently amazing guitarist Snooks Eaglin as a human 
jukebox in his New Orleans hometown, they're not dissing him in the slightest. 
The blind Eaglin is a beloved figure in the Crescent City, not only for his 
gritty, Ray Charles-inspired vocal delivery and wholly imaginative approach 
to the guitar, but for the seemingly infinite storehouse of oldies that he's 
liable to pull out on stage at any second (often confounding his bemused band 
in the process!).
Born Ford Eaglin, Jr. and blind since very early childhood due to glaucoma and 
a brain tumor, the lad (named after radio character Baby Snooks, who shared 
his mischievious ways) picked up the guitar at age six and commenced to 
mastering every style imaginable. Gospel, blues, jazz - young Snooks Eaglin 
could play it all. He spent time with a Crescent City band, the Flamingoes, 
whose members also included pianist Allen Toussaint, played around town as 
Little Ray Charles, and recorded for Chess as accompanist to Sugar Boy 
Crawford before going it alone on the streets of the French Quarter.

His earliest recordings in 1958 for Folkways presented Eaglin as a solo 
acoustic folk-blues artist with an extremely eclectic repertoire. His dazzling 
finger-picking was nothing short of astonishing, but Eaglin really wanted to 
be making R&B with a band. Imperial Records producer Dave Bartholomew granted 
him the opportunity in 1960, and the results were sensational. Eaglin's fluid, 
twisting lead guitar on the utterly infectious "Yours Truly" (a Bartholomew 
composition first waxed by Pee Wee Crayton) and its sequel "Cover Girl" was 
unique on the New Orleans R&B front, while his brokenhearted cries on "Don't 
Slam That Door" and "That Certain Door" were positively mesmerizing. Eaglin 
stuck with Imperial through 1963, when the firm closed up shop in New Orleans, 
without ever gaining national exposure.

There followed a dry period for the guitarist, but he came back first as 
accompanist to Professor Longhair (who was in the midst of a rather remarkable 
comeback bid himself) and then on his own. Eaglin has reasserted his 
brilliance in recent years with a series of magnificent albums for hometown 
Black Top Records (notably Teasin' You and Soul's Edge).
 - Bill Dahl