Sam Chatmon, circa 1899-1983, was a celebrated singer and guitarist who spent most of his life in Hollandale, where he sometimes performed with his brothers in the renowned family string band the Mississippi Sheiks and later began a new solo career after coming out of musical retirement in the 1960s. Hollandale’s blues history dates back at least to the 1920s, when the Mississippi Sheiks, Sam Chatmon, Bo Chatmon, also known as Bo Carter, Eugene Powell, Robert Nighthawk, and Houston Stackhouse played at local drug stores, cafes, businesses, jukehouse parties, and dances on nearby plantations. Most of the Mississippi Sheiks, known for their 1930 hit recording “Sitting on Top of the World,” were members of the Chatmon family, several of whom moved from Hinds County to the Hollandale area around 1928 and worked as cotton farmers as well as musicians. In later years Sam Chatmon moved into town and worked as a night watchman, while his brother Bo settled in Anguilla. After blues enthusiasts began seeking him out in the 1960s, Sam Chatmon traveled around the country to play concerts and festivals, most often in the San Diego area, and recorded several albums including Hollandale Blues and The Mississippi Sheik. Simmons Street, known as the Blue Front, was once one of the most vibrant centers of blues activity in the Delta, a place of cafes, music, liquor, gambling, and weekend gatherings where local musicians performed and where Sam Chatmon sang about Blue Front in “Hollandale Blues,” though he told friends he preferred quieter surroundings. In 2009 Hollandale purchased Chatmon’s house at 818 Sherman Street and moved it to Blue Front. Other Hollandale area residents connected to this musical tradition included Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, William Warren, Willie Harris, Mott Willis, J. D. Short, James Earl “Blue” Franklin, Joseph C. Moore, known as J. C. Rico, Mississippi Matilda, the Buckhanna Brothers string band, and Ruby Stackhouse, better known as Ruby Andrews.
