Eddie Taylor, a Benoit native born on January 29, 1923, became one of the most influential guitarists in Chicago blues history and an architect of the post-World War II Chicago blues genre. Renowned as both a bandleader and accompanist, he was especially important in shaping the distinctive sound of his childhood friend Jimmy Reed after the two reunited in Chicago. Influenced as a child by Delta bluesmen including Charley Patton, Son House, Big Joe Williams, and Robert Johnson, Taylor learned guitar from a musician called “Popcorn,” performed in local jukes around Leland and Clarksdale, and taught guitar to Reed in nearby Meltonia. In the 1940s he moved to Memphis and then Chicago, where he helped pioneer the city’s electric blues style. During the 1950s and 1960s, he and Reed collaborated on dozens of sessions that produced many of Reed’s hits for Vee-Jay Records, including “You Don’t Have to Go,” “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” “Honest I Do,” and “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby.” Taylor also recorded solo singles such as “Bad Boy” and “Bigtown Playboy” for Vee-Jay and later made albums for other companies. Much sought after for studio sessions and nightclub dates, he recorded and performed with John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and his Broomdusters, Carey Bell, Sunnyland Slim, Homesick James, Big Walter Horton, Johnny Littlejohn, Snooky Pryor, Floyd Jones, and the Aces, among many others. He began touring internationally in the late 1960s and remained active until his death on December 25, 1985. Though less widely known to the public than many fellow blues musicians, he was so highly regarded by critics, historians, and musicians that he was elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1987. His wife, blues vocalist Vera Taylor, was a native of Dublin, Mississippi, and the niece of bluesmen Eddie, Jimmy, and Willie Burns; she often appeared on stage with him, and their children Eddie, Jr., Larry, Milton, Tim, Demetria, Brenda, and Edna all became singers or musicians, with Vera, Eddie, Jr., and Larry Taylor also recording CDs of their own. Benoit was also the birthplace or home of other notable performers including James DeShay, James “Peck” Curtis, Nathaniel Kimble, and Jessie Clay, and local music was featured in the 1956 film Baby Doll, filmed at the Burrus house and other nearby sites.