Joe Callicott, better known as Mississippi Joe Callicott
(October 10, 1900 – 1969), was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Callicott was born in Nesbit, Mississippi. His "Love Me Baby Blues" has
been covered by various artists, e.g. (under the title of "France
Chance") by Ry Cooder. Arhoolie Records
recorded Callicott commercially in the mid-1960's. Some of his 1967
recordings (recorded by the music historian, George Mitchell) were
re-released in 2003, on the Fat Possum record label. His best known
recordings are "Great Long Ways From Home" and "Hoist Your Window and
Let Your Curtain Down."
He served as a mentor to the guitarist Kenny Brown when Brown was ten
years old.
Joe Callicott is buried in the Mount Olive Baptist Church Cemetery in
Nesbit, Mississippi. On 29 April 1995 a memorial headstone was placed on
his grave arranged by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund with the help of Kenny
Brown and financed by Chris Strachwitz, Arhoolie Records and John
Fogerty. Callicott's original marker was a simple paving stone which
read simply "Joe". This was subsequently donated by his family to the
Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the ceremony Arhoolie
Records presented Callicott's wife Doll with a check for his past
royalties.