(Robert Timothy Wilkins)
(9CD)
BIOGRAPHY
Wilkins was born in Hernando, Mississippi, 21 miles from Memphis,
Tennessee. He performed in Memphis and north Mississippi during the 1920s
and early 1930s, the same time as Furry Lewis, Memphis Minnie (whom he
claimed to have tutored), and Son House. He also organized a jug band to
capitalize on the "jug band craze" then in vogue. Though never attaining
success comparable to that of the Memphis Jug Band, Wilkins reinforced his
local popularity with a 1927 appearance on a Memphis radio station. From
1928 to 1936 he recorded for Victor and Brunswick Records, alone or with a
single accompanist, like Sleepy John Estes, and unlike Gus Cannon of
Cannon's Jug Stompers. He sometimes performed as Tom Wilkins or as Tim
Oliver (his stepfather's name).
In 1936, at the age of 40, he quit playing the blues and joined the
church after witnessing a murder where he performed.[5] In 1950, he was
ordained. In 1964 Wilkins was "rediscovered" by blues revival enthusiasts
Dick and Louisa Spottswood, making appearances at folk festivals and
recording his gospel blues for a new audience. These include the 1964
Newport Folk Festival; his performance of "Prodigal Son" there was
included on the Vanguard Records album Blues at Newport, Volume 2. In 1964
he also recorded his first full album, Rev. Robert Wilkins: Memphis Gospel
Singer, for Piedmont Records. Another full session, recorded live at the
1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival, was released in 1993 as "...Remember
Me".
Wilkins died on May 26, 1987, in Memphis at the age of 91. His son,
Reverend John Wilkins (1943-2020), continued his father's gospel blues
legacy.
His best-known songs are "That's No Way to Get Along" and his reworked
gospel version, "The Prodigal Son" (covered under the title “Prodigal Son”
by the Rolling Stones on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet), "Rolling
Stone", and "Old Jim Canan's".
There were some crediting issues surrounding the Rolling Stones’ cover of
“The Prodigal Son”. Early pressings of Beggars Banquet credited Mick
Jagger and Keith Richards as composers, rather than Wilkins. The original
Beggars Banquet toilet cover credited Wilkins. When the record company
rejected the toilet cover, the revised invitation-inspired cover
mistakenly credited Jagger-Richards as composer. Once the error was
pointed out to London Records and the Stones business office, publishing,
royalties and other attendant financial details were fixed, and Wilkins
was properly credited. Recent CD reissues use the toilet cover with the
correct crediting. Despite the confusion, Wilkins was pleased to have his
song covered: “He seemed quite happy that people will be hearing his
song“.
