I'm sad and grateful with tears for Marion Washington, better known by his nickname "Little Joe." I am grieving more deeply than I would have guessed for what was obviously inevitable, given his 75 years and his frail and failing health in recent months.
If you want to understand where this talented musician was coming from -- sonically and otherwise -- listen to some early Johnny "Guitar" Watson, another late Third Ward phenom. Check out that guitar tone, the raspy vocals.
Our Little Joe was original and unique; yes, he was, but he -- just like his mentor Joe "Guitar" Hughes -- was profoundly influenced by Watson. Little Joe was the last link in that lineage, the final articulation of a combination of sounds we will not hear again live on local (or other) stages.
One key part of Little Joe's appeal might be ascribed simply to his longevity, for he outlived Watson by 18 years, Hughes by 11.
But Little Joe, as his nickname implied, also had a disarmingly boyish quality at times, at least as sometimes revealed among his friends. Some of us glimpsed a surprising capacity for sincerity, an almost childlike manner that could bring out the best in us.
REWIND: Little Joe Washington: The Stories Never End Houston Remembers Little Joe Washington
Despite the sense that he was always on the make, looking for a handout and often disappearing down the street as soon as he got the cash he was seeking, Joe was not a con artist or a bum. The radical freedom with which he lived made him closely acquainted with hardship, more than any of us perhaps understand.
But helping Joe survive, being willing contributors to his welfare, brought out the best in a whole lot of good folks--from venue owners to fellow musicians to his longtime friends, casual acquaintances, and generous strangers.
I personally thank all of you who responded--once or on a regular basis--to the impulse to help Little Joe, to slip him some cash or buy him a meal or give him a ride or to perform whatever the service might have been. Little Joe, in his abject neediness or his charming friendliness, came to embody the opportunity for each of us to be a cheerful giver. Charity extended to Little Joe made us better humans.
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