“Honey Boy” Edwards, Delta Bluesman, dies in Chicago.

Grammy-winning Blues musician David "Honey Boy" Edwards, probably the last of the first-generation Delta bluesmen and the source of much of the scant information on Robert Johnson, died on Monday, August 29, 2011, at his home in Chicago. He was 96. Edwards had a weak heart and his health had seriously declined since May of this year, when the guitarist had to cancel concerts scheduled through November, according to his manager, Michael Frank of Earwig Music Company.

Born in 1915 in Shaw, Miss., Edwards learned the guitar growing up and started playing professionally at age 17 in Memphis. He came to Chicago in the 1940s and played on Maxwell Street, small clubs and street corners. By the 1950s Edwards had played with almost every bluesman of note – including Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Charley Patton and Muddy Waters. Among Edwards' hit songs were "Long Tall Woman Blues," "Gamblin Man" and "Just Like Jesse James."

Edwards played his last shows in April at the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, according to Mr. Frank. Edwards won a 2008 Grammy for traditional blues album and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2010. He was also featured in the 1992 documentary “The Search For Robert Johnson,” narrated by John Hammond. His death represents the loss of the last direct link to the first generation of Mississippi blues musicians.

Edwards earned his nickname "Honey Boy" from his sister, who told his mother to "look at honey boy" when Edwards stumbled as he learned to walk as a toddler. He is survived by his daughter Betty Washington and stepdaughter Dolly McGinister.

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