When Rev. Robert Wilkins Played the Blues

The Inside Story of His Greatest Pre-War Sessions

As he walked through the rear entrance of Memphis’ Peabody Hotel in late September 1929 for his first Brunswick Records session, Robert Wilkins already had two 78s on the market. A year earlier, he’d recorded “Jail House Blues”/“I Do Blues,” the two-sided “Rolling Stone,” and the unreleased “I Told My Rider” at Memphis’s Ellis Auditorium, with Ralph Pee…