Snooks Eaglin’s remarkably deep repertoire and tape-recorder-like ability to play back just about anything he hears has earned him the nickname the "Human Jukebox." Eaglin's widely eclectic approach has often confounded those who tried to pigeonhole him. As Sam Charters noted: "He isn't all the things other people tried to make him into, what he is is a brilliant rhythm and blues interpreter an ebullient and irrepressible performer of other people's songs." He described Snooks' approach this way: "The songs that Snooks does are pieces he learned from around him in New Orleans pieces that he heard over the radio, things that he liked when he heard other people do them on record - then he worked them over into his own style and arrangement. Sometimes the way he sings a piece still has a little of the original version in it, but his guitar playing is something else - it's loose, swinging, completely exhilarating style that lift's the music up to a new level of excitement." Snooks is a beloved figured around New Orleans and still plays regularly in the city although recording opportunities have been scarce in recent years.

 Snooks was born Fird Eaglin Jr. (seen on credits and liner notes as "Ferd" or even "Ford") January 21, 1936, in New Orleans. At 19 months he lost his sight following an operation for glaucoma and a brain tumor that required a two-and-a-half year stay in the hospital. Eaglin’s father, a harmonica player, gave him a guitar at the age of five, and young Snooks taught himself to play by replicating songs off the radio and phonograph. His guitar playing developed rapidly and he was singing and playing in area Baptist churches by the time he was ten. At the age of 11, Snooks won first place and $200 in a local WNOE radio talent contest with his guitar rendition of "Twelfth Street Rag," and that encouraged him to practice even harder. Three years later he dropped out of the school for the blind to become a full-time musician. Snooks first professional gig was as lead guitarist in 16 year old Allen Toussaint's band the Flamingos. Even while playing with the Flamingoes, Snooks was making a name for himself and picking up side gigs. By 1953 he was recording with Sugar Boy Crawford in his backing band, the Cane Cutters, and played on Crawford’s biggest record, the Mardi Gras classic, "Jock-a-Mo." The Flamingoes were managed in part by Snooks’ father. After he died and Toussaint left the band, the Flamingoes disbanded. Snooks had a small R&B combo of his own and worked a variety of musical jobs as a sideman in the ’50s, sometimes billing himself as "Little Ray Charles."

 Snooks got his first opportunity to record under his own name in 1958 when he was recorded by folklorists Dr. Harry Oster and Richard Allen under the direction of Dave Bartholomew. Oster recorded more than three albums worth of mostly country blues material by Snooks in 1958 and 1960–’61. The Oster recordings, released on the Folkways, Folklyric and Prestige labels, drew some attention to this new discovery.

 New Orleans bandleader/songwriter/trumpeter Dave Bartholomew, who had produced a string of hits at the locally-based Imperial label for more than a decade, signed Snooks to the label in 1960 and produced seven sessions with him through 1963. The sessions resulted in nine singles that brought Snooks regional acclaim but never vaulted him onto the national R&B scene in a big way. The Imperial era did put some distance between Snooks and his reputation as a country blues singer, which he reportedly disdained. Sidemen on those sessions included New Orleans piano ace James Booker and a host of other Crescent City regulars who had worked with Bartholomew at Imperial.

 Eaglin continued to work the New Orleans club circuit sporadically throughout the ’60s, including a three-year stand at the Playboy Club. In 1971 a historic event took place at the fledgling New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest. After a long search with Allison (Miner) Kaslow, festival producer Quint Davis located lost legend Henry Roeland Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair, or Fess, living in obscurity in New Orleans. Davis teamed him up with Snooks for a performance that stunned the Jazz Fest crowd and propelled Byrd’s star as a "rediscovered" piano patriarch of New Orleans. Shortly thereafter, Eaglin recorded an album for the Swedish Sonet label in June 1971, "The Legacy of the Blues, Part 2", that was produced by Davis. Quint Davis launched another landmark project that involved Eaglin in 1973 when he approached New Orleans keyboardist Wilson Turbinton, a k a Willie Tee, about assembling a band to back a recording by the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indian group. Turbinton recruited his brother Earl on sax and clarinet, Eaglin on guitar, Julius Farmer on bass, Larry Panna on drums and Alfred "Uganda" Roberts on congas and called it the New Orleans Project. Out of the session came "The Wild Magnolias", originally released on Polydor in 1974 and re-released in 1993. "It was the rhythm of seduction," producer Philippe Rault recalls in the liner notes, "with plenty of Mad Dog 20/20 to go around."

 Eaglin continued to play at the annual JazzFest and around the clubs of New Orleans sporadically throughout the ’70s. But his recording career remained inactive and public profile low until the mid-’80s, when Black Top Records’ Hammond Scott finally convinced Snooks to return to the studio. 1987's "Baby, You Can Get Your Gun was the first in a string of six terrific Black Top outings including fine follow-ups like "Out Of Nowhere" and "Soul's Edge." After Black Top went under in the late 1990's Snooks has recorded only sporadically, cutting the live "Soul Train from Nawlins: Live at the Park Tower Blues Festival" for the Japanese P-Vine label and 2002's terrific "The Way It Is" produced by Hammond Scott on the Money Pit label (also issued on P-Vine). Eaglin remains a local favorite and still plays the annual JazzFest and around the clubs of New Orleans.

Essential Listening

Country Boy Down In New Orleans (Arhoolie): Collects 23 tracks pre-electric sides cut by Eaglin in the '50s when he was a street musician. On these tracks, he is accompanied by a couple of washboard players and a harpist. An entertaining set of blues, folk, and gospel songs.

New Orleans Street Singer (Smithsonian Folkways): Released in 1959 when folklorist Harry Oster heard him playing solo on the streets of the French Quarter. Captures Eaglin's genius on 25 tracks of prime blues like "Saint James Infirmary", "One Room Country Shack" and "Rock Island Line."

The Complete Imperial Recordings (Capitol): Collection of his early-60's recordings for the Imperial label and produced by Dave Bartholomew (who also wrote over half of the material). Firmly in the classic-'50s/early-'60s New Orleans R&B mold. Highlights include "Yours Truly", "That Certain Door", "I'm Slippin'" and "Down Yonder (We Go Ballin')."

The Crescent City Collection (Fuel 2000): Eaglin embarked on one of his most inspired periods during his stint with Black Top Records (1987-1997). This sixteen track collection is culled from that period featuring fiery workouts all with that distinctive New Orleans vibe. Highlights include "Red Beans", "Teasin' You", "I'm Slippin' In" and "Mailman Blues."

The Way It Is (Money Pit): Released in 2002 on the tiny Money Pit label this one finds Eaglin in terrific form. produced by his old Black Top boss, Scott Hammond. Backed by the funky Jon Cleary and his Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Eaglin rips through great tunes like "Boogie Rambler", "Lock Doctor" and "The Chokin' Kind."

-Bremer, Karl. Snooks Eaglin: On The Trail Of The Most Elusive Guitar Player In New Orleans, Blues Access no. 38 (1999), 12-19.

-Charters, Sam, Liner notes to Snooks Eaglin Today:Down Yonder, Sonet SNTF 752, (1978).

-Gillett, Charlie, Getting To Know Snooks Eaglin, Back Woods Blues. Bexhill-on-Sea: Blues Unlimited (1968).