Guitar Gabriel
Robert Lewis Jones , known as both Guitar Gabriel and Nyles Jones, was an American blues musician. Gabriels unique style of guitar playing, which he referred to as Toot Blues, combined Piedmont, Chicago, and Texas blues, as well as gospel, and was influenced by artists such as Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis. After hearing of Guitar Gabriel from the late Greensboro, North Carolina blues guitarist and pianist, James Guitar Slim Stephens, musician and folklorist Tim Duffy located and befriended Gabriel, who was the inspiration for the creation of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Gabriel wore a trademark white sheepskin hat, which he acquired while traveling and performing with Medicine Shows during his late 20s.
Gabriel was born in Decatur, Georgia, moving to WinstonSalem, North Carolina at age five. His father, Sonny Jones recorded for Vocalion Records in 1939 in Memphis, accompanied by Sonny Terry and Oh Red . Sonny Jones also recorded a single for the Orchid label in Baltimore in 1950 . His family, who grew up sharecropping, shared a talent for music. His greatgrandmother, an exslave, called set dances and played the banjo his grandfather played banjo and his grandmother the pump organ his father and uncle were blues guitarists and singers and his sisters sang blues and gospel.
Source: Wikipedia