Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver was born on 25/07/1897 in Louisville, Kentucky. Weaver lived for most of his life in the Smoketown neighbourhood, as did his parents.From 1916 to 1920, Weaver worked as a porter.
On 23/10/1923, Weaver played the guitar with blues singer Sara Martin for recordings in New York. They recorded the songs "Longing for Daddy Blues", "I've Got to Go" and "Leave My Daddy Behind". Two weeks later, he recorded as a soloist the songs "Guitar Blues" and "Guitar Rag". They were the first blues guitar instrumentals. All the recordings were released on Okeh Records. The recordings were the first country-blues recordings and the first known recorded songs with slide guitar. Weaver would continue to record whilst he worked in various other jobs.
In 1925, Weaver worked as a packer.
Around 1927, Weaver made his last recordings. He had mostly accompanied Sara Martin in his recording work. In 1927, he recorded some material accompanied by Walter Beasley and singer Helen Humes.
In 1928, Weaver worked as an apartment janitor.
In 1930 he worked as a chauffeur.
By 1949, Weaver had moved with his wife Dorothy to Cherokee Park, which was a more wealthy area.
On 04/04/1960, Weaver died in Louisville, Kentucky.
From 1989, the Kentuckiana Blues Society from Louisville issue an annual award to people who have done outstanding work in blues music the Sylvester Weaver Award.
In 1992, his grave was given a headstone by the Kentuckiana Blues Society. It was also the same year in which his recordings were re-released on CD.