[1] He was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face in Louisiana in the mid-late 1920s, which resulted in the physical loss of his eyes.
[1][2][4] Despite this handicap, Blind Joe became known for his distinctive bottleneck style as well as his reported accuracy with a pistol, with which it is said he could judge the position of a target by sound alone.
[1] Throughout his career, Reynolds travelled the country performing under various aliases as a way of evading the police,[4][5] as he had served at least two jail sentences in his early life,[2] as well as "escaping [his] enemies".
[1] After years of travelling and performing on street corners, Reynolds was eventually discovered in 1929 by musical talent scout H. C. Speir and is known to have entered the studio at least twice, recording four songs on each occasion.
[1][2][3][5] The group became aware of the song after guitarist Eric Clapton heard it featured on the compilation album Country Blues Encores (1965, Origin Jazz Library OJL-8).