Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893[1] or 1899[2] – September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee.

In his travels as a musician, he was exposed to a wide variety of performers, including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Alger "Texas" Alexander.

In 1916,[a] Lewis lost a leg in an accident when trying to jump a freight train in the area around Du Quoin, Illinois, despite having enough cash to pay for a rail ticket.

[3] He spent a month in hospital at Carbondale, Illinois recovering, although it took him a year to adjust to his artificial leg and in the meantime he gave up his traveling lifestyle and returned to Memphis, where he performed on street corners.

One track was included in Sam and Ann Charters' movie The Blues, finished in 1962, and finding wide release, after being lost for many years, in a 2020 package titled Searching for Secret Heroes by Document Records, thanks to producer Gary Atkinson.

[citation needed] He opened twice for the Rolling Stones, performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, had a part in a Burt Reynolds movie (W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, 1975), and was profiled in Playboy magazine.

[1][5] Joni Mitchell's song "Furry Sings the Blues" (on her album Hejira) is about her visit to Lewis's apartment and a mostly ruined Beale Street on February 5, 1976.