That area's economy was heavily agricultural, relying on African American labor to produce a profitable cotton crop.

After Walter Weaver migrated to Louisville, Kentucky, Port Gibson would play a role in the preservation and dissemination of a blues tradition indigenous to the Mississippi Delta.

A cover version recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1930s as "Steel Guitar Rag", became a country music standard.

[4][7] Louisville city directories published between 1916 and 1930 indicate that Weaver, like his parents, lived most of his life in the Smoketown neighborhood and that he supported his music career with employment in various blue-collar jobs.

[9] In the same year his hitherto unmarked grave received a headstone by engagement of the Kentuckiana Blues Society, based in Louisville.