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E-Mail your digital photos to along with any information you would like to share about your visit to the FRP.
If you have only photographic prints, please let us know. We can scan them and will return all photos if requested.
We intend to use only "original photography" on the site. Please do not send us any photos from other sites, unless you are the photographer and can substantiate that you can grant deadbluesguys the rights to publish them.
Sending us photos acknowledges that deadbluesguys has the rights and permission to publish the photos on the Dead Blues Guys website and may use the images in Dead Blues Guys promotional materials without any compensation other than photo credit. Photographs will not be used on DBG merchandise unless specifically aranged with the photographer, and DBG respects all trademarks and copyrights. Guestbook entries or comments on the site may be used in DBG merchandising, without compensation. All revenue from merchandising efforts are applied to the cost of running and maintaing the site.Some of the photos here were not taken with the web in mind and we would like to add better images whenever they are available.
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Look here for more tips in the future. If you have tips to share please send them to .
The best natural light is available early in the morning and late in the day when the sun is low in the sky. The important thing is to get some lateral shadows to set off the inscription from the natural surface or pattern in the stone, especially for stones set flat on the ground.
Try to avoid using a flash head-on to the stone. It may fill in every shadow and render the inscription nearly invisible. If you need a flash and yours is detachable, holding it off to the side at an angle will help. You may need a long flash-sync cord to do this.
For some very difficult markers, artificial lighting may be the only choice. We'll post some suggestions on this in the future.
Here is some information on headstone photography from Geneology.com. They suggest midday sun (!). Good information regarding photography and not damaging a stone.
If you don't know if there are any dead blues guys in your area and would like to photograph a FRP, send e-mail to The Artistic Director, Jim Walton. He can give you some suggestions. Also, check out the Missing Persons page.
Send it here > Artistic Director -
We give the general location of any FRP that is open to the public. We will get you close, but part of the fun is finding these places.
In cases where the FRP is located on private property, we do not. No point in getting folks upset and who needs those kind of blues...
Dead Blues Guys are men or women who have lived, written or performed blues music of any sort. Also they can be folks who aren't clearly identified with the blues, but are close enough.
Dead Blues "Guys?" Well, how do you think Dead Blues Persons sounds. Dead Blues People? Deceased Blues Folks? Dead Blues Individuals?
When we set up the site in 2000, the name came from writings and discussions that had the phrase in them, such as "He only plays songs by dead blues guys," "I love to listen to dead blues guys" or "My influences are all dead blues guys." We tried to come up with a different term, and couldn't find one that worked for us. Besides, the Oxford Dictionary says "guys" can be persons of either sex. If it's OK with them, it's OK with us.
Dead Blues Guys are those folks that Jim says are. Not that he's thinking he is some sort of superior sort or anything. It's just that we wanted to keep it simple and figured it would be if he made the decisions. If you want to know if your FRP is of a dead blues guy, just ask Jim. (We do occasionally challenge Jim on some things, but that's just between us.) It would be a good idea to check before you send us stuff, just in case the FRP you want to send in is really a Dead Math Guy, or something. Dead Math Guys could very well have had the blues, but they belong on another site.
Yes, there are other web sites dedicated to the departed, including some of the folks here. This site will try to find lots of FRP's that you just can't find anywhere else. If you know of a local dead blues guy who probably didn't make national headlines in his or her day, they have a place here.
Pretty soon. We'll do our best to post stuff as soon as we get it.
We check the dates (DOB & DOD) against a number of sources.
The marker itself.
Sheldon Harris' "Blues Who's Who"
Leonard Feather's "The Encyclopedia of Jazz"
Articles on the web. Yes, it's risky because we could all be copying each other.
Jim's phenomenal memory. (He was around before most of these cats were born, you know.)
We don't usually go after death certificates, although in some cases we have. We would love to have that info, but the cost in time, travel & money is more than we can take on. It's very rewarding to follow the paper trail and discover things that most people don't know. If any of you want to make that trip for a DBG we would certainly appreciate hearing anything you discover. The accuracy of documents from the period is questionable in some cases. Many just did not know when they were born. Some made up a date for whatever reason when the man came asking. When possible, we will point out known contradictions. If you have information that would help, please let us know.
Remember - If you get a look at a Death Certificate or other official document, ALWAYS look at the back!