Blind Leroy Garnett


Leroy Roscoe Garnett, known professionally as Blind Leroy Garnett was an American boogie-woogie and ragtime pianist and songwriter. His two solo recorded compositions were "Louisiana Glide" and "Chain 'Em Down", although scant details of his life and career are known.

Life and career

Garnett was born in Indianapolis, United States, to parents Charles and Mattie Garnett, who both hailed from Kentucky. By 1910, all of the family had relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where he remained until at least 1930. In 1918, Garnett was described as a "piano player, not employed", short, stout and "totally blind". His playing style incorporated both boogie-woogie and ragtime, often termed 'barrelhouse'. Certainly "Louisiana Glide" was described as a "good example of the barrelhouse style wherein melodic treble work is combined with a thunderous, driving boogie-type bass".
He recorded a total of eight tracks for Paramount Records in 1929 and 1930. These included two piano solos; "Louisiana Glide" and "Chain 'Em Down", and on the rest he provided piano backing to James "Boodle It" Wiggins and Marie Griffin. It is known that two of his Paramount Records sides were recorded with Wiggins in Richmond, Virginia, in October 1929.
Garnett and Wiggins, the latter both a vocalist and pianist of some note, worked jointly around East Chicago, and about which Wiggins sang on the song "Shave 'Em Dry". "Shave 'Em Dry" gained more notoriety when performed by Lucille Bogan in 1935.
Garnett died of an intracerebral hemorrhage in Cook County Hospital, Chicago, in January 1933, aged 35. He was interred in Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.