b. James Arnold, 15 February 1901; Lovejoys Station,
GA
d. 8 November 1968; Chicago, IL
Kokomo Arnold was a left-handed bottleneck blues
guitarist from Georgia. He was taught by his cousin
John Wigges. Another guitarist later taught him how
to play the slide in the Hawaiian manner, with the
guitar laid flat in his lap. In 1919 he left Georgia for
Buffalo, New York. After a stint inMississippi, Arnold
finally settled in Chicago in 1929. In 1930 Kokomo
made his first two recordings in Memphis as ‘‘Gitfiddle Jim.’’ As a bootlegger Arnold found a lucrative
way of earning a living during the Prohibition era.
In 1934 he was discovered by ‘‘Kansas’’ Joe McCoy,
who persuaded Mayo Williams to record him. His first
Decca record proved to be a two-sided smash hit for
Decca. ‘‘Milk Cow Blues’’ was later recorded by ‘‘Big’’
Bill Broonzy, Amos Easton, ‘‘Sleepy’’ John Estes,
Freddie Spruell, and Josh White. Twenty years later
Elvis Presley recorded it on his third single. The flipside, ‘‘Old Original Kokomo Blues,’’ which Arnold
may have learned from the 1928 recording by Scrapper
Blackwell, was later recorded by Robert Johnson as
‘‘Sweet Home Chicago.’’ Under this title it became the
national anthem of postwar Chicago blues. Arnold
was to record a steady stream of songs for Decca
from 1934 to 1938. In 1936 and 1937 Peetie Wheatstraw was his trusted recording partner. Besides
recording under his own name, Kokomo also accompanied Mary Johnson, Alice Moore, Roosevelt Sykes,
Sam Theard, and Peetie Wheatstraw.
After his recording career, Arnold kept playing in
the Chicago clubs until at least 1946, after which date
he drifted off into obscurity. In 1959, when he was a
janitor at a steel mill, he was interviewed by Marcel
Chauvard and Jacques Demetre, but embittered
about his recording career he refused to enter a studio
once more. In 1968 he died at home of a heart attack.
Three-quarters of his songs are in open D, one quarter in open G. Only ‘‘Shine on Moon’’ is in standard
tuning. His bottleneck style is less precise than Tampa
Red’s. Arnold’s style is less sophisticated and more
emotional. His aggressive playing and his original
song lyrics make him a compelling and influential artist.
GUIDO VAN RIJN
Bibliography
AMG; Harris; Larkin; Santelli
Discography: DGR