Eddie J. “Son” House was the blues personified. The degree of his obscurity, contrasted with the lasting and far-reaching effect of his musical influence, is probably unequaled by any other artist in any art form. It just so happened that the “locals” he was content to play for included two teenagers, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, who would carry his musical style to future generations worldwide.

Blues radio program host Richard Shade Gardner was intrigued by Son House’s lifelong fight with personal demons through cotton fields, churches, pulpits, prison, juke joints, and working for the New York Central Railroad in Rochester, New York. In 1981, he finally caught up with the legendary octogenarian in Detroit.