I was born in a little place in·Tennessee called Knoxville, which used to be the capital , once upon a time years ago. Then it was moved to Nashville. I was born on the corner of Spring and Poplar in a place that was called the Old Ark, an old church. It was standing until a few years ago, and then they destroyed it. This place overlooked the Southern Railroad. Then my father migrated from there to Kingsport. He helped to build a city there. During the time I was born, he said the blues was born with me. I was the first boy that was born after three attempts (two sisters older than me) and I was born on November the 30th at five o'clock in the morning, 1915. As far as I can understand I was pretty much worshipped because I was the first son. I heard my father and mother say that my first brother, George Curtis, died, so automatically they were driving hard, and I was the next boy.

We migrated to this little town where I got my education by hard struggle, and that's where my father and mother separated in 1922. My song, Born With The Blues is true.