Helen Pesci Wood

35 Luke Jordan, Blues PioneerJefferson St. at Horseford Rd.

Singer-guitarist Luke Jordan (1892-1952) was a familiar presence on the streets of Lynchburg from the 1920s until World War II. Jordan and other African American musicians in the Southeast merged blues with an existing repertoire of ballads, ragtime, and tent-show songs, creating a syncopated and upbeat style now called Piedmont or East Coast Blues. The Victor Record Company, seeking blues artists to satisfy popular demand, recorded Jordan in 1927 and 1929, issuing classics such as “Church Bell Blues” and “Pick Poor

Robin Clean.” The Great Depression hurt sales and ended

Jordan’s career, but he remained an important and widely imitated Virginia blues musician. Q-6-21

36 Lucile Barrow Turner (1895-1979)

near 1312 Commerce St. ’Cile Turner, a Southside Virginia native who resided near Lynchburg, championed African American folk music during her 50-year career as a composer, folklorist, and performer. A white, affluent, married woman, she transcended social norms as she traveled throughout the South to perform and learn work songs, dance tunes, lullabies, and spirituals. In 1930 she gained national recognition as star of the Craddock-Terry Shoe Company’s weekly radio program on NBC. She later promoted African American folk music through studio recordings and television appearances. Her casual, engaging manner and her respectful treatment of the music won praise from both black and white audiences.