Mississippi Sheiks

This influential duo consisted of Walter Vincson on acoustic guitar and vocals and Lonnie Chatmon on fiddle and vocals. The Sheiks played a type of blues that incorporated elements of country, vaudeville, Ragtime and jazz, and they performed and recorded prolifically in the South throughout the 1930s. Chatmon came from a musical family -- his brothers Bo and Sam, both recording artists in their own right, sometimes joined the Sheiks. The duo's most famous song, "Sitting On Top of the World", has been covered by Cream and Howlin' Wolf among others.