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Tier 2 · legacy legend
Barkin' Bill Smith
Person · male · United States · Cleveland · born 1928 · died 2000 · recording since 1991
Chicago blues and electric blues singer and songwriter (1928–2000)
Also known as Bill Smith
Timeline
4 events◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1▣ Album 1† Death 1
1920s
1990s
· Debut release
Debut release: Bluebird Blues with Ronnie Earl
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2000s
Biography
English biography147 words · 2 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1371006427
Biography
Barkin' Bill Smith (August 18, 1928 – April 24, 2000) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. He was born in Cleveland, Mississippi, and in his latter years lived in Chicago.
Biography
Smith was raised in Mississippi and later relocated to East St. Louis, Detroit and finally Chicago. He obtained his stage name from Homesick James in 1958, after the pair had worked together. Smith sang in front of various blues bands around Chicago for many years. He was initially influenced by Joe Williams, Jimmy Witherspoon and Brook Benton. He made his recording debut in 1991, singing on Dave Specter's first album, Bluebird Blues. Delmark Records issued Smith's solo debut album, Gotcha!, in 1994, with Steve Freund playing guitar.
In his latter years declining health restricted his live appearances.
Smith died of pancreatic cancer in Chicago in April 2000, at the age of 71.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 5 | 32th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 1 | 73.9th |
| Studio albums | 1 | 76th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 4 | 75.9th |
| Recording span (years) | 0 | 9.4th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (1 release groups · 1 studio albums)
Albums · 1
Bluebird Blues with Ronnie Earl
1991 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 48:15
1Things I'd Do for You3:412Tell Me What's the Reason4:473Bluebird Blues5:464Wind Chill5:265Get Me While I'm Free4:236Buzz Me4:317Lie to Me5:118Railroad Station Blues7:139Our Course Is Run4:0210Take a Walk With Me3:15
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Barkin' Bill Smith head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 5 | 32th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 1 | 73.9th |
| Studio albums | 1 | 76th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 4 | 75.9th |
| Recording span (years) | 0 | 9.4th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5c3ad174-2ec4-43b9-9219-ad7251ecd9b9discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5c3ad174-2ec4-43b9-9219-ad7251ecd9b9core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862464genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862464seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkin%27_Bill_Smithbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkin%27_Bill_Smith
Why this artist is in the database
- List of blues musicians — rank #186
| 1928 | 2000 | Mississippi | Chicago blues |
Tier rule: genre canon: blues
Image: no portrait (not displayed: the licence credit is missing)
Wikidata: Q862464 · MusicBrainz: 5c3ad174-2ec4-43b9-9219-ad7251ecd9b9
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