Joe Boudreau (born Chester Nehemiah Thornton) was born a poor black child in the back woods of Belmont, Mississippi some time in the 20th century. At the age of two Joe was found abandoned in the back of a 1976 Volvo Station Wagon, wearing only a tattered pair of brown leather shoes and a black Stetson hat. After a short stint as a foot model, development of severe bunions would force Boudreau to instead turn to bootlegging and prostitution to help support his gambling addiction. Greater success however would soon follow when at the age of five the young grifter began running a semi-profitable cock-fighting ring in the back of the local delicatessen.
From a very early age Boudreau was drawn to the spirited rhythms of his native African brethren. Soon he began to leave home on long, fruitful excursions, along the way encountering traveling musicians, carnival folk and other such vagrants. Throughout his early adolescence, Joe would play frequently with blues legends such as the Reverend Felix Washington, Slim Harry Pilkington, `Washboard´ Cow Le Froy and Sleepy Dave Phartson, whom delighted in his youthful zeal and his slightly above average humming and whistling abilities.
A more aggressive side of the seemingly mild-mannered transient would sometimes emerge however, springing confusion and consternation among those closest to the boy. Boudreau would become notorious for his quick temper and was known to carry with him a rusty cheese grater, which he would often wield violently in fits of rage.
Things would soon take a turn for the worse, when a tragic ceiling fan accident left Boudreau with a severely damaged scrotum. Though he would recover from his injury, the emotional scars left behind would gradually begin to tear him further and further away from his music. Eventually he would be forced to quit music for good, after contracting severe arthritis from overexposure to Chinese finger traps.
Though this little known icon’s contributions and significance have gone often overlooked, and although his childlike spirit has long since faded, lost to the bottom of a whiskey bottle, Boudreau’s legacy still lives on today. These days he works as a part time Internet radio DJ for the local university, playing his favorite timeless songs and reminiscing about the days of old; the days of innocence, discovery and musical splendor.
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