Rubin Lacey

Who was Rubin Lacey?

Rubin "Rube" Lacey was an American country blues musician, who played guitar and was a singer and songwriter.

Lacey was born in Pelahatchie, Mississippi, United States, and learned guitar in his teens from an older performer, George Hendrix. Working out of the Jackson area in the Mississippi Delta, he became one of the state's most popular blues singers. His bottleneck style inspired that of the better known performer Son House. In 1927, he recorded four songs for Columbia Records in Memphis, Tennessee, though none were released and the masters do not survive.

In 1928, Lacey recorded two tunes, "Mississippi Jail House Groan" and "Ham Hound Cave", for Paramount Records, which constitutes his recorded legacy. Four years later he became a minister, and was later found living in Lancaster, California by blues researcher, David Evans. He died there in 1972.