Sleepy LaBeef

Big, deep-voiced guitar-playing Sleepy LaBeef (born Thomas LaBeff), hailing from Smackover, Arkansas, got his nickname as a boy due to his slightly droopy eyelids. He’s been playing rockabilly for five decades (beginning with 1957’s “I’m Through”), working on a number of labels including Starday, Columbia, Sun, and Rounder. Among the many legends that follow him, he has stated that three of them are true: He has a “6,000 plus or minus catalogue of songs” in his head (earning him the nickname “The Human Jukebox”); he got his first guitar at age 14 when he traded his hunting rifle to his brother-in-law for it; and he recorded 36 songs in one day around 1976 for Sun Records. The reason: “We just had a good band and enjoyed playing.” He stayed in Amesbury, Massachusetts for years. Sleepy LaBeef died at his home in Siloam Springs, Arkansas on December 26, 2019, at age 84

(by Ed Symkus)