L. C. McKinley (October 22, 1918 – January 19, 1970)[2][1][3] was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He worked with Eddie Boyd and Ernest Cotton. A performer in the Chicago blues scene, McKinley's major output was as a session musician on recordings made mostly in the 1950s.[2]
He also released a number of singles on various record labels.[2] His best-known tracks include "Weeping Willow Blues" and "Nit Wit." His guitar playing was influenced by T-Bone Walker.[4]
He was born Luke C. McKinley[1]inWinona, Mississippi, United States.[2] According to the United States Census in 1940, he was living in Vaiden, Mississippi, with his wife, Bessie, and two sons.[5] He relocated to Chicago in 1941.[2] He began to find work and by 1947 had started to play professionally in the Chicago area.[2][6] By the early 1950s, he was a regular performer at the 708 Club, where he variously topped the bill or played accompaniment in the first half of 1954 with the Ernest Cotton Trio.[6]
He began working with Eddie Boyd in the early 1950s. In 1952, McKinley and Cotton backed Boyd on the latter's recording of "Five Long Years",[2] which reached number one on the BillboardR&Bchart.[7] McKinley also undertook recording sessions with several of Chicago's better-known blues musicians, including Curtis Jones.[2] In 1953 he recorded for Parrot Records, but these recordings were not released.[8] He signed with States Records in January 1954, which issued his "Companion Blues" later that year.[6]
In 1955, McKinley signed a recording contract with Vee-Jay Records,[8] which issued his single "Strange Girl", backed with "She's Five Feet Three", in the same year.[9] Other tracks he recorded in that period, which were unissued at that time, included "Blue Evening", "Down with It", "Rosalie Blues", "Disgusted", and "Tortured Blues".[6][10] In 1959, Bea & Baby Records released his single "Nit Wit".[6]
McKinley made his last recordings in 1964, which were released on the Sunnyland label in the UK.[4]
