In 1966, a 51-year-old construction worker stood in the shadows of a Chicago blues club, quietly photographing the musicians on stage. Years earlier he had sold every guitar and amplifier he owned after the recording industry broke his heart. A Vanguard Records scout in the crowd recognized him, and one of the most stunning second acts in American music began. This episode traces the life of Johnny Shines, born John Ned Shines in 1915 on the outskirts of Memphis, taught guitar by his mother, and forged on Beale Street corners where slide guitar helped him cut through the noise.

We follow him through Depression-era farm work in Hughes, Arkansas, a 1935 encounter with Robert Johnson that pulled the guitar back out, and two years traveling together from the Deep South to Canada through lumber camps and juke joints. Then comes the Great Migrati ...